A Rare Snow Day in Central Mississippi

Unlike our imagi-nations in Imagi-Europe, it rarely snows in my part of the deep South. But it did this morning thanks to a concantation of a slow moving low pressure system with a lot of precipitation and a fast moving cold front. Although we didn't get more than a dusting it was a pleasant surprise.
Here are two of our cars with about a 1/4" on their roofs and hoods. The white streaks are falling snowflakes.
And this is looking out from my front door about 30 minutes later as the snow fell heavier. But it stopped about 45 minutes after this picture and this afternoon it is clear, sunny, and cold, with no snow left on the ground. Pretty while it lasted without all the trouble caused by accumulation, messy roads, and days of slush left. I went through enough of that during German winters while I was in the Army.

Suspected Spencer Smith Plastic Figures

As part of the artillery and commander lots mentioned in the previous post, my seller included two painted, mounted officers (front center of below photo) that he identified as Spencer Smith figures.

He also included one gun, one howitzer, 15 gunners (in three poses), and 4 cavalrymen, examples of which are shown here. I am presuming that these are also Spencer Smith plastic figures. Confirmation from the learned readers would be appreciated.

The Barony of Eisenmühle

Part of the Margraviate of Carpania is the Barony of Eisenmühlen, ruled by Baron Traskon. This barony is centered around the excellent iron deposits and mills south of Potzdorf, Carpania’s capitol. There Baron Traskon operates armaments factories for artillery and small arms. His highly trained metallurgists and gunnery experts give the Margraviate a formidable artillery park of some 20 guns and howitzers of various calibers. Here is some of the latest production:

Ringing in the New Year

As the new year was celebrated in the Markgraviate of Carpania with a magnificent fireworks display

the Markgrave's army settled into their winter quarters. Some work was done on equipping another battalion of Carpanian infantry but had to be put aside when the Erbprinz required some soldiers for his upcoming campaign against the barbarian Saxons by the forces of Charlemagne. So efforts were turned to raising and equipping pseudo-Franks and Saxons for this Dark Ages campaign.

The addition of community blogs for Old School Wargaming in the ancient/medieval/renaissance and musket and pike eras:

the Great Hall of the Kingdoms of Antiquity -- http://kingdomsofantiquity.blogspot.com/ and

the Age of Reform and Chaos -- http://ageofreform.blogspot.com/

have led me down other paths. While my SYW "big battalions" project will continue, I will also be adding freshly raised forces to my 25/28mm High Medieval (1300s-1400s) and Renaissance armies. This will be especially useful as the theme year for our wargaming group ( www.angelfire.com/games3/jacksongamer/ ) will be "Before the Socket Bayonet." We have many ancients, medieval, and Renaissance games scheduled, both on land and on sea.

I hope to do better in the coming year in keeping this blog current.

Happy and Prosperous New Year to All!!!