Saturday, November 8, 2008

Courland Marches off to War

After receiving marching orders and the rendezvous from General Chevert, commander of the Gallian Corps of Bohemia, Duke Yakov Alexandrovitch Pavlov of Courland puts his army into motion to join Chevert as he marches to meet General Blei-Sammeln and the Reichsarmee he is organizing. Together they will meet and defeat the Germanians and their allies in the Texas Big Battalions game at MilleniumCon next Saturday (Nov. 15).

With the Duke and his entourage watching from a small hillock, the Courland army leaves the capitol of Jakobstadt. The column is led by a detachment of the Timofoevich Cossacks.
[The Timofievich Cossacks were acquired from Tim Broome, a local wargamer, who is their honorary inhaber.]


Following the Cossacks is a company of the Tamnii Narod Pandur Battalion, led by their commander, Colonel Ignace Alleshazy, a Hungarian mercenary in the employ of the Duke.


As the Pandurs disappear down the road, Colonel Count Ivan Yakovitch Pavlov leads the converged grenadiers from the Pavlovski and Severinski Grenadier Battalions.
[Note: Both my SYW Imagi-nations and Napoleonic Russian armies have the Pavlovski Grenadiers as part of the force strength!]


As the Pavlovski Grenadiers pass by, the Severinski Grenadiers begin to cross the Wodkau stream. In the background, the Duke and his aide, Captain Wintzingerode join the column.
[The Severinski Grenadiers were purchased from
Mark "Extra Cripsy" Severin, who is their honorary inhaber.]


With the Duke now in the march column, the Constantine Heavy Dragoon Squadrons rides into view.
[These Spencer Smith plastic figures were augmented by Peter Constantine, who is their honorary inhaber.]


Here is a better view of the Constantine Dragoons. I converted one of the troopers into the standard bearer. Following them is the Mavromichalis Heavy Dragoon Squadron.


The Mavromichalis Heavy Dragoons were purchased from Ioannis Mavromichalis (owner of the Leuthen Journal). He is their honorary inhaber. They are followed by Major-General Count Alexandrovsky, who leads the combined infantry battalion.


The first two companies are composed of drafts from the Musketeer Battalion Livlanischer Orden while the second two companies are composed of drafts from the Musketeer Battalion Ducal Leibgarde.

Finally the column is brought up with a second company of Tamnii Narod Pandurs and the other half of the Timofievich Cossacks.

The artillery and baggage marched earlier, escorted by a company of the Tamnii Narod Pandurs.

This brings to a close the beginnings of the journey of the forces of Carpania, Courland, and Sachsen-Wachsenstein from Mississippi to Texas for the Big Battalions in Texas game next Saturday. I will be taking plenty of pictures, so tune back in around Thanksgiving for more reports about the game, the convention, and the road trip.

5 comments:

  1. Fantastic work- evocative and so inspiring!
    thanks for posting!
    best wishes
    Alan

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really enjoyed the way you introduced your forces. It has inspired me to break out some figures and crank up my blog. Thanks!
    Best regards,
    Bill

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with the other comments - wow, 3 impressive parades of troops marching off to war!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Those photos are really fun, really liked the way you anounced and discusse each unit as it marched by.

    ReplyDelete