Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Herrschaden Recruitment

How do you do...

After years of vacilliation, I decided to put some notes together into some sort of order and come up with an Imagi-national table-top wargaming army. At first it was very simple: choose figures (Front Rank 28's), choose uniform details(easy), then paint.

That of course changed to ultra-complex about 5 seconds later. Real life work commitments being the main offender. Then a visit to a friend in mid-June '09 changed that again. I found a painter. (YAY!).

Enter Kev, from Battleline scenics. I'm sure he wasn't ready for an e-mail from Wolfgang Ansbach-Hoffen (on behalf of Otto von Blitzenkruz), to paint up an historical WSS Army-Deal as the troops of Imagi-Nation Herrschaden!
But, trooper that Kev is, he got into it - hence Heinrich Wurzen ready as the first character. (He should be too, the mainforce infantry commander at the front). The artillery uniform came up great. The most clever aspect of that I like was the way the cuff-blue was subtly contrasted against the coat-blue. Red guns look spectacular.
At the moment, the 'army' per se, is planned to be based to suit Die Kriegskunst ruleset. I have seen a magnificent Imagi-Nation army based for Might & Reason, but I like my battalions made up of companies and will probably be playing most of my (rare) games solo.

Which leads to the enemy - they are no doubt everywhere! So once the initial battlegroup of Herrschaden is complete and ready, next step will be the enemy. And thats where it gets really interesting. I'm going to have to create another Imagi-Nation to strike at Herrschaden, or conversly, use another set of uniformed troops as allied forces with Herrschaden!

So if any of you have a uniform idea for either an allied/enemy army to take on Herrschaden, drop me a post and I will probably use it - my own 'imagination' is really very limited...

OlllllllO

8 comments:

  1. Well, for the WSS, "whitish gray" (ala France for one) is a common coat color.

    Although my troops are mid-century, my Saxe-Bearstein's have red coats and their vile enemies, Stagonia, have white coats.

    That being said, there is no reason that you need to follow anything historical. Paint them however YOU like (they're yours after all).

    My one real suggestion is to choose a color that is quite different from your main army (blue, I take it) so that they are easy to tell apart on the table top.


    -- Jeff

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  2. Having no state religion, you may want a devout Catholic, or Bourbon nation to fight, religious aggressive nations are always fun. Ottomans are a nice contrast to European style armies. When I started I solicited an enemy from the EvE site and Paul volunteered his Bizerrcan north African/Ottoman army to fight my Cavenderians, now we are almost at war with the Moreans, plenty of enemies out there if you want to start some saber rattling.

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  3. To design a good-looking imaginary army and a self-consistant 'batch' of fictitious uniforms, it may be inspirational and useful to start from the 'background', the characteristics of the *country*.
    I followed this process to build up (progressively) the uniforms of the army of 'Einhornwalder', as reported in detail in my Feb. 21 "UNIFORM DESIGNER ?" comment - yes, I comment on my own blog... scoll down a lot!
    As for an enemy of Herrschaden, your second Imagi-Nation would be of drastically opposite social /political / ideological / religious alignement. Herrschaden looks not only German but 'socialist' - a kind of German Democratic Republic by Lace Wars times: thus the 'opposition' could be, if still German, at least Catholic (the GDR was very 'Prussian' and as I remember Catholic Bavaria was part of Western Germany), and under a very aristocratic, perhaps still feudal, political system. This in turn suggests *light* uniform colors -the colors of Papacy are white and yellow, and major Catholic powers had their 'line' infantry in (off)white: a clear, nice contrast with the dark hues of Herrschaden. Indeed most of the ('commoner') infantry could be in off-white / light grey while 'Guard' infantry and, specially, the noble, aristocratic cavalry could be in light but 'flashy' and fanciful colors: light purple, fuschia, lavender, apricot, peach... For the artillery, a darker shade, perhaps mahogany (with greyish light blue carriages?) to contrast with 'your' artillerymen.
    This may bear on the choice of minis - British infantry with lapels (decorative but rare by WSS times) for the Foot Guards, e.g., or Old Glory 'Governor's Guard' (from their 'Pirates' range) for the 'noble' cavalry?

    David's uniforms templates are intended for the SYW, but some types (mainly French, for the foot) without turnbacks and often without lapels could be used to display your uniform projects, for our edification and enjoyment?

    When it comes down to individual regiments, simple characteristics such as the facing color may suggest a peculiarity of the unit's background, in turn reflected by a specific heraldic device on its flag (e.g. Oct. 16, "08 comment Regiment Graf Carl Gustav).

    Flags could be mainly white with Catholic devices; as additional distinctive devices of individual regiments, perhaps specially for the standards of the 'noble' cavalry, religious figures preferably of Byzantine or Old-Russian models -virgins, warrior saints ... may be fitting to reflect the 'archaism' of the society?

    Actually the process once started is self-sustained: when you are toying with suggestions for the cavalry you discover new perspectives to better / complement what you already wrote for the infantry; ideas, images from all sources, even the most unlikely ones: TV news, football competitions, musical videos...- spontaneously 'aggregate' to your project. Sometimes you feel a little like Dr. Frankeinstein facing his creature...

    Cheers,
    Jean-Louis

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  4. P.S.: since the Herrschadeners are Front Rank, what about another manufacturer for the 'opposition'? For instance the Great Northern War is almost contemporary of the WSS, and Reiver Castings and Musketeer Miniatures seem to have rather large ranges (though I don't know about the compatibilty of scales with Front Rank)...

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  5. Welcome! I like your use of WSS figures, in contrast to most of the rest of us (myself included) who use WAS, SYW, and/or AWI. Your back story is unique and well considered, too.

    Along the lines suggested by Prinz Geoffrey, another option for an enemy might be a really puritanical/Calvinist sort of country, sort of like the Swiss. Or you could "pull forward" the Hussites somehow into the turn of the 18th Century. I don't know how the details of that would work, exactly, but it would be as novel and innovative as everything else you've done.

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  6. Greetings and felicitations from the Reich Duchy of Beerstein. Although we are allied to the Austrians and once had white uniforms, our new uniforms are black with various facing colors. There really are no rules in Imagi-nations, so enjoy your creativity!

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  7. Thank you very much people. I have considered the mainforce enemy will almost certainly be some sort of puritanical-religious/reactionary sort. (Especially considering Walther Picklesturm virtually has a price on his head from the Vatican).
    Swiss types? The Hussitesare something I know nothing about, so will have to study them...
    Then of course the political angle, where the enemy is in fact an 18th C 'Eastern Bloc', bent on the erradication of the Directorate.
    I'll have to watch it though - might get too involved and immerse myself in the acquisition of an 'Imagi-Nation arms race'...oh well, cant take it with you...stay tuned for more background from Herrschaden.
    Thanks to all

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  8. Welcome! Some interesting characters in your direktors!
    Lots of excellent comments from the others (who have more knowledge and experience with this era than I have). But from a purely "gaming" perspective I agree about making the opponents different enough to be readily distinguished on the tabletop, especially as a solo gamer. My own 2 ImagiNations have one side in somewhat darker colors, mostly blues and some greens so far, and the other side (more Francophone) in lighter colors for the most part, with white/very light gray predominating.
    The other idea of going with something a bit more exotic is also intriguing to me. Maybe even the remnants of a crusader kingdom, with a mix of Francophone-type units and Eastern European/Turkish-type units...
    These things do tend to take on a life of their own, and you start drawing inspiration from all sorts of sources...

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