musings and meanderings concerning the many gaming activities in the land of chuck
A much later matchup between the Swedes and the Russians was in 1808-1809. There is a terrific website that details much about that war (with a lot of good resources). The pictures of the lovely Poppenheim and Bombastia female troopers in this posting come from that website (where they were Erroneously identified as Swedish and Russian troopers).
Welcome to Balkania! It is a fictitious land of petty princes and minor monarchs, located East of Venice, South of Vienna, West of Istanbul, and North of the Nile.
The gently rolling farmland and pasture country of the Simian plains of northern Furstenberg (later to become the agricultural province of Simia) was home to two petty principalities. Those were the Grand Duchy of Poppenheim, and the Principality of Bombastia. These self-styled petty kingdoms were really based around the medieval castles of some local barons, and their dependent villages and market-towns. However, one thing led to another, and in 1696, when the annual Pumpkin Faire was held at the Church of St. Gourdfellow, the judges of the annual Pumpkin-King contest were all found poisoned. The clergyman present, Father Squashnot of the Holy See of Balkania (later the kingdom of Payepal) declared the office of Pumpkin-King to be unclaimed, and the throne vacant. The two competing nobles, Duke Charles of Poppenheim and Prince Peter of Bombastia each claimed the throne, and the gauntlets were thrown. It could only end in war.
It has been mentioned that the green uniforms of Bombastia can sometimes be compared favorably to the uniforms of the Russian Army from the same conflict. It is not the place of the editorial staff of "Gaming with Chuck" to decide.
Anyway, watch for further posting on this project, and also to watch painting progress. The staff will probably wait for the release of the new WSS (War of the Spanish Succession) figures from Wargames Factory before starting this project, but who knows?
A recent ODMS game that I presented on May 6 was a pretty good success. There were six players, three to a side, commanding a Division of Spanish (4 brigades) vs. a Division of US (4 brigades).
The Spanish held a hill - La Colina Verde - which is central in the hills south of Puerto Gris (the capital of San Balkano). The US force, approaching from the South, come up all south east of the Azzuro river, which cuts through the hills. The Spanish force was located in the hills, and the central hill had a walled town on it, which was defended by a brigade of Spanish.
The Spanish troops had been on the island for years, fighting against Insurrectos, so were quite experienced in jungle fighting, and using the cover of the island to their best advantage. Because of this, they gained an advantage when firing from under cover in the jungle.
The rules used were a simplified version of "A Splendid Little War" - a version of my age of rifles wargaming rules also used for RJW and other gaming.
The US approached, as expected, heavily in the center and a little bit on the eastern flank. There, on the East, they got held up by battalions of Spanish Foreign Legion in the jungle for a few turns, before moving past them. On the west, they moved up along the Azzuro river, and met a few units of Spanish Naval Infantry that tied up that brigade.
In the center, the two brigades assaulting the hill were peppered by Spanish artillery (German guns, of course), but eventually made it to the hills and fought over the defenses. The Spanish, once fighting inside the towns, were bested by the US troops.
