Dragging Olde Albilande into the future!!

 I mentioned in an earlier post that i was going to move the setting i'm working on into a kind of mock 17th century setting. This has given me plenty to ponder over the last few weeks, some things i am set on:

     - The mappe will not change.
     - The campaign will continue as if nothing has changed, all events will still have happened!.
     - The protagonists will remain, no shire will be harmed by the process of change (well                            Fossestershire wont bloody like it)!.

   What i have been mostly thinking about is how the shires armies will look in the field. Now as a part of the same (until recently) united nation it is fair to say the shires forces would have been part of a royal army and therefore fit the pattern (more or less) decided on by the powers that be acting on behalf of the crown. This says to me that the basic troop types for each force will be almost (but maybe not quite) the same.
As its the (not) 17th century the main troops will be pike or musket armed soldiers. In olde Albilande the royal generals have spent time 'encouraging' each shire to raise a trained professional core of these troops to be called on if and when. These will be the spine of a field army (known as 'regulars'). Along side these troops various unpaid militia regiments exist, which will be organized and sponsored by the local lord or merchants in some capacity and the quality of their training and equipment will depend on their sponsors generosity. Some of these groups sport armour with the sponsors logo on or that have had their naming rights bought and paid for by merchants in order to ensure a fresh supply of lead shot!. It is therefore not uncommon to see regiments like The Olde undercrackers scrumpy irregulars or the Nightingales night soil removal experts musketeers for example!.

The march of the much feared 'fwffwykinnes reusable nappiee system irregular company'!!.

Some mini ideas would be:

Red Box Landsknechts with heavy pike.

And their Spanish pike and bills

Revells amazing 30 years war troops

A call to arms great ECW range

Anything but Mars 30 years war range really:

God, please....

.....make....it.....

....stop!!!

(all pictures taken from Plastic soldier review, which is great!)

  The upper class still put their faith in polished plate and a powerful warhorse betwixt their legs!. The nobles still clad themselves in a full suit of armour and ride as heavy cavalry. They tend to band together on the battle field to 'give the unwashed what for!'. Most armies of a reasonable size will feature a unit of either mounted or dismounted knights.

'WHAT HO JOHNNY COMMONER, FANCY A TASTE O' ME LANCE...NO WAIT LET ME  REPHRASE THAT!'

  The cannon will also be in mass effect across battlefields as an extremely desirable war time accessory, all armies will have some amount of them on display.

'Ere, you eyin' up me gun???!!!'

Skirmishers will be in use, either trained regulars or lowly irregulars or even one of the few elite ranger divisions (such as the Crivenshire Royal Storm Badger corpes or the Fossestershire Roughland penetration Company). These troops will normally be missile troops armed with muskets, crossbows or even hunting bows.

 Where the differences will come in is in the specialists and odd troops native to the shires for which they fight, from mercenary companies to stream tanks, political activist collectives to unsanctioned wizards to grumpy old codger cults they will hopefully bring some colour and character to the field.

   Which is cool because i have most of what i need to do this and i have started basing the minis already!. But i still have to get some bits and bobs....which brings me on to my ebay sales page i'm using to fund the project. Now most of the lots will end Sunday afternoon, at which point i will be posting the next round of lots, here's a sneaky peek for you lovely people:

 Lodsa Normans!

 Lodsa Macedonians

Loadsa Sea People

Even Ratskin Scouts!.

Have a browse tomorrow if you fancy a bargin!

 All thats left is to welcome AKI to the wonky wold of Wronghammerness. AKI produces the rather brilliant Too much Lead which is well worth a peruse at your leisure. Welcome sir!.

....Anyway, 'till next time....