This new unit represents two firsts for me.
(1) Though I have a couple of Jack Scruby command figures and the odd cannon in my armies, and though I have bags of the little blighters, unpainted, in my spares department, this is the first full unit I've ever had painted up for service. I have to say that they painted up much better than I expected, though I really didn't expect a great deal. All in all, they're not bad at all - though they look a bit undernourished, they are indisputably Old School.
(2) This is the first unit of my mooted Vorpommern Brigade to come into service. Students of the period who are surprised to learn that there was a member state of the Confederation of the Rhine of which they have never heard will be interested to know that this is the company of foot artillery Stadt Stralsund in the service of the Duchy of Stralsund-Ruegen. The unit is commanded by Major P Nyudrev, formerly of the Swedish service (which is only fair, since it's partly his fault for encouraging me to invent a Napoleonic nation - as if things weren't confused enough already). The French-made Gribeauval cannon are finished in the official Pommeranian shade of garden shed green, and are NapoleoN castings.
Probably the Swedes learned from working with the French how to have men of other nations fill the ranks of cannon fodder, notably at Leipzig but all back to the TYW too.
ReplyDeleteThat probably explains why they would look to Pommerania and other places, not least Mekelnborg itself, next door.
I know a delivery driver from modern SZCeczcin formerly Stettin who could be considered a Polish Pomeranian, Pomorzky, and he had the idea of the Americans needing a foreign legion for the wars of 2003.
So the idea still seems logical to people from there even today, and so it seems plausible the Swedes would look there. Gustavus did it too.
I always wanted the Scruby 9mm N-Scale but never had any.
The obscure and rather brief history of the Duchy of Stralsund-Ruegen was sketched out in some earlier posts - if you've read them before, disregard this. It's all lies anyway. The whole fabrication is simply to give me the entertainment of having a completely non-existent brigade to play soap operas with.
ReplyDeletehttp://prometheusinaspic.blogspot.com/search/label/Imagi-nation
The reason the officer is ex-Swedish army is because most of the officers were ex-Swedish army; the Prussians and Brandenburgers just got to carry heavy stuff around and clean up.
Allegedly.
The grenadiers and the rest of the infantry should be getting painted over the next month or so - they will be Scrubies, too. The cavalry will follow along - they will be Garrison figures, probably.
Tony
I must admit to having a serious soft spot for "Scrubies". This little lot makes me want to dig out his Bavarian Napoleonic artillery that I bought last year. Looking forward to the infantry.
ReplyDelete