Sunday, March 15, 2009

More Foreigners Arrive

In the last few days, several ships have arrived at the Margraviate's principal port, Ludwigshaven bearing soldiers. Taking advantage of post-war austerity measures imposed by the great powers of Europe since the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Baroness Schroeder has managed to hire many Scots and Irish veterans of Dutch, Spanish and French service. Messrs James Fraser and Thomas O'Kane, both confidants of the Baroness, have been scouring the Continent for likely recruits for some months now. Their labors are being handsomely rewarded by commissioning them both as Obersts of their respective regiments. Both the Scots and the Irish are being taken into the Ost-Pommern regular establishment as single battalion regiments of five musketeer companies each.

Scots Battalion Uniform

Scots Battalion Regimentsfahne

The arrival of the foreign battalions has caused considerable resentment among the rest of the Ost-Pommern anmy. The senior officers who have been paying out of their own pocket to maintain their units are incensed by the Regent, Baroness Schroeder, paying such exhorbitant sums to hire the foreigners. Even Albrect von Steiner, Inhaber of IR.4, normally very sympathetic to the Baroness, has been alienated by this due to the officers and men of his regiment losing a great many of their billets to the Scots Battalion. The soldiers themselves are envious of the lace encrusted uniforms of the newcomers.

Irish Battalion Uniform

Irish Battalion Regimentsfahne

5 comments:

  1. Nice work! I find the green of the Irish flag a little too light and "metallic" - but it's all a matter of taste, of course... ;-) A deeper, richer green like that of the unit's turnbacks would look better, I feel.

    David
    http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/

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  2. You're right, the darker green does look better. Thanks David.

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  3. Good-looking uniforms and flags . . . but the dissension among the local troops is worrisome.


    -- Jeff

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  4. A colourful and certainly efficient addition to the Army but -given the political context- a disturbing one: a delicate balance may be broken.
    Foreign mercenaries, loyal only to one of the contenders, may weight *heavily* in a power struggle. On the other hand, any clumsiness in their use may provoke a patriotic 'sacred union' against their employer...
    Is Ost-Pommern on the verge of civil war?

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  5. I don't know how I missed this before! I love the uniforms and especially the flags! I like the national symbols of harp and thistle in the corners and the St. Andrew's cross.
    Does sound like trouble brewing, though...

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