Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A bit off topic.

Vulgaria was established sometime during the late dark ages and became a full fledged Imagi-Nation during the period that coincides with the 30YW. There will be a few pictures of Vulgarians marching off to support the Empire eventually. For now here are a few photos of my first Regiment; a group of Saxons.



Saxons deployed for Action (Flash photo)



Saxons Deployed for Action (No Flash)


Saxons Deployed for Action (Natural Light Lamp-the rest of the photos were taken this way)


Musketeers to the Front!


Mustaches; my wife likes the mustaches!



Pikes to the Front, Musketeers to the Flanks!



Saxons ready to Advance.



Forward, ...Advance!



More mustaches; I told you.



Close up of the Saxon Command.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

A question for the readers - If you would be so kind.


I have a question, an informal poll for the readers of this blog.
There are apparently at least two of you and thank you BTW for the comments and encouragement.
Which of the two examples above do you prefer for The National Flag of Vulgaria?
The Black is the common thread in all Vulgarian standards and uniforms, it reminds Vulgarians of their long struggle, if they were able to survive the black days they can survive all.
The great white Boar is a mythical Vulgarian animal that represents the Elector, heroism, sacrifice, stubbornness and a willingness to fight to the death. Bozidar the first Vulgarian chief led his people to this area of the world, although it was inhabited by a great white boar that stood 4 meters at the shoulder. After a week long fight Bozidar prevailed and wore the animals pelt as his royal robes; it was such a large animal that its flesh fed the entire nation for the first year. All wild boars in Vulgaria are believed to be descendents of this animal. They are hunted but never for sport, only for food and fur.
That brings us to the choice; for the red sun or the yellow sun. Clearly the yellow sun would be the new days of Vulgaria moving out of the black and into the light. Alternatively the red sun would represent the blood of the people martyred and sacrificed to provide an independent Vulgaria.
I'm leaning a bit towards the red sun, as the black and red are somewhat indicative of my own anarchist early years.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Vulgarian Standards

It's about time Vulgaria had a Flag!

The top flag is the National or Electors Standard. Every Regiment is awarded one of these. The bottom flag is the Regimental Standard for regiments of foot. The color on the flag matches the regimental color.

So what we have here is the Regimental Standard for the Bosklosviakov Musketeer Rgt. the senior musketeer regiment in the Vulgarian Army.

The great white boar is the symbol of the Elector. As a heraldic device the boar represents stubbornness, bravery and a willingness to fight to the death.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Vulgarian Infantry Uniforms


In order of seniority I present the uniforms of the regiments of the Electorate of Vulgaria. There are also militia, cavalry and a few artillery pieces that will be added to the blog eventually. Additionally unit histories will be forth coming and a battle report. The Pedastool Empire attempted a sortie into the south of Vulgaria through one of the many mountain passes that contect the two countries. It occurred at a time when friendly Russe regiments were bivouacked in country on a joint military exercise.
My thanks to David Linnienblatt of Not By Appointment for the excellent templates to create uniforms with. His website is here: http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/ and I highly recommend a visit.

Friday, May 25, 2007

The Electorate of Vulgaria Responds to the Grand Duchy of Stollen

http://emperor-elector.blogspot.com/2007/05/to-duchy-of-mieczyslaw-and-electorate.html



Hans Karl von Wilkowiczeske,

The Electorate of Vulgaria welcomes the exchange of Ambassadors during these times of turmoil. There appears to be a major movement toward crises in the West that is at best confounding and absolutely perplexing. It is at times like these that civilized Nations should become friends!

Vulgaria is willing to extend the hand of friendship with two caveats; As the Empires of Maria-Theresa and Elizabeth march so marches the Army of Vulgaria, Betrayals of our friendship will be considered an act of war and will be retaliated against most severely.

I await your response in earnest anticipation of a new friendship with all that it conveys.

Byr Levrenti Beria
CoD

For the Elector Vleg Donislov I of Vulgaria

Monday, May 21, 2007

A Meeting with the Elector!

In the highest room of the castle in Schweingrad the Elector Donislov I sits, with his Chief of Diplomacy Levrenti Beria, in front of roaring fire; wine, cheese, sausages and a chess board adorn the table.

A Grenadier announces from the portal to the room; “Major Poruchik and escort sire!”

“Yes, yes send him in!” replies the Elector, and to a figure at the side, “Another plate and glass for my friend the Major.”

The command to send in Major Poruchik was a small formality and unnecessary as the Major has free access to all chambers in Schweingrad; such is the authority of the Intelligence Officer and the trust the Elector places in him.

“Sire, I bring news from our Northern border.” announces Poruchik. To his right and slightly behind him stands a young officer from the Hosok Tere Hussars.

“A man of yours Poruchik?” queries Beria, nodding towards the Hussar Officer.

“A man of the Electors and trusted by me!” replies Poruchik.

“Stop you two, I’ve had one too many glasses of wine to negotiate new settlements between Intelligence and Diplomacy tonight.” commands the Elector. Major Poruchik nods his acceptance of the Electors command.

"I had only thought to establish the Officers credentials Sire.” offers Beria.

“Oh I know what you thought to establish Beria, and if you two are unable to find a way to coexist in Schweingrad, I shall send you to the Empress in St Petersburg and Poruchik to the Empress in Vienna! A fine pair of play things you two would be also!” the Elector retorted.

“Now have a seat Major and tell me what this is about.” The Elector motioned to an empty seat, between him and Beria, now set with glass and plate. Poruchik sat and the Hussar took a spot again just behind and to his right at attention; conspicuously between the Major and Beria.

“We have a report of an Alzheim encroachment on the plateau overlooking our shared lake.” stated Poruchik, allowing a moment for the weight of that statement to be felt before continuing. “Our patrol is in contact with an unknown number of Alzheimers on the plateau. In fact young von Stahl believes this to be an invasion.”

“What do you think Major?” asked the Elector.

“Von Stahl has shown excellent tactical ability; however, he can be a bit rash at times. I selected him for this operation in hopes that he will continue to mature as an Officer in the Army of Vulgaria. Initial reports from our men assigned with him suggest that he is positively developing in the field as a commander.

Those same men were able to forward information regarding this new incident to our young Hussar Officer here, fortuitously in the area on leave. As a result of analyzing that information and questioning this young man I’m not convinced that this incident is an invasion.” replied the Major.

“Did you see any signs of an invasion young man?” asked the Elector of the Hussar Officer.

“No Sire, the road between Schweingrad and the lake are completely clear as is the surrounding area.” responded the officer.

“How fortuitous indeed that he happened to be home on leave in this very area of operation at this very moment in time, eh?” insinuated Beria.

“This young Officer is to be commended Sire, he encountered a patrol of our irregular horsemen in the area and commanded them to ride to the plateau to investigate and report back to Schweingrad their findings. I expect that we will have additional news within the day.” added Poruchik.

The Elector picked up his wine stating; “Well done son! See that he is rewarded Major; perhaps a promotion!”

“I certainly will Sire.” Responded Poruchik, and turning to address the Hussar, “You are dismissed; however, wait for me at my headquarters.”

The Hussar saluted and left with the hint of a smile on his face.

After the Hussar had left, Beria asked Poruchik; “What does this mean? I have just sent a delegation to Alzheim and they were accepted. We have had less then satisfactory relations with the Alzheimers over the last few hundred years! Everything was beginning to look better. Should I recall our people from the road?”

“The Duchy has been heavily fishing the lake and naturally we thought it was in anticipation of a new campaign against us. The mission to the lake was to more closely observe this behavior all under the auspices of some non-existent poaching. We have verified that they are taking fish, but not in numbers that are overly alarming.

Bear in mind that the whole continent is ripe for war. We ourselves have begun to store grain, pickled vegetables and smoked meats in anticipation of the event. There are multiple problems with many of the smaller states and the major Empires are actively looking for a spark to move our world into the chaos that is War!

I suspect that what is occurring on the plateau is outside of the plans of Augustus Rex or any of his ministers. There appear to be no signs at the moment of an invasion only an incursion. We don’t know the scope of the thing yet although we should shortly.

I would recommend mobilizing a couple of squadrons of Hussars and sending them to the lake with a section of Artillery. The official reason can be to celebrate the promotion of our young messenger to his Captaincy. If nothing is amiss when they get to the village of Hosok Tere they can fire a few celebratory salvoes over the lake and return.

At the same time we should send a messenger to St Petersburg to enquire about moving up the planned exercise to our south with the Czarina’s forces. This will cement our dedication to St Petersburg and it is a good time to have a few regiments of Russe bivouacked with us.

We should send a few additional staff with specialized talents to the Court in Vienna. And we must absolutely try to maintain good relations with our neighbors north of the lake. Beria keep your delegation moving to the Alzheims Capitol and when they arrive have them invite a similar delegation to visit with us.” replied Poruchik.

“What if you are wrong Major?” asked the Elector.

“If I’m wrong then there will be war with Alzheim. Vulgaria as well as the Duchy will be gobbled up by the Russe or the Empire or Germania, our larger neighbors, in their desire to be at each other and you Sire may have my head on a pike at the approaches to your castle.” confidently replied Poruchik.

“I like the sound of that!” quickly added Beria.

“Stop! There will be no heads on pikes, you are my son’s dearest friend and I consider you a part of my family Major.” inserted the Elector with a stern look at his Chief of Diplomacy.

“Sire, Vulgaria does not have a monopoly of rash young men; I'm sure Alzheim has her share also. Rash young men can be used to drive countries apart or together. There has been peace between Vulgaria and Alzheim since 1720. Let us wait and see what the next few days bring.” offered Poruchik.

“Sound advice, my faith is not misplaced, do as is required Major!” commanded the Elector.

“Sire, Beria, if you will excuse me, I need to prepare our newly appointed Captain for a trip to St Petersburg.” replied Major Poruchik as he got up and left the room.

“Are you sure of the Major Sire, he has ‘people’ it would seem everywhere?” whined Beria after Poruchik had left.

“Please, my friend, we have been together a long time, there is room in my staff for both of you and your fine skills. Now let us enjoy another glass of wine and a game of chess before the evening gets too old.” insisted Donislov.

Pix coming of the finished conversions and a question for the audience.

I would be posting pictures today of the painted conversions except for a slight problem. I was reviewing the Pengel and Hurt volumes on the Russian Army and noticed that I had made a mistake in my painting. I have painted my line Regts with white flag staffs and my Grenadiers with red flag staffs.

Erhmmmm, this is opposite to the information reported by Pengel and Hurt and will need to be rectified. Fortunately as this is a fairly new project we are talking about only a few staffs to be repainted.

Is this really a big deal BTW?

I suspect if we know and can make it right we should. In this case it's easy, although I wonder if I would consider the repair if the mistake were substantially larger.

Oh well and now for a question that perhaps someone out there could be of assistance with.

As part of the Russian Armies train there was a company of Pontooniers. These fellows were not Engineers but were on assignment from the Russian Navy. I have it on authority from a number of good sources that the Engineers wore a uniform similar enough to the artillerists as to be identical. However, I can find no information at all on the uniform of the Russian Navy during the SYW. This formation was present with every incursion into Prussia, and consisted of roughly 60 pontoons, a few officers (the commander was a Navy Lieutenant), and approximately 60 sailors or marines and a dozen naval craftsmen.

Does anyone have any information regarding Russian Naval uniforms from the SYW? I have Googled and check the references that are at my disposal and I have found nothing to date. I suppose I could paint them in Black (very dark Navy Blue) as per current regulations; however, if it's possible I'd rather have some good information to base their uniforms on.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

It's almost summer and Vulgarians love to travel.

In an effort to bring stability to a deteriorating situation between The Duchy of Alzheim and The Electorate of Vulgaria, the Elector has dispatched his master of diplomacy Boyar Boris Basenov and his companion Natasha Lethale. They are traveling with a small escort of Hosok Tere Hussars, letters of introduction and various Vulgarian wines, smoked pork and clocks; lots of clocks. These are all intended as gifts for the assembled court in Alzheim.

The Elector has also dispatched Major Hohenschweingau with a small escort of the von Hause Dragoons as a military advisor to His Excellency the Landgraf Bogey von Hesse-Fedora. Regrettably Ambassadors and formal recognition are not possible at this moment. The Electorate of Vulgaria enjoys excellent relationships with two powerful Empresses and Hesse-Fedora’s adversarial Empress has not been named.

Byr Lavrenti Beria
Chief of Diplomacy
Schweingrad VU