More on India

Introduction

In the latter part of the 18^th Century, the Archbishop of Hoegaarden became keep to expand trade beyond the narrow limits of Europe and reduce the reliance of the country on local trade which was increasing effected by war.

As Hoegaarden’s main export was of course Bier this limited the resources to trade with somewhat, but the Archbishop was a man of singular vision and insight. Having heard of the trade in Pale Ale to India and Russia, it was decided that Hoegaarden would enter the trade, supplying an export version of its famous brew which would be perfectly suited to refreshing European throats in the subcontinent.

The Hoegaarden Staat Bedrijf Corporatie (Hoegaarden State Business Corporation) was subsequently founded.

Within months barrels of witte bier were on their way to thirsty colonies in the Caribbean, Americas and Indies.  Due to the popular it of the product it became necessary to protect the precious cargo until such time as it was fully delivered to its end location and the HSBC were granted the right to form small forces of marines to serve aboard ships carrying their wares. Indeed it soon found that when served in its traditional style with a slice of lemon, that cases of scurvy began to reduce on long voyages.

HSBC Maritime Forces.

Each of the ships commissioned to carry HSBC products was given a contingent of 60 Marines to protect it and its valuable cargo. Further companies were formed to guard the barges and warehouses of the Corporatie around the globe.  At its peak the HSBC had several thousand European soldiers and twice that number of native soldiers serving under its colours.

 Hoegarden Staat Bedrif Corporatie Flag

Maan’s Blaus.

The Marines were given uniforms in State colours of Blue and Yellow rather than the white of the infantry because it was felt the Blue was more appropriate for a naval force.  The first Colonel of the HSBC Marines was Jacob Maan and the troops were affectionately known as Maan’s Blaus. Maan, would become famous for after his retirement from service when he opened a brewery in the the American colonies which took the name of his men.

Native Troops

It quickly became clear that European Troops served best at sea and that Native soldiers would be best deployed to guard warehouses in country where their natural immunity to disease and ability to reside in the tropical climate made them better suited to their post.  In the Americas the native men were known as Peons, borrowing form the Spanish, whilst in the East they were known as Sepoys. Native troops not only guarded the depots but occasionally travelled with deliveries of Bier to inland locations and in India where distances were longer some men were given mounts. On the subcontinent bandits were a concern. Over time these groups became more numerous and better organised prompting some concern that another hand was directing them, a local prince or disaffected ruler seeking to stir up the population against the foreigner.

 

 

First Native Foot

Hot off the table, base still damp....

All Indus miniatures. A few units of those, plus some horse and guns will be a little diversion I think. Oh, then I'll need some bad guys.....

Back to the Bier Wars......the War of Crabbei's Succession

So the battle for Staropramen came to an end and the surrounding states nibbled and bit off pieces of that once noble fiefdom's territory.

Crabbei seemed to have been the winner, quietly taking over towns in the south and east. In the north Guinness and Gelbhandtaschen fought each other to a standstill while battered Hoegaarden retired behind the walls of its citadel. Campari took the old Capitol  and a thin salient of land. Feldschlosschen swept up towns fought over so many times in the northwest. 

Peace returned to the states, and the hop harvest was surprisingly good, despite the devastation of war. Things seemed to have settled back into an idyllic bliss...

However in Crabbei events were, well, brewing. In a surprise move the Duke announced his abdication and subsequent retiral to a monastery to become a choirmaster! Needless to say the surrounding rulers were somewhat perplexed by the move and of course this meant a successor needed to be appointed. 

The outgoing Duke nominated a young man from a cadet branch of his house and was supported in this by Campari ("Such lovely calves!" he muttered) and Feldschlosschen. However the Archbishop of Hoegaarden, Guinness and Gelbhandtaschen strongly disagreed believing the matter should be referred to a diet of states in accordance with ancient practice. 

And so the lines are drawn....

It seems that peace will never last more than a fleeting moment. It is clear that the succession in Crabbei is being used as an excuse, the states all want to increase their lands and protect their gains. Alliances will shift, power will wax and wane, territory will be lost and won...who will emerge strongest?

The Battle of Heraclea

Sunday saw a friend and I get our sandals on a finally play our much delayed Pyrrhus vs Rome game.  We decided to use our amended version of Neil Thomas's Ancient and Medieval Rules with an army list for the Epirot's from the supporting yahoogroup.

The battlefield was a simple flat plain. Both armies camps were off table and the stream that ran between them followed the long edge of the roman side of the table. The roman and latin velites crossed that to take on some lights grafted to Pyrrhus's army (since they are missing from the lists, despite being present!). 

As expected the more numerous velites drove back the cretans and peltasts and allowed the Legions to cross unhindered. I deployed my phalanx (4 units) and italian allies (2) on the table as they crossed, then as that line advanced to meet them, deployed my cavalry, heavies to the left, trantines to the right, next to my elephants.

The battle was evenly matched for a while with the legion and phalanx trading blows and the Italian allies holding their own, despite having lighter equipment (again no logic for this in the list, surely they'd have either legionary or greek equivalent gear - the author of the list also described them as auxiliaries, rather than heavy foot, again different from their Italian brethren).

On the left flank there was a stalemate as the epirot cavalry was held in place by the Romans. However on the right the tarantine and elephants destroyed the opposing latin cav, remaining lights and turned to take on the triarii.

By this point however the second line support of the legion formation had started to tell and the Italian ally foot, then the first of the phalanx units crumbled. Both ends of Pyrrhus's center were being rolled up.

Back on the left the troublesome roman cav was eliminated and Pyhrrus and his men circled onto the rear of the romans. It was now a case of who would destroy the other first.

So we stopped!

After all both sides went on to fight again....

A good game, completely different in feel from our Roman vs Barbarian campaign. My opponent is off to make up some anti-elephant carts and I'm off to paint and assemble a third such beast.

Simple Rules for Horse and Musket Sieges

At some point in the Bier Wars we are going to have an army besieged in its depot. Although warfare from the mid to late 18thC was much more mobile than its earlier Marlburian phase our wee armies banging around in little states are going to bump into something fortified sooner or later.

I needed something that could be worked out with dice and didn't need models to make happen. the essential components of the siege, a blockade, bombardment and assault and the attrition of men, plus the conventions of war needed to be included but there needed to be as little book keeping as possible. With that in mind I worked up the following rough draft.

The basic mechanisms work out ok, its the bonus/benefit of picking an action like mining, or sallying that doesn't quite click yet. however I think I'm not far off it.

 

 

I've got this on pdf, so if anyone desperately wants a copy then drop me a line