March - April Projects - Cortesia Invades Lionia
My computer has been seeing the computer doc and hence the lack of recent posts but I hope to make up for that until it has to be sent off again.
As you can see from the previous post South America is an expanding area in my Toy Soldier Land. The brightly coloured uniforms, along with the multi-purpose use of some units for Mexico and the American Civil War make it an interesting area for expansion.
But just as I got interested in the 19th century War Of The Triple Alliance (Paraguay versus Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina) I bought a book on the Pacific War (which occurred a few years later between Peru and Bolivia versus Chile) and began painting ACW cavalry as Chileans or Bolivians. (The Bolivians captured a shipment of Chilean cavalry uniforms and made up a unit in almost identical uniforms to their enemy!) In any case you will see these red trousered cavalry in a future post. Speaking of multi-purpose they will also serve as French or Gerolsteiner cavalry.
As for my next wargame, I wrote out a list of fifteen nations and diced to see who would be warring with whom; it turns out to be Lionia (my pseudo Abyssinian nation) and Cortesia (read Mexico). Further dice rolls established the second half of the 19th century as the period. Some of you might recall an early blog post where Borduria invades Lionia somewhere around 1920. This time an invasion will be 1879. For my earlier game Lionians, complete with armoured cars, anti-aircraft guns, swordsmen and attack lions fought an invasion force which included a plane and tankettes. Fortunately for the Lionians their enemy did not use poison gas and they defeated the interlopers.
The Italian parallels are obvious so this time the Cortesians will be equivalent to the Italians invading Abyssinia in the late 19th century. (Defeat led to the 20th century invasion meant to restore Italian honour). The way the politically correct talk of European colonialism these days no-one would think that the Europeans never got a bloody nose and it was only the poor defenceless natives who were exterminated by the colonisers; in fact, although the Italians had some dramatic victories they lost big time at Adowa and this lost them the war. The casualties were much higher than for the Brits suffered when they were beaten in battle by Zulus or Custer suffered from the Sioux and Cheyanne.
Anyway I'm still deciding if I'll attempt to replicate one of the actual battles and which one. I am setting the battle slightly earlier than Adowa but with the same expectation that the 'natives' will have some good artillery and rifles but that some troops will be armed with swords, shields and spears. They will outnumber the invaders two to one. The Mexicans - oops - Cortesians - should have quite a few cavalry or mounted infantry as they have a reputation for horsemanship.
Now, the premise: Why would pseudo Mexico invade pseudo Abyssinia? Prince Juan, son of Emperor Maxwell of Cortesia was on a hunting trip in Lionia when his hunting party was kidnapped by a local warlord. Also in the party was, Esmerelda, the daughter of President Pancho of Chile. The Emperor of Abyssinia has sent his regrets to Maxwell and the president of Chile but says his hands are tied as his authority has been challenged in that region. Thus the expeditionary force is sent, allowed safe passaged through Redian colonial territory and will be resisted by all hot blooded Lionians who cherish their national sovereignty. Incidentally, the Chileans, despite recent tensions with Cortesia, have sent a cavalry unit to reinforce the expedition.
Lastly, I remind my dear readers that ACOTS approaches and full reports on our Australian convention will be made in April.
As you can see from the previous post South America is an expanding area in my Toy Soldier Land. The brightly coloured uniforms, along with the multi-purpose use of some units for Mexico and the American Civil War make it an interesting area for expansion.
But just as I got interested in the 19th century War Of The Triple Alliance (Paraguay versus Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina) I bought a book on the Pacific War (which occurred a few years later between Peru and Bolivia versus Chile) and began painting ACW cavalry as Chileans or Bolivians. (The Bolivians captured a shipment of Chilean cavalry uniforms and made up a unit in almost identical uniforms to their enemy!) In any case you will see these red trousered cavalry in a future post. Speaking of multi-purpose they will also serve as French or Gerolsteiner cavalry.
As for my next wargame, I wrote out a list of fifteen nations and diced to see who would be warring with whom; it turns out to be Lionia (my pseudo Abyssinian nation) and Cortesia (read Mexico). Further dice rolls established the second half of the 19th century as the period. Some of you might recall an early blog post where Borduria invades Lionia somewhere around 1920. This time an invasion will be 1879. For my earlier game Lionians, complete with armoured cars, anti-aircraft guns, swordsmen and attack lions fought an invasion force which included a plane and tankettes. Fortunately for the Lionians their enemy did not use poison gas and they defeated the interlopers.
The Italian parallels are obvious so this time the Cortesians will be equivalent to the Italians invading Abyssinia in the late 19th century. (Defeat led to the 20th century invasion meant to restore Italian honour). The way the politically correct talk of European colonialism these days no-one would think that the Europeans never got a bloody nose and it was only the poor defenceless natives who were exterminated by the colonisers; in fact, although the Italians had some dramatic victories they lost big time at Adowa and this lost them the war. The casualties were much higher than for the Brits suffered when they were beaten in battle by Zulus or Custer suffered from the Sioux and Cheyanne.
Anyway I'm still deciding if I'll attempt to replicate one of the actual battles and which one. I am setting the battle slightly earlier than Adowa but with the same expectation that the 'natives' will have some good artillery and rifles but that some troops will be armed with swords, shields and spears. They will outnumber the invaders two to one. The Mexicans - oops - Cortesians - should have quite a few cavalry or mounted infantry as they have a reputation for horsemanship.
Now, the premise: Why would pseudo Mexico invade pseudo Abyssinia? Prince Juan, son of Emperor Maxwell of Cortesia was on a hunting trip in Lionia when his hunting party was kidnapped by a local warlord. Also in the party was, Esmerelda, the daughter of President Pancho of Chile. The Emperor of Abyssinia has sent his regrets to Maxwell and the president of Chile but says his hands are tied as his authority has been challenged in that region. Thus the expeditionary force is sent, allowed safe passaged through Redian colonial territory and will be resisted by all hot blooded Lionians who cherish their national sovereignty. Incidentally, the Chileans, despite recent tensions with Cortesia, have sent a cavalry unit to reinforce the expedition.
Lastly, I remind my dear readers that ACOTS approaches and full reports on our Australian convention will be made in April.
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