Ne Plus Ultra

I have recently commenced an imagi-nations campaign based on Henry Hyde's beautiful Borgenmark map. The map has been modified quite a bit since it was set up as the basis of our SoW online campaign. The fictional world is set in 1726 but I am using some units and weapons from the 17th century as well, for example the pike is still in use in some armies and one army has bow units. Generally, however, the forces of the western states are based on those familiar to Marlborough, Cumberland, Charles XII, Peter the Great and Louis XV. Military dress and tactics cover the period 1700-1760 more or less.

This campaign is miniatures based, using 1/72nd scale plastics and Charles Grant's original 1960s rules as set out in his 1971 book "The War Game" and updated in his son's publications "The War Game Companion" and "The War Game Rules" published by Ken Trottman in 2008 and 2012 respectively. Yes, I am going back to my teenage years roots as far as wargaming goes. I first discovered "proper" wargaming in 1973 when I was 14 with this book and it, and the period, have been my first love in wargaming ever since.

Charles Grant's regiments famously use 53 figures per infantry regiment which I think are the largest standard wargame units ever created and they look superb on the table.

I have set up a Facebook group to follow the campaign and discuss my modelling: https://www.facebook.com/groups/602885163860275/

I and a group of friends will resolve the battles face to face but I am posting here in case any members of the KS group would like to play the role of one of the state leaders in a PBEM KS style campaign. I am already 4 days into the campaign and the first battle has resulted and for this I need to paint up a lot of figures, which is taking place now, so the resolution of that battle is going to be very delayed, however in the meantime there is plenty to discuss, organise and threaten.

The map covers a region known as The Marks and equates roughly to north-central Europe.

The situation is that a vast horde of wandering tribes and clans from the east have been moving westwards, driven from their homelands by droughts and failed harvests. Pushing westwards in search of food and a land to settle they are encroaching onto the east and south east regions of the map. The most easterly state in The Marks, Polstovia has been forced into a bitter war of defence against what seems to be a limitless host of ferocious hairy people who favour light cavalry, bows and rapid, bewildering movement. Towns and villages have been lost, peoples enslaved and livestock taken.

Further west some nations are responding favourably to Polstovia's plight but others remain aloof.

The posts in the Facebook group that narrate the fictional world progress of the campaign are numbered, other discussions about modelling, rules, the map and so on are not. I have the map and some rule sheets on a Dropbox account as well. I cannot circulate the map in public due to copyright limitations but can make it accessible to active players on the understanding that it is not to be uploaded anywhere else, nor given to anyone not involved in the campaign. Henry put in hundreds of hours making the map and I have invested tens of hours so far in editing it to better suit my needs.

If anyone is interested please join the FB group (link above).

If people are interested in reading the Story So Far I can copy posts here. Such as...

= = = o O o = = =

THE DARKNESS

SPRING 1726

Polstovia had been at relative peace for more than thirty years. In the closing decade of the last century there were incursions from the Tartori in the south east, a group of horse clans who raided the province of Burtsfurt for slaves, livestock and grain but the 1695 Convention of Wlokla brought an end to these border problems. An agreed annual payment in gold, leather goods and grain to the Tartori clan leaders in return for sworn oaths secured peace in the south.

Tsarka Gregori III, the monarch of Polstovia, secured treaties of trade with King Gustavus XIII of Noordemarke and Grand Duke Alphonso of Parnese. These were later developed into treatries of non-aggression. While a trade treaty was concluded in 1713 with Kaiser Sigismund "der Fettleibig" of Schwitz, relations with the Schwitzians did not progress and affairs remained cordial but cool. There were minor issues over trade, some diplomatic stumbles and so on as befalls all growing enlightened states in their relations with one another, but nothing that might indicate a cause to the distance that grew between the two kingdoms.

In 1714 a great fair was held at Burtsfurt. Grand Duke Alphonso of Parnese attended with two of his infantry regiments and a regiment of horse. Joint military manoeuvres were held and the event was seen as a great opportunity for improved trade and closer military relations. Further fairs and manoeuvres were held in the following years at four-yearly intervals, the fair of 1722 witnessing a grand mock battle between a brigade of Parnese troops and one of Polstovians. The gentry and merchant classes were much entertained as well as alarmed by the rattling muskets and booming cannon.

It was however in 1721 that what would later become known as The Great Darkness was first heard mention of, rumours spreading westward on trade caravans and from hunters, trappers and fishermen who sought their livelihoods in the forests and rivers of the east. Stories of a swarthy dark-skinned people, immeasurable in numbers and filled with greed, violence and a lust for expansion became rife. For some time these stories were put aside as exaggerated accounts of minor tribal incursions against the Tsarka's royal domains far, far to the east but as months passed, the stories persisted and grew in both frequency and authenticity. Gregori called a council of the Diet to discuss the matter and it was decided that a delegation would journey east to determine the veracity of these reports and, if they were true, to meet with these eastern peoples who were on the move and question their reasons and their intent.

The delegation returned last autumn, the year 1725, much wearied and exhausted. The accounts were true, they reported. A vast horde of a mix of eastern and southern peoples who called themselves "Yeniceri" which translated as "numberless" or "without end" were moving north-west from distant lands that had been made desolate by terrible droughts and failed harvests and whose soil was now dust. The Yeniceri were advancing westwards out of a necessity to survive but there were other issues concerning a disgust with the richness of the eastern Polstovian provinces where farmers tilled rich dark soils, owned many fat cattle and easily raised large red-cheeked families. The lushness of the land, the green forests of endless timber and the rivers teeming with fish had made the Yeniceri envious and seeing so meagre a population living in these rich lands, they had determined to move into them and enjoy these natural gifts. Encounters with the Polstovian farmers and foresters had not gone well. A number were killed and driven from their land. Still the Yeniceri moved west, apparently staggered by the bounty of the forest lands. The delegation reported that there seemed no end to their lust for expansion into new territory. The city of Boristorno, 125 leagues south-east of the capital, had been pillaged by them in the spring of 1725. Thousands of civilians had been murdered or made homeless. Many more had been taken as slaves.

Tsarka Gregori sent emissaries to San Lioretto, Altenberg and Birkkjaerhaven, the capitals of Polstovia's three western neighbours. King Gustavus, Grand Duke Alphonso and Kaiser Sigismund all remarked that they too were aware of The Darkness though in these further westward states, concerns were not so great. It was not the people of Parnese or Schwitz that were suffering, being made homeless and being driven from their lands, but foreigners, people far distant who were not their concern. The fact that it was not their problem resulted in a cool reception of Gregori's requests for assistance. Only Duke Alphonso offered true help in the form of a cash loan and the promise to mobilise his army and move a column of troops to Monte Gravina. King Gustav ordered his peasant levy to be called up to supplement the peacetime establishments of his infantry regiments but there was no offer to send troops.

Ser Ivan Khovansky, the Tsarka's most senior general and de facto chief of the army after Gregori himself, promised to undertake a survey of the army and navy and to issue a call for serfs to be levied to bring the regiments to strength. A formal Letter of Loyal Service was drafted and conveyed to the Boyarki, or Noble classes, whose position as overseers of royal lands, farms and villages obligated them to raise military units; companies of horse or foot who were to assemble at the nearest military camp. There were several of these in western Polstovia; the greatest camp was located at the capital, Miasto Dolina, at the Katerina Estamova Barracks, named for Tsarka Gregori's dowager queen mother. Other camps existed at the northern port-city of Twierdzymorskiej; at Lublocin on the shores of Lake Spitzso, at Jezioro Miejsce on the river Kreuzflut opposite Tonkissfurt; and at Burtsfurt, in the south.

Loans were called in, the bankers were pressed for further lending, an additional tax was levied and the textile factories began to manufacture uniforms, belts, shoes and pouches. The Grand Armoury at Miasto Dolina produced muskets and cannon barrels. The Chetnija Artillery School took in an additional draft of new scholars and the call went out to agents to secure horses.

Spring grew into summer. Crops ripened. The weather grew hot and the air buzzed with insects, irritating farm animal and farm worker alike. Patrols of hussars had been despatched east. Reports came back. There were two main bodies of the Yenceri, each reaching forward fingers of light cavalrymen; young, hungry warriors keen to prove themselves. Like relentless snakes they slithered across the land. It seemed no river was wide enough, no mountain high enough and no forest dense enough to stop their progress. One group of them were in the south and appeared to be headed toward Burtsfurt, though it was thought that the invaders may not know of the presence of that city specifically. The other body was noted to be north of the Stolpina and was thought to be moving on Elbetag or Opolitz from which places it might head west or north, thus threatening the capital.

The 25th of May announced the first contact. Messengers from Eckwitz told of a vast dust cloud and numerous cavalrymen headed west towards the town.

Khovansky's problem was that there was no suitable military position on which to form a defensive line. Burtsfurt offered a good position against any enemy in the south but the news of the trans-Stolpina column meant that this position could be cut off from the capital. If Grand Duke Alphonso could promise troops a position could be held between Burtsfurt and Puglese which might offer a route of withdrawal into Parnese though it was not a position that helped Polstovia. Further north there was no position at all. Grasslands spread east from Opolitz, Sgorvoj, Dvoric and Melec offering only open rolling terrain, excellent for light cavalry. The first position that might be held was the capital itself.

In the north Chetnija offered a good position on the river Pierwszyrzeka which could protect the northern provinces.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2291020960999330&set=p.2291020960999330&type=3&theater

Perhaps Polstovia would be well served by the classic Byzantine strategy of working very hard to ferry the crusaders through their own lands to the ones further West. You think it rich here? You should see our neighbours!

I want to advise that this campaign is going strong. It ran for a couple of months at the end of 2019 and until Feb 2020 when it paused. After COVID I resumed it early this summer using my 15mm SYW armies newly converted and rebased to 1720s/1730s imagi-nations armies and the game is running well. There are some dozen or more players and we have completed five turns now from the start of April 1727 to the second week of May (just about to start). Each map turn represents a week and I aim to turn around each map turn in one week. In that time players should issue any military orders, issue instructions to raise troops, build civic works, etc. and write any letters to other states.

There are several openings for small, middling and powerful sates if players are interested, there is one caveat and that is the campaign runs entirely on FaceBook so you will need an account there to join.

A link to the group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/602885163860275

The map:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wludasesz20h1n2/Borgenmark_Map_v14.png

All are welcome though I am particularly happy to see players who want to take up an active role.