Andreivia oi oi oi oi! (To the tune of the old Subbuteo advert)

The main gaming effort this year was the annual Crisis Point weekend, organised by Richard Crawley at Dungworth near Sheffield. The theme this year was "Andreivia Through The Ages". Andreivia is a fictional Black Sea country situated between Turkey and Armenia. It was created by Richard in 2008 (I think) for a SOTCW game, set as a UN intervention in a Balkans-esque, multi-ethnic Civil War in the early 90s.

Since then the history of Andreivia has continued to be developed. Over recent years games have been set during the War of Independence, as Andreivia fought to free itself from the collapsing Russian Empire in 1919. Games this year were set over such diverse periods as the Roman invasion and WW2 Eastern Front. Neil and I were (all in past tense of course, since this was all planned before The Event) to host the War of Andreivian Succession of 1764. Neil took the part of General Horace Wilberforce of the Honourable Black Sea Trading Company's British expeditionary army (Wilberforce Force). This left me to create the Royal Andreivian Army:

First we have the regular infantry:

There are 6 battalions of regular infantry, using the Baccus Levant infantry from the Ottoman Great Northern War range. Andreivians are of Greek ethnicity, so I've based their uniforms on traditional Greek costume. I wanted them to have a different feel to Western European troops, so I have used unformed musket armed infantry and the centre companies have spears. In fact they are quite dexterous chaps, as they have a shield on their left arm, a spear in their left hand and a musket on the right, which slots on to a rest on the side of the shields. Our chosen ruleset, Maurice, includes pike armed troops, so they would have had an effect on the tabletop.

Next, the artillery:

These are also from the Ottoman range from the Great Northern War era. I am not  aware of any country using black for their guns, so thought that it would make a distinctive (and also quick) paint scheme.

Every army needs its General:

These lads are from the Baccus Mahdist Emirs pack, with some Irregular baggage and a Leven tent. I did buy some Irregular pavilions for a more 'Eastern' look but they turned out to be far too big, so they will have to wait for another project.

Finally for now we have this chap:

In Maurice terms he is a Notable. For our game he is Prince Jerzy Drahomanov, dashing cavalry officer, arch plotter, brother of the late King and sworn enemy of the Queen Regent.

I hope that was of some interest. Part 2 will feature some allied units.