04.09.07

Grenadiers pass in review

Posted in Fictional Countries at 5:56 pm

This weekend I finished up the grenadier company of my Spencer Smith regiment. We had a weather front move through here that dropped the temperatures down into the 20s and brought snow to the city. That would not be bad except for the fact that the city gets snow so infrequently that we have no snow removal equipment. There was no going out, therefore. Since it was cold and my heater in the workshed doesn’t handle temps well below 30 deg Fahrenheit, instead of going out to the shed and working on terrain, I opted to stay indoors and paint.

This was the first SSM regiment I have painted. By the time I got to the last company, I had the system down… paint the cuff on all of them, paint the left epaulet on each one, then the right, and so on in a variation of assembly line painting. I sealed with GW ‘ardcoat and then with Reaper Brush-on Sealer (which provides a dull coat). Next time I will probably use Dullcote instead as I *really* like the way it dulls things down.

The company consists of 16 rank and file, an officer (not present), a drummer (not present), and a senior NCO (the figure on the front right of the company) denoted by stripes on the right sleeve.

I’m working on a name and history for the regiment. My initial impulse was to establish this regiment as being drawn from the ranks of the Académie Gastronomique of Freedonia. Known as the Regiment de l’Académie Gastronomique the rank and file consists of dropouts from the ranks of Freedonia’s finest chefs. During the siege of Mayonne, the Regiment distinguished itself by pouring vats of boiling chocolate on attacking forces, a maneuver known in books on tactics as “The Fondue.” This part of the siege has become known as the Mayonnaise Miracle.

The other approach was to refer to them as the Regiment der Kriegakademieköche. Roughly translated from German this means the regiment of war academy cooks. Somehow it doesn’t have the same ring in German as it does in French.

Later this week, I’ll get the entire regiment out for a parade and photo before starting on my RSM regiment.

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