The people that live in the mountains and
foothills of Ost (East) Averland are free of the foppishness which is
common in the rest of Averland, living in the foothills of the mountains
leads to a more rugged existence. This does lead to a tendency towards
roughness which is looked down upon by the rest of Averland; Although
the men of the more rustic states find the Eastern Averlanders much
closer to their ilk. The people are like much of the Empire, farming,
logging and trading for their wealth. The far flung nature of the land
results in a few less of the comforts that the central Empire has. The
nobility of Ost Averland tends to have a desire to emulate their more
wealthy lowland neighbours and will often be as garishly dressed as
possible, although not always in the latest styles.
The terrain
of the mountain foothills however means that their is a distinct lack of
horses, as a result the forces from East of Averland tend to be lacking
in cavalry. For the Garrisons of the mountains. this usually presents
little problem as the mountains are unsuitable for horses. When required
to take to a traditional battlefield lack of Heavy Cavalry has to be
made up by units from other provinces, if they are available.
The
Ost Averland Black Mountains Garrison is responsible for the defense of
the Black Mountains smaller passes and mountains, not as famous as the
men who defend the main route into the Empire the Black Fire pass
defenders but fulfilling a vital defensive role. The defence of the
smaller passes is a never ending job and the troops end up accruing a
lot of combat experience in the mountains.
The garrison forces
comprise of two major forces the main garrison forces who man the passes
and Forts and the Alpenkorps who patrol the mountains themselves. The
troops weapon of choice is the pike whose lack of maneuverability is not
an issue in the narrow mountain passes and whose reach is vital when
dealing with Trolls or other large beasts.
The men of the
Garrison is well supplied with funds and armour from the Averland
government; who understand the importance of maintaining the bulwark of
the mountains. The Garrison maintains as much heavy and plate armour as
possible in the fortresses, even though it has fallen out of favour
amongst the Empire at large because armour is useless when fighting
against blackpowder weapons the enemies that the garrison fights are
rarely equipped with such.
The Garrison favours crossbows over
handguns, this is due to the logistics problem of supplying gunpowder to
the high mountain passes, fletchers have a permanent place in these
forts manufacturing bolts from the mountain pines and the various birds
of the region. The gunpowder that the forts keep on hand is reserved
primarily for the cannons and mortars which are kept in large numbers in
the fortifications, vital for defending the choke points in which the
Forts are constructed.
Despite the lack of horses the Garrison
does keep a small of cavalry on duty as scouting forces mounted on small
agile horses. Either drawn from the minor nobility of Ost Averland and
formed from men of Pistolier corps or common men of the garrison troops
equipped in the same way.
Although not a glamorous military
presence in the Empire, the Garrison does present a good level of
training and fighting ability, in field battles they will perform
un-remarkably but reliably. When fighting in the mountains and narrow
passes the experience and tactics of the men does much to improve their
effectiveness.
The colours of the Garrison are the Yellow of
Averland and White, often locally used to represent Ost Averland. This
is then combined with a halved flat red to represent all of the troops
fighting for the Black Mountains Garrison.
A
soldier of the mountaineering forces known as the Alpenkorps, these
troops spend their time mountaineering the high peaks, keeping watch,
reporting and small scale skirmishes with the various monsters that
inhabit the cliffs and peaks. Whilst in the mountains the troops use
axes, shortened polearms or swords with shields, however when deployed
in a conventional battle line they most often form a pike block. Their
armour is much lighter then the men to facilitate their mountaineering
role compared to the Garrison troops that defend the passes. The
Alpenkrops most often wear furs made from bear or mountain lion skin. In
battle however the furs are discarded and only the headpiece is
retained. Note this soldier retains some of his mountaineering equipment
in his pack.
Garrison Pikeman
A
Pikeman of the Garrison forces, responsible for defence of the forts
and passes. Equipped with a pike and heavy armour, this is less of a
burden on a force deployed primarily defensively, as they aren't often
required to march on long campaigns with it. The heavy armour proves
invaluable fighting the various Orc, Goblin, Troll and other enemies
that are encountered in the passes. The bandannas and cloths are
decorated with the colours of the Black Mountains garrison.
Garrison Pikeman with Pavise
A
Pikeman with a Pavise shield. Pavise shields are often employed by the
Garrison for their pike blocks in static positions and their
Crossbowmen. The shields provided an extra level of protection from
thrown or fired missiles and are often gaudily decorated.
I was on my round the world trip when a visit to Warhammer world let me see the
Dogs of War pikemen up close in the cabinets, it was there I decided
that those were the models for me. I will be playing these chaps as an
Empire army when their done unless GW gives us a new DOW army book.
Men
and Artillery will be the order of the day, Dogs of War pikemen
combined with various historical miniatures as well, I will be utilizing
some Perry miniatures, Kingmaker and Crusader miniatures.
This project has been ongoing for a little while now, but I have only recently started blogging, so I will be posting updates for these regularly too (too many projects!)
