From SidneyR: “A Demonstration of Armes!”, Laarden 1688 (‘Armory’ - 50 points’)

 

“Mijnheer Glouw? My good Sir, you are most welcome. I am delighted that one of the Laarden Field Deputies has decided to grace us with their presence at this Demonstration of Armes. The Council of Laarden received my letter sent to the Hall of Deputies? Excellent, excellent. What can I show you first, Mijnheer? The English dog-locks? German long-pistols? Or maybe our finest Swedish flintlocks, just arrived from our contacts in the Baltic?

“Maybe I can offer you something more martial - perhaps a Nuremberg cavalier’s rapier? I am at your convenience, my Lord. And you’ll see we have contracts available for signature now, prepared in duplicate - yes, over by the crates of musquettes, just by the side of that rather exceptional Hungarian Szekszárd. I can also supply a crate of those bottles to your herenhuis, Sir, if you like a full bodied red..."

“Ah... my associates, you ask? They’ve served in my Company from the mountains of Serbia, through the black forests of Wallachia and into the frozen marshes of Courland. My associates are both experts in the art and manufacture of weapons, and are veterans of many engagements. I can see you’re interested in the English dog-lock pistol being wielded by Hans? A wise choice, Mijnheer Glouw, a wise choice - as I would expect from a gentleman of your discerning tastes, and - dare I say - your growing reputation. Allow us to effect a demonstration...”

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For my “Armory” submission, I’ve staged a demonstration of arms by the famed (and fictional) Imperial military enterpriser, Count Konrad von Hexendorf. A glittering array of arms, “musquettes”, pistols and halberds. Who could fail to be impressed?  Count von Hexendorfcertainly seems to have charmed the representative of the Laarden Council of Deputies, one of the senior members of the noble Flemish family of Glouw.

Unfortunately, it is possible that the bona fides of ‘Count Konrad von Hexendorf” are less than impeccable. The impressive weapons are genuine enough, but many of the crates which could be supplied may be looted from various sub-standard citadels throughout the German lands. It’s always suspicious for the contract terms to be drawn up, ready for signature, before the negotiation begins. 

And those bottles of Hungarian wine from Szekszárd are perhaps a little too prominently displayed. Perhaps Count von Hexendorf has been forewarned concerning the florid features of Lord de Glouw?

And those uniforms of Hans and Pavel - they are perhaps just a little too theatrical, exotic and - Lord forbid - just too martial to be practical?

I’m just suggesting the possibility, fellow Challengers… but, do you think ... a charlatan might be at work?

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I needed a fair sized base for the submission, and I had a few items of 3mm hardboard lying around. I cut one to shape and rolled out a base of milliput, which I then covered with the GreenStuff World pavement roller I used for the Greyscale Chamber, and my ‘Nightwatch’ submission. I found the milliput a total pain to use - adding water makes it workable, but it’s a horribly slimy substance to work with. I was cursing the Hobby Gods while I rolled it out, I confess, dear Challengers. On the plus side, the milliput dries rock hard - just remember to do all the trimming and sculpting while it’s damp and/or soft.

One advantage of the milliput is that you can press the figures into the putty before it’s dry to create locating ‘plugs’ for the figures to stand in. I added the crates and barrels that way, along with the weapons. The figures are a jumble of conversions and spares box oddments, but are from Wargames Foundry. Lord de Glouw is an ECW nobleman, and his factotum is from the Wargames Foundry Marburian range with a swapped Redoubt ECW head. “Count von Hexendorf” is from an ECW command set, and Hans and Pavel are from the ECW and Renaissance Polish range, respectively. I added extra green-stuff feathers, lace and longer hair to the various models to make them look a little more baroque.

Lord de Glouw’s florid features come from a glaze with Vallejo Model Wash ‘flesh tone’, but I used Army Painter washes on the other figures (a Christmas present from my long suffering wife, Nicola).

I designed von Hexendorf’s printed marketing pamphlet in PowerPoint, and reduced it size for printing in 28mm scale. A few miniature copies of the pamphlet are littered across the scene, by the wine, and dropped on the cobbles. 

The improvised target is a scratch built easel made from plasti-card, with a reduced scale print of Louis XIV as the target. (I am sure that Count von Hexendorf probably used a print of the Emperor or King of Spain when selling weapons to the French). There are spare prints, rolled up, around the back of the crates, in case the shooting demonstration decimates the print being used. 

However, at least one of the “musquette” balls seems to have missed. What kind of “veterans” are Pavel and Hans, one might wonder...

The letters of recommendation (perhaps forged) and the contracts by the bottles of Hungarian wine are simply written on tea-stained paper and glued down with PVA onto the base.

The ‘straw’ is cuttings from a floor mat and the autumn turning leaves came from ‘Antenociti’s Workshop’.

And because this is all part of my ludicrously indulgent Laarden 1688 project, here’s the accompanying Collectible Character Card for “Count von Hexendorf”, together with the other Collectible Character Cards in this Challenge XI so far.

All that’s now left is to see is whether Count von Henendorf is all that he seems. Feel free to join me in the dice roll, dear Challengers:

Dice roll (D6)	The “Financier or Fraud” Table
1, 2	“A most impressive demonstration of Armes” : You’re impressed, the wine is excellent and you sign the contracts. The only unnerving thing is the breadth of Count von Hexendorf’s smile, barely impaired by his tobacco stained teeth.
3, 4	“We need guns... lots of guns”: You don’t need new fancy English pistols but you need an awful lot of muskets. And none of those fancy French “musquettes” the Count keeps talking about. You take the crates of weapons that the Count has brought and ask to triple his standard order. You optimistically wonder if he can supply horses as well? The Count, Hans and Pavel all smile broadly in unison and open another bottle of the very good Hungarian wine.
5, 6	“Who is this peacock?” Your grandmother knows more about French dragoons than the “Count” does. You rumble von Hexendorf, who shuffles around suspiciously and makes various excuses, most of which involve blaming ‘market conditions’ for a dodgy mis-firing “musquette”. Later that night, your factotum spies “Count” von Hexendorf, Hans and Pavel loading crates of damaged and mis-firing weapons onto an old wagon in Guldensporenstraat.

For the points, there’s five 25mm figures at 5 points each (25 points), plus 20 for the Armoury theme, totalling 45 points. I thought that the rest of the base might be worth a couple of points - say 2 for the base and maybe 3 for the weapons - well, they are the latest technology, after all. That would total up to... 50 points.

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