Reginald's Regiments of Renown, Issue #9

Manchester (63rd) Regiment

History

The 63rd Regiment was formed in 1758 from the 2nd Battalion, 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot during the Seven Years War against France. The regiment has been a single battalion regiment for most of its lifetime, barring a short period during the napoleonic Wars when a second battalion was created. The 63rd has served Her Majesty (God Bless Her!) in many theaters of operations, including Afghanistan, New Zealand, and the Martian Crown Colony.

In 1881, as a result of army reforms, the 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment was amalgamated with the 96th Regiment of Foot into the Manchester Regiment. As with all the regiments, many officers and other ranks still refer to the regiment as the 63rd (it having numeric precedence over the 96th, you see).

The Manchester Regiment was posted to the Martian Crown Colony in 1880.

Combat History

The 63rd has taken part in the Seven Years War, the American Rebellion, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Crimean War. Some of the battles in which the 63rd fought include Bunker Hill (1775),  Brandywine (1776), Monmouth (1778), Guadaloupe (1809), Martinique (1810), Inkerman (1854) and the Siege of Sevastopol (1854-55).

More recently, the Regiment took part in the Second Afghan War in 1878.

Uniform

The Manchester Regiment is outfitted in the manner typical of modern British Line Infantry. The basic field uniform consists of white sun helmet, scarlet tunic, grey shirt, white braces, dark blue trousers with scarlet outside seam, brown leather leggings and low black leather boots. Facings (collar, epaulettes and cuffs) are white for this English regiment. NCO insignia is worn on the right sleeve.

Some officers and men of the 63rd wear either a Glengarry cap or local ulurr straw hat in place of the typical sun helmet. Officers sometimes exchange the standard scarlet tunic/jacket for a dark blue patrol jacket. Officers may also wear riding pants and boots, and most forego the leggings issued to the NCOs and Other Ranks.

Equipment for enlisted men consists of white leather 1879 pattern gear. Enlisted men and NCOs are armed with the Martini Henry breechloading rifle. Sergeants carry a sword bayonet, Other Ranks a triangular spike style. Officers wear a Sam Browne belt and shoulder strap, and are typically armed with revolver and saber. Again, individual officers may make adjustments to their equipment as funds, personal tastes, and regimental command sees fit to allow. After all, the officers do pay for their uniforms out of their own pockets.

Intrepid Heroes, Mission 1

Intrepid Heroes is the name of the freelance troubleshooter trading house that my sons created when they started playing Star Frontiers with me a few weeks ago. I've already mentioned the first adventures of Bahud and Yan here in other posts. I thought you might want an update on the IH team.

First, we have added another player: Kellie, my wife's assistant. She's never really played a pen-and-paper RPG before, so we're teaching her how it goes. She got intrigued on Saturday when we had a garage sale here at the house and she brought a lot of stuff over to sell (she and her husband Chris don't have much of a "garage sale" neighborhood). Sitting about waiting for customers, the boys and I got into talking about playing some more. Kellie demanded we help her create a character. After the garage sale (not very successful, sadly), we went up to the game room and started playing!

Intrepid Heroes has hired a few new faces: Chooba, a Dralasite; Gar Pok, a Gorlian; and a female Vrusk whose name is utterly unpronounceable. The Dralasite and the Gorlian are Military PSA, the Vrusk a Biosocial PSA with Psycho-social skill (hypnotism!).

IH was hired out by Pan Galactic Corp to make a delivery run to a rather remote village called R'Haldran , some four or five days' travel by hover transport from Port Loren, the capital and starport on Gran Quivera, the primary planet of the Prenglar System. In exchange, each employee (of four) is to receive a payment of Cr500. Naturally, it isn't as easy as all that. So far, the four being IH team (Chooba stayed behind in Port Loren to mind the shop) has come across:

• A small town obviously raided by some kind of bandits, with all adults killed and at least one child taken, and a series of burned out farmsteads.
• Communications are out. The team's short range stuff works, and reception from satellites is still good, but there are no operating uplinks for long range comm transmissions.
• One farmstead (where they stayed the night) was similarly raided. Two dead human adults, two missing Human children, one dead male Vrusk in the farmyard.
• A mysterious glijet operating without running lights.
• A roadblock, manned by a single sentry who shoots first and didn't bother with questions. He was captured by a sweet tangler gun shot from the Vrusk, then interrogated after an attempt at hypnotism failed, but before Bahud got mad at him and burned a hole in his head with a laser rifle. Bahud needs to watch that temper!

That is the point at which we had to stop. The team has figured out that someone is kidnapping children, but have no idea why. The empty town kind of creeped them out, too. Which is great because it was totally what I wanted to happen.

What further adventures await the Intrepid Heroes? Tune in again next time...

A New Convention for Steampunk/VSF

Check it out! Seatlle, WA, in November. Wonder how much airfare is?

SteamCon II

Seems as if there is a good focus on gaming as well. Sounds like fun.

April Projects Update

I actually made some progress on my painting projects this weekend. Which is good, because I am almost out of time this month!

VSF:
The Masked Minions are just about done. Ten infantry are completed, and most of the gun crew is as well. I just need to add the shell to the loader figure and do the cuff trim on the gun captain. Other than that, they are finished. There is a major snag on the smoke projector, though... I can't find one of the wheels!

The nine remaining 'dug-in' half-jacks for Maton are done. Still need to assemble, prime, paint and base nine of the 'in the open' half-jacks. Luckily, the paint jobs are extremely simple and fast. Also need to decide for sure if I am going to provide them with visible external weapons or not. I am leaning towards saying "Yes", but I don't have a sufficient quantity of similar bits to arm them identically. Any suggestions, ladies and gents?

BattleTech:
Finished off bases for five already painted BattleMechs. Three other BattleMechs are just about done (final detailing and clear coating all that's left). Finished two SRM Carriers and two Manticore tanks. Coolant trucks are primed, and should not take long to paint. No infantry done yet.

WFB:
The Grandmaster of the Blazing Suns is almost finished, too. Final touchup, static grass and clearcoating all that's left. The Kislevites and flagellants haven't been touched.

Photos soon. I promise.

Alternate History Imagi-nations List

I was thinking this morning about all of the various Imagi-nations that my friends and I have dreamt up over the last couple of years for VSF gaming. Some are vaguely historical, some a total fabrication. So here they are, briefly described:

• Republic of Texas: The historical Republic of Texas, independent of the United States and extended across northern Mexico to the Pacific.
• Kingdom of Hawaii: Essentially a British client, yet still independent. A firm fixture in the British Hegemony.
• Elistonia: A minor Central European nation. A bit old-fashioned, too.
• Papal States: Historically, they were absorbed into Italy in the late 1800s.
• Republic of Venice: Much like the Papal States, Venice has managed to maintain a measure of independence.
• Confederated Italian States (CIS): As the name implies, the various states of Italy formed a confederation rather than becoming truly unified. The politics of this nation are... vigorous.
• Empire of Mexico: Propped up by the French, Mexico's Emperor Maximillian I is trying to develop a regional power out of his impoverished nation.
• Fenian Republic: The Emerald Isle has managed to break the shackles of English dominance, assisted by a variety of clandestine technology transfers, British distractions in the aether, and a good dash of luck.
• Laputa: A floating (in the sky!) island, an enigmatic mystery, and a source of deadly peril.

I am sure I am forgetting a few, but you can see that there is a lot of odd stuff going on here.

There are also some non-terrestrial nations, on Mars. The most important of these is the Empire of Galfor, which opposes pretty much everything the British do on Mars.