This painstaking research has uncovered definite proof of the existence of the Dinotruppen – the Kriegsclaws and Pterawaffe deployed by Nazi Germany in the latter part of World War II. Take a look at these images and be shocked!

Also, regular Allied intelligence briefings gave out dinosaur recognition cards to the troops, together with camouflage patterns and markings for the Stukadactyls.

It has been a long time coming, but it looks as though the quiet unseen gardening work over the years is starting to come into fruit.

Most, if not all of the material here will be migrated on to the new site, but this is just the beginning. Anubis Studios is poised to produce a series of professional games and game supplements, harnessing the creative forces of Greg Hallam, Alan Harrison and Andrew Boswell. This will be combined with the goodwill and solid support given by Nic Robson at Eureka Miniatures.

Thanks to everyone who has visited this site over the years. I hope that you will stick around with us as we transition into the new model, and I hope that we can provide you with some innovative and fun games in return.

Andrew

“Wizards of the Coast Director of Marketing Greg Yahn announced on the WotC forums that the company was not renewing its Star Wars license and that it would end this summer, attributing the decision to “the economic downturn.

 “We know this news is disappointing, we wanted to make this announcement as soon as possible and thank you for being such great fans,” Yahn said.  “It’s been a fantastic ride with the Star Wars community and working with Lucasfilm.”

The license to release new products ends in May, with WotC product available through August.

The story so far…

After the Bohemian Revolt had been crushed, attention shifted away from the (apparently) pacified Eastern states to the Palatinate in the West, a Protestant country that was also a member of the Electoral College. Furthermore it straddled the vital Val Telline. Its ruler, Frederick V, had unwisely accepted the Bohemian crown during the revolt. If the revolt had been successful he would have held two votes to the election of the Emperor, and personally have had a strangle hold on Spanish support.  He may even have been able to make a play for the Emperor’s position himself. Defeated, he was seen by the administration as a dangerous schemer. The Palatinate would need to be subdued.

1622. Spanish capture Jülich, a nation close to the French border along the vital supply line to Flanders. This country had suffered a minor war ten years earlier concerning succession. Both claimants were Protestant.

Attempting to prevent the link up of the coming Spanish Imperial army with the local Catholic League army, Mansfeld and George Friedrich of Baden-Durlach set up a block. They were attacked by Tilly’s Catholic League army in the Battle of Mingolsheim, but held firm. However Tilly then bypassed them and linked up anyway.

The combined Imperial and Catholic League army defeated the Protestant Union army at the Battle of Wimpfen, which was attempting to split the Catholic allies. Instead the Protestants were split.

At Höchst, the Catholics caught George Friedrich as he attempted to move his army over the Nidda river. The battle was a Catholic victory, but failed to prevent the Protestant allies from recombining.

Turning North, Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick attacked Spanish general Spinola in the disputed Dutch Provinces in the battle of Fleurus, and were soundly defeated.

Tilly and Cordoba turned their attention to the now isolated English Protestant forces (allies of Frederick V – in fact James I was his cousin) strung out along the Rhine in the Palatinate, and defeated Sir Gerard Herbert in the Siege of Heidelburg.

1623.  Frankenthal, another Protestant city held by the English, surrendered after a short siege.

Using Dutch troops, Christian of Brunswick marched South, but no Protestant forces joined him. Outnumbered and isolated, he was defeated by the Catholic League army of Tilly at the battle of Stadlohn.

[Treaty of Paris signed between France, Savoy and Venice with the agreement to kick Spanish forces out of the Val Telline. 1623 Papal conlave called on the death of Pope Gregory XV. Pope Urban VIII elected.]

1624. Mansfeld disbanded what was left of his shattered army and sailed to England to ask for money to raise new troops. The English were supportive of recovering the Palatinate, but delayed payment.

And so the Palatinate Phase ended with no Protestant army left in the field. The Imperials must have felt as if they had now snuffed out the root cause of the disease, and had secured the Spanish Road along the Val Telline.

It appeared that all internal opposition within the Empire had been stamped out, and that may have been the end of the matter. All that remained, it seemed, was to crush the Dutch. However, those outside the Empire were not comfortable with the idea of Spain’s consolidation and dominance in middle Europe.

[Treaty of Compiègne signed between France and Dutch United Provinces, allowing France to fund the Dutch war of independence from Spain.]

Scoreboard: Catholics and Imperials 7, Protestants 1.

The Palatinate phase. 1621 – 1624.

The story so far…

After the Bohemian Revolt had been crushed, attention shifted away from the (apparently) pacified Eastern states to the Palatinate in the West, a Protestant country that was also a member of the Electoral College. Furthermore it straddled the vital Val Telline. Its ruler, Frederick V, had unwisely accepted the Bohemian crown during the revolt. If the revolt had been successful he would have held two votes to the election of the Emperor, and personally have had a strangle hold on Spanish support.  He may even have been able to make a play for the Emperor’s position himself. Defeated, he was seen by the administration as a dangerous schemer. The Palatinate would need to be subdued.

1622. Spanish capture Jülich, a nation close to the French border along the vital supply line to Flanders. This country had suffered a minor war ten years earlier concerning succession. Both claimants were Protestant.

Attempting to prevent the link up of the coming Spanish Imperial army with the local Catholic League army, Mansfeld and George Friedrich of Baden-Durlach set up a block. They were attacked by Tilly’s Catholic League army in the Battle of Mingolsheim, but held firm. However Tilly then bypassed them and linked up anyway.

The combined Imperial and Catholic League army defeated the Protestant Union army at the Battle of Wimpfen, which was attempting to split the Catholic allies. Instead the Protestants were split.

At Höchst, the Catholics caught George Friedrich as he attempted to move his army over the Nidda river. The battle was a Catholic victory, but failed to prevent the Protestant allies from recombining.

Turning North, Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick attacked Spanish general Spinola in the disputed Dutch Provinces in the battle of Fleurus, and were soundly defeated.

Tilly and Cordoba turned their attention to the now isolated English Protestant forces (allies of Frederick V – in fact James I was his cousin) strung out along the Rhine in the Palatinate, and defeated Sir Gerard Herbert in the Siege of Heidelburg.

1623.  Frankenthal, another Protestant city held by the English, surrendered after a short siege.

Using Dutch troops, Christian of Brunswick marched South, but no Protestant forces joined him. Outnumbered and isolated, he was defeated by the Catholic League army of Tilly at the battle of Stadlohn.

[Treaty of Paris signed between France, Savoy and Venice with the agreement to kick Spanish forces out of the Val Telline. 1623 Papal conlave called on the death of Pope Gregory XV. Pope Urban VIII elected.]

1624. Mansfeld disbanded what was left of his shattered army and sailed to England to ask for money to raise new troops. The English were supportive of recovering the Palatinate, but delayed payment.

And so the Palatinate Phase ended with no Protestant army left in the field. The Imperials must have felt as if they had now snuffed out the root cause of the disease, and had secured the Spanish Road along the Val Telline.

It appeared that all internal opposition within the Empire had been stamped out, and that may have been the end of the matter. All that remained, it seemed, was to crush the Dutch. However, those outside the Empire were not comfortable with the idea of Spain’s consolidation and dominance in middle Europe.

[Treaty of Compiègne signed between France and Dutch United Provinces, allowing France to fund the Dutch war of independence from Spain.]

Scoreboard: Catholics and Imperials 7, Protestants 1.

Background. The Roman Catholic Habsburg family had a dual holding: the Spanish and Austrian crowns. The Austrian holding had control of the non-hereditary office of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the confederation of hundreds of German states. The rise of the Lutheran heresy, called Protestantism because of the protest against the authority of the Pope, had flared into war all over Europe. The rich, trading, Dutch (in a land previously called Flanders) had gone over to the heretics and are in revolt against Spain.

The straight roads between the two halves of the Habsburg holdings were blocked by France. The seas were controlled by England, and Spain signally failed to subdue that Protestant nation in the abortive Armada. Only one road between Spain and Empire remained, and this was under France and Switzerland, up the Val Telline valley. Should this road fall to the Protestants, the Habsburgs would be crippled, bankrupted, and the isolated holdings destroyed piecemeal.

Successive Emperors had tried to maintain a settled peace with the countries under their charge that had gone Protestant, but the radicals just increased their demands, and the Emperor lacked the force to simply crush them – the rot had spread too far.

1555. Following a long period of religious and political unrest in the Holy Roman Empire, the Peace of Augsburg signed by Emperor Charles V and the Schmalkaldic League granted the ruler of each country the right to decide what faith the country follows (Cuius regio, eius religio). However, only Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism were recognised as valid choices. This left out the growing radical protestant faiths.

During the years up to 1618 there were numerous mass expulsions of populations from their countries following conversations one way or the other. Protestants pushed to extend their political influence. Calvinists agitated because they had been excluded from the treaty.

The radicals formed the (Calvinist dominated) Protestant Union in 1608 as a mutual support organisation, willing to raise an army if any member was attacked. In response, the loyal Roman Catholic German states founded the German Catholic League in 1609 in order to support the Imperial, Spanish backed army if needed.

1618. Defenestration of Prague. When the Bohemian crown became available (it was an elective post, not hereditary), Protestant agitators saw it as an ideal opportunity to extend their power. A Protestant on the throne of Bohemia would alter the power balance in the Empire as Bohemia was one of the Electoral powers, significant in choosing the Future Emperor (itself an elective rather than hereditary role). In an action designed to inflame passions, the Roman Catholic government representatives were hurled out of the government house windows. They miraculously survived, but this almost farcical event was the trigger for the Thirty Years War.

The Protestant nobles raised an army and put Count Ernst von Mansfeld, a mercenary (and, oddly enough, a Roman Catholic who supported the Protestant cause, though probably because of personal vendetta) in charge. Mansfeld successfully besieged the city of Pilsen, where many Catholics had taken refuge.

An Imperial army under Bucquoy approached Prague but was held up, and then pursued and destroyed by a Protestant force under Heinrich Matthias at Lomnice.

[In other news, a Spanish fleet defeated a Dutch fleet flying Venetian colours trying to run the Gibralter blockade.  The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth signed a truce with the Tsardom of Russia.]

1619. Bucquoy intercepted and defeated Mansfeld on the way to assist Hohenloe who was besieging Budějovice, at Sablat.

Frederick V (Calvinist ruler of the Palatinate and leader of the radical Protestant Union) was invited to be king of Bohemia by the extremist Protestant rebels now controlling government.

Ferdinand II was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the still majority Roman Catholic Electoral College. It was traditional that the Emperor also be crowned king of Bohemia, so Frederick’s installation made him in direct violation of the Imperial prerogatives. Protestant moderates were dismayed, but it was too late to stop the coming catastrophe.

Imperial army under Dampierre was sent to neighbouring Moravia which was supporting the rebels. It was defeated by a Moravian army under von Tiefenbach and ze Zerotina at Wisternitz. It was here that an officer of the Imperial army called Wallenstein with active service experience against the Turks came to the attention of history. He seized the Moravian treasury, carried it to Vienna and presented it to the Emperor. Later he raised a regiment using his own money to serve with the Imperial forces.

Meanwhile, Hungary (and specifically Transylvania) under Bethlen Gabor decided that this was a good time to try a breakaway from Habsburg control, and allied itself with the Protestant rebels in Bohemia. Bratislava fell to the Transylvanians and a siege of Vienna was attempted. Though nominally neutral, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth was supportive of the Roman Catholic Austrians and sent a force which defeated the Transylvanians at Humenné.

[At the Treaty of Munich, Maximillian of Bavaria (leader of the Catholic League) agreed to supply the Emperor with an army in exchange for ‘any part of the Palatinate he could occupy’, together with  Frederick’s title as Elector. This made available the forces to crush the rebellion, but the change in the electoral balance to stack it in Ferdinand’s favour was illegal.]

1620. Bohemia was invaded under combined Imperial army under Bucquoy and Catholic League army under Tilly.

At the battle of White Mountain, Christian of Anhalt (Protestant) was comprehensively defeated by the allied Imperial and Catholic League army. Lower Palatinate (Protestant) invaded by Spanish forces. Upper Austria (Protestant) invaded by Bavaria (Catholic).

[The Treaty of Ulm was signed between the Catholic League and the Protestant Union with the latter agreeing to quit their support for Frederick V as king of Bohemia. They also agreed to disband, which they did the following year.]

1621. Johann Georg Jägerndorf from nearby Silesia decided to have a go at restoring Protestant power in Bohemia. His first stop was mutually neighbouring Moravia, where he was met by what sounds like a scratch Catholic force under Jean de Gauchier at the town of Neutitschein. Despite getting the best of the Catholics, Jägerndorf made no further progress in Moravia and instead turned east to join the Transylvanians.

End of the Twelve Year’s Truce between Spain and the United Dutch Provinces/Dutch Republic. In the north, The United Dutch Provinces (Flanders) were in rebellion against their Spanish masters. The south (modern Belgium) remained Roman Catholic and loyal. This conflict, known as the Eighty Years War, was an enormous drain on Spanish resources, and was characterised by what would now be labelled war crimes. The Alatriste series of books is set against this backdrop. Spanish forces now converged to renew the conflict.

And with the crushing of the rebellion at its source, it was thought that the matter was finished. However, this was just the end of the Bohemian Phase, as the Protestants renewed the conflict elsewhere, inflamed by the Spanish Catholic forces increasing pressure on the Dutch and the Imperial forces stepwise reduction of now isolated Protestant holdings.

[In other news, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth defeated the Ottoman Empire at the battle of Khotyn. A Dutch East India Company naval convoy was attacked and defeated by Spain while crossing the Strait of Gibralter. Pope Gregory XV elected at the 1621 Papal conclave. In France, Louis XIII failed to capture the Huguenot (Calvinist inspired French Protestants) after a two month siege.]

 Scoreboard: Catholics and Imperials 4, Protestants 2.

I love the FFL. Use them for any current conflict, or put them to work in a StarGate campaign.

From the Eureka site:

This comprehensive range of figures depicts the Modern French Foreign Legion in both beret and Kevlar helmet, and carrying the full array of current infantry platoon kit and weapons.

The beret wearing figures are closely based on a series of photographs of lightly equipped Legionnaires from 2eme REI (Régiment Etranger d’Infantrie) on operations in Afghanistan in 2007, while the helmeted Legionnaires are fully kitted out in the very latest protective vest and load bearing gear combinations (Eagle CIRAS) now being used in Afghanistan. For those who want their beret wearing miniatures carrying a heavier load-out, we have extra personal equipment sets in the form of ammo pouches, water bottles and spare rifle grenades which customers can attach to the figures. (Although it should be noted that the lightly equipped, beret wearing figures, are perfectly accurate without this extra equipment. They are typical of the less aggressive appearance adopted by Legionnaires when patrolling ‘low threat’ zones).

Kosta has carefully represented all the small arms and infantry support weaponry carried by the modern French Foreign Legion, including both the familiar and the more unusual. Amongst the most distinctive is the 51mm Lance Grenade Individual (LGI), being operated by one member of the helmeted section. This lightweight indirect fire weapon is unique to the French military. Also, we have added a two man LRAC 89mm anti-tank team to the range, a weapon which although superseded now, effectively allows gamers to use these figures for earlier deployments back in the 1990’s. Those wanting to keep things ultra modern will however still find the AT-4 here (the replacement for the LRAC and now the French Army’s standard anti-tank weapon), as well as all the infantry section mainstays – including the shortened, or ‘para’ Minimi machinegun, the venerable FRF2 sniper rifle, and the famous FAMAS assault rifle.

Customers can equip their FAMAS carrying figures with rifle grenades if they wish, by way of a small conversion using the spare rifle grenades included in the Extra Personal Gear set. The base of the rifle grenade fits over the barrel of the FAMAS, so simply snip off the FAMAS’s barrel and drill a small hole to accept the rifle grenade. The completed conversion is shown below.

As well as the Foreign Legion in their green berets, it is of course possible to use these figures to represent many other French army units simply by picking out their berets in the appropriate colour. Kosta has painted some figures in this release as French paratroopers in their red berets for example.

These new miniatures therefore allow the wargamer to field a variety of Foreign Legion and other French army units with a range of visual styles, for deployments around Africa and the Middle East, all the way to current operations in Afghanistan.

Here are the codes and details for the new figures.

28mm Modern French Foreign Legion
Sculpted by Kosta Heristanidis
100MOD100 French Foreign Legionnaire, in beret, with Para Minimi (3)
100MOD101 French Foreign Legionnaire, in beret, with FR-F2 sniper rifle (1)
100MOD102 French Foreign Legionnaire, in beret, with AT-4 rocket launcher (1)
100MOD103 French Foreign Legionnaire, in beret, with FAMAS assault rifle (7)
100MOD104 French Foreign Legionnaire, in helmet, with Para Minimi (2)
100MOD105 French Foreign Legionnaire, in helmet, with FR-F2 sniper rifle (1)
100MOD106 French Foreign Legionnaire, in helmet, with AT-4 rocket launcher (1)
100MOD107 French Foreign Legionnaire, in helmet, with LGI 51mm grenade launcher (1)
100MOD108 French Foreign Legionnaire, in helmet, with radio (1)
100MOD109 French Foreign Legionnaire, in helmet, with FAMAS / M203 (1)
100MOD110 French Foreign Legionnaire, in helmet, with FAMAS assault rifle (5)
100MOD111 French Foreign Legion LRAC 89mm AntiTank rocket launcher, with crew in beret – 2 figure set (1)
100MOD112 Extra French Foreign Legion personal gear set: ammo/grenade pouches, water bottles, and rifle grenades

So this is a great experiment in collaborative authoring, because it will tell us whether the internet community is mature and informed enough to play along and get things done. I wish them the very best of luck and look forward to seeing the result.

http://www.torgaming.co.uk/rd/ 

As a side note: how creepy are these Britanans, based on (I suspect) the disturbing movie, 9?

The above passage contains some of the most famous lines of verse in English literature and is found in the classic novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emma Orczy.

Who was this lterary character who has captured the imagination of generations of readers, has spawned movies and popular TV series, and even provided the inspiration for a hit Broadway musical?

The Pimpernel’s character has his setting in the the streets of Paris, which are awash in blood as Robespierre and his henchmen send hundreds of French aristocrats to the guillotine. Against this backdrop one unknown Englishman and his brave band of followers leave their genteel lives behind to spirit the French royals to safety in England.

The question that France’s new leaders demand to know is: who is the Scarlet Pimpernel? The question the reader asks is: why does Sir Percy risk life and honor for a land not his own?

Whatever the motivation, the story of the Pimpernel and his gallant crew as they outwit the Committee of Public Safety and its agent Chauvelin again and again, is absorbing reading.

Aristocrats, clergy, shopgirls, even the Dauphin himself – no one is beyond the Pimpernel’s aid.

So who was he, this dashing character?

The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of the most famous heroic characters in popular fiction of the past century. Because the adventures of the Pimpernel were set in immediate post-revolutionary France, people these days tend to think the story has been around since the end of the 1700s, but the novel was first published in London in 1905. It’s all very French and very genteel English, but it was actually written by a Hungarian woman who was an aristocrat by birth, and actually became the template for a succession of Hollywood and comic-book heroes.

Baroness Emma Orczy (1865-1947), a “transplanted” Hungarian, wrote dozens of books but it is The Scarlet Pimpernel for which she is remembered.

The book tells the story of Sir Percy Blakeney, a late-Georgian British society fop who is known more for being a dandy than having an semblance to a swordsman and hero.

All is not as it seems, however, and Sir Percy leads a double life as “the Scarlet Pimpernel” -the rescuer of aristocrats and innocents during the Reign of Terror that followed the French Revolution. Sir Percy, feeling betrayed by his bride, French actress Marguerite St. Just, is pursued by his nemesis, the French Republican agent Citizen Chauvelin.

The central thrust of the Pimpernel – that of an unlikely everyman being capable of living a twin life, one of which is unbelievably heroic – has been copied time and time again since Baroness Orczy put pen to paper. How? Think about Zorro, Bruce Wayne/Batman, Clark Kent/Superman. The list goes on.

The story has been dramatised on television and on the big screen several times (most notably in 1935 with Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon and Raymond Massey). In the ’50s Marius Goring portayed what was arguably the best TV Pimpernel, after starring in a Scarlet Pimpernel radio series broadcast across the US. The 1982 TV series starring Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour and Ian McKellen was hugely popular. The BBC made a six-part film in 1998 and 2000 starring Richard E. Grant, Elizabeth McGovern and Martin Shaw. The Scarlet Pimpernel’s more recent popularity and notoriety is a result of the Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical by Frank Wildhorn and Nan Knighton, which made its debut at New York’s Minskoff Theatre in 1997.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is forever being reinvented and will live on for new generations.