Setting the scene

One of the curses of gaming in a fictional setting of my own devising is that I can't flip open a book to look up answers when a question crops up. I'm forced to exercise the little grey cells to work on a back story that will hang together, provide me with the sort of games I want to play, tell me what the troops look like and be consistent with past games and blog posts.   Luckily it turns out this mental work is also a joy as well as good for my mental health as the far boundary of middle age slowly creeps ever closer.

Having read enough to get excited about the visual and tactical possibilities of Boer War, GSW and East Africa, the Caucasus and the Mexican Revolution, I have continued to read until I have some sort of handle on the downsides of each as well as the scope of trying to do them all. Falling back on the Atlantica plans laid out a few years ago, it is now my job to figure out what I am willing to do in terms of painting, how many simultaneous campaigns I think I can handle or which I might want to delay to do in serial fashion and how to tie it in to past "history".

The slaughter of modern civilized warfare in Southern Atlantica.

Looking back at what I've done during the last 15 years and 5 years and how much of what was planned didn't get done, inclines me to a tighter focus than trying to do everything. The goal is to have unlimited gaming potential and armies which are table ready sooner while capable of having tidbits added later, almost to infinity. No problem.

South of the mountains we find wars between 2 equivalent, modern, settled countries of Oberhilse and Faraway which puts things on a North American if not European footing. I see no reason that cannot continue into the 20th Century. North of the mountains we have a patchwork including a relatively advanced "native" state, which has yet to appear directly, and a mix of various native and colonial tribes and states which have been involved in various games. My initial instinct was to fight 3 wars, a Boer like war against Oerberg, an Irregular colonial war against the native Atlanticans and their allies the descendents of the mixed blood Brethren of the Coast and a regular war against the native state but it makes more sense to me to combine the first two and leave the last item to an indefinite future. This would meet established pseudo history while combining 3 interests, the Metis rebellions, the Boer Wars and  US dabbling in Mexico as well as allowing me to include aspects of other colonial sideshow campaigns. It doesn't leave much room for cossacks but as long as I have some wild horsemen and some shaggy caps I'll be ok.

Native  Atlanticans from the mid-19th century. One doesn't see naked spearmen anymore but the others remain fairly similar but with modern rifles. (Archive shot from2012)

I'll have to work on some socio-political bits but we know roughly what the Oerberg and Dene forces will look like, with the latter being a bit modernized from their last appearance. The Faraway troops will require choices since they will be homemade. My first instinct was to stay with my idea of WWI British troops in tropical kit but on reflection it doesn't quite fit and is a bit too limiting for the glacial rate at which I sculpt and make molds. Instead I have seized on something that will allow historical units if desired while keeping that Canadian flavour that I like to add. In Blandford's Infantry Uniforms Vol 2 is a plate labelled Pacific Railway Militia. I haven't been able to find out much of anything about them but from Steele's memoirs I believe they were formed largely with a view to quelling civil disobedience more than anything,  but, close enough. They wear drab uniforms with slouch hats turned up, high gaiters (easily painted as puttees) and bandoliers. They would not look out of  place anywhere from the Riel Rebellion to the Boer War to some parts of WWI or South America and something one could have pictured Britain's doing. Of course he could also be painted with a scarlet or dark blue tunic or be easily made into an armed civilian.

That's where I will start, perhaps with extra head in Wolseley pith helmet for conversions.