Fezia and Krimskaya

All of the recent rambling on my blog has been centred around the formation of a pair of late 19th century 'imagi-nations'. The two protagonists are loosely based on Russia and Turkey and are known as Krimskaya and Fezia respectively. The names are not original and are taken directly from Bob Cordery's simply superb 'imagi-world' set in 1891. See his blog for details - wargamingmiscellany. This world is a brilliant resource for the gamer and  I shall certainly be making much use of it for various future projects.

My choice of Fezia and Krimskaya will come as no surprise - at least Fezia will not! - but Krimskaya was a late decision as originally I wanted a Balkans based force for the opposition and had largely settled on Epiria - aka Greece given my interest in the actual historical region. On balance though I think Krimskaya is a better choice simply because of the longevity of the historical enmity between Turkey and Russia over the Black (Fezian) Sea. In fact, it was revisiting my copy of the Osprey title on the Russo Turkish war of 1877 that clinched the deal - especially when I saw how similar the uniforms were for ACW troop types! A certain well known ditty composed by Percy French in 1877 also helped in this regard and no doubt the two worthies contained therein will feature at some point in the fullness of time....;-) The various Balkan states may take to the stage at some point as the rumblings of wishing to remove Fezia from mainland Europe entirely are getting louder although the current Sultan - Abdul the Unprincipled - does not appear to be unduly concerned by this.

I have in mind the size of the forces I shall raise for the two armies and already have some ideas for actions set in the alternate world of 1891 and for me the whole exercise of providing the back story is as much a part of my enjoyment of the hobby as any other.

I will most certainly feature the naval dimension and browsing through my 1860 to 1905 Conways was a real treat in respect of the hardware available to both sides. Broadside and central battery ironclads, circular monitors, barbette and turret ships and small torpedo boats all feature and would be very easy to scratch build and so an extra dimension of enjoyment is instantly added.

First of all though, reality has kicked in and so I need to have a serious 'deck clearing' of existing projects and thus my thoughts will turn to these over the next few weeks - probably until the end of the year.