[OL-FB] Where a goat can go…

[Keymonus]

Previously:

Spoiler

The defenders of Seawatch

Where a goat can go, a man can go, and where a man can go, he can drag a cannon.

Somewhere on the hills, El Oleonda, August 622

The siege of Seawatch had already lasted several months, but the defenders were carrying on, in one way or the other. A small group of agents of Le Service Secret, who had infiltrated the settlement a couple of weeks before the siege, was coordinating the defenders' efforts. The garrison was small, but well-trained, and could rely on a few batteries of powerful Essian howitzers to keep the Lotii artillery at bay. Moreover, while the siege was completed in the first weeks, the blockade was constantly defied by small sloops: brave captains used the cover of the storms to outmaneuver the large Lotii junks, delivering food and gunpowder to the defenders. Without external help, however, Seawatch was clearly doomed, and a final Lotii assault seemed only a matter of time... and, after Seawatch, Fort Arltrees was the next in the line. 

Spoiler

I'm working on a small MOC, I'll replace this spoiler with a link as I'll publish it

This seemed a good reason to drag those cannons under the tropical sun of El Oleonda. In preparation for a large-scale assault, a column of soldiers left Fort Arltrees for the interior: the plan is to open a road across the hills, so that the incoming attack could arrive from a completely unexpected direction. The Corrish attack to Aurelia had taught an important lesson to Oleander strategists, and now it was the turn of the Lotii to receive an unpleasant surprise!

Even if the mission was mainly opening the way and establishing and advanced stronghold, the column is equipped with a few 6-pounder field cannons. The carriage was lightened as much as possible, but a cannon is not exactly a lightweight, especially on a mountain trail!

The soldiers, volunteers drawn from various light infantry units, know that their efforts would be rewarded in case of unpleasant encounters with Lotii outposts: a cannon is always a strong argument in a skirmish!

Now the soldiers of the Empire were marching up the hill, panting and cursing, but always going forward. They had no luggage carts or ammunition carriages: to move faster and remain unnoticed, every soldier carried some supplies, a bag of gunpowder or, for the most unfortunate, a few cannonballs.

 

General Tristan Rimbaud, the commander of the detachment, looked proudly at his men. During his childhood, he had always read a lot about the soldiers of the ancient Empire, the legendary legionaries: according to the chronicles, they often won by marching for weeks with armour, supplies and even the poles to fortify the camps, attacking the enemies where nobody expected. But he didn’t need the soldiers from remote times, he had something better: chasseurs and marsouines, the elite of the Empire… or, at least, the best troops available!

He didn’t trust at all, instead, the man at his side. He didn’t know his name or rank, but he was the liaison officer with the secret services. For what Tristan knew, he had sent without hesitation the group of agents in Seawatch to a certain death. The Services were known to have little scruples, and to sacrifice whatever they considered necessary for the Nation… and Tristan was not particularly willing to become a martyr of Empire!

Additional pictures:

Spoiler

Overall view:

 

Note: while EGS troops have not moved yet, this build should pave the ground for the offensive towards Seawatch.

The design of the troupes de marine, the marsouines, was first introduced by @Khorne (as several other great units) during the Terraversa campaign.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Keymonus
Excessive weight of the original 8-pounder cannons

[NOD]

Great diorama! That's an amazing story! It's probably 32x32 in reality. But on the photos, one has the impression that it is 100x100. The landscape is great and the movements of the soldiers are realistic.

[Professor Thaum]

Golden guns !

Filthy buttloads !!!

 

[Jeff of Clubs]

Great MOC! A lot of activity here and the undergrowth looks fantastic!

I'll have the supplementary road moc up by the last week this month!

[Thomas Waagenaar]

Excellent looking diorama! Loving how lively it looks, and the undergrowth looks amazing! Really makes it feel like they're moving through nearly impossible to traverse grounds!

[Bregir]

Excellent story, really putting it smack in the middle of current events, and I enjoy the reference to the Aurelia attack too. The build itself is fabulous too - really liking the minifig posing and the landscape. I suppose it is a brass gun? My only minor nitpick is that an 8-pounder would be a relatively heavy field piece, so for a mountain gun, it may be a bit large. More likely to be a 6 or even 4-pounder, I would guess.

[Garmadon]

Ah, I love that quote!  Very nice work here, I'm intrigued by what will come next, and that definitely does look like some painful terrain to be dragging heavy guns across!

[Keymonus]

Thank you all guys! This was one of my first attempts with a very bad terrain and minifigures on it 

On 8/13/2022 at 10:39 PM, NOD said:

Great diorama! That's an amazing story! It's probably 32x32 in reality. But on the photos, one has the impression that it is 100x100. The landscape is great and the movements of the soldiers are realistic.

 

Thanks! This is the main advantage of close up photos… the main disadvantage, instead, is the appearance of all the dust grains you didn’t see before, little dents in your bricks, etc.

On 8/18/2022 at 9:55 AM, Bregir said:

Excellent story, really putting it smack in the middle of current events, and I enjoy the reference to the Aurelia attack too. The build itself is fabulous too - really liking the minifig posing and the landscape. I suppose it is a brass gun? My only minor nitpick is that an 8-pounder would be a relatively heavy field piece, so for a mountain gun, it may be a bit large. More likely to be a 6 or even 4-pounder, I would guess.

Thanks! The weight of the cannon was a point I had to think about a lot. I wanted something heavier than the 6-pounder mountain gun, that I previously depicted as disassemblable (so there would be no good reason to drag it), but IRL the 8-p would be probably too heavy (about 600kg, instead of the 400kg of a 6-p and the 300kg of a 4-p, considering only the barrel). I edited the text, making the gun 6-pounder field cannon.