The first piece is taken from th Olde Albilande tourist board leaflet: 'How to best avoid a stabbing or other forms of painful death in Albilande', first produced in 1643. Other included pieces are taken directly from works produced about the period by mock historians, experts in this field. Each of these pieces of (not really) history has been taken from the source material of the time, the original source has been validated by various non-historical authorities as genuine. So this post is basically an introduction to the land of Olde Albilande and a very basic overview of the situation as it stands at the point we join the war. So i thought it would be good to collect some of the background material i bodged together from various finds from the period to kind of relaunch the whole thing. Now all shires field a small number of these land ships within their forces. departments and at least one fully functioning staff canteen.
However after the formation of the tank crews union the crew have grown to include a union rep, health and safety staff, fire safety officers, first aid teams, H. A crew originally comprised of a number of Drivers, gunners, loaders, stokers and general mechanical types as required for the machines size and roll. One small issue has been in the make up and training of crew forcing some large scale changes to the t.a.n.k.s design. The Pike company's patented line has been rolled out across the shires and although largely untested have proved popular. The new tech utilizes the new fangled steam engine designed by the (some would say mad) genius Leonard Dubruinvinchi and has been said to be the future of warfare. In recent years warfare has been revolutionized by the invention of the tracked arsehole neutralization kontraption (T.A.N.K for short), which have been mass produced by the Pike company of weaponsmiths. In battle the regulars either fight on foot in well drilled pike and shot formations or as tightly ordered mounted lancer brigades, used as shock troops to smash the enemy lines. Since the unfortunate events at Crivens castle the Regulars in each shire have found that the command structure from which they are organized no longer exists, meaning the regulars from each shire, being raised from local men have joined up with the local powers that be to fight for their cause in the coming war. In peace times they form a peacekeeping force and a back up to the local law enforcement types loyal to the king in each shire. In battle the irregulars are bolstered by the presence of these tough, grim faced killers. They are posted in barracks all around the shires to represent a reminder of the power of the king before the local lords. The various regular companies are revered by the locals, their reputation going before them.
These troops, known as regulars are proper pro soldiers, highly drilled and with nerves of steel. On the field most Irregulars form up as pike and shot troops, being the current military fashion, where they do try bless 'em.Īlongside the Irregulars a small standing army of trained troops are always maintained by the royal family. These troops are often referred to as Irregulars due to their semi-professional status and differing levels of training, also because the the standing army are known as regulars, so the name irregular would follow. Ruckinghammeshire is slightly different as the 'firms' that control different areas of the shire also control the troops, they will bear the firms name and be representing them rather than the shire (e.g. In Berkshire its local business again doing the funding but most often using them as a promotional tool (for example 'The 2nd 'makeyougo' laxative company irregulars). In Tuttinghammeshire its often the local business community that build the shires defense forces, the shire being made up of four smaller shires (Tuttinghammeshire, Wazzockshire, Divertonshire and Lumoxshire) the name of that shire always features large on the banner. In Crivenshire this is the lower nobility, engaged in a kind of 'my company is bigger than yours' battle, they often take the name of the bloke bankrolling them to further 'massage' his ego. A typical shire army is made up of mostly 'volunteer' troops banded together into companies funded and organised by the upper crust of that shire.