Blog: Warm Ale and Mud
Owner: MichaelStockin
Author: Mike
Post: Stirland Is Poor Innit?
As a long time avid Stirlander I want to push back against the poor and useless misconception.
Whilst they may be one the poorer of the provinces that does not mean poor.
Stirland is the wine capital of the Empire and exports a butt tonne of it.
It has a shed load of farmland too.
The nobility are old fashioned and rally against change for the sake of it, but that does not mean they don’t collect taxes like all the other nobles of the empire.
Wurtbad the capital is no poorer than most of the other state capitals.
(see below)
I certainly do not prescribe to the notion that a province which has a standing army, trades with the Dwarfs of the World Edge mountains, is the wine centre of the Empire, plies trade along the mighty Stir river and the Old Dwarf road, can not afford shoes for its soldiers.
The stir river patrol have cannons on their patrol boats for Taal's sake.
It seems just ridiculous even for GW that shoes would be too expensive.
Lets compare some troops as based in the various capitals:
Altdorf (Wealth rating 5):
500 excellent grade troops, 0 average grade troops and 8000 poor grade troops.
Averheim (Wealth rating 4):
35 excellent grade troops, 80 average grade troops and 350 poor grade troops.
Wurtbad (Wealth rating 4):
40 excellent grade troops, 80 average grade troops and 300 poor grade troops.
Wolfenburg (Wealth rating 3):
150 excellent grade troops, 0 average grade troops and 200 poor grade troops.
Kusel (Wealth rating 4):
50 excellent grade troops, 120 average grade troops and 600 poor grade troops.
So a quick random snap shot shows that Wurtbad is not the poorest of the state capitals nor are its troops especially worse than others as a whole.
Yes the average citizen is not as world wise, nor as forward thinking, nor dare I say it as well off.
But the average farmer, cobbler, land worker, smith, cooper, baker etc. are not part of the standing army of Stirland.
The standing army are maintained by the nobility, and Stirland's nobles are in a monetary sense not that different from their counterparts elsewhere.
True, their language is a bit olde, their fashion would shock Countess Emmanuel, and their customs a bit queer to outsiders. But they can still muster a regular army with shoes.
Now as for what is in it?
I have 2 Stirland armies, a 10mm one which represents the entirety of its troops and a 25mm one that represents the garrison of a small village.
One has several hundred troops, cannons, a war wagon, cavalry (knights of the black rose and Kriegsritter). It is mostly Erzatsolder with pike and Helblitzen.
It does have Stirgard (like Reiksgard), Stir River patrol, Deathjacks, foresters and Armbrustschutzen, and even a single Steam Tank on loan from Nuln!
It is the sort of force that gets assembled once in a few generations when the Empire is under threat.
If you are playing games that are exceptional in their origin, I would suggest you use everything that any other province would use.
The garrison force, my 25mm skirmish games are just the troops from a village, there are 5 Holzfaller, 10 Armbrustschutzen, 15 Helbitzen, 10 Erzatsolder and 5 Fleglers.
There is a single elementalist wizard and a single hero model who is the general.
These guys have mis matched uniforms and cobbled together gear.
The nearby lord does not have the same money as Alberich Haupt-Anderssen, Grand Count of Stirland, Prince of Wurtbad and Overlord of Sylvania.
So his troops look a little less polished than those of the state capital, but they are not barefoot bumpkins.
Anyway, long live Stirland, play them as you want, but don’t feel that they have to be shoeless
Continue reading over on the Warm Ale and Mud blog
Owner: MichaelStockin
Author: Mike
Post: Stirland Is Poor Innit?
As a long time avid Stirlander I want to push back against the poor and useless misconception.
Whilst they may be one the poorer of the provinces that does not mean poor.
Stirland is the wine capital of the Empire and exports a butt tonne of it.
It has a shed load of farmland too.
The nobility are old fashioned and rally against change for the sake of it, but that does not mean they don’t collect taxes like all the other nobles of the empire.
Wurtbad the capital is no poorer than most of the other state capitals.
(see below)
I certainly do not prescribe to the notion that a province which has a standing army, trades with the Dwarfs of the World Edge mountains, is the wine centre of the Empire, plies trade along the mighty Stir river and the Old Dwarf road, can not afford shoes for its soldiers.
The stir river patrol have cannons on their patrol boats for Taal's sake.
It seems just ridiculous even for GW that shoes would be too expensive.
Lets compare some troops as based in the various capitals:
Altdorf (Wealth rating 5):
500 excellent grade troops, 0 average grade troops and 8000 poor grade troops.
Averheim (Wealth rating 4):
35 excellent grade troops, 80 average grade troops and 350 poor grade troops.
Wurtbad (Wealth rating 4):
40 excellent grade troops, 80 average grade troops and 300 poor grade troops.
Wolfenburg (Wealth rating 3):
150 excellent grade troops, 0 average grade troops and 200 poor grade troops.
Kusel (Wealth rating 4):
50 excellent grade troops, 120 average grade troops and 600 poor grade troops.
So a quick random snap shot shows that Wurtbad is not the poorest of the state capitals nor are its troops especially worse than others as a whole.
Yes the average citizen is not as world wise, nor as forward thinking, nor dare I say it as well off.
But the average farmer, cobbler, land worker, smith, cooper, baker etc. are not part of the standing army of Stirland.
The standing army are maintained by the nobility, and Stirland's nobles are in a monetary sense not that different from their counterparts elsewhere.
True, their language is a bit olde, their fashion would shock Countess Emmanuel, and their customs a bit queer to outsiders. But they can still muster a regular army with shoes.
Now as for what is in it?
I have 2 Stirland armies, a 10mm one which represents the entirety of its troops and a 25mm one that represents the garrison of a small village.
One has several hundred troops, cannons, a war wagon, cavalry (knights of the black rose and Kriegsritter). It is mostly Erzatsolder with pike and Helblitzen.
It does have Stirgard (like Reiksgard), Stir River patrol, Deathjacks, foresters and Armbrustschutzen, and even a single Steam Tank on loan from Nuln!
It is the sort of force that gets assembled once in a few generations when the Empire is under threat.
If you are playing games that are exceptional in their origin, I would suggest you use everything that any other province would use.
The garrison force, my 25mm skirmish games are just the troops from a village, there are 5 Holzfaller, 10 Armbrustschutzen, 15 Helbitzen, 10 Erzatsolder and 5 Fleglers.
There is a single elementalist wizard and a single hero model who is the general.
These guys have mis matched uniforms and cobbled together gear.
The nearby lord does not have the same money as Alberich Haupt-Anderssen, Grand Count of Stirland, Prince of Wurtbad and Overlord of Sylvania.
So his troops look a little less polished than those of the state capital, but they are not barefoot bumpkins.
Anyway, long live Stirland, play them as you want, but don’t feel that they have to be shoeless
Continue reading over on the Warm Ale and Mud blog
