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The Year of Liberties |
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Written by Danny O'Hara
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Friday, 21 December 2007 00:00 |
"Oh, then tell me Sean O'Buggerall, tell me why you hurry so?
Hush, me grotling, hush and listen and his cheeks were all a-glow,
I bear orders from the captain, get you ready quick and soon,
For the spikes must be together by the raising of the groan.
By the raising of the groan, By the raising of the groan.
For the spikes must be together by the raising of the groan."
-Kevin Keegan Caskett
(Guinelian Poet, who died in Dubloon Gaol under Albion captivity)
The Great Guinelian Rising
The Bog-Orcs of Guinelea, despite their warlike nature and muscular build, are apparently less able to conduct an organized, modern war than an Ogre can dance Ferach ballet! They excell at soldiery in the stubborn defence, full-pelt charge and callous disdain for losses sense, but seem unable to rise above tribal feuds when left to their own devices. Bog-Orc officers make excellent commanders of other races, not their own (NB the military skill of General Howlatim Blake in the Catalucian Army, or the HEVC officers who command the rowdy halflings). But every time the Bog-Orcs rise against their Albion Orc oppressors, they fall into the same trap of petty bickering and want of clear, guiding action. Such is the story of the late, great rebellion in which I played a small part, and which I will attempt to relate for posterity.
Since before the fall of Dresda, the Bog-Orcs have (due to their more conservative, tribal culture) been generally subject to the smaller, but better organized Albionites. Apart from physical and dialect differences (the Bog-Orcs are gradually adopting a form of Albionite as a common language, having previously spoken the ancient "Black Speech" which persists in remote areas and in some native turns of phrase), the traditional Bog-Orcs follow the ancient, unreformed religion termed "Catatonism" whereby the Orcs have fierce priests in black who regularly scream orders at their tribe. The tribal Orcs almost always do what they are told by these priests, who they term "Father" (at least to their faces!). The priests are maintained by the tribe, who all pay a "tithe" to cover the costs involved.
On the other hand, the Albion Orcs have abandoned these traditional practices, and have small, whingeing priests called "Rev" or "Vikka"(or something which sounds like that?). Due to their demeanour, no Albionite takes any notice of the clergy, and they are termed "Whingers" because of the habits of their priests. They similarly pay tithes to maintain their priests and temples.
Soon after the adoption of black-powder, and the stabilisation of the Albionite Kingdom, the practice of "Catatonism" was banned throughout Albion, Guinelea and Joccia. But the religion just went underground, and served as a centre of smouldering resentment for the overbearing rule of Albion. However, by a mixture of coercion, bribery and settlement by Albion Orcs along the Albion-Guinelea border, a strange group have risen up. They are fanatically loyal to the Albionite crown, and practice a religion which is basically "Whingeing" in belief, but delivered with a "Catatonic" fervour. These "loyalist" Bog-Orcs have a custom, for reasons best known to themselves, of dyeing their hair and/or skin orange on holy days, and then marching up and down the streets heckling any Catatonics they meet. All in all, Guinelea is a strange land!
The STOUT Guinelians
Against this backdrop of religious intolerance, the Catatonic Bog-Orcs have been gradually losing land, prestige and wealth to their Whingeist and Orange cousins (though the Albionites actually mistreat the Orange-Orcs almost as much as they do the Catatonics!). Therefore the political situation in Guinelea has been simmering for some time. The main agitators were a group of Catatonic priests and a few Whingeist revolutionists. Of these, the most famous were to be Father Jack of Buggerluggs and Theodure Wolf-Tonic (a Whingeist from Dubloon).
The Bog-Orcs have always been fond of secret societies, and so the Whingeist revolutionaries have founded the "Society of Terrible Orcs Under Tyranny" as a body to organise the rebellion against the Albionites. Under the leadership of the fanatic Wolf-Tonic, small groups of STOUT-Orcs have been set up across Guinelea. Consisting mainly of middle-classed Catatonics, with a few idealistic Whingeists, they were more often groups of moaners rather than Orcs of action. The Albion Intelligence Services easily infiltrated most of these groups, and neutralised most of their rebellious activities. Wolf-Tonic was almost captured in a Dubloon pub by Albion agents, but managed to escape to Amorica and contact the Ferach government.
The local groups of STOUT-Orcs (often termed Crappy Boys by the Albionites due to their ineptitude), were given a list of basic duties by the "High Command", these were:
1. Seek out and recruit local Bog-Orcs likely to support or lead the local rebellion.
2. Procure military equipment (guns and half-pikes) for use by STOUT-Orcs and the "mass rising" of peasantry.
3. Drill STOUT-Orcs in musketry and other military arts, and develop a cadre ready to train the peasants.
4. Draw up a list of local military/strategic targets (crossroads, bridges, barracks, etc) to attack/hold when the rising starts.
As the Albion government has largely prohibited access by Guinelian civilians to black-powder weapons, the main arms which the rebels could acquire were half-pikes and other hand-to-hand weapons (axes, clubs, swords, etc.). The individual groups could only hope to quickly capture muskets and artillery from the Albionite garrisons.
Partly by the attempts to carry out the first of these orders, the groups ended up by containing many Albionite agents. This meant that all the local activists and weapons caches were known, and also the targets of any attacks! In all but a few cases, this rendered the STOUT-Orcs all but useless.
But in a few areas, more capable groups of rebels plotted in secret, and kept their Albionite opponents in the dark about activities and stores. It was these very few groups which composed the Guinelian Rebels who so startled the Albionite administration in their recent rising.
The Rising Begins!
As noted above, Theodure Wolf-Tonic was forced to flee from Dubloon and seek sanctuary with the Ferach. With his burning fanaticism and wild tales of a Guinelea ready to explode like a powder-keg, the Ferach government became interested in his schemes. It seemed like a long-shot even to them, but any method of weakening their implacable Orcish foes was worth a try!
Mordred himself met with Wolf-Tonic, and promised aid for the "cause of liberty". The Ferach then commissioned Wolf-Tonic as a Adjutant-General for the Ferach "Army of Guinelea". They sent him in joint command of a force of naval vessels and transports with five regiments of Elven Infantry, supported by artillery, to land at Buntray Bay (the only access to Guinelea by sea), but a mixture of bad weather and the appearance of an Orcish force in the area caused Admiral Vile-nerve (the commander of the Ferach naval force) to call off the landing. The elves, with a despondent Wolf-Tonic, returned to Amorica.
Meanwhile, in Guinelea the rebels anticipated a Ferach landing, and awaited the signal to rise. Becoming fearful, the Albionites hurriedly arrested as many STOUT-Orcs as possible - but in the confusion an order was sent out - the rising had begun!
With this turn of events, the Albionites panicked and began to round up and execute any Bog-Orc suspected of rebelling. Most were as innocent as any Orc can be, but swung anyway. Several poorly-organised peasant risings came about through this "hanged if you do, hanged if you don't" treatment.
As noted previously, most of the STOUT-Orc groups were to prove impotent, and much of the country remained merely agitated, with no real rebellion. But in Fecksford, around the village of Buggerlugs, a troop of militia cavalry arrived to "pacify" the supposedly rebellious peasants. On realising what was happening, the Bog-Orcs of the village picked up their half-pikes and assembled outside the cottage of their fierce priest, Father Jack. They called on him to lead them - and with a cry of "Drink!", he led a bloody charge which swept away the militia, before the priest himself collapsed in a drunken stupor. The "Army of Fecksford" was rapidly swollen by pike-armed Orcs from the surrounding villages, and several small groups of militia were over-run and disarmed. The rebels looted and burnt their way across the county, in good Orcish fashion, and slaughtered Whingeists and Orange-Orcs as they found them. They eventually formed a camp at Vilegar Hill, and argued amongst themselves until a group headed off for Dubloon and were defeated by a small army of Albionites defending the town (and bridges) at Orclow. The Albionites were mainly Bog-orc militia, led by General Needle'em. With this shock defeat, the rebels withdrew back to Vilegar Hill where they were crushed by General Lack and another Albionite army with artillery.
Other risings occurred in different parts of Guinelea. In the Albion Marches, the population were largely Orange or loyal Catatonics, and the small risings were quickly put down and their leaders killed or dispersed. Some other groups managed to gather, carry out some minor activities then run for the hills before the Albionite forces arrived.
The Camembert Landing
While Wolf-Tonic's landing was a failure, a secondary force under the command of General Camembert did manage to land near Buntray. He set sail from Roachfort with three frigates, carrying just over a thousand elf troops with five thousand extra muskets and ammunition. He managed to slip past the Albion naval blockade, then approached Buntray flying the Albion flag. Loyal citizens of Buntray rowed out to meet "our boys", and were horrified to fall captive to the Ferach! Amongst them were the officers of the militia garrison.
The canny Camembert then landed his troops and rounded up the confused militia. He declared a "Republique Populaire de la Guinnelée", and requested the local peasantry to join his "Armée de Liberation". In fact, the (very inept) local rebellion by STOUT-Orcs had failed to appear, and the major activists (together with their military stores) had been captured or destroyed. But about five thousand Bog-Orc peasants decided to follow the charismatic little elf. Most were really just "lookin' fer a foight", and took up the proffered muskets readily. Other rebel gangs and combative Bog-Orcs joined the "Army", and Camembert began to drill them. He soon found, however, that the rebels, while brave and fearless, took badly to discipline. They were far more interested in drinking, looting and petty revenge than forming a real army. He then learnt that at least 3,500 Albion Regulars were marching towards him. The rebellion was only luke-warm, and he needed a signal to ignite the peasantry. He decided to mount an offensive towards Castafar, the local Albion garrison town.
The commander of Castafar was General Retchinson, who led some 2,000 Orc and Rat troops. As there were two approaches to Castafar from Buntray, and one was a mere goat-track through the bogs and mountains, Retchinson decided to place a small garrison at the one ford between the two towns, on the main coach road. He was relieved, then, when reports came that Camembert with part of his Elf and Bog-orc army had left Buntray with a single artillery piece, headed for Castafar on the coach road!
But Camembert, a seasoned campaigner, had other plans. He had been assured by a local priest, one Father Dubhgall, that the old bog road was passable for his army. Thus after his well-observed departure from Buntray, the "Armée de Liberation" (consisting of about 700 Elves, 700 Bog-orcs and a single Elf 4-pounder light gun) cut back across country to the bog road. As there were no troops between Camembert and Castafar on this route, he was hopeful of complete surprise. But the bog road proved almost impossible for the Elves! The vacuous Father Dubhgall had assumed that the Ferach were as adept as Bog-Orcs at crossing bogs, and Camembert despaired of reaching Castafar when his horse sank deep into the mire! But the laughing Bog-Orcs picked up Elves, waggons, horses, and the artillery piece, and carried them bodily across the worst of the terrain. The game was again afoot.
While Camembert's force struggled along the old bog road, Retchinson had dug in his troops at Castafar. He was surprised not to have heard any news or firing from the ford, but expected it at any time. He then received a rider with a message informing him that General Lack, victor of Vilegar Hill, was coming to take over the defence of Castafar. There were thousands of troops converging on the Buntray area, but no others would be here for days. The Albionite force consisted of about 1,700 Orcs and Rats, mainly Bog-Orc militia, with ten light guns and a howitzer. The town lay in a hollow beside a small river which flowed down from the mountains, with surrounding low hills. Retchinson had positioned his troops in the hills around the town. The front-line contained four 3-pounders of the Royal Guinelea Artillery together with several hundred Kaffrey's Militia (Bog-Orcs); behind them stood the Razor Fencibles (Joccian) with two 3-pounder battalion guns (Rat crew) and more Bog-Orc militia; the third line contained four companies of the Shortbridge Militia (Bog-Orcs). In reserve were Lord Rotten's Foxhunters, a unit of Bog-Orc cavalry militia, with some local Castafar militia. In the town itself were positioned a motley collection of pensioned or invalid Orc regulars, together with the remaining four (militia) light guns and howitzer (militia).
A Bog-Orc militia soldier had slipped away in the evening to "visit me farm", and returned relating an incredible story (before the Provosts hanged him) - the Elves were advancing down the old bog road!
Retchinson had been somewhat peeved by the loss of his command to the glory-seeking Lack, but watched in amusement as the guns were retrained in the glooming dawn to face the new line of attack (the Ferach and rebel flags could now be seen flying above the advancing troops). The Albionite artillery opened fire at long range, but appeared to have little effect on the Elf veterans. Realising that he had been detected, Camembert ordered the artillery to deploy and return fire. But, to his horror, an howitzer shell scored a direct hit on the gun and crew - his army now had no answer to the Albionite barrage!
To add to Camembert's problems, the rebel Bog-Orcs almost all turned tail and ran - but the Elves still marched towards the town. With a characteristic Ferach shrug of his shoulders, Camembert cried out "Vive L'Empereur" and was answered by several hundred Elven voices in a haunting chorus.
At this point occurred one of those strange moments which turn the course of battles - the Bog-Orc militia of Lack's army threw down their arms and fled! No-one knows the real reason for this, but whatever the cause it destroyed the Albionite army as the remaining units either carried on fighting amidst the confusion, or started to retreat. The Albionite officers tried desperately to rally their fleeing troops, but they refused to halt. Camembert quickly overran the patchy defence by the Albionites, and took the town. The artillery, flags and munitions of the Albionite force were captured, as well as General Lack's baggage. The routing Albionites looted and burned their way back to Tomb, the nearest main town, and some ran all the way to Abalone (a major Albion military base, more than sixty miles away). The West of Guinelea seemed to have fallen to Camembert!
Cornedbeefis' Riposte!
While Camembert was campaigning in the west, the Albion Viceroy of Guinelea, General Cornedbeefis (of Secessionist Wars fame) gathered a strong Albionite force (mainly containing Bog-Orc and Joccian militia) at Dubloon and marched for Abalone. The Viceroy was concerned by two events - one was the sudden flaring of an old war-wound (which he put down to the damp of Guinelian bogs), and the other was the poor quality of his army. The Bog-Orcs were either suspected of rebel sympathies, out to loot and steal, or just apathetic. The Joccians seemed more interested in looting and burning than fighting. Only the Albion militia (sent quickly to Dubloon on hearing of the rising) were steady. He intended to use these as his main force, keeping the worse troops for garrisons, etc.
While Cornedbeefis massed his troops and headed for Abalone, Camembert had set off south to cut communications between Dubloon and Londinium. He was himself concerned that the Ferach reinforcements had not materialised, and the Bog-Orc rebels were becoming something of a liability (he was forced to cut their ammunition supplies after he found them using their muskets for hunting!). Due to their indiscipline, he had a group of Bog-Orc troublemakers hanged, which quietened things for a while. The Viceroy, on arriving at Abalone, received two pieces of news. The first was that Camembert had headed south, taking almost all the Ferach troops and captured artillery with him. The second was more to Cornedbeefis' liking...
Wolf-Tonic and Admiral Bombaste had set sail for Buntray with ten ships (one ship-of-the-line, the Hoaxe, together with eight frigates and a fast schooner) carrying some 3,000 Elves and quantities of stores. But after being caught in a storm, the flotilla ran into an Albion Navy force off the Krautian coast. While of only six ships, this fleet was much stronger as all were ships-of-the-line. Admiral Bombaste offered to send Wolf-Tonic back to Amorica in the schooner, but the rebel chief declined, and took charge of a gun on the Hoaxe for the ensuing battle. The Albionites captured the invasion fleet in a four hour running battle, and made special note of Wolf-Tonic in his Ferach uniform. There would be no reinforcement for Camembert!
Camembert, meanwhile, had encountered a small force of Albion militia advancing towards Dubloon. He defeated them after a hard fight, and assumed that they were the advance-guard of a larger Orc force (wrongly, as it happened), and decided to change direction and head for Dubloon itself. Cornedbeefis was chasing him south, and the two armies passed fairly close to one another in their manoeuverings. But the Viceroy finally realised where Camembert was headed, and set off on a course to intercept.
About two days march from Dubloon, Camembert's army came upon the remnants of a Bog-Orc rebel force at Fellinthemuck. The local area had been virtually depopulated by the militia who had crushed the rebels here, and the sight of it all inspired most of Camembert's Bog-Orcs to desert, though several hundred stayed with him. On hearing that Cornedbeefis was only hours behind him, the dejected Ferach commander decided to stand and fight. He had abandonned the captured cannon to speed up his march, and so the 850 Elves and less than 1,000 Bog-Orc rebels formed up at Fellinthemuck to resist the approach of General Cornedbeefis with 5,000 Orcs and a dozen artillery pieces. General Lack was also approaching from Dubloon with an army almost as large.
The Battle of Fellinthemuck lasted for about half an hour, then the Elves surrendered. They were taken as prisoners-of-war, but the remaining Bog-Orc rebels were executed by the victorious army. The Albion army then marched to Buntray, crushing the small rebel garrisons which they encountered en route, and took the town after a brief fight with the rebels. The Guinelian Rising was over.
The Aftermath
While the Elves were imprisoned or exchanged, the Bog-Orc rebels (and anybody thought to have supported them!) were slaughtered by the Albionite troops. Many rebels fled to Amorica to swell the ranks of the Legion Guinelea. But their ringleaders were given special treatment by the military courts, and none more than Wolf-Tonic.
That famous rebel was still wearing his blue Ferach uniform when tried, and gave a long speech about the rightness of his cause before being found guilty of high treason. He was sentenced to be tortured to death in the main square of Dubloon as an example, but used a fruit knife to take his own life in prison. Thus died a fine-hearted, but ill-advised, Bog-Orc!
Gaming the Guinelian Rising
The rebel forces for the Rising consist of Guerrilla or Militia Bog-Orc units, mainly melee-armed. Only perhaps one in three should have a fire-arm (which could be anything including High Elf Muskets, pistols, Fowl Guns, Orc Bessies, or blunderbusses). Many would be half-pike armed (count as spear). The Elves of Camembert's army would be an Elite unit, as they were mainly grenadiers. (You could also introduce the Guinelian Legion).
The Albionite forces are as standard Flintloque, but would be mainly Militia with some Regulars. Artillery should all be light, and most troops should be Raw. All infantry should be armed with Bessies or Rat Rifles.
The battles should take place either in hills and bogs, or in towns. Orklow, for example, would be a small town with ruined castle, defended by Bog-Orc Militia, a few Militia Dragoons and a couple of artillery pieces. The attackers are Fecksford rebels (Militia) with mainly melee weapons. The defenders are "dug-in" with barricades, etc., but heavily outnumbered.
Webmasters Notes
This was originally published on Danny's excellent website and is reproduced here with permission from the author. |
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