New 15mm Montenegrans

Irregular Miniatures have just released 15mm WW1 Montenegrans:

SBWM1	Montenegran infantry (in many assorted positions) 22/5/10	A
SBWM2	Montenegran Machine gun & 2 crew 22/5/10	F
SBWM3	Montenegran officer 22/5/10	A
SBWM4	Montenegran gun & 4 crew 22/5/10

No pics but they should be perfect for 'Bolkans' imagi-wars whether as regular or irregular forces.

There's also more pics of the 15/20mm guns on their Really Useful Gun page.

Cheers
Mark

A Pain in the Bolkans 4

Dateline: Geneva
By our Correspondent at the League of Nations.

Amidst unprecedented scenes of chaos and mayhem in the chamber today, two national delegations resorted to physical violence and had to be removed from the League Building.

Count Duckula, the Ainamor representative, had just risen to speak in the debate on the Scandanavian Pig Smuggling dispute when the gentleman from the Brobdingnag Union leaped to his feet and interrupted him with loud accusations of Ainamor atrocities against the Union in the just ended Royal Army exercises near the Union border.

Showering delegates with photographs which he claimed to be proof of his claims, Shishkebab Bey appeared to say that the Royal Army had made several incursions into Union territory and committed numerous offences including kidnapping and assault of women and goats from border villages, sniping at Union Gendarmerie border guards and turning the Union flag upside down outside town halls and other official buildings.

This was greeted with howls of laughter from Count Duckula and the singing by his assistants of the Ainamor National Anthem " Cummen havago iffudink yurhardenuff ". Almost at a point of apoplexy, Shishkebab Bey then denounced the Ainamor Royal Aviation Corps for having bombed the rail junction at Cheyssac, destroying several buildings and killing a number of villagers.

Cheyssac in ruins.

At this point, Count Duckula stated that the accusations were totally without foundation, but that if the RAC had truly intended to bomb Cheyssac then rather than merely damaging it, the village would have been totally wiped from the map. Whereupon Count Duckula went down under an assault from several Union delegation members, including Shishkebab Bey wielding a large, traditional but not ceremonial knife. An unseemly brawl between the two missions only ended when police carried the two parties from the building.

The Union delegation left for Boughre without comment. Count Dukula was last heard screaming abuse at the Bey and shouting " This Means War! ".

A Pain in the Bolkans 3

A Pain in the Bolkans 3

Dateline: St Pode de Vache
By our Special Reporter.

No sooner was King Mikhailus making threats against the Brobdingnag Union on the wireless earlier this month, before the Royal War Ministry announced a series of major military exercises in the southern county of Borta, just adjacent to the Union border.

A Ministry press release stated that "The Royal Army and Air Corps are determined to defend the Kingdom's borders from any and all external threats. This ongoing series of exercises will show the world that Ainamor will not knuckle under to any enemy."

Official photographs released by the Ministry show Ainamorian forces on Manoeuvres, including recently acquired modern aircraft.

After issuing a statement condemning the exercises as "blatant warmongering directed at Brobdingnag", the Union Ambassador to St. Pode de Vache has been recalled for "consultations".

In a separate announcement from the Latviestonakian Ministry of Truth, the Republic added its' condemnation of Ainamor's actions stating that "Knakians everywhere are justly concerned that Ainamor's ambitions are not limited to internal matters." The Republican armed forces have been put on alert and limited numbers of reservists have been called up.

War in the Bolkans?

Dateline: Boughre.
By our Special Reporter

Tensions rose in the Bolkans today, as here in Boughre, capital of Ainamor, King Mikhaelus made inflammatory remarks about the neighbouring Union of Brobdingnagia in his weekly wireless broadcast to the nation.

Cut off from the sea by her neighbours, Ainamor has been forced for many years to rely on the Union's rivers and railways for both exports and imports. However, the Union is industrially and financially weak and her transport infrastructure reflects this. Ainamor has long pressed the Union to sell to her control of the river and rail transport systems, promising that under the kingdom's care the trains would run on time. The Union has so far resisted but the King in his speech demanded that this dispute be resolved once and for all.

"The Brobs may be content to wallow in their sloth and lassitude", the King stated, "but the Kingdom of Ainamor is no decadent oriental slum and demands the right to advancement for our citizens. The Union and it's deliberate policy of frustrating Ainamor's desire to seek her rightful place in the world will not be allowed to continue. We are a peaceful people but enough is enough!"

Brobdingnagia has lodged a formal complaint with the League of Nations about the bellicose nature of the King's speech and has claimed that Ainamor is mobilising her reserves in a clear threat of war.

For a fuller background to the situation in the Southern Bolkans, please read our Sports and Leisure Supplement: http://monsewer-crapaud.blogspot.com/