All you need to know about Oronegro

Archduke Piccolo has been kind enough to give me lots of information on the armies I has thinking of using for Oronegro and also tips and ideas for how Oronegro could have come into being.
However I have had the stories for a while (a few days) and now I am going to present a brief outline for you... But for all the facts go HERE (colonisation and expansion part1) and HERE (colonisation and expansion part2)! These posts on the Special Oronegro blog will be followed by a few more. However here is a basic outline of the story for everyone else.

• First Colonials arrive in 1492, made up of all Spain's unwanted. heretics, Jews, Muslims, atheists, disillusioned catholic priests and christian soldiers who fought for the wrong side.
• 1500 after another wave of Colonials British, french and Italian communities join the colony. La Ley already established now is joined by La Esperanza as the colonial cities.
• 1555 The Land of Oronegro is born... due to the currency being Coco beans instead of gold. the Spanish King is only head of state as the other colonial peoples, mainly British and Italian are too strong for him to exert total control.
• 1570's to 1600 The wars with the powerful Kaxad Empire shake the colony to its knees the surprise attacks leave the cities besieged and the great farming plains covered in Kaxad troops. however due to some festivals the Kaxad withdraws most of its troops allowing the Oronegreans to fight back... the second large attack comes in the 1590's however Oronegro is more prepared and fights back with an army that now is well equipped for hand to hand combat as well as conventional musket fighting. Kaxad empire retreats and breaks down in 1603... still a powerful force it is no longer coherent enough to launch large campaigns
• 1625 The grand Pirate raid on La Ley sees bloody fighting and enormous damage. it is repulsed at the Star Fort and in the river but at heavy loss only when a fleet from La Esperanza enters the river do the Pirates give in.

And there you have it. I hope even the brief context will help you understand Oronegro. The time my miniatures are set in is based round the 1740's to 1780's and the wars where Oronegrean troops marched up the jungle valleys and across some of the unexplored planes... there is also a brief Civil war between the Chocolate kings and the State. All very exiting and not to mention a few Pirates thrown in for Good measure :-D still working on the story as you can see quite a way to go yet.

My mind is in need of help

Well Oronegro has been my project for almost a year now and I LOVE IT!!! the only problem is that in entering this dark new phase I am unable to pin down which infantry to use as basic Oronegrean troops... For moderns it was easy USA all the way their equipment is common through out the world. However for the 18th century I am about as sure as what to choose as I was sure who were going to be Oronegro's neighbours!

What I mean is I need your help badly. I chose Archduke Piccolo's imgi-nations to be Oronegro's neighbours as they offered an interesting set of neighbours and because unlike real nations I don't have to worry about distinct climates and certain other geographic rules also it allows one to say that perhaps its on a parallel earth accessed through say a portal... Bermuda triangle could be one perhaps... put your nation on the other side of a portal and it could be bordering several real nations and yet not appear on maps or satellite photos.
However what to do for infantry or for that matter the entire force of Oronegro. The sets I have looked at so far have been good, interesting and IMHO special in that they wear helmets and yes perhaps I will still get them! However helmeted troops are more likely to be some elite unit, not the norm as I need for a basic force. I have a few options here, as what to pick but what it comes down to is which force will allow me to create an Oronegrean century???

Here are my options:

• Peninsular war Brits > the HaT set is made from a medium consistency plastic allowing easy conversion of Shako into tricorn. Also with the release of the infantry command set I should have a a nice command structure for a century.
• French > lots out there and the uniforms show similarities to the Wurttenburg infantry also there is lots of French support sets like baggage carts which will add to the realism and possible scenarios.
• Nassau infantry> also similarities to the Wurttenburg infantry however they have sabres which makes them stand out and I am not overly keen on the limited supply of other troops types.

There are the 3 options I could of coarse get the Brits, convert shako's get a set with the drummer... what they really need along with guys with flags and repaint them in a new uniform. This would mean that they seem right especially with the marines in the Naval crew set which I will get for certain. I am so confused I just need help.

However if you were able to sell me or trade me some figs with those helmets or perhaps would like any figs I do not like when I bought a set arrangements could be made. until the groundwork for the Oronegrean army is set any ones ideas will not only be welcome but important!!!

what of early Oronegro part 2

well sort of in the last instalment I discussed the possibilities of using some Austrians as Oronegrean infantry and doing some conversions. well in this second installment I am proposing a different group to be the Oronegreans...  Württemberg. well the helmets are very similar as you will see but also its the sets available that makes them appeal to me. well the cavalry is yet to be released but look at the numbers.

HaT Württemberg Infantry  100x figs
HaT Württemberg Cavalry 12x cavalry
HaT Württemberg Artillery  16x figs and 4 guns

yes I know the artillery set has a pitiful crew but perhaps Oronegrean gunners were super efficient like F1 pit crews today. also the infantry are great you can either go to PSR or perhaps you can visit this section of the HäT site. I like the infantry set because of the Ratio of figure types; 40 infantry in helmets, 20 light infantry/ scouts (they will get tricorns or other suitable head gear) and 16 grenadiers (will get tricorns) also not to mention the NCO's officers and drummers that bring this set up to full strength.

so perhaps these men will be our Oronegreans instead. but your advice would be more than welcome.

 

what of early Oronegro

as I said on a post I published just before on the main blog I was recently thinking of doing some early Oronegrean history either in the era of the conquistadors or the 18th century or a strange mix of them both. well I have concluded that it should be set in the 18th century with a few conquistador style people running around! The only problem is that what figures to get, well the conquistadors are the least of my worries. the problem is which of the many musket wielding figures out there do I want to represent Oronegro. well after looking at all the sets on PSR that had tricorns and then looking at which ones would best suit my idea of the Oronegreans I was disappointed so I looked a bit later at the Napoleonic period. Here I found some suitable candidates for some Oronegrean infantry as well as some conversion opportunities.

I want tricorns so I am not about to give up because there are not any suitable sets I shall convert these bicorn and shako wearing heathens into some true imperial forces! However I am going to make an exception for some helmeted forces... and after a search through the nappies I found that Austria could hold the greatest potential.

look at these sets

What interests me about these is the conversion possibilities, the helmets I'll keep but the other more foolish looking hats will be cut off and replaced by tricorns. Here are the other possible sets, that also include the helmets

this set does include some unwanted Prussians but perhaps a use can be found for them also








this is an older set from Italeri but more of the infantry in this one have the helmet.









But what story do these sets have for Oronegro. Well as I've said this is a recent concept and I am not done refining possible stories. there is some way to go and the project may not see the light of day but with enough encouragement/nagging perhaps I will go into some early Oronegrean history!

ah study leave and some wonderul news

well I have reached that time in the year where all of us senior students go home and prepare for our upcoming NCEA exams my first one is next week gulp. but what this also means is that I have time between study to do some painting and model building. in fact I am just finished with some Spanish :-) I use an online sight called Language perfect, its a great way to study. my current score on it is 14689 points, which makes me first in school, 86th in the country and 166th in the world. next up some physics, well I am about to walk the dog. but this is only slightly good news as these exams are not for passing NCEA lvl 2 but rather for getting endorsed with excellence, the highest rating for NCEA I am currently sitting (I think) on getting NCEA lvl 2 with merit the next level down. but enough of exams thinking about them will only stress me out.... more?

NOW FOR SOME WONDERFUL NEWS!!
Next year is Year 13 my final year of college and because year 13 students are the most senior in the school each year the a selection of year 13 students take up the role of prefect. Of coarse this is a democracy so earlier this year all us year 12 students and the teaches voted for a selection of students, this year only a few of us guys volunteered so voting for male prefects was easy, the girls seemed to all want to be prefect. However during the last couple of weeks the prefect team was announced, the students who will take a lead role in the school and.... I was selected! :-D

so what do prefects do, well we are roll models to the younger students, we organise events and if needed we act to make sure the rules are followed. So what will I do, well I am as you may have noticed from my profile some what mentally and a bit physically handicapped so I intend to help others who may be suffering from what I do. this in fact is actually quite important to me, especially because I know that the problems I have are unavoidable and to some extent incurable (not the best word). On the brighter side this does mean that whenever I do manage to get something right or done well I can take pride in that I have worked through more challenges to do so than some of my peers. Well there is my more sensible ideas for what I shall do but also I am sure that you my followers will be happy to know I may (most likely not) try and get a wargaming club set up or other hobby related events, lets replace photography with painting miniatures :-P (well this country doe shave WETA workshop and have you seen the miniatures they build!!!!! its a serious profession)

oh and some other good news welcome to my new followers
Anne O'Leary from Anne's Attic its a great site and Anne's work is very nice, especially her use of natural materials in dio's
Greetings also to Tankmodels.pl from tankmodels.pl welcome to the blog

Well lets hope that these exams go well then eh... and to all my fellow bloggers who may also be gearing up to exams (that includes teachers) I wish you the best of luck