ImagiNations: Nordstrum (a Xmas special)

Over the last few months, as son #1 was in Norway with NATO, I've been beavering away at a new ImagiNations army to add to the collection. Michael had some years ago concocted a new state for our ImagiNation world but the painting had not gotten off the ground. He had tried a few test figures but his real skills lie in the world of silly spaceships and tiny blobs of metal (oftentimes referred to as micro-armour). The figures he had tested were Front Rank Napoleonic Spanish, from an earlier ill-fated plan of mine to build up the white menace from the Peninsula campaigns. Because the Spanish uniforms are bit anachronistic for the Napoleonic period, Michael decided to use them for his ImagiNations army... Nordstrum. 

The Nordstrum elevator pitch...

Nordstrum is a fanatically secular state, governed by the FolksParlament, at the head which sits Chancellor Karl Gustav Gustavsson. The Chancellorship is an elected position and is beholden to the whims of the people in the form of the annually elected FolksParlament. The small but professional army mirrors the state, wherein advancement is based on merit and service, rather than birth and preferment. The common soldier fights for his family, his regiment, and his country (God has little, if anything, to do with it). Nordstrum is notorious for staying out of the common disputes amongst its more pious and monarchic neighbours, while preferring to promote its overseas trading interests.

Thus, while Michael was tramping the wilds of Norway, I put paint to brush for his Xmas present and completed the first brigade of the Nordstrum army.

Two infantry battalions, one cavalry regiment, and a heavy artillery battery. There will also be a 12-figure light infantry addition to the brigade. The plan is to eventually have three such brigades in the army, each with a distinctive brigade facing colour (in this case, red). I was hesitant, at first, to follow Michael's instructions to have the infantry in charcoal grey coats. It wasn't a technical issue (painting and shading black/grey is pretty much the same as any other colour); rather it was an aesthetic concern. But once completed, I was quite pleased with the result.

Each brigade will have a small cavalry contingent. For these, I chose a lighter grey for the uniforms (mainly because I needed a break from the darker charcoal grey), with the brigade red facing colour.

The heavy artillery battery in blue coats. While perusing the Front Rank website, I couldn't not pass by the 24 lb guns without adding them to the cart.

The infantry battalions each have a 6 lb battalion gun section and are considered standard-sized units in Black Powder.