Now that the starting 42mm armies for my imaginations campaign are finished, I am trying to find good-sounding names for the countries and units.
First question is what language to use. Since wargaming is dominantly an English-driven hobby, it seems natural to use English. However, over the years, I sort of grew tired of all the fake German, French, Russian or whatever names people give to their units in English. Such names often have small mistakes against the grammar or inflections of the language in question. Mind you, I also do think this can be fun to do, but at least you should make the effort to use *plausible* names in the target language, not only words that sound funny in English.
Anyway, since my native language is Dutch (or Flemish as some would prefer to call it), and because there's already an abundancy of English-language imaginations, I decided to run my Imaginations campaign with Dutch names. Not only for the military organizations, but also for the places, towns, geography, etc.
Especially the names for units will not be that different from English, French or German names due to historic influences, but some Dutch words (as adjectives, designations, etc.) can be used as well, giving the whole a different sounding schwung.
Listed below is the current OOB for both armies. Not all names have been decided yet, and names of units will change and receive accolades throughout the games we will play. Also, I foresee more units to be added as campaign developments.
Country A - name still to be decided.
- Dominant colour of uniforms: Green
Units: 8 infantry figures, 4 cavalry figures, or 1 gun per unit. Infantry and cavalry units will be grouped in 2 subunits each (resp. 4 figures and 2 figures), which will be called
companies and
eskadrons. A subunit neatly occupies a single Kalliastra hex. The rules - which still have to be written - will accommodate for this. Each unit also has a regimental colour, visible in the uniform.
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| 1ste Regiment Fusiliers - black |
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| 2de Regiment Fusiliers - red |
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| 3de Regiment Fusiliers - blue, although the flag has yellow as well. |
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| 1ste Artillerie - brown |
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| 1ste Karabiniers te Paard - white |
Country B
- Dominant colour of uniforms: Blue
Units: same organization as country A - just to keep things simple ruleswise. Since these figures are actually Turkish soldiers from the Balkan wars, I decided that the names could be a bit more atypical. Instead of using battallion or regiment, I will call them
bans, and a subunit is a
schaar. Each ban also has its own colour.
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| 1ste Ban Schutters - red |
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| 2de Ban Schutters - turqoise |
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| 3de Ban Schutters - straw |
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| 1ste Mechanisch Geschut - magenta |
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| 1ste Verkenners te Paard - white |
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Of course if you are multi-lingual then why not use that !. There is no requirement for it all be anglisised.
ReplyDeleteYes, but as a non-native speaker, you have to make conscious efforts NOT to use English terms in your wargaming. Even during gameplay itself there tends to be a large amount of anglicization going on.
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