[OL-FB] Let's put them back to good use!

[Keymonus]

South of Seawatch, El Oleonda, April 624

The cannon emerged slowly from the murky water, one centimeter after another. Despite the time spent in the water, the barrel seemed in a good state. With a few blows of a shovel, one of the engineers removed the remaining pieces of the wooden carriage, buried too deep in the mud. Soon, that cannon would have been cleaned, inspected, and most likely mounted on a new wooden support, in the military workshops of Fort Firmo. A cannon barrel was too valuable to let it rot in a bog: that Lotii weapon would have become instead part of Seawatch port batteries, or maybe of a field artillery unit.

After their defeat in the Battle of Seawatch, the Lotii had quickly withdrawn toward the Eastern settlements, leaving traps and ambushes to delay the pursuit of the Coalition forces. The attacks of hostile native tribes and guerrilla operations of Jiangkai troops, together with bad roads, terrible weather, and mass desertion of mercenaries, however, had soon turned the orderly retreat into a complete rout, and countless cannons and heavy carriages were abandoned along the way: what had started as a brilliant disengagement had quickly turned a desperate march for survival.

The Lotii had lost a quarter of their army, and an immediate new offensive seemed unlikely. Therefore, that represented an excellent moment to reorganize the coalition forces in Seawatch, repair the town fortifications, and, indeed, salvage as many as possible of the abandoned Lotii cannons... better to have them in safe hands, than to allow the enemies -or the armies of other allied empires- to recover them!

With the help of workhorses and mules, the military engineers of Oleon towed the cannons out of bogs and rivers, or out of the mud of the jungle trails. In most cases, the carriages had been damaged, but only a few artillery pieces had been spiked or blown away... a few days of work, and most of them could have been put easily back in battery!

Other units, scattered all over the jungle, were recovering cases of ammunition, gunpowder barrels, small arms, and other abandoned equipment, and occasionally also accepted the surrender of stragglers and small Lotii units left behind during the last months.

Even though no organized resistance was usually encountered, some Lotii soldiers had resorted to banditry or had chosen to continue the war on their own. Therefore, all the salvage expeditions were accompanied by chasseurs and soldiers of Fort Arltrees militia, who knew the jungle as their own pockets.

A small MOC set on El Oleonda, with the military engineers of Oleon recovering a Lotii cannon from a bog.

Build inspired by @Ozzy_4321's MOC about salvaging/capturing abandoned Lotii cannons.

Edited May 4 by Keymonus

[Ozzy_4321]

@Keymonus Awesome MOC, and great storytelling! Love it!!

Also the way you did the submerged cannon barrel looks amazing too!

[NOD]

This is another interesting and great photo story. The build of how the cannon barrel is pulled out of the water with chains is detailed and realistic.

[Yperio_Bricks]

Great scene with the cannon barrel that is being pulled out of the water! The dark barrel and clear tiles/plates make for a great effect. I also like the militia man.

[Jeff of Clubs]

Excellent work,Key! Good of you to pull other builds together! You two are making the army proud!

[Keymonus]

On 4/29/2024 at 2:49 PM, Ozzy_4321 said:

@Keymonus Awesome MOC, and great storytelling! Love it!!

Also the way you did the submerged cannon barrel looks amazing too!

On 4/29/2024 at 3:28 PM, NOD said:

This is another interesting and great photo story. The build of how the cannon barrel is pulled out of the water with chains is detailed and realistic.

Thank you guys! I think I had never realized before that the transparence effect could work well also with solid objects, I had always used it only to create shades of colors by putting different plates below the clear tiles.

On 4/29/2024 at 9:53 PM, Yperio_Bricks said:

Great scene with the cannon barrel that is being pulled out of the water! The dark barrel and clear tiles/plates make for a great effect. I also like the militia man.

Thanks! With the Western settlements getting too "civilized" (meaning lines of "monotonous" line infantry), I love the idea of troops in frontier regions with more distinctive feels, as the ones on El Oleonda, or the New Oleon desert troops.

21 hours ago, Jeff of Clubs said:

Excellent work,Key! Good of you to pull other builds together! You two are making the army proud!

Thanks! When I have a chance, I always like recalling old things myself or other people have introduced before

[Count Vroskri]

Brilliant! The slight curve on the tiles makes it appear the water is gliding off the cannon's rusty surface.