April 7th, 2014
7 Apr 2014 · page 349 of 1306
Insert the training montage song of your choice here. But if it's not from Mulan, you're doing it wrong.
Cast: Dominik Voss, Heinrich Wolfe
Comments (39)
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Author's comment clearly foreshadows that Dominik is, in fact, an asian woman in disguise.
Also, it seems like the spirit is going to be Envy. You can practicaly see that in Dominik's murderous stare in the last panel. If any stare could embody a spirit so well to summon it immediately, it's that one.
I think the eyes are even green.
An appropriate color for a military story.
Didn't this page [http://www.widdershinscomic...](http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/green-eyed-monster/ "http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/green-eyed-monster/") kinda give that away already? ;)
In retrospect, yeah, obviously :P.
The funny thing to me is that I totally wouldn't have even picked up on it at all if it wasn't for the title page for the chapter... I'm dense! :D
Let's get down to business, indeed! :)
You're the saddest bunch I ever met, and you haven't got a clue. Mister, I'll make a man out of you!
Woah Wolfe, you're such a boss
Can't imagine Wolfe as an officer, no matter what his scores.
I can. Being clever and smart (and agreeable) gets people promoted.
Neat as it is, a lot of this montage is anachronistic. I doubt that they'd be doing marksmanship training with muzzle-loading muskets; the things were so inaccurate that they were generally used en masse for volley fire (unless they've magicked the things to shoot better, of course!) Really seems a bit more Full Metal Jacket than Barry Lyndon. :P
They could be rifled. And the Brown Bess musket was carried in at least one British armory until almost the Twentieth Century.
And i don't see a frizzen, so it might be a percussion cap design (probably would be, since they were developed in 1820), which would be rifled.
As far as I've been able to discover, the Prussian army didn't adopt rifles for widespread use until the Dreyse needle gun in 1848 - prior to that they issued smoothbore muskets to most of their infantry, though they did have a standard-issue flintlock rifle for specialist use (snipers, light infantry, etc). It wasn't replaced by a percussion-cap model until 1835, five years after this story is set - though it's certainly possible that they might using rifles especially for the exercise, rather than using the weapons they'd be issued with.
The Jagers (light irregular infantry) used rifles. They were mainly composed of hunters, woodsmen, gamekeepers etc. so they were experienced with rifles and typically brought their own weapons with them when they enlisted. I think they were volunteers rather than conscripts so it would make sense that Wolfe would join them. The Prussians did have a 1810 pattern flintlock rifle that was supposed to be issued to the Jagers (although as I said, most had their own) and in 1835 they were rerifled to a standard twist and converted to percussion cap.
Except that we can tell by the uniforms that Wolfe and Voss probably joined a musketeer regiment and definitely not the Jäger, as the latter have dark green uniforms with gray leggings.
An 1813 Prussian line regiment consisted of 2 musketeers battalions, 1 fusilier battalion and a troop of volunteer-jagers. I suppose it's possible that this isn't training but evaluation, seeing what skills the recruits possess before assigning them to musketeers, fusiliers or Jagers.
In 1813, the volunteer "Jägerdetachements" weren't formally integrated into the Prussian military as they were by the 1830s (as per order of the Prussian kabinett in 1821)... And even then they wore distinct uniforms and had a wholly separate recruitment process. Not to mention that Jäger in the 1830s were recruited practically exclusively from accredited hunters and foresters (minor exceptions being for hunters that hadn't gotten accredited but still posessed the necessary skill sets and the hornblowers and artisans). It's unlikely that either Voss or Wolfe were qualified for the Jäger to begin with.
Not that any of this really matters =P
It just goes to show you can't draw a bunch of Prussian soldiers and not have military buffs and Germans quibble about the accuracy of little details, such as the guns or how "Offiziersprüfung" is split in two and in the wrong font. Without the excellent attention to detail that Kate already put into this, we'd not be having as detailed a discussion.
Think it's there as there are two metal projections above the barrel in the first panel, but not sure why it's on the inside (rifle is left handed) when he's right handed.
The typical period musket had about a 1/3 chance of hitting a man sized target at 100 yards. So yes, they aren't using muskets but rifles. The period rifle had about an 80 or 90 percent chance of hitting a man sized target at 200 yards. A certain private Plunkett shot a french general at 600 yards with a Baker rifle and then shot the generals aide to show it wasn't just a fluke. In peacetime, if you have the time to carefully measure your powder and choose perfectly round balls, you might be even more accurate. The range Wolfe and Voss are shooting at seems to be about 50 yards. Wolfe seems to be getting 6 inch groups. Extrapolating to a 3 ft group ( roughly a man sized target) would correspond to about 300 yards. So Wolfe is doing good shooting, but not unheard of for the period.
As has been pointed out, by this time they should probably be using paper cartridges with the powder pre-measured (and the greased paper functioning as the patch)
The minie "ball", which came a bit later, increased both accuracy and loading ease and speed, since, unlike a true ball it didn't need to be slightly over-calibre to engage the grooves and could be loaded a lot more easily.
Your mention of Private Plunkett's feat puts me in mind of my favourite Last Words: "Nonsense! They couldn't hit an elephant at this -"
(The Confederacy had special sniper rifles that used a barrel with a hexagonal bore that matched a hexagonl bullet, ensuring positive engagement of rifling and not-quite-round. Today's Glock handguns have hexagonal bores {octagonal in .45} , BTW)
I don't really know guns, but those look breach-loaded to me.
Wait... nevermind. Wolfe is loading his from the muzzle. Although he might just be doing it wrong.
I just drew him with what appeared in this book [http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0486240851/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1396864129&sr=8-1 "http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0486240851/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1396864129&sr=8-1"), which looked like a flintlock rifle to me. Honestly though I've never gven any more than a cursory nod to historical accuracy, not planning on changing that any time soon.
Haha, that's perfectly fine by me! Seeing the Prussian colours is already pretty neat, I must admit, and the lack of accuracy certainly hasn't made me think any less of the story. Keep up the good work!
I had the Team America:World Police 'We Need a Montage!' Song during that to my everlasting shame :D
Right, on with the nitpicking.
The headgear of the person between Wolfe and Voss in panel 2 looks like a Grenadier miter, which would mean that it would not be a rifle, but a musket, as they then would seem to be part of a grenadier regiment or company. Also, all this running and climbing is far too 20th century. Early 19th century soldier were mostly drilled, in close order drill. And the absence of (mandatory) headgear in most panels is also not correct.
And as this is not a historical accurate comic anyway, IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! ;)
Keep up the good work, I really enjoy the story so far, and can overlook any (perceived) inaccuracies. It's the story that counts.
Agreed and agreed. :)
Maybe they covered more moving and tactics due to enemies being able to summon crazy things. I know I'd want to know how to climb if my enemies could summon things that fly!
Wolfe's face in the last panel cracks me up. "Oh, looks like I beat everyone, again! Ho ho ho."
Humility is a virtue. He practically has a halo over his head.
This is my rifle, this is my gun. This is for fighting, this is for fun! :P
[https://www.youtube.com/wat...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbEmBTg2Rbg "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbEmBTg2Rbg")
[https://www.youtube.com/wat...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSS5dEeMX64 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSS5dEeMX64")
Sorry, but this is the song that popped into mind when you mentioned a Montage song
[https://www.youtube.com/wat...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPFCHuEegsk "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPFCHuEegsk")
Just I don't know how much relevance in future but the hammer is on the right-side of the musket and they should use paper cartridges.
damn that grouping is impressive with a musket
The Jealousy begins here... but is he going to try to take Wolfe's powers? Or is he going to try to knock Wolfe down a peg? Either way, he appears to be a natural conductor of the spirit so far...
Couldn't we just skip the montage music and get right to the ending theme to Orgazmo?
I hate it when my teachers just give me a big X for my grade