Bob's Anglican League Forces
The
Anglican League (AL) has members in two types of areas: Free Parishes, and Occupied Parishes
(OP). The former are in areas under
full AL control, where it provides the government and all services. These areas are under threat of Royalist
and BUF attack, but those occur on the frontiers or in raids into the
interior. The Occupied Parishes are
in areas under control of some entity other than the AL, but the Church leaders
and members of the parish have taken allegiance to the League. Many OP are in Royalist areas and some
are in areas under control of socialist/communist organizations. The military aspect is different between
the two types of parishes. In the
occupied areas, there are only small para-military groups that try to protect
the parishioners from day-to-day harassment of BUF thugs and other anti-Church
groups. These groups try to
maintain communication with the AL hierarchy and will send men to join the
military forces in the free areas.
The organization within the Occupied Parishes is similar to the Local
Parish Militia, described below.
The size of the organization in each Occupied Parish is however, limited
to only a few units.
In
the Free Parishes, the Anglican League military contingent is made up of 4
regular components. These are the
Local Parish Militia (LPM), the Regular Military Force called The Military
Vicariate, a mobile force named " The Paladins," and foreign
volunteers. The LPM is made up of
minimally trained local forces raised to protect their village, or town from
outside attacks (especially in the frontier parishes), carry out sabotage
raids, and deal with any internal problems. They may be called up to provide
limited support to the regulars.
The Military Vicariate consists of ex-servicemen and other trained and
uniformed soldiers who are organized in fashion similar to the British
Army. Besides rifles, they have
automatic weapons, some artillery, and a few armored vehicles. They will fight the Government forces in
pitched battles. The Paladins are a
mobile force, with horses and vehicles, trained to keep the roads between
parishes open and to deliver supplies to isolated areas. Also, they try to keep the government
forces off the roads. They can be used as a Rapid Deployment Force sent outside
of the AL areas for raids and preemptive strikes to prevent forthcoming
raids. The foreign volunteers are
regular or at least trained troops from outside of Britain who have come to
help bolster the forces of the Anglican League in its fight against
Fascism. There are, as well, some
various ad hoc units that are part of the Anglican League forces.
The
Local Parish Militia is organized at the lowest level, into groups of three
– a Trinity. Each Trinity is headed by a Sub warden. Three trinities plus a Warden make up a
LPM Squad called a Ward. Almost all
Parishes have at least one Ward.
Larger ones will have more.
Three Wards plus a Deacon constitute a Deaconate. In some areas the Deaconate is made up
of Wards from a couple Parishes.
This is the largest unit for the LPM. If more than one Deaconate is called on
to fight together, officials from the Military Vicariate will be seconded to
command, along with some support troops such as a Crucifer (ensign/standard bearer)
and Custos (quartermaster) and heavy weapons. Usually an Episcopes (captain) will command with a Senior Poimen (sergeant major) to
assist.
The
Military Vicariate (TMV) is the primary fighting force of the Anglican
League. It is the complement of the
Civilian Vicariate, which provides the governance to the area controlled by the
League. Members of TMV are
ex-service men or recruits who have had extensive military training (as time
allows in during the conflict).
Besides military training, all members of the TMV participate in
religious instruction and are expected to be subject to the rules of the
Church. Each unit of the force has
a clergy member – Chaplin – who will have co-command authority with
the unit commander. Other ranks and
regular army equivalents are
TMV Ranks |
Regular Army Ranks |
Commands |
Acolyte |
Private |
|
Senior
Acolyte |
Corporal |
|
Poimen |
Sergeant |
Kopathee
(section) |
Senior
Poimen |
Sergeant Major |
Kellion
(squad) |
Crucifer |
Ensign/
Second Lieutenant |
Sacristy (Platoon) |
Sacristan |
Lieutenant |
Sacristy |
Episkopos |
Captain |
Synod
(Company) |
Archepiskopos |
Major |
Synod |
Exarch |
Colonel |
Military Congregation (Battalion) |
Sub Vicar-General |
Brigadier |
|
Vicar-general |
Commander in Chief |
|
Chaplain General |
commands all Chaplains in TMV |
|
A
typical Synod consists of 2-3 Sacristies
of riflemen, 1 Sacristy with
light machine guns, 1 Kellion with a heavy machine gun and maybe a mortar, and a
command Sacristy. There are
artillery units too, and a Sacristy
of tanks or armored cars. My
current Military Vicariate collection consists of one Congregation of 2 Synods
and assorted support units.
The
second regular fighting organization is made up of TMV troops seconded to an
elite force officially called Episcopi Vagantes, wandering or independent
units, nicknamed "The Paladins."
This group is entirely
mobile, on horses or motorized. It has light artillery; truck mounted or towed,
and armored cars.
The
fourth category of troops in the Anglican League is foreign volunteers who
serve under the command of the Military Vicariate. At present there are two such
units. First is the Norwegian
Volunteers. While these are armed
and equipped by the Norwegian government, and seconded from that army, they are
organized and paid by the Church of Norway. This unit derives support from The Anglican-Lutheran Society, an outgrowth
of the Archbishop of Canterbury's attempt to create a Communion of Churches
among like-minded churches in Northern Europe. Units are billeted in parishes where
there is a twinning of churches in UK and Norway. The unit calls itself the Haugeans in
honor of that movement of piety in the Church of Norway. The current force is one Gevaerkompani.
The second foreign unit is from China. These are volunteers from mission
stations there who have come to support the Mother Church. Known as the "Tin Hats" because
of their French style helmets, they are lead by the son of Lord Stanley and "One-arm" Sutton,
the British advisor to Chinese Warlords, who was a soldier in the Great
War. It was Sutton who fabricated
the special tank used by this unit, the Sutton Skunk. It is converted from a Holt artillery
tractor and shoots a Stokes mortar out the back end. Unit is about equal to a Synod, with
support weapons and a light tank.
Besides all the regular troops, there are some ad
hoc units that serve in the Anglican cause. One of these is Boys' Brigade. Formed in late 1800's in Scotland, it is
the religious equivalent to the Boy Scouts. In the recent time of conflict,
the BB severed its ties with the Boys' Life Brigade and returned to military
training. The Senior Section often
provides scout and auxiliary services to the Military Vicariate units in their
parish. The Section in St. Albans
has 12 members, and two leaders. In
addition to the Parish militia, there are some units of militia that are raised
by independent landholders and citizens from among their own estate or
household staff staff. Col.
Brandon has raised such a militia unit from his manor staff.
Roster of Available Troops
Military
Vicarate
The
current MV has two infantry Synods and support units plus the Paladins. The premier Synod is the "Sanguis Christi, victor daemonum" denoted
by their Blood Red berets. There
are 5 Sacristies and machine gun Kellion.
The command unit is front left, with Archepiskopos in command.
The table below shows roster of each Sacristy, reading left side back, the
right side back.
Unit |
Officer |
NCO |
Chaplin |
Rifle |
LMG |
HMG |
Command |
1 |
2
|
1 |
1 |
BAR/ammo |
|
1st |
1 |
|
1 |
6 |
|
|
MG |
|
1 |
|
3 |
|
1
(2 crew) |
2nd |
1(smg) |
|
1 |
6 |
|
|
3rd |
1(smg) |
|
1 |
6 |
|
|
LMG |
|
1 |
|
3 |
Lewis(2 crew) |
|
Total |
4 |
4 |
4 |
25 |
2 |
1 |
Second Synod – The Grace of Heaven. Command Sacristy, 2 rifle Sacristies and Mortar Kellion.
In
the table below, the units are listed, left side, front to back, right side, front to back.
Unit |
Officer |
NCO |
Chaplin |
Rifle |
LMG |
Command |
1 |
2
|
1 |
1 |
Lewis/ammo |
1st |
1 |
|
|
6 |
|
2nd |
|
1(smg) |
|
6 |
|
Mortar |
|
1(pistol) |
|
3 |
mortar(2 crew) |
Total |
2 |
4 |
1 |
16 |
4 |
Episcopi Vagantes - The Paladins
2 Rifle Sacristies, LMG
Sacristy, 2 MG Kellion. 17 rifles, 2 smg, 2 pistols, 1 LMG w/
ammo carrier, 2 MMG each with 3 crew. Trucks to carry all.
Paladin Support
Norwegian
Volunteers – Ò HaugeansÓ
Gevaerkompani = 2 gevaerstroppen (rifle squad) + 1 maskingevaer
troppen (machine gun squad) + mortel troppen (mortar
squad)
17 rifles. 2
LMG, 1 MMG, 1 Mortar, 4 officers with pistol. 1 sniper
Chinese
Volunteers - "Tin Hats"
1 company = HQ Company ( 2 LMG, 3 rifles, pistol), 1 rifle squad (8 rifles), 1 MG section, 1 mortar section, 1 light
tank
Boys' Brigade, St. Albans, Senior
Section.
Section
Leader, Right, Priest Fallon (pistol), Left, Science teacher
(SMG), 12 Cadets with carbines.
Col.
Brandon's Estate Militia
3 rifle squads, including 2
LMG, and Machine Gun section. Mrs.
Bridges carries ammo for Hudson's Lewis, and is armed with only kitchen knife.
St. Albans Militia –
Ward 1. Three Trinities (rifles and shotguns) and Warden (SMG)
Exarch
(on foot) and Sub-Vicar General of St. Albans Diocese