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THE QUEEN'S OWN RIFLES

1. THE EXPERIMENTAL CORPS OF RIFLEMEN

The origin of the concept behind the Queen's Own Rifles may be pinpointed precisely to the days immediately after the calamity at Blogia. It was at this time that the Countess Welles, in concluding her much-celebrated report following the course of that battle, first suggested the creation of a dedicated force of light infantry for the purpose of scouting and intelligence-gathering. Reasoning that much of the Tierran Army's defeat at Blogia could be attributed to the lack of such a force capable of reconnoitering the fateful wood in which Prince Khorobirit hit the bulk of his heavy horse, Welles made the claim that a repetition of such a disaster might be avoided should a force be raised and maintained at the discretion and direction of the Commander-in-Chief.

In theory, the Tierran Army already possessed regiments capable of such work. However, the Light Infantry regiments which had last been stood up during the time of King Alaric's War had lost whatever special distinction they had once possessed in the intervening years, their readiness and ability sapped over the course of long decades broken up as a neglected Houseguards. The Royal Dragoons, in theory also capable of such work, had made themselves far too useful in other roles during the early years of the war. Though one squadron of the regiment would occasionally be attached for reconnaissance and patrol duties, the remainder would be committed to more direct combat roles, most often as shock cavalry, and occasionally - as was famously done at Kharangia - as dismounted assault troops.

This meant that - as per the Lady Welles' first intention - an entirely new force would have to be raised, to be purpose-trained and equipped to fulfil the role required of it. This was an eventuality which was much disfavoured within the upper ranks of the Army. Not only would the raising of a new regiment create an immediate new demand on the dwindling numbers of recruits available to replenish the depleted ranks of the rest of the army, but a new regiment would also necessarily mean a new establishment of officers, many of whom would have to be drawn from the leadership of existing units, causing much confusion and unease at a time where it could be ill-afforded. Likewise, the establishment of another regiment of foot would have meant an additional expense upon a Crown budget which was already showing great signs of strain. There would have been no doubt that such a course of action would have become a matter of grave contention within the Cortes.

In the end, a compromise was brokered. A temporary force approximately the force of a double-company would be recruited as a detachment from the diverse regiments of foot. The men to be gathered were to be those with prior background as gamekeepers, hunters, and other trades requiring great knowledge of the land and the expeditious traversal of it. It would be trained and armed to move in loose order, allowing it to cross difficult terrain quickly, and if necessary, to harry and delay the enemy from concealment and from beyond the range of retaliation with rifled muskets. Commanded by a major, this force was to serve as dedicated reconnaissance unit under the direction of the Commander in Chief, and as an experimental force intended to test the viability of a unit of rifle-armed scout-skirmishers, a sort of force which had no parallel in the doctrine of the Richshyr which the Tierran Army modeled itself greatly upon.

Unfortunately, the formation of this Experimental Corps of Riflemen quickly proved to be subject to a most intransigent obstacle, for although enlisted men might be easily found, and equipment was rapidly improvised from the contents of the gun rooms and gameskeepers' wardrobes of several Royal hunting lodges, officering this new force was to prove a much thornier problem. The command of scout-skirmishers required a different sort of temperament than that normally fostered within the regiments of foot. The enlisted men - though selected for their reputable service records - were rumoured among the army to consist greatly of poachers and thieves. Perhaps worst of all, the necessarily discreet manner of such a force would render it difficult for any ambitious officer to gain the reputation and fortune which he might have desired. It was only when the King personally offered to purchase promotion for any man willing to take command did volunteers appear. The first of these, Captain Victor d'al Reyes of the 8th of Foot, was duly promoted Major, and took command in late 608.

This, however, left several remaining places vacant, and although the further Royal promise of Lieutenancies persuaded several ambitious Ensigns of the Blood to volunteer, not all the vacancies could be filled. At this, the King (who had taken command of the army in person in the interim) proposed an unorthodox solution: the awarding of brevet commissions to worthy senior NCOs among the enlisted men assembled. Reasoning that such positions would not be permanent, and that the leadership of small groups of scout-skirmishers would be closer to the work of sergeants than officers, Grenadier Square and the Duke of Havenport offered little objection. As a result, Two Colour Sergeants of the 8th were duly raised to the rank of Lieutenant on a provisional basis. Three more would be similarly appointed before the end of the war.

The Experimental Corps proved a substantial success under Major Reyes' command, serving to secure the supply lines of the Duke of Havenport's Division during the 609 Kharangia campaign, and even maintaining discipline outside the city as most of the rest of Havenport's forces fell to plundering it during its fall. Throughout the 610 campaign, it operated as a separate force of two companies, skirmishing with Prince Khorobirit's own scouting forces, and maintaining contact with the Antari general's individual corps as they concentrated in an attempt to drive Tierran forces back. When one of these corps attempted to besiege and reduce the important position of Fort Kharan, it was the Experimental Corps who were able to infiltrate the Antari siege lines, and destroy their food supplies in a daring sortie, thus forcing an enemy force of nearly ten thousand men into retreat just before the onset of winter.

The sternest test of the Experimentals' mettle would come in the spring of 611, as Prince Khorobirit attempted to retake the city of Kharangia. With the combined Tierran Army positioned along the eastern bank of the River Kharan, the Experimentals served as a screen for the army's extreme right flank, attached to the Duke of Cunaris's brigade. It was in this position that that they were subject to a determined attack by Antari Church Hussars, who had utilised a hitherto undetected ford in an attempt to outflank the Tierran Army. Facing an attacking body of heavy horse which outnumbered them two to one, the Experimentals were able to hold the enemy at bay, until relieved by Cunaris' Dragoons and the victorious forward elements of the White Rose Lancers. Their dogged defence not only proved the utility of such a force of light skirmishers even in set-piece battle, but likely saved the Tierran Army from severe loss, or destruction altogether.

2. THE QUEEN'S OWN RIFLES

The Experimental Corps played no major role in the war in Antar following the Second Battle of Kharangia. With the destruction of Prince Khorobirit's Army, Tierran forces were free to advance into the open expanse of the Central Plains, where cavalry scouting was of much greater utility than scout-skirmishers on foot. In addition, the Experimentals - whose strength had never at any time exceeded two hundred men - had suffered severe losses at Second Kharangia, enough to warrant their consolidation into a single company, which was relegated mostly to camp security duties during the 611 and 612 campaigns, with the role of scouting mostly being returned to the regiments of horse - primarily the Royal Dragoons.

With the end of the war in Antar, the Experimentals were stood down. Having recruited mostly from Houseguard regiments, the veterans of the unit thus returned to civilian life. However, the shared experiences of the Antari war and the relatively informal environment of this most irregular unit had created personal bonds betwixt officers and men, ones which would outlive the war. Placed on half-pay, Major Reyes joined the Intendancy, and used his connections within that organisation to retain contact with many of the officers and men who had served under him in Antar. On multiple occasions, he would exercise his influence to secure housing, employment, or even immunity from criminal prosecution for one of his veterans. As the politickal situation spiralled out of control in Aetoria, and the country began to slide towards what we must now see as an inevitable civil war, these connections would prove most useful.

At the end of the war, Reyes had joined the Reform Club, one of the most prominent and exclusive such establishments in Aetoria. The Reform was considered a clearing house of radical politics, which often escaped formal charges of sedition by virtue only of its royal patronage. At times possessed of an adversarial relationship with the Crown, it had always possessed a somewhat Royalist bent, with many members believing the centralisation of power around the Crown to be necessary to advance the development of Tierra as a kingdom. Thus, it was with the Royalist faction which then-Intendant Reyes found himself, and although certain actions during the immediate post-war period imply that his loyalty was not without conditions, this did not stop him from contributing greatly to the Reform's organisation of militias and self-defence leagues for the Royalist cause.

Elsewhere in the city, the Army Reform Commission deliberated matters pertaining to Reyes' old command. Considered a qualified success, some members within the Commission wished to expand the programme, raising a company of scout-skirmishers to be attached to each regiment of foot. This was strongly opposed as an unconscionable expense, and a disruption of both the traditional organisation of the Tierran infantry regiment, and a near-impossible standard for the Houseguards to maintain. The alternative - a single regiment of dedicated skirmishers to be maintained at quarter strength in peace and stood up to full strength in war - also met opposition. It was considered too inflexible, and many commissioners expressed doubt that such a force might prove effective when its ranks were swelled with inexperienced peacetime recruits.

In the end, the matter remained mostly unresolved when the Duke of Wulfram's Proclamation threw the realm into civil war.

Thankfully for the Queen, it was an turn of events which Reyes and the rest of the Reform were well prepared for. Having assembled his veterans in the city in the days prior to the crisis, he now used them once again as scout-skirmishers, leading the assembled militias of the Reform Club to the relief of the Northern Keep, with the assistance of a force of Dragoons. This done, his skirmishers proceeded to offer considerable assistance to Royalist forces as they retook the Shore Batteries and forced Wulfram's army to retreat. For his actions, Victor d'al Reyes would receive his second Gryphon of Rendower, and the men formerly of the Experimental Corps of Riflemen would receive a considerable amount of royal interest.

Having been received a strong impression as to the necessity of such a force in the days to come, Queen Isobel not only accepted the recommendations of the Army Reform Commission regarding a permanent force of scout-skirmishers, but expedited the process, breaking the deadlock between the two proposed means of establishing such a force by instituting a compromise: the new force would be a full regiment, with colour, a place in the order of precedence, and permanent commissions; to be commanded by the recently-promoted Lieutenant-Colonel Reyes. However, it would serve as a battalion of detachments, which each company separately assigned to the support of other regiments or brigades within the army. There, they would serve as specialised scouting forces for the far-flung and often disparate fighting forces which now assembled under the royal banner of House Rendower.

Thus was born the Queen's Own Rifles.

3. ORGANISATION

The Queen's Own Rifles is the most junior regiment of foot in the Tierran Army's permanent order of precedence, placing it above the Houseguard regiments, but below older and more illustrious commands, such as the Grenadiers, Dragoon Guards, and Lancers. It consists of a single battalion of nine companies, each of eighty men, much like a regiment of Line Infantry. However, as a battalion of detachments, this force does not deploy together as a body. Instead, each company is available to be freely assigned by Grenadier Square to those independent commands in need of scout-skirmishers. Thus, a company may be assigned to an independent brigade here, a regiment on detached duties there, or serve as an independent raiding force in its own right.

As in a line regiment, each company of the Rifles is commanded by a Captain, and assisted by two Lieutenants. However, the arrangement of duties and responsibilities above and below the company level are considerably different, thanks in part to the recommendations made by the Army Reform Commission. As a battalion of detachments, the Rifles do not require any officer above the rank of captain to take the field directly. As a result, the Rifles' Lieutenant-Colonel and Major are instead intended for administrative duties, coordinating the disparate companies and maintaining a small logistics staff to ensure that the far-flung elements of the Regiment are properly supplied with food and powder. However, the Lieutenant-Colonel reserves the right to attach himself to any individual detachment should the situation warrant it, a stipulation insisted upon by the regiment's commanding officer, Colonel Reyes.

The Rifles' intended role as a battalion of detachments also necessitates an unorthodox - perhaps even radical - arrangement of responsibilities at the lowest levels. While an individual Rifle company possesses the same complement of officers and senior NCOs as a company of line infantry, the Captain, Lieutenants, Sergeant-Major and four Sergeants are grouped together separate from the remainder of the company. The seventy-two men left over are divided into eight sections of eight Riflemen led by a Corporal. In contrast to the traditional role of the Corporal, which is to maintain discipline and order among the common soldiers, the Rifles Corporal is expected to lead his section into combat, sometimes even independently, with the authority which might normally be expected of a company officer in a traditional arrangement.

Needless to say, this is an exceptionally controversial state of affairs, one which was enforced more by the necessity of allowing individual companies the needed flexibility to serve as the scouting force of much larger formations. In theory, this would mean that a single company of the Rifles could serve multiple roles at once, with one section holding a strongpoint against the enemy here, whilst others serve to scout or guard lines of communication elsewhere. Even so, there was much official opposition regarding the idea of delegating independent command authority to baneless and relatively junior NCOs. Only at the insistence of Colonel Reyes, several of his officers, and ultimately the Queen herself was such a division of authority finally approved by Grenadier Square.

4. EQUIPMENT AND UNIFORM

The particular nature of the Queen's Own Rifles has created a certain degree of difficulty when it comes to the matter of equipping such a force. As the Tierran Army has never maintained a standard pattern of full-sized rifle-musket, it possesses no stock of existing weapons fit for purpose. While there was at one point discussion involving the possibility of arming the Rifles with Dragoon carbines, this expedient was quickly rejected, as the weapons in questions were considered too inaccurate and too underpowered for what would be required of them. As a result, the Rifles are currently armed with a selection of rifled muskets gathered from primarily irregular sources, including private collections and as the result of small orders from individual specialist gunshops. As a result, each individual rifleman is obliged to carry moulds for his individual firelock, for there is no guarantee that the calibre of one man's weapon will match that of those next to him.

In addition, this means that each Rifleman must take considerably greater pains in the maintenance of his firelock, for a lack of standard pattern means a lack of standard tools with which an armour might service all rifles in a company. As a result, Riflemen tend to carry additional accoutrements and tools far in excess of what might be carried by a line infantryman, and are expected to possess far greater knowledge of the workings of their own weapons. In contrast to these tools, Riflemen tend to carry much lighter loads than regular infantry. Aside from blankets, a bedroll, and a few necessary implements such as a cooking pot and a long hunting knife, they carry little else, often choosing to eschew the carrying of rations in favour of hunting or otherwise acquiring food in the field - especially when in hostile territory where such measures are considered more acceptable. Not only does this allow the individual rifleman greater agility in the field, but it also allows them to maintain a quick-marching pace which can often rival the speed of cavalry over long distances.

The search for a standard uniform was also left by the wayside by the exigencies of a very present need for fighting units. As the burnt orange of the line infantry was considered unsuitable for a force of scout-skirmishers, the Rifles were obliged to secure their own clothing. However, the use of several common suppliers and the need for clothing of a certain style, colour, and cut resulted in a manner of uniformity in its own right. The result was a general type of clothing patterned upon, or directly adapted from those of gameskeepers and huntsmen employed on Aetorian country estates: hard-wearing jackets and trousers in brown or shades of Dragoon or forest green, accompanied by soft-soled and low-cut boots, low soft-brimmed caps, and heavy cloaks to keep off the weather and conceal burnished metalwork. Officers often supplemented this general appearance with Kentauri-style hunting jackets, which had then recently come into fashion, as well as more traditional markers of officers' rank. Colonel Reyes himself retained his line infantry officer's cocked hat and sword, though he did possess the presence of mind to remove the bright cockade on the former.

5. CONCLUSION

The formation of the Queen's Own Rifles was more than just the culmination of a process which began with the Experimental Corps. It was also the most daring doctrinal experiment in the Tierran Army's history: a permanent regiment organised in a manner and in pursuit of a doctrinal role which did not have an equivalent within the Takaran Richshyr upon which had served as Tierra's military model since its foundation. Its organisation at the company level and below is a direct contradiction of the Takaran insistence on immediate control and concentration of fire which has served as the watchword of that model for centuries. Despite its veteran officers and NCOs, its ranks are filled mostly with new and untested men, who lack the experience of battle, but also the preconceptions which might have otherwise been drilled into them as line infantry. It is, in many ways, a clean slate - one which, if successful, may serve as the precursor to an entirely new style of organisation, command, and of war altogether, and alter forever the character of the Tierran army, but the history of the entire Infinite Sea.