Matz Stermann by Tyranio on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

"I sure miss deer hunting... they are so much smarter than the infantry."

Matz was among that rare breed of Gombostonians who didn't wanted his life to be interrupted by some pointless war, neither did he had any aspiration to be connected to the military in any way. This would've made his childhood very difficult, if he cared for socializing in the first place. Fortunately the beasts and critters of the forest didn't had a high opinion on war as well, if any. As the only son of the Whelfanian ranger, Matz spent most of his youth in Osterdorf's forests with his father, but even that slowly turned into a solitary affair. During one of his routine patrols, a terrible noise of euphoria from the usually pretty sleepy village has infiltrated the forest, he knew it could only mean one thing and a draft card wouldn't be far behind. If he didn't feared that the forest would be taken away from the Stermanns and given to some dilettante noble, he might just have wandered off to Ost-Gomboston with only the clothes on his back. Instead he marched right away to the magistrate's office to enlist. It looks better in the report that way.

He started as lowly bushjumper like everyone else, but a decade of hunting and tracking gives one a headstart. Once realised, he was quickly asigned to jägers where he learned far more interesting things than how to march, shine your boots or make you bed to not draw the ire of the drill sergeant. His new position meant that the chances of being mowed down by machineguns, blown to smithereens by artillery and forced fraternizing with his crude comrades has decreased greatly for the better. This might won't be that bad after all. If nothing else, he'll have a lot of time to practice his shooting, migth even become a half-decent hunter by the end of it.--------

And here would be the most neglected character of my menagerie. I took the opportunity to experiment with some camouflage which is just that wonky WW1 german one with some more earthly colours. Just a little trivia of how the fancy, conspicuous uniforms get along with camouflage. Each army has it's own battles with it's old guard and reformist, the Gombostonians are no exception. The reason Jägers are allowed to wear camouflage, it's because the brass detests them greatly. In the traditional sense, sharpshooters are little more than assassins, fighting in an unmanly manner with an array of bandit tactics. Such "dishonourable soldiers" may wear a cloak with the attempt to hide themselves as it's only a mantle of their cowardice. Despite the condescending opinion of a lot of shrivelled old man, the reformists see the Jäger program a great way to experiment with new unorthodox ideas.