von Platzen triumphs in volley competition

While commentators cautioned that current performance is not necessarily a predictor of future performance in these early stages of training, the von Platzen Grenadiers celebrated today after their victory over the von Lintzer Musketeers in a volley fire competition.

The competition was judged by Brig. Gen. Fritz von Hoptz of Saxe-Bearstein, presently on loan to Hesse-Engelburg to assist in training the new units. While some supporters of Colonel von Lintzer have made barely veiled suggestions of favoritism due to von Platzen having been the emissary to Saxe-Bearstein who arranged the loan of the Brigadier, Colonel von Lintzer himself has not been noted to have joined in the charges.

The competiton was held on farmland belonging to the crown, with the recruits of each regiment drawn up in firing line facing their target. The target for the von Lintzer regiment was the broad eastern side of the horse barn while the von Platzen regiment fired at the western side of the adjacent cattle barn. When both regiments proved capable of hitting the broad sides of their respective barns (albeit slightly more effectively on the Grenadiers' part), the competition moved on to the barn doors on the narrow north sides of both barns. Musketry proved much less effective for both units against the smaller target, with the von Lintzer regiment slightly outshooting the Grenadiers. The final round of the competition was decided by a bottle shooting contest between the best marksmen of each of the regiments, in which the Grenadiers' own Gefreiter (Corporal) Sontag beat out Gefreiter Berger of von Lintzer 7 to 5, gaining victory for von Platzen.