Administrators and Warriors

Trying to get a head start on the figures I'll need for my Colonial Barracks convention (link) game in early November, I just finished a few 28mm figures that I have had for a while.

First up are three Colonial administrators:

On the left is the Colonial Governor's secretary, in the center is a missionary, and on the right is the Colonial tax collector.

To assist the "helpless" native village against both the Colonial tax collector and the Zanzabari slavers are a group of traveling warriors, out to right wrongs and protect the innocent, all for a small remuneration, of course!

The warrior in the center with the multi-colored shield is an old Ral Partha figure.  He and the Zulu-style warrior on the far right have been painted for a while.  They are joined by the six Foundry native warriors across the rear of the picture.  Armed with spears and other hand weapons, their courage and fortitude will have to strengthen them as they will be facing modern Western rifles.  But  being a "white hat" has never been easy.

I'll be play-testing my modified Lion and Gazelle scenario on October 15.  Between now and then, I still have some African animals to paint and some more jungle vegetation to construct.

The Agandar's Escort

The final native unit that I require for the first play test of my convention game has now been completed.  It is a 12-figure cavalry unit using Falcon Miniatures Arab cavalry.

These stalwart "Sons of the Desert" are all veterans of the Agandar's many campaigns against the infidels.  Riding black steeds and clothed in the green of the Prophet, they will bring fear into the hearts of their foes.

Additional Note:  A comment on The Miniatures Page asked if Falcon Miniatures are still available.  Keith Astrofsky (in Massachusetts) now owns the line and his newly redesigned web site/store is Falcon Miniatures USA.  I have not bought from him yet as these were purchased many years ago at an Historicon.

Red Hawk Clan Infantry

I've just completed the second of two infantry units for the Red Hawk clan.  They are Iron Brigade figures armed with rifles.  They should provide some welcome firepower to the mostly sword and spear armed native infantry in the rest of the Agandar's force.

If you count the figures, you'll note that they are one man shy of a full TSATF 20-figure infantry unit.  I have an extra figure to add if necessary but I have been in contact with the new owner of the old Iron Brigade molds.  He is sending me a copy of the old catalog so that I can round-out not only this unit but several others.  More on this development later.

White Eagle Clan Cavalry

My second Arab clan for my June convention game, The Relief of Wadi Zoum-Zoum, will be called the White Eagle clan.  So far they have two spear armed infantry units, one of which can be seen at this link.  I've now added a unit of rifle armed cavalry made from 11 Falcon Miniatures Arab cavalry and 1 unidentified Arab cavalryman.  Like the Red Hawk cavalry (see previous post), they are mounted on Miniature Figurines horses.

 

These cavalry will bring some degree of battlefield mobility to the White Eagle Clan.  I still have a third infantry unit to paint this month.

Sheikh Abdallah

My final figure painted in February is the leader of the Red Hawk Clan, Sheikh Abdallah.  This mighty warrior is also a Falcon Miniatures figure, but this time mounted on a Falcon horse.

 

I tried a new technique with this figure, using a three layer paint scheme on the horse's caprison and a two layer scheme on Abdallah's robe and headdress.  To my eye, it turned out much better than I thought it would.  I probably won't use it for "ordinary soldiers" but will probably use it again for senior officers.  It makes them stand out a little better from the rank and file. The base will get a terrain treatment similar to the camelry unit's bases (see previous post) once I get the second cavalry unit painted and mounted.

February Painting

So far February has not been as productive as January for painting.  I've only done a 12-figure camelry unit and a 12-figure cavalry unit for my convention game play tests that start in April, with the convention in June.  Both of these units are Falcon Miniatures (www.falconminiatures.com/), but with the cavalry mounted on Miniature Figurine horses (which is the way I bought them on eBay).  These two mounted units along with two infantry units (of which only one is painted) will comprise one of the four native commands in my convention game.

Camelry Unit, Red Hawk Clan

 

These 12 stalwarts are all armed with rifles and ready to smite the infidels.

Cavalry Unit, Red Hawk Clan

Armed with a mix of rifles and swords/pistols, these desert raiders can ride rings around the slow moving Egyptians.  You'll notice that there is one dissimilar figure in the right rear.  Since I only had 11 mounted figures, he was "drafted" to fill-in as the "12th man."

The painted infantry unit of the Red Hawk clan was included in my Colonial game at last year's convention.  You can see it here:  Red Hawk Clan Infantry 

And a few words about the convention game:  This game will pit a heterogeneous force of Mahdist, Beja, and desert Arabs led by the Agandar of Karres, one of the successors to the late Mahdi and the late Khalifa.  They will be besieging the Eyptian supply base at Wadi Zoum-Zoum on the Green Nile.  Coming to the base's rescue will be a British river column including Royal Navy landing party troops, Royal Marine Light Infantry, and gunboats.  The game will be presented at the HMGS Gulf-South Bayou Wars 2010 convention in New Orleans on June12.  Convention Link.

Well, back to the painting desk for another Arab cavalry unit and two more Arab infantry units.

New Native Unit - Ral Partha Arabs

Yesterday I completed the second of four new native units for the game I will be running at Bayou Wars later in June. It is composed of 18 vintage Ral Partha Arab type figures armed with spears and two others who are armed with swords. These were easy to paint. I used white, cream, camel, and suede acrylic colors for the robes and turbans. The skin was painted spice brown to simulate a tanned Middle Eastern/Afghan look.

The two sword armed figures are in the front. The one on the left appears to be similar to MiniFigs in stature but is missing all the usual MiniFigs markings. He may be a Frontier or Falcon figure. The figure on the right with the flowing cape had some indecipherable markings on the bottom. I have no idea from which manufacturer he came.

I made the banner on my computer by using the MSWord table feature.
The Arabic script, according to an on-line translation site, reads:

"There is but one God,
and Mohammed is his prophet."

This unit will join with two rifle-armed units to form the Silver Fox Clan of the Haddabiera tribe.

New Native Unit: semi-Tuaregs

After the first play test of the assault on Fort Khalaam (see previous post), we decided that the Haddabiera needed some more warriors. So I got busy with the brush and paint. In less than a week, I had a new unit of 20 native warriors. I decided to give them a Tuareg-like character with blue robes and turbans. Only seven of the figures had the lower facial veil so all the others also got one put on with paint. I used three different blues to give them some variation and to simulate the fading of cloth and dye in the hot sun.

This unit is composed of figures from the old Miniature Figurines Carolingian/Moor line. I don't think that they are cast any longer but there are similar figures available in the MiniFig Medieval range. The unit consists of six CM-7 advancing with spear, seven CM-12 standing with spear, and seven CM-6 advancing with sword. I added the Arabic "B" character to the shield using the special character font in my MSWord program, printing it in white lettering on black. A simple hole punch was used and then the circles were glued onto the shields and covered with Elmer's glue before I blended them into the shield using a flat black paint.


The banner is also made with MSWord, but in this case I translated "Allah is great" into Arabic script using an on-line translation program and then pasted that into a pair of cojoined rectangular cells. I then cut it out and glued it to one of the upright spears. Presto, instant banner.

This unit will join two rifle-armed units to form the Black Leopard Clan of the Haddabiera tribe.

I'm please with the way these turned out and how quick they were to paint. I hope the rest of the native infantry and cavalry reinforcements go as quickly.

Newly Painted Victorian Colonials

During the first half of May, I was really churning out the figures for my May 16 game. Here is a look at the ones that were done. Except as noted, all these figures are from the venerable Ral Partha 25mm colonial line, which is still produced by: Ral Partha Colonials. These are all organized to be used with The Sword and the Flame rules by Larry Brom, available from Sergeants3 (Brom).

As always, please click on the picture for a larger image.

The Anglo-Indian Khalaam Field Force commander and his escort
of a trooper from the 10th Hussars and a lancer from the 10th Bengal Lancers.

A troop of the 10th Hussars.
The swords are small straight pins that were super-glued into the hands.
The officer is from the British command group.

The dismounted figures of the 10th Hussars.

A troop of the 10th Bengal Lancers.
The officer is a Miniature Figurine trooper painted as a British leader.

The dismounted figures for the 10th Bengal Lancers.
The officer is a temporary fill-in of an Indian artillerist.

The battery from the Royal Artillery.

The Emir's Bodyguard cavalry is a mix of Bashi Bazouk and native cavalry.
Eventually I will acquire enough of each type of figure to have separate units.

One of the two native guns with its crew.
The gun is the Foundry Darkest Africa piece.
The "advisor" is Major Ivan Skavinski Skavar ( poem )
from the "Great Khan of the Steppes" (The Tsar of All the Russias)
(and is actually an Askari French officer!).

Over the past four and a half months, I've been able to make good strides in painting my small hillock of Victorian Colonial figures. This has been helped by this year's gaming theme of Colonial Adventuring in our wargaming group. For the rest of the month, I'll be building the "Fortress of Khalaam" for my games on May 30 and June 20 prior to the scenario being used for the 2nd Annual George Carr, Sr., Memorial Colonial Game at Bayou Wars, our regional convention in New Orleans, on June 27 ( Bayou Wars ).