Boer War Mania

Well I have got a bit excited and started buying all sorts of stuff.

The haul includes 1st Corps, Great War, Artizan and a 3d printed 37mm pom pom.

The 1st Corps Boer pack is lovely, lots of character all skirmishing as you would expect. I am imagining my Boers in small units of 6 and maybe having 6 - 10 of these all with mounted options and all with horse holder units.

I have purposely gone for the 1st Corps British advancing with bayonets, 3 different packs which match this and with the command figures give me 2 x 8 man units. Lovely figures these are my favourites of the British options so far.

My British and Commonwealth will probably be 2 x 8 man platoons to a company with leader figures. I am thinking one Generic British, one Highlander in kilts and one in bush hats with mounted infantry in support.

A comparison of ranges shows these will all fit really well together, left to right:

Perry, 1st Corp, Perry, Empress, First Corps, Artizan. I am quite comfortable mixing these in units. The Boers in particular I wanted a lot of variety.

I planned to use Early WW1 British Cavalry as Mounted Infantry by giving them head swaps for Bush hats. They have the right bandoliers rather than webbing.

My concern is the pack on the left hip, this is a definite WW1 webbing item and wont be coming off easily, can I live with that?

A little blurry sorry but this 1st Corps Boer is interesting, he has a broom handle Mauser Pistol but with the shoulder butt on. I have seen photos of this being used in this way in the Boer war so a nice characterful addition.

Last lot of metal figures, these are from Footsore. They have an inter war range with some useful figures.

One pack of IRA, men in civilian gear with modern rifles (Mausers of Lee Enfield's) and bandoliers. A very British Civil War pack of Brigands in civilian gear with Lee Enfield's and Bandoliers, these will all need head swaps but are again very nice, then 2 packs of Black and Tans for Ireland, very basic British uniforms and gear, with leather bandoliers rather than webbing make them ideal to convert to British dismounted Yeomanry or similar. Perfect size wise as they will of course match the Empress Boers also sculpted by the talented Mr Hicks.

This now pretty much covers the dismounted Boers I want but will need a whole bunch of mounted ones once they are available, I will want to add British Mounted infantry, Yeomanry/Commonwealth troops in bush hats and Highlanders but will probably wait for 1st Corps to release these rather than mess around with more conversions.

The Maxim 37mm Pom Pom looks very nice, I will hang on until the Boer gunners are released before painting it, I have seen an image of these.

The colourised photo gives a nice idea of this weapon.

Then the Osprey and two sprues of plastics, the 1880's Perrys British, the uniform is perfect but the weapon is the Martini Henry and they need Lee Enfield's so I got a WW1 British sprue. This has spare weapons for me to swop over and I can add the sun helmets to WW1 figures and mix these in with my WW1 Brits for Palestine and India if there are enough weapons. Well thats the plan.

I think the only film I have seen of the Boer war is "Breaker Morant" this book is a biography written by one of his co-charged which may be interesting and add some detail to the project.

I also picked up these dead mans hand wild west horses, hopefully perfect for the Boers, just frustrated they dont come with bases making them  much hard to handle when painting which is a shame.

Thats probably it for now. Plenty to keep me busy I reckon.

Finished Units for the Punjab

 So with Partizan only a few months away and the first test game in July I am keen to get some more finished units on table.

First completed a unit of Pathan Tribal Foot.

A big mix of manufacturers, Foundry, Perry Metal, Perry plastic, Wargames Atlantic, and Empress. 

Very versatile, Afghan troops for the whole Victorian Period of course Muslim troops for the Sikh Army but also Pathan levies supporting the British against the Sikhs in the second Anglo Sikh War. Can even be Pathan tribal irregulars fighting the Sikhs in the slightly earlier period of expansion. The Sikhs would have the same uniforms so very do-able for me.

Then another unit of Sikh irregulars with blade weapons. The lighting was working well for a change.

These are the Jagdiri, feudal levies of the Sikh landowners.

A real mix of figures, some plastic Perry and Wargames Atlantic Afghans with Sikh heads such as the leader figure in blue drawing his sword, plenty of metal Foundry Sikhs and a couple of Old Glory for good measure. 

Pretty pleased again with these.

An Indian Leader figure, Hindu or Muslim, from the Empress Mutiny range, lovely figure, not sure I am happy with the turban but otherwise very colourful.

So plenty more finding its way on table ahead of T'Other Partizan.

Thanks for stopping by.

Not Another One! New Boer War Project

I know, I know, I have zero self control.

I have fancied a large skirmish game with Boers for some time, the Foundry figures are still nice but the range has become limited and is much smaller than most other stuff you can get. So when 1st Corps announced release of their range I got all excited and bought  a bunch of stuff to use and also to convert for The Second Anglo-Boer War. 

A quick stock take gave me 4 books and a 1920's school boy atlas. 9 Foundry Boer rider without horses, mainly the same figure and a couple of Old Glory mounted Boers. I also found a whole bunch of spare heads, Bush hats and bandaged heads from Woodbine WW1 alongside a number of ACW hats, picking through the best fits I have plenty to help with conversions but will need a whole lot more of the Aussie Bush hat with turned up sides to convert mounted infantry.

I picked up an Ebay lot of dismounted Zulu War Empress Boers who are very nice and have the advantage of separate heads with spare heads and then hunted through my figures for civilians in 20th century suits and bolt action rifles to convert. Three Partisans with Mausers worked.

I then had a look through existing ranges to support the 1st Corps release. Foundry have ACW horse holders that fit well and a pack or two from their Mafeking range that fits, I bought another book at the same time.

Northstar have few figures and some WW1 British cavalry that should convert well to Commonwealth mounted rifles.

Footsore Irish Civil War figures look ripe for conversion so a few packs of those ordered.

I picked up some more Boers from Empress Zulu Wars range and some 1920's civilian revolutionaries to convert. 

And of course 1st Corp released their first packs this week so they have been ordered too.

Perrys first to arrive along with a book, unfortunately black and white but lots of useful photos to peruse over breakfast.

So first few painted and coming off the table. I wont base them until I have all the other stuff painted and can mix them up.

This horseman is one of the original Foundry riders, I have 8 of the same figure with a pretty generic head so did head swaps on all but one and dug out appropriate horses to use, I think these are Ebob that I got from Mutineer miniatures mostly.

The foot are mainly Empress, lovely figures so I am ignoring the rifle being a bit early. 2nd from left is a Warlord WW2 Partisan with a ACW head he fits quite nicely.

Another of the same Foundry rider with an Empress head on Mutineer horse, like this one.

A bunch more completed.

Although there are only 5 different figures all 21 of these will look individual with the separate heads and different colour schemes.

All rich earthy colours, I have some colour pictures with salmon pink and sky blue jackets for Boers, whilst I may not go that far some less earthy colours may find their way in.

Again the same Foundry rider this time with a Redoubt ACW head and Empress Indian Mutiny horse.

The British officer was already pained in my WW1 East Africa Box, I have pulled him off the smaller base so he can be a command figure and lightened the Khaki. A later version sun helmet, these were used by Officers only so I am happy that I can still use him for East Africa as well.

There you go, another distraction, bare with me, a bunch of these to work on now and the butterfly is strong at the moment.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Belgians for Mexico

 One of the Key units I wanted to do for the Imperial Mexican army was the Belgian Legion.

A very pretty unit that saw lots of action although they probably shouldnt have.

When Maximillian of Austria, the Emperors younger brother, was offered the Imperial Crown of Mexico his father in law, King of Belgians, gave him permission to recruit a Belgian Legion to support him.

All volunteers the troops were green but enthusiastic. Two battalions were raised, one of Grenadiers and one of Voltiguers. Initially as Palace guards their commander lobbied for action, sick of insults from French officers, and was granted his wish. 

These first figures are for the Grenadier battalion with red lace, the Voltiguers having green lace and will follow in due course.

All Gringo 40's figures and lovely, a slightly limited range I am expanding by some simple head swaps with Officers for Tonkin whose uniform is a good fit.

Then there are these 7, I picked them up from ebay, not cheap but a good fit and a decent headstart, not keen on the painted eyes so the faces may need a little work to be closer to my style and I will add leather gaiter toppers at the calf but other than that and some minor scratches these are pretty much done once I remove their bases. 

I particularly like the officer.

So those two take me to 13 out of a 20 man unit, the standard bearer is probably going to be the most challenging as Gringo 40's dont really do them and even the Tonkin range would need hand swaps to facilitate this.

I glued the last lot of Belgians to bases before realising I hadnt taken pictures, apologies so here are some of the extras on their bases.

French Officer of Contra Guerillas with head swap on the right.

Advancing Legionnaire on left.

Separate command figure for Sharp Practice.

Republican Mounted Commander is cloak.

French Indo China officer with head swap and hand swap for open hand to facilitate the flag, carefully put together by chum Chris Charlton, cheers Chris.

Hopefully have these based up to share in next week or two.

Until then thanks for stopping by.

Finished Units for Mexico

With a bunch of bases back from Steve having the grout added to bases and sealed with a layer of paint I have been able to get a bunch more finished for the Mexican project.

First finished unit are Irregular Mexicans, bandits, Guerrillas as you like. Useful for either side but will mainly be republican irregulars. 2nd and 3rd from left are Boot Hill, the other 4 are Knuckle Duster. 

First of the French Zouaves, the French had a I believe 8 battalions in Mexico so 2 seems a good number for me. Perrys with a Flags of War flag.

The finished box for the French and Imperials is starting to overflow, 5 battalions of French and 2 of Mexican supported by 2 squadrons of Chasseurs D'Afrique and one of Mexican Lancers. 

Geoff (Ellies Dad online) said he wondered how I fitted everything in, last year I invested in some new boxes and a load of Jenga, they are all full now so I need to consider re-visiting that. 

Mexican Militia/National Guard, real mix of manufacturers with this lot. And mixing in with existing figures to finish units off.

These command bases finish off 4 battalions, mix of Foundry, Perry, Wargames Atlantic, 1898 miniatures.

Mainly Foundry Peons with a couple of Wargames Atlantic prints.

These two bases of Machete armed Peons, mainly 1898 Philippino Guerrillas

The finished units are below, again the box is full and Jenga is required. 5 battalions of Militia, one of Regulars and the cavalry squadron. Add to this 3 or so battalions, 2 gun batteries and a squadron from Chris pretty much gives is enough for a game.

That's probably it for a month or two as I prep for Partizan but as I am not quite halfway with the project certainly more to come.

Thanks for stopping by.

Back To The Punjab

Later in the year I will be putting on our demo game at T’Other Partizan so I have been thinking through what might work. 

After a chat we decided a Sikh Wars game would be ideal. 

I like the idea of something slightly different. 

Many Colonials Wars are challenging to game, often with hordes of natives armed with little more than sharpened Fruit being mown down by European firepower.

The Sikh Wars are one of a handful where that is not the case. The Sikh regular army was more than a match for East India company Sepoys and a real test for the Queens regiments too.

The first Anglo-Sikh War is perhaps the better known, but I prefer the lesser known conflicts and the second Anglo-Sikh War has a fair number of actions that very few people ever read about. The sieges of Multan provide us with a number of large actions and decent sized battles that most readers can be forgiven for never having heard of, they made little impression in the European papers at the time and even less in most British histories of the conflicts. 

One such is Suraj Khund.

To start with a large force of the "British" forces are not British or even East India Company troops at all. A significant proportion are allied native troops of the Dhowdpatra Raja of Bhahalwalpore alongside tribal irregulars from the various Pathan and Baluchi tribes of the region who had no reason to love their Sikh government.

Mainly matchlock armed, brave but undisciplined Warriors these are the irregulars we are used to seeing the British fighting against not alongside. And whilst the opposing Sikh forces had a significant irregular and tribal element too they also had a solid core of regulars, disciplined, well trained and well led troops. Trained by Europeans, mainly ex French and Italian Napoleonic officers, and very well motivated. 

This does mean we have the option for actions, like Suraj Khund, with much more evenly balanced forces giving a more interesting game to all players.

So whilst I will be trying to keep up to my Mexican project I do plan to get some more irregulars painted for the game at the end of the year.

To try finish a unit of Pathan Irregulars these 4 will bring me up to 20, the chap in white may not fit so well but the others are great, one plastic Perrys Afghan and 3 Empress irregulars.

I am starting to see some recovery in my gut injury so more figures coming off the workbench. This bunch adds some further flavour (Not the Galloglass at the back who will appear in a  different post)

These four Sikh Spearmen give me a push forward with my next unit of Sikh Irregulars. All Foundry.

This Noble leader is from Empress, a lovely figure, I am a little unsure about the stipe in his turban but other than that a nice addition for the Muslim troops.

I intend two more battalions of matchlock armed troops, the Wargames Foundry Muslim Matchlocks in blue will be multi use, the uniform is based on the Begum of Samru's troops from 30 odd years before so gives me plenty of options. The Sikh in red will be another battalion that can be multi use, in both cases the colours will be more a theme I intend to have a few shades mixed in so its slightly less regular.

Then two leader figures for the Sikh irregulars, plenty of colour here as they are no doubt a bit richer than the run of the mill. Boht Foundry, the flag from Virtual Armchair General.

Lastly four more rear rank irregulars, all 4 are different manufacturers, from left to right Foundry Sikh Wars, Empress Mutiny, Plastic Wargames Atlantic with Sikh head and Old Glory Sikh. These have come out OK but there are nicer figures so these will fill out the rear ranks I think. 

That gets me 2 extra units for the Sikh Wars games, another two of Matchlocks and some other additions should give me what I need for Partizan.

Thanks for stopping by.