Some staff wallahs

The War Correspondent

I took delivery of these chaps a few months ago.  I haven't a bean where they came from exactly, they were in a box of waifs and strays that I got from John Cunningham and I thought I'd add a few eccentrics to my gentlemen in red. 

This chap will be doing double duty as a war correspondent and possibly a staff officer as and when he is needed.  In fact in the late 19th century, those roles often overlapped as officers would write letters home for publication, Winston Churchill being one famous example. 

Illustration by Michael Roffe, from Wilkinson Latham's Osprey on the Sudan

I had the idea of a game where players are on the same side, but are competing with each other for victory points.  They have limited control over the war correspondent, but he acts as a victory point multiplier. In essence, he exaggerates what ever is actually occurring on the field.  So if you gain two victory points for defeating the enemy or gaining an objective and the correspondent is there, you will gain a third point.  But if you lose points, due to casualties for example, the correspondent will cost you an extra point for every two you lose.  Consequently, if you think your competitor is going to have a bad time of it, it would be wise to send the correspondent over his way. 

An idea to mull over. 

One of the cavalry gentlemen

The vast majority of my late Victorian army is in red coats because I rather like redcoats and even when they are inaccurate they are what I think of when I think on the period.  I think it's the equivalent of always deploying my Napoleonic armies in parade dress.  But I thought it would  a good idea for the senior officers and staff chaps to stand out a bit.  This fella will be doing duty as a staff officer, perhaps an interpreter, in scenarios to come. 

I should point out that these are not my own work, but come from the ever talented brush of Mr. Tamas Lehoczky of Hungary.  A fellow 1/72 enthusiast, I think his impressionistic, high contrast style works exceedingly well in this scale.  The photos don't quite do it justice, but the highlights do a lot of the work and that look very tasty on the tabletop.  

An image I found on Pinterest, unfortunately I can't put a name to the source. 

*incomprehensible Scottish noises*

(perhaps Mr. Gow would be kind enough to translate?)

This is an old Hinton Hunt sculpt again from the redoubtable John C. In this case, I don't think the camera has been kind to Tamas's excellent brushwork as the red in the tartan stands out rather more than it does on the tabletop. Regardless, I expect McLehoczky of the Fife McLehoczky's to fall upon the enemies of the Crown with all the claymore wielding fury of his alcoholic Australian forebears. 

 

Another image I found on Pinterest

(Tamas was going to add the extra mustache, but ran out of greenstuff)

Pinterest is a mine of stuff, though often badly referenced, but it would be the act of louse to complain about something one has not paid for.  From the pictures I found with this image - it should refer to India in the 1890s.  The main thing is that he looks the part and cuts a dash and that's good enough for me. 

Portrait of the Artist as a young Sloth

In other news, we discovered that young Teddy Kinch was adopted.  It was a surprise to us all, not least his mother, but there you are. The poor little chap had terrible trouble with wind. To be honest we could call him Kamikaze Kinch, though the wind in question is of doubtful divinity. 

Kamikaze Kinch becomes great distressed until placed over one knee and gently, but firmly pounded on the back for a few minutes.  There is then a long drawn out PAAAARP  like a sad trombone, followed by a small sigh, whereupon he goes completely limp for hours at a time.  

It was a strange way to discover that my son was part sloth. 

But we shall love him and raise him as our own. 

A Punitive Expedition on the North West Frontier

Skinners Horse scout down the valley

After a long break, we finally made it back to the Northwest Frontier. This game followed the adventures of the Royal Mallows 2nd Platoon, led by the Lt. Unlikely Douglas McKenzie, whose last game was in May of 2015.  I am aghast that it has been that long.

The scenario was that a radical preacher from the princely state of Kala Akaata had been stirring up trouble on the Northwest Frontier.  As a result the men of the village of Medina Wasl have been raiding their neighbours rather more than usual.  Attempts to negotiate an end to the raiding have proved fruitless and McKenzie has been despatched to burn the village.

He had 24 turns to make across the board, burn the village and then make it off.

The field of battle - note the pass on the left, which McKenzie referred to as "Ambush Valley"

McKenzie had a squadron of Skinners Horse, a platoon of Ghurkas and his own platoon of the Royal Mallows under his charge. He decided to stay on the right hand side of the river and avoid the steep sided valley on the right, which he reckoned was prime ambush territory.

The Gurkhas spot a group of Afghans lying in wait

The Gurkhas proved themselves some very dangerous customers, though I did mix up their rough terrain bonus with the river crossing rules, which meant that they were able to ford the river rather more quickly than I anticipated. 

This was their inaugural game and they did Nick proud.

And make short work of them

They set about the ambushers with a will, though they lost their officer wounded in the fray. The Ghurkas would prove to be the men of the game as the Royal Mallows proved sluggish, prone to rout and generally liable to disgrace the name of Corkmen for the duration of the game.  

McKenzie makes for an enthusiastic ghurka

Skinners Horse charge home

The yellow boys swept around to flank the village and took some scattered fire which emptied two saddles along the way, but they couched their lances and charged.

The melee was a surprising one as the Afghans drove off the fearsome horsemen with some casualties.

Meanwhile, a sturdy rifleman stand his ground and drives off many times his own numbers

Now lead by their Havildar, the Ghurkas secured the flank on the right of the Imperial advance. There then followed one of the curious runs of luck that TSATF is prone to.  One of the Ghurkas did not have sufficient movement to climb the hill and ended up being charged by a unit of Afghans defending the village.  The narrow space between the river and the hill meant that only three men could reach him at a time and he promptly slew anyone that came near him, including their leader and  driving them back.  

"Zing!" goes the Jezail bullet.

Meanwhile, McKenzie had finally gotten his sluggish Irishmen moving and advancing in line down the valley. The Afghans having a rush of blood to the head after defeating Skinners Horse, dashed out of the reeds and charged the redcoats. Meanwhile, a single half unit of Afghan rifles accompanied by a jezail sniper, appeared in the Imperial rear.

McKenzie decided to use independent fire, burning two ammunition counters, and absolutely smashed the Afghan charge, destroying the unit almost entirely until only the leader remained. Then disaster struck a single shot from the Imperial rear rang out and McKenzie fell from his horse, wounded.

What followed was one of the most unlikely series of die rolls I have ever seen.  The lone Afghan leader managed to complete his charge and the Mallows blew their roll to stand. They were chased by that single screaming swordsman until he failed his morale and was bayoneted by the Ghurkas. The paths of glory lead only to the grave.

The rallied Lancers look on as the Ghurkas advance and take fire from the village

It was left to the Ghurkas to advance on the village, supported by Skinners Horse. These dismounted and began peppering the village with their carbines.  Meanwhile the Mallows managed to fail their rally rolls three times running and narrowly avoided routing off the table. They rallied eventually, but not after some truly impressive swearing on McKenzie's part, and started advancing down "Ambush Valley".

I'm afraid we got too caught up in the game at that point and I forgot to take any further pictures. The Ghurkas won a pyrrhic victory in the village and ended up routing off the field, after a hard fought battle in the streets of the village. By the time the Mallows arrived, the fighting was pretty much done, the Ghurkas having killed the fakir in the confusion.

A lone Ghilzai prepares to drop a "large rock" on the advancing Royal Mallows (carrying two wounded figures at the rear)

The Mallows pressed for time headed down "Ambush Valley", but managed to spot the lone figure waiting Road Runner style next to a large rock.  I had used a scrunched up business card to represent the rock as I reckoned it couldn't do too much damage to the figures. But the Corkmen making up for a pretty dismal performance spotted him and brought him down before he could do any damage.

In the end, they arrived in the aftermath of a terrific battle to burn the village, gather up the wounded Ghurkas and make for friendly territory. Lt. McKenzie is recovering from his wound and has apparently experienced something of a "road to Damascus" moment*, though it remains to be seen whether it will stick.

The Sword and the Flame, even though I still managed to get rules wrong and I lost, still manages to give a tight and exciting game. I think one of my goals will be not leaving it so long to play next time. McKenzie will ride again!

*Readers of the next issue of Miniature Wargames will understand why.  

Royal Marines at Battle of Kafr-el-Dawwar

A Royal Marine 

from Donald Featherstones Tel el Kebir, published by Osprey

I've been looking at the Egyptian Campaign of 1882 recently, mainly because I thought it would allow me to pit my Zulu War British against my Crimean War Turks.  There were only a few engagements, but while I was noodling around on wikipedia, I came across the battle of Kafr el Dawwar.  This an interesting engagement, not least because it was essentially written up as a win by both sides.  

Kafr el Dawwar is not a name familiar to English speaking ears, more used to the bombardment of Alexandria, Kassassin and Tel el Kebir.  It occurred at the beginning of the campaign and  was essentially a British probe of the Egyptian works (which were considerable) outside Alexandria. Urabi Pasha described it was a victory where the British were driven off, while the General Alison described it as a reconnaissance in force. Both sides were of the opinion that they achieved what they came to do - it's an interesting illustration of a situation that would never arise in a wargame. 

HAT Zulu War British infantry, 

soon to be joining the ranks of the Royal Marines

I haven't been able to find a map for the battle, so I've been trying to piece things together from General Alison dispatch and some other sources.  There aren't any Egyptian sources that I can find, but I've had a look at the battle site on googlemaps. 

The engagement/battle involved some British mounted infantry, some line infantry, an armoured train and some Royal Marines. Normally, I wouldn't be that concerned about the RM as I have red coated British troops, but it appears (at least based on Featherstone) that they wore blue in Egypt.  I didn't have any uniform reference as the Blandfords do not cover the RM. I was in this, as in most things in my life, blissful in my ignorance. 

There's no rational explanation for why, now that I know that the uniforms were blue that I won't be quite happy until I've arranged some RM in blue. It's like an itch that I can't quite scratch. 

Good thing I had some spare infantry lying around.  

Egyptian Lancers Finished

 

I’ve finished the Egyptian lancers and on the whole I’m reasonably pleased with them.  They aren’t going to win any awards, but they look well enough to pass muster at three feet. 

 

 

 

The lances are made from steel spears which were recommended (and a sample provided) by Mike Lewis of Black Hat. They were intended for 1/32 Prince August Highlanders, but not being able to find my drill has tied that up for a little bit. I added pennants made from printer labels, though I now realise that I sound have painted them green rather than red and white. Too much time thinking of the 17^thLancers on my part I think. Better fix that before I varnish them.

The saddle and tack are probably too complex, but I just painted around the detail where I could and it seems to have done the trick. I don’t think Mike Snooke & Co will be banging my door down for uniform tips any time soon, but for my purposes they’ll do. I probably could have done more research on these, but it would have taken time and to be honest, I just wanted to get on with it. Uncertainty has a terrible tendency to paralyse, decisions are deferred and nothing gets done – which is frustrating. But in the case of toy soldiers, where very little (if anything) is at stake, it seems silly to get overly precious about things.

 

Definitely a case where it is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

 

And a shot from the rear.

 

Does my fez look big in this?

I’m quite happy with how this little project panned out. All the remains to be done for Kassassin is an armoured train carriage and a gun to mount on it. What could be simpler?

Egyptian Lancers - Progress of a sort.

Having done all the trimming necessary in my last post, I got to work with greenstuff. Each figures has had a wire lance added and a green stuff fez with tassel.  These were a bit awkward to do and looking at them now I've made them too big.  Getting the lances to stick was another trial, but they're pretty solid now. 

A quick blast of white spray later and it's time to get base coating.  While the size of the fezzes seems to stand out a mile to me, I'm sure at a distance of three feet they will be less of a concern. 

I shall reserve judgement until we see them with a lick of paint. 

Egyptian Artillery

The whole damn battery

Inspired by Bob's Turkish artillery, I got myself a box of Strelets Turkish artillery.  These figures are for the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, but they'll do very well for Turkish artillery in the Crimea and Egyptian gunners in the 1880s. 

There's a very officious looking officer type with binoculars. 

An 1873 Krupp gun. 

This gun is suitable for Egypt in the 1880s, though I'm going to have to scare up another one from somewhere.  These boys will be issued British guns for the Crimea, but for later service I'll need another. I have had a look at Irregulars Really Useful Guns, but there doesn't appear to be anything suitable. 

As plastic soldier review points out these fellas with ram rods are not really required for the 1873 gun that comes in the set, but will do very well for the smooth bores used in the Crimea. 

Having painted these, I've come to the conclusion that blue isn't that much more difficult to paint than white, so I may use the rest of the blue spray I used on these chaps to undercoat some Turkish infantry in blue coats. 

The whole battery from the side 

Du Gourmand and I played a Tel el Kebir scenario recently, based the modifications in Mike Dippel's Kassassin scenario.  Not to shabby though I say so myself, though it does need further playtesting. These chaps will be seeing action there again. 

Quelle catastrophe!

A slightly dusty legion

I entered a small painting challenge with some friends a few weeks ago.  My commitment was to a small group of partisans for my London Calling project, which I managed to paint. 

Except for the one that I missed, but we'll get to him. 

I also added a 1/32 scale Prince August Black Watch Colour Party as part of my painting challenge commitment.  

And that is why, with time running low on the clock, I have painted fourteen Egyptian artillerymen while the Scotsmen kick their heels in the painting queue. I was very pleased with these fellas, as I will be adding them to my Crimean Turkish army (albeit without their Krupp guns).   It would appear that Kinch's favourite thing to paint is whatever he shouldn't be painting right now. 

Unfortunately, shortly after finishing them, I decided to varnish them out in the shed. I reached for the varnish and brought it and the figures outside. I then put the figures down, moved some rubbish and picked up the spray can and varnished away. 

Sadly, I had reached for the wrong can and had picked up a can of brown spray.  I am normally a relatively polite man, Mrs. Kinch being a theatrical type is the infinitely more swear-y of the two of us, but some choice words were uttered soon after this.  Fortunately I realised my mistake almost immediately and the figures got nothing worse then a dusting of brown, but still it made a frightful mess of their nice clean paintjobs. 

Just dirty. 

The damage wasn't too bad and truth be told, I've already fixed four or five of them by repainting - but even so, it was a bit of a kick in the morale. 

"Muhammed, did you see the camera flash?"

"I'm not sure, keep still, I don't want this to look weird in our passport."

Fortunately, two very nice things happened today which took the bad taste out of my mouth.  Firstly, Steve the Wargamer who is a bit of an authority on the Sudan in the late 19th century answered a question of mine about his library. Rather than just answering a comment, Steve went above and beyond and wrote a post giving capsule reviews of his entire Sudanese library. 

If you are interested in the subject or have a mind to dip a toe in colonial wargaming, I would recommend giving it a look. 

Some Peter Gilder figures I believe. 

I often have my elders shaking their heads and asking themselves questions, usually questions like "What is the world coming to?" or "What shall I tell the children?" But not on this occasion. Apparently my near total ignorance of Peter Gilder spurred Robbie Roddis to some deep thoughts. 

As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, put it in the Hound of the Baskervilles, 

""Really, Watson, you excel yourself," said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. "I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt.""

I am a Watson to his Holmes.  Robbie is considering trying to put a book together about Peter Gilder, but I think you should head over to his blog and have a look for yourself. 

Let us now praise famous blogs II - Maiwand Day

There's a one-column brown blog To the north of Kathmandu; There's a little marble cross below the town; And a brokenhearted woman Tends the grave of the 'Mad Guru' , While the brown blog keeps rolling on. (apologies to Hayes & Clarke)

I have realised that it's been a while since I've done another blog recommendation, probably because there are so many good blogs out there.  We really are spoiled for choice. But one that I have come across recently and which particularly struck me was "Maiwand Day" written by "The Mad Guru".

Maiwand Day is an unusual beast, a blog devoted to the recreation of a single battle, the battle of Maiwand.

There is some really cracking stuff up there, but if I had to pick a top three, here are some of the best posts.

1. Some British & Afghan Conversions

The Mad Guru is deeply steeped in the look and feel and history of his chosen period, the mythos of Afghanistan if you will.  No where is this more apparent than in this piece, where is painstakingly recreates figures using conversions, green stuff and considerable industry to model particular figures from the history of the 1880s.

Probably my favourite is the two drummer boys from the Kipling story, "The Drums of the Fore and Aft", a story that still brings a lump to my throat every time I read it.

2. The Battle of Charasiab

While the blog focuses on the disaster at Maiwand, where Doctor Watson picked up his wound, the Guru has since expanded his focus a little and most recently put together a scenario for the Battle of Charasiab. This is less well known than that famous field of grief,  but took place in in 1879 during Roberts march on Kabul.

What's impressive about it is the care that has gone into the figures and the terrain, the playtesting (much under valued in my opinion) and the determination to produce an experience that was both evocative of the period, but also gave a good game.

This has extended to making bespoke cards, proper quick reference charts and ensuring that those of us who cannot make it there in person, get to see high quality images of all those lovely models in play.

3. Bobbie

Bobbie was the pet of a sergeant in the 66th Berkshire, who was said to have been present at the last stand of the last eleven. He later escaped and managed to make back to British lines, where he was subsequently decorated by Queen Victoria.

The Mad Guru has commemorated him in lead, where he shall roam for evermore.

So if you have an interest in terrain making done well, colonials or just want to see one wargamers fascination explored in exquisite detail, you should have a look at Maiwand Day. 

(looking at this picture, it is quite indistinct, I shall have to take a better one on Sunday). 

My first knowledge of Maiwand came as a boy when I was always intrigued by this memorial in St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Lt. Thomas Rice Henn, a Clare man who led a rear guard towards the end of the battle, is commemorated there.   The group made up of survivors from the 66th Foot and Bombay Grenadiers made their last stand in a garden, until their numbers whittled down to eleven charged out into the enemy and were cut down. 

The inscription reads as follows; 

“QUO FAS AT GLORIA DUCUNT” 

Sacred to the Memory of THOMAS RICE HENN, LIEUTENANT OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS, THIRD SON OF THOMAS RICE HENN, PARADISE HILL IN THE COUNTY OF CLARE, ESQ, 

(ONE OF HER MAJESTY’S COUNSEL AND RECORDER OF GALWAY) BY JANE ISABELLA, DAUGHTER OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FRANCIS BLACKBURNE, LORD CHANCELLOR OF IRELAND. 

Having led into action a Detachment of the Bombay Sappers and Miners – the last of all the Troops to leave the line of battle, and of whom all, save eight, were either killed or wounded – he perished gloriously on the fatal field of MAIWAND IN AFGHANISTAN, July 27 1880, IN THE 31ST YEAR OF HIS AGE, Crowning his noble conduct in that disastrous combat by a deed of heroism, than which (to quote the words of the Official Despatch) “History does not afford any grander or truer instance of gallantry and devotion to Queen and Country;” covering with a small, but indomitable band – eleven in number – the retreat of the entire British Brigade and holding in check the over-whelming Forces of the enemy, who did not dare to continue their advance, until he and his brave comrades had been every one shot down.

HIS BEREAVED PARENTS, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, HAVE ERECTED THIS TABLET, MOURNERS YET GRATEFUL. “NO HERO EVER DIED MORE NOBLY THAN HE DID, - I ENVY THE MANNER OF HIS DEATH.- IF I HAD TEN SONS, I SHOULD BE INDEED PROUD IF ALL TEN FELL AS HE FELL.” WORDS WRITTEN UPON HIS DEATH BY LIEUT.-GEN. SIR GARNET J. WOLSELEY, G.C.B., &C. 

“HE HATH DELIVERED MY SOUL IN PEACE FROM THE BATTLE THAT WAS AGAINST ME.” PSALM LV. 18 

Taken from Irishwarmemorials.ie

Ghurkas from over the sea

As I mentioned previously Nick very generously sent me Ral Partha Ghurkas. These arrived last week and I haven't had the time to give them the attention they deserve. These are just some phone snaps, but I think the quality of the figures speaks for itself. 

A particularly dangerous looking customer. This chap looks like a sergeant major to me. 

Actually looking at him from another angle - perhaps Billy Fish from The Man who would be King? 

The steely gaze of a Ghurka officer speculating as to how exactly his next foe is going to be sent to meet his ancestors. 

These are lovely little crisp sculpts and Nick has done a very effective and simple paint job on them. I don't think anyone was ever the worse for having Ghurkas by his side and I look forward to leading them on the tabletop.

In other news, Mrs Kinch has been sashaying about the house putting everything in order. Decorating the Christmas tree is definitely a girl job and after bringing the boxes down from the attic, I was politely but firmly chivvied from the room. 

I returned to find everything sparkly and wonderful. But amongst the decorations I noticed some new arrivals, Guardsbear Stern of the Irish Guards hitched a lift with Mrs Kinch during a recent trip to London. 

Apparently he will be spending his Christmas leave with us. We may need more mince pies. 

Mrs Kinch is also a fan of fat Angels. There are rather a lot of them on our tree. 

Sergeant Rodiss will also be spending his Christmas leave with us.

I may have to buy a lot more mince pies and perhaps hide the best sherry. 

A golden snitch made for Mrs Kinch by her partner in crime Tootsie. 

Another fat Angel. I think the woman may have a problem. 

And no Christmas tree would be complete without a lobster. 

This is, of course, the second lobster as everyone knows there was more than one lobster at the birth of our Lord. 

Indian Pondering

Sikhs charging tribesmen in Afghanistan

From Great Battles of the 19th Century

(click to embiggen)

So I've been thinking about the order of battle required for Afghanistan.  The Sword and the Flame doesn't actually require that many figures and I've managed to get by with only one unit of Indian infantry so far, the Ludhiana Sikhs. 

Looking through my boxes of toys, I've found a box of HAT Indian Infantry, which would give me another two TSATF platoons worth. If I use half units for the Second Afghan War, that should put me well on the way to filling the requirement for Indian troops. 

Picture by S. Mannix from Hat Website

Uniformed as the 3rd Sikhs of the Punjab Field Force

The trick is of course, how to get them on the table relatively sharpish. I found this on the Hat website and it looks like it could be very easy to replicate quickly. Once based and given a coat of PVA, a spray of Army Builder Desert Yellow should do the trick for the basic colour of the uniform.

Then it's a matter of detailing.

This is what I think of when I think of Afghanistan

Now, I'm not that punctilious about uniforms, I intend to use my reassuringly red coated Zulu War British infantry for Afghanistan. Firstly it seems silly not to, I have them already and secondly, while I know that the British soldier of the late Victorian age wore khaki as often as he wore red, I always think of them as redcoats.

To misquote "The Man who shot Liberty Valance", when the legend becomes fact, wargame the legend. 

From Boris Mollo's "The Indian Army"

(courtesy of Vintage Wargaming)

While the red coated Britishers are troops I have already, the Indians will be new and it makes sense to get them right if I can.  Now, as I lack the appropriate reference material, I asked some of my smarter friends to lend a hand and they responded manfully. 

Clive provided the image above, though it should be noted that the 3rd Sikhs and the 3rd Punjab are not synonymous as I had imagined. There are small differences in the arrangement of the turban. 

1880s Ghurkas dashing into action

Ross was kind enough to forward me this link, which has a huge selection of uniform plate and other resources, all of which are in the New York Public Library from the Vinkhuijzen Collection.  There's plenty to look at there, though the captions can be a bit ropey. However, if you've some idea of what you are looking for, there's a lot of stuff available. 

John chimed in with some additional advice,

"[...]blouse trousers all the same shade of khaki. Puttees normally khaki, green or blue are mentioned. Equipment medium shade brown leather. Pre 1890s blouse has cuffs collar shoulder straps in facing colour also the turban fringe in same facing colour. Medium Brown footwear.  Turban colour- often exactly the same, but there are some watercolours for 1879 which show the 3rd regt with a lighter shade for puttees and turban which looks quite nice, facings mid green.  

And also directed me to this website, the Victorian Wars Forum, which he'd actually sent me to before, but which I'd forgotten about. Now that I've put it here, I won't forget again. 

At least until next time.