British Army of Indian for The Men Who Would Be Kings

This is a small force from the Army of British India I have cobbled together for The Men Who Would Be Kings. Most of the figures – the Gurkhas and Indians and their officers – I painted nearly 30 years ago. They were on 20mmx2mm card bases until a few years ago when I rebased them onto MDF multi-figure bases to make them into a DBA/HOTT force, and now I’ve rebased them to fit with all my other individually-based 19th century stuff. Conveniently there are just enough of them to make a Field Force for The Men Who Would Be Kings!

Unfortunately I don’t really have any OPPONENTS for them… But they’re ready for action for whenever I do happen to put something together.

Most of the figures were from Ral Partha, the exceptions being the Highlanders (who were mostly made by my friend John and lead by and officer and Piper from Minifigs) and the Gurkha officer, which is from Rafm.

I know, I know... the British officers probably should have uniforms that match the forces they are leading… I wasn’t so concerned with such details 30 years ago, and I can’t bothered to repaint them at this point.

I thought I would use the British 1879 list from The Men Who Would Be Kings

The entire field force.

I thought I would use the British 1879 list from The Men Who Would Be Kings:

3x Regular Infantry (@6 points each = 18 points)

1x Well Drilled Crewed Weapon (@6 points)

I’d like to make the Gurkhas (and maybe the Highlanders) “Fierce” to do this I could either downgrade the Indian and Gurkha units to “Poorly Armed” or downgrade the Gun to “Poorly Drilled”. There’s also a “Gurkha” special rule that allows them to move through difficult terrain without being slowed down, but that’s also a +1 point upgrade… I suppose I could downgrade the gun to “Poorly Drilled” and the Gurkhas to “Poorly Armed” to add that in as well…? I guess I don’t have to worry about this until I actually have someone for them to fight… Things to consider, though.

British Highlanders

Fierce Regular Infantry? (7 points)

Indians

Regular Infantry (6 points)

Gurkhas

Fierce, Poorly Armed, Gurkha Regular Infantry?  (7 points)

Indian Artillery

Poorly Drilled Field Gun?  (4points)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Some machine-guns and mortars, then the 1st (Western Ontario) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. 

Great War Germans Snipers and Colonial British Artillerymen

Just clearing a few things off my workbench that were mostly done before taking stock of where things were at for the Vimy Project the other day.

Since then I’ve decided I’m going to hold off on working on the terrain for a few weeks to do a bit more research. But I do have the next Canadian battalion on the workbench – they will be the 1st (Western Ontario) Battalion. The whole of the First Brigade were from Ontario – the other battalions being from Eastern Ontario, Central Ontario, and Toronto. All of the figures are form Wargames Foundry.

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A German Sniper and Stormtrooper from Great War Miniatures.

Back of the sniper – to show off his camouflaged cape.

Two more snipers – also from Great War Miniatures.

Detail of their other sides.

While at least being Great War subjects, I’m not sure I’ll actually make use of these in the Vimy game…

Two colonial British artillerymen. I think the chap carrying the ammo crate is from Wargames Foundry the officer is from Black Tree Design.

I painted these to add to some existing (previously painted) gun crews as the number of dice rolled for guns in The Men Who Would Be Kings is based on how many figures are left in the unit. Technically, if I’m increasing all the unit sizes by 25% (as I was planning to do), I should have FIVE gunners… I guess I’ll have to find another I can add to the team!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

1st (Western Ontario) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. 

(And, hopefully, a game of The Men Who Would Be Kings - before I forget the rules and have to read them all over again!) 

Usuthu!

More Zulus…

Another break from the Great War to finish up two more units for my Zulu force for The Men Who Would Be Kings. These were largely done because a) I’d really like to try out The Men Who Would Be Kings and b) these were pretty low hanging fruit – in that I painted four small groups of five to finish up four 20-figure units! Unfortunately this doesn’t COMPLETE a 24-point force… so now what…? To finish the force I need to paint up two more units – of 20 figures each!

I guess I do have a bunch of musket armed Zulus I could cobble together into a unit (or possibly TWO) of 15  guys – I’d probably class them as Irregulars, and maybe either Poor Shots or downgrade to Antiquated Muskets, but with Fieldcraft…? That could make a 24 point force... 

I do have enough British done for a 24-point field force already done.

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The recently painted chaps – more unmarried Zulus from Wargames Foundry.

I’m going to need to get around to painting some MARRIED Zulus at some point!

One of the units finished up by this lot. (can you tell which are the new ones?)

The other unit finished up by this lot. 

The entire force – so far… with the two units of zulus with pilfered firearms it could be fielded as a 24-point Field Force! 

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have another unmarried unit sitting one the workbench (because all the unmarried Zulus require manufacturing spear and then gluing them on along with shields – the unmarried ones are assembled, primed, and ready to go (again with the low-hanging fruit!). 

Or perhaps I'll just play a few games with the two units of musket armed Zulus and get back to doing Great War stuff!!

1st battalion, 4th Martian Infantry Regiment

Some Space:1889 Martian colonial forces…. I’m not sure, really, what inspired me to pull these out and put some paint on them?! These things make sense way too late at night when I've mostly been working on them...

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The British officer is from Black Tree Design and the Martian infantry are from RAFM.

I picked up enough martian colonial infantry for four such units. One I’ve already painted as the 2nd Battalion Queen’s Own Martian Rifles (the Parhoon Rifles). Originally I thought I’d do two in Khaki (as this one above) that would ostensibly be British, but could be passed off as Martians in the service of just about any colonial power. The fourth I’ve been planning to do in light blue tops and dark blue bottoms to pass as Belgian Martian troops. Rather than doing a second unit in Khaki, however, I’ve decided to do a unit in dark blue tops and red bottoms and call them “Tirailleurs Martien” in French service.

I also have some High Martians - at least one sizable unit painted and another to be painted. I figured I could use them as per light cavalry that can pass through (over) any other troops… I also have some Colonial Martian Artillery and native Martian Artillery for support.

What I really need to get doing is Martian native troops - Oenotirians and such - as an opposing force. Though I suppose I could pit any European colonial force against any other… with some Maritan colonial infantry fighting along side.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Um… There are some WW2 US Marines just needing some finishing touches on bases and some Great War British officers under way… not sure about after that… perhaps the “Tirailleurs Martien”, just to get them finished… 

German Casualties, Tirailleurs, and... a Cultist!?

A few odd items I finished up yesterday. Another indoor rainy day capped off with watching two more episodes of Game of Thrones. We’re now halfway through the season.

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German Great War Casualties from Old Glory.

Tirailleurs Algérien from Artizan Designs. I got these three as part of the French Foreign Legion Lucky Bags. Just need to pick up a couple more packs to make a unit… for now…? I guess I could use them as guides attached to the Legionnaire units?

Tirailleurs Martien!? This is a Martian Colonial Trooper from RAFM that I’ve painted in French colours to pass off as French Indigenous Colonial Troops on Mars. On close inspection the equipment – particularly the back pack and water bottle (and rifle) have a distinctly “English” look… but I’m hoping when an entire unit is fielded no one will notice.

An odd cultist I found that I hadn’t painted when I went to re-base his brethren. The figure is one I modeled and cast myself.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I’m working on some Great War German Jägers at the moment. More Martian Colonial troops have marched on to the painting table. I should really get painting some native Martian hordes if I’m going to do these Martian Colonial Troops…. 

Légion Étrangère

The last of my colonial Legionnaires…

For now…

The second season of Game of Thrones arrived for me at the local library yesterday. So Amanda and I sat up way too late watching a few episodes - we have one week to watch it all as I doubt I'll be able to get it back again for some time! I managed to get these (and a couple mounted figures) finished up while watching (or, rather, listening and occasionally looking up to see what's going on...). Should have a fairly productive week with 7 more hours of TV viewing ahead of me! 

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The last unit of Legionnaires from More Legionnaires from Artizan Designs. All but two are from the March or Die line. The other two are from the pulp adventure line that I modifield to have covered kepis.

The Légion (so far…)

I’d like to add at least two more units – at some point; a unit of legionnaires in great coats and sun helmets and a second unit of legionnaires in great coats and covered kepis. Maybe a counted company… or Chasseurs d Afrique… or Tirailleurs of some sort – Senegalese or Morrocans… or both, just in case)…

Ooh! Perhaps I could add some Tiralleurs Martien for some sort of Space:1889 type game...

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Great War German casualty markers. I mostly finished them up last night as well - just have to finish up the bases. I should get them done tonight and maybe some other stuff... There's all manner of odds and sods piling up on (what was supposed to be) the "temporary" painting station upstairs... 

A Few More Legionnaires

I’ve been painting the last batch of Legionnaires these last few days – along with some other stuff. These four, because they’re a bit different than the rest, ended up getting finished up a bit earlier.

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More Legionnaires from Artizan Designs.

 These chaps have the khaki jackets, like one of my Other Units of Legionnaires… but uncovered kepis rather than sun helmets. So they don’t really fit in. The rest of my Legionnaires are in covered kepis and either shirts or great coats…

Perhaps I’ll make a unit of guys in great coats and sun helmets – then I can take the three of those I have in the unit with guys in sun helmets and khaki jacket and add these guys (making 15) and just have to buy three packs of great coats and sun helmets to make a unit of 15 of those…

Maybe…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

The last unit of Legionnaires… some odd cavalrymen… other stuff.  

More Legionnaires

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More French Foreign Legionnaires from Artizan Designs.

The Legion force so far...

This finishes off the guys I have with sun helmets. I have another unit of guys in kepis.

The bulk of this force was put together from a couple of North Star Lucky Bags. The lucky bags are an assortment of random figures at a fairly deep discount, but they are often from pretty wide collections – like WW2 British, which could include british from either Artizan designs or Crusader Minis and could be early war or late war European or commandos or 8^th army in North Africa or paratroopers or LRDG or… you get the idea… sometimes is just “ancients” which could be a mix of just about anything… So for the most part they are of little use to me – great for anyone just getting into something looking for a small number of figures for skirmishing…?

But once they offered a French Foreign Legion Lucky Bag, and as I had only a couple packs and no actual units I ordered two… so I instantly had a fairly large force of Legionnaires… unfortunately the line has a wide variety of legionnaires in different uniforms; in great coats and kepis, in great coats and kepis with full packs marching, in shirts and kepis, in Troupes Colonial uniform jackets and uncovered kepis, in great coats and sun helmets, in shirts and sun helmets, in Troupes Colonial uniform jackets and sun helmets… you get the idea…

Unfortunately this means my force has a wide mix of all the options… I’ve tried to organize them into units of like stuff… but I just don’t have quite enough of one type or another to make full units – which is why this units has a couple odd guys in greatcoats…

I am tempted to order a few more packs so I could end up with three units of legionnaires in kepis and three in sun helmets and each unit having a distinct uniform make up… i.e. all in great coats, or all in shirts, etc… but of course no combination of packs is going to give me the exact number I need… ugh…

Ah well, I can’t buy any more of these for some time anyway. I have much, much more that I need to paint before I can buy any more figures.

On that note I have caught up and have now painted more minis than I’ve purchased (well… at least in the 28mm foot category… I have to paint a few more mounted!) this year and have no intention of buying any more until I can double than number… time to bring the painting debt down!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I’ll probably knock off that last unit of them next… because that’s how I roll – finishing stuff off because it’s fun to finish things… not because I have any practical use for it!?

After that I should paint something mounted – to catch up a bit in that category… Maybe some Great War French cavalry…? Or some more of the ANZACs? 

French Foreign Legionnaires

I could say I’m painting these up because I recently picked up In Her Majesty’s Name… but that wouldn’t be entirely true… I DID pick up IHMN recently, and I did just start reading it, but honestly I really picked out these to paint next because… well… it seemed like the most fun thing to paint at the moment - which is really my motivation for most things - hobby-wise... or otherwise...

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French Foreign Legionnaires from Artizan Designs.

Only 13 of these are newly painted, two of them were painted previously... like a year (or so) ago!



A couple more pics of the colour bearer (as I'm rather pleased with how he turned out!)

Actually, as I was just finishing these up and considering getting another unit of them out to paint, it occurred to me that I don’t actually have any HISTORICAL opponents for these!? I have to admit I think I picked them up thinking I’d use them in a semi-historical/fantastical African setting/ campaign involving competing adjacent colonies of France, England, and possibly Germany…? Or Belgium…? It was a loose idea I had a long while back – using a campaign system similar to the original Mighty Empires. Each European Power would have a small six hex colony/trading region/area of influence on the coast and could explore inland adding territory and resources, building trading posts and forts and mines and possibly laying train tracks… raising local troops or vying for regulars from the homeland and, ultimately clashing with the neighboring colonies… Anyway, the idea – like so many before (and since) – fizzled and I moved on to other things.

Or I might have been thinking I could use them on Mars in a Space:1889 sort of setting. So not really all that far off from what I may end up using them for in the near future (In Her Majesty’s Name - if it turns out to look interesting enough to set up a game).

Since painting these and having a look at the stuff I’ve got I got to thinking I need to pick up a few more (Oh, not right now… like, maybe next year! But this is how it happens!). I have two units of guys in sun helmets, and two in kepis. Except one of the units of guys in sun helmets is short one… and I have about five spare chaps in kepis… Now I could just have a few guys in kepis join the units of guys in sunhelmets and leave it at that… but I got to thinking; if I ordered four more packs of guys in sun helmets (four packs of four would be 16 more) I would have THREE units of exactly 15 guys in Sun helmets! AND if I ordered three more packs of guys in kepis (which would be 12 more) I would have three units of guys in kepis plus only two left over – and if one of those three packs was a command pack I’d probably have a couple of spare officers I could use as higher command (a C-in-C and/or staff officer if I were using Ever Victorious Armies).

Of course the mad (or maddest) thing about this plan is that, as I have mentioned, I don’t really have any genuine historical OPPONENTS!?

Perhaps it’s time to start painting Martians again…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Maybe more of these Legionnaires (I have two more units of these…). Or maybe some 1914 Belgians… or WW2 Soviets… or 1889 Maritans!?  or a giant Movie Mummy… or… gosh, who knows!? I seem to be all over the place these days. 

French Foreign Legionnaires

A unit of the Legionnaires finally finished

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The figures are from Artizan Designs “March or Die” line. I’d picked up a couple of packs when they first came out – thinking I might use them on Mars (as I was excited about Space:1889 at the time). But didn’t get to painting more than two.

Earlier this year North Star Figures had a bargain bag sale of various different lines – the figures were ones that had cast fine, but others in the mould hadn’t and thus had to be melted down for re-casting leaving incomplete packs. The figures that had tunred out alright were put into bargain bags and sold at deeply discounted prices. Most of the bargain bags were very wide selections – a WW2 Bargain Bag” or a “Medieval Bargain Bag” – which might be useful if you didn’t have ANYTHING from that particular era and just wanted to pick up a few samples… not so useful when you’re trying to fill out a particular unit or army… They, however, offered a “French Foreign Legion Bargain Bag”… well being that specific, how could I go wrong there were ten figures in a bag – I have units of 15 – so I ordered three bags! Huzzah! These are all figures from said bargain bags and, as you can see, there’s a LOT of one particular figure (presumably that one cast very well while others in the same mould… not so much…)

I have a total of three units of Legionnaires. One unit in sun helmets, two in covered kepis. This is the first I’ve completed. I’m not sure when I’ll get to the others…. Perhaps when I get interested in colonial conflicts again.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

There’s a handful of modern-ist types on the workbench as well as a whole lot of Great War Cavalry!? The WW2 Soviets and paras and ancient Greeks still lurk in the back areas…

I finished up placing sandbags on the Vimy terrain square I was working on and covered the whole mess with dark brown paint – when I finish the detail painting I’ll post some more pics of that. 

Boers, Bear and Mountie

A few mounted types…

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Two Boers from Black Tree Design.

The Bear is an old (OLD!) figure of unknown origin (if I had to guess I might say Ral Partha?) and the mountie is from Pulp Figures.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

A few more modern/sci-fi types and some Greek psiloi and light horse are in the pipe. 

Moderns, Colonials, The Chindit and Some Giant Purple Worms

A couple more things I’ve finished up…

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A couple more modernish types from (L to R) West Wind Productions, Hasslefree Miniatures, and Wargames Foundry .

A mounted Boer and a British morale failure marker from Black Tree Design.

Major Lumley of the 3/6th Gurkha Rifles from The Assault Group. I say “THE” Chindit as it’s pretty much the only one I own…

That’s not quite true, I also have two Vickers teams!? Why on earth do I have TWO Vickers teams when I have no other Chindits!? Well North Star was blowing them out at super-deep-discounted prices and I accidentally ordered two. I’d meant to order two of… something else… (I can’t remember what) but ended up ordering two of the Chindit HMG teams by mistake.

Giant Purple Worms from Reaper Miniature’s new Bones line of plastic figures. Generally I don’t care for plastic figures… but these, being solid hard plastic, seemed hefty enough and at $4 a piece it seemed a pretty good deal (compared to the $28 for the metal version of the same figure!?)

For a sense of proportion….

I put these on 60x60mm bases because, well… they’re big enough that it wasn’t too awkward a size for them in a skirmish game, but also so they could be used as some rather frightful LURKERS in Hordes of the Things!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Um… more painting… Unless I play some DBA/HOTT with the kids this afternoon. 

All Over the Place Again: Zulu War, WW2, Assorted Ancients, etc…

I had a fairly productive long weekend… Here’s some of the stuff I managed to finish up.

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Nubians from Black Tree Design. The multi-figure base is a Psiloi element for a Nubian DBA army, the other fellow is just a sapre I based up single for skirmishy gamin’ and to try out some different leopard print pattern… Still not totally happy with it.

As above; a Early Greek Hoplite DBA Psiloi Element and ancient Greek skirmish figure, also from Black Tree Design.

A WW2 Soviet NKVD Maxim team (also from Black Tree Design) – for those “There Shall Be NO Retreating” scenarios…

Dead Paras and a German (also from Black Tree Design).

More British/Canadian Paras. These are a mix of Black Tree Design, Artizan Designs, West Wind Productions, and Warlord Games Bolt Action Miniatures. I should do a Para Figure Comparison post… as I have Paras from five different manufacturers…

Still more British/Canadian Paras – a 6lb AT Gun and Crew from Artizan Designs. The crew I painted years ago, and only just finished up the gun!?

British Infantry from the Zulu War (also from Black Tree Design). The chap on the larger stand is a casualty marker – I like to do them on larger bases so that it is clear that it is a marker and not just another infantrymen (especially ones, like this that aren’t prone!)

I suppose the fellow with the amputated leg could also be a casualty/morale failture marker… but it doesn’t look like it was “on the spot”. He looks like he was cleaned up and bandaged up nice and neat some time after the damage to his leg… Actually the more I look at that figure the more odd I think it… Why is someone with a fresh leg amputation hobbling about in full uniform – with his uniform trousers tucked into the bandages!? Makes no sense to me…

A modern(-ish) African Warlord/General from The Assault Group.

Defenders of the Galaxy. The Yoda figure is an official Grenadier Miniatures/West End Games Star Wars figure, the others are from Hasslefree Miniatures.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have an odd assortment of items populating the painting space: More WW2 (Germans, British/Canadian Paras, and Soviets, mostly – some alive, some not-so-alive…), Mounted Boers, Greek Cavalry, Greek Hoplites and Psiloi, More Nubians, assorted Star Wars characters, Those Greek Ships, Ashigaru Spearmen, Vietnam ANZACs, Amazons,  more Hellboy charactrers, … oh , the list goes on… Which I will finish up next…? Who knows!? Probably time to clean off the workbench and put some of those back into storage so I can FOCUS… although, NOT FOCUSING this past weekend has turned out to be fairly productive!? 

British Officer – Zulu War

I’ve been mostly cleaning and tidying and reorganizing stuff the last day. I bought some new storage drawers and have been shifting things about. Splitting up collections that have outgrown their current storage drawers, getting other stuff that’s been sitting in cardboard boxes, cluttering up my workbench and surrounding space into a semi-permanent home. The plus side to all of this is that I am reminded, in a very visual way, of how very many unpainted minis I have (and should be working on – and have NO NEED TO BUY MORE!?). The downside is I am often distracted from what I was trying to focus on (If “focus” can be a work do describe my all-too-brief obsessions with one period or another) and find something else that looks “more shiny”… Today’s mini being a perfect example….

A year ago I had been very excited about the Zulu War – and bought many (MANY!) figures for it. Oh, I painted a lot of them… but not really even close to all… or half… before I got distracted by… something else…? Was it the Fantasy campaign I started planning for the kids…? Anyway. I was reorganizing some of the stuff into different drawers and got thinking I should paint a few more of these units and play some more games. I felt as if I was on the cusp of having enough forces to put one some really big, exciting games… and there were so many elements I haven’t even started…

Well… We’ll see where it goes… I rationalized that I should just paint ONE FIGURE – something quick and easy (to either get it out of my system or get me more excited, I’m not sure). I picked out this British officer below

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British Officer from Wargames Foundry.


He’s wearing a patrol jacket. This particular fellow is slated to lead one of my units of Natal Natives.

Will I get around to painting the rest of his unit… maybe… Hopefully sometime this summer. I occasionally have this bright idea that I should, each week, paint a new unit for a different game or period – adding to the existing collections – and then run a scenario incorporating the new unit… of course that would require time to pland and run such games… not to mention a regular bunch of players that would show up on a regular basis to PLAY such games…

I suppose I DO have a regular bunch of players that would be ready and willing to play anything at anytime…. (the kids!) So far I’ve only introduced them to DBA/HOTT and Savage Worlds.

The paint a new unit each week doesn’t really work for DBA – as it would require painting a whole new ARMY!? I suppose there’s a few existing HOTT armies I have that I also have unpainted figures for that I could paint up as new options.

I suppose I could paint a handful of new figures for a Savage Worlds skirmish… but there are limited periods I’m interested in gaming with them at the moment – mostly pre-gunpowder (fantasy, ancients, mythical, etc).

Perhaps I should make some new skirmish terrain.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Um… hard to say…