They're here: or Indian Mutiny

Got my 30 packs of Old Glory yesterday and sat down and organised them all into their respective units. I have cleaned up 40 Mutineers (enough for 16 bases) and have started to paint them already, I will post photos of the first unit on the weekend. I have used a white undercoat and block painted the colours, used a brush to apply Army Painter (Strong tone), Matt sprayed this after 12 hours drying and then highlighted belts, rifle slings, shoes and headgear. They are looking pretty swell and the Old Glory Mutiny range is a joy to paint. I know some Old Glory ranges are average but this range and the Eastern Renaissance range are some of their best work and 30 packs for 30 bucks Australian is not to be sneezed at. I still think that the cavalry need work though, I tend to add a saddle cloth of greenstuff to ensure the figure sits properly upon the back of the horse.

For those who are wondering about the Deluge, fear not I have been busy painting Swedish cavalry and have finished 16 so far this week and have undercoated another 48 which are in various stages of painting, will post photos after I have finished the lot (including basing them. I use Bicorne, Renegade, TAG and Redoubt Miniatures in my collection as I love the larger figure, the first 3 ranges are all designed by Nick Collier who has just gotten better and better. The purpose of this ramble is to tell you all that Renegade UK are selling Nick Collier designed ECW (TYW) regiment packs of 24 infantry or 9 cavalry for the bargain price of 12 pounds (buy some). Back to painting

Deluge game: Victory without Quarter

Finally had a game set in the Deluge period on Wednesday. Mark Temple came over with with 4 units of cavalry and a couple of guns. The rules used were Clarence Harrison's 'Victory without Quarter' (Quindia Studios), with a few extra modifications to cover some of the different Eastern troop types (bow, lance etc.). The Poles had 4 brigades and the Swedes had 3, so they were easier to control. I must say that they were very easy and enabled us to finish a large game in 4 hours (with chatting and coffee in between). I like these rules and will continue to play them when we all get together but I am looking at Piquet's 'Anchor of Faith' which need proper army lists for Eastern Europe. The new army lists are being done in the style of 'Band of Brothers' and I have taken the ideas from the 'Pike and Plunder'Blog (fantastic site on the Italian Wars). I will post some of these in the near future, so if you are interested leave a comment on the site. Cheers Scott

2009 Wargaming Plans

The year has only just begun and I have changed my priorities with my gaming plans already. I had planned to start with the Wellington in India project but as I still need to gather figures from Redoubt Miniatures I thought that I would start with the Indian Mutiny. I did state that 2009 and would have a strong Colonial feel and the Indian Mutiny has long been a period I wanted to game, however I could not afford the Foundry range so I have let it slide for many years however Old Glory and their 40% discount have come to my rescue once again. Saturday I ordered 30 packs of British and Mutineers from Old Glory's 25mm range and with postage to Australia it has cost around 27 dollars Australian a pack, thanks to Teressa at Old Glory slipping it all into 2 boxes.

I have been reading the Flashman novels for Indian inspiration and these novels as well as the excellent book from Foundry on India have tipped me over the edge. The Foundry book is fantastic and it and another book are the first items I have gotten from Foundry since I recieved a Horde pack of Macedonian Companions as a Slingshot prize for a coiple of Successor articles 4 years ago.

The Mutiny project is to take me 6 months, I plan to paint at least 100 figures a month, which I know I can do using Army Painter. The Sudan figures have all been done with Strong tone Army Painter and I found that I could finish 10 British infantry in Khaki an hour. I plan to paint much of the British force in campaign dress, so khaki, white, light grey and scarlet will be the go, the Indian mutineers will be very similar. The Indian Mutiny special in the Spanish wargaming magazine is inspirational, not only in terms of figures but also in terrain, I feel the need for Indian fortress walls and many new buildings as well as new trees and river sections which can all be used for Wellington in India.

British
5 regiments of British infantry (30 figures each in 3 companies of 10 men, 4 bases to a company).
1 regiment of Highlanders (30 figures organised as above).
1 regiment of volunteers (20 figures organised as above).
2 regiments of loyals sepoys (30 figures each as above)
3 gun batteries (2 guns each with 4 crew per gun and 1 4 horse limber per battery).
3 cavalry regiments (2 British and 1 Indian each with 2 squadrons of 6 figures, 4 bases to a squadron).
6 command bases (2-3 figures a base).

Mutineers
6 regiments of Mutineer infantry (organised as per British infantry)
4 gun batteries (organised as per British guns but 2 batteries are drawn by oxen).
2 mutineer cavalry regiments (organised as per British horse).
4 irregular cavalry units (2-3 squadrons per unit).
9 units of irregulars (10 per units, 4 bases per unit).
6 command bases (2-3 figures per base).

Bits and pieces
4-5 elephant guns limbers (scratch build limbers, have elephants).
Baggage train (10 ox carts and numerous camels).
Indian civilians (20-30 on display bases from Eureka Miniatures).

Rules
Many of the battles during the Mutiny took place near or inside built up areas, therefore I wanted my uniits to be large and with several companies to fight in these areas but I also want them to be multiple bases (2-3 per base). I thought that Piquet FOB with the Zulu War/Sudan company suggestions will be the go but I might swing back to John Company by the Virtual Armchair General (worth getting just for campaign, uniform, battle, scenario and terrain details).

Thats the plan, so I will update the Indian Mutiny section every 30 days and show what I have painted. Cheers Scott

Sudan collection

Finally got around to taking some photos of the Sudan collection after the El Cid game today. I have yet to play a game as no one seems to have the time for a little jaunt in the desert. The figures are based so that they are able to be used with numerous game systems. I have been looking again at Piquet Field of Battle (FOB), especially the rules for company actions as my collection is based on 10 figure companies (4 bases each). The British figures are all Black Tree Design, I know they are not that accurate for the early Sudan but they are close and they were also cheap. The well painted red companies have been done by Leroy Simpson (thanks mate) as I hate doing red units. The khaki companies have had green stuff trousers added, I have 2 companies to do yet which Nathan Vinson kindly gave me (he always gives me stuff, thanks mate). The lone cavalry base are Black Tree Design figures on Perry ACW plastic horses as the ones provided were s.......t. The Fuzzy Wuzzies and Ansar are mostly Old Glory except for 2 units of Castaway Art figures painted by Nathan. The kneeling camels are made by Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts and are the best camels on the market (I feel). I have a couple of camel trains to paint yet and I need to buy some mounted camel corps figures to put on the camels I have from Gerry (I have 40 Reboubt figures on foot, 4 companies). I hope you enjoy the shots, I have loads of Ansar figures which I haven't taken shots of yet (104 50mm x 50mm bases done and 16 bases to go). Cheers Scott