Indian Mutiny figures

Finally, finally I have taken some photos of my Indian Mutiny figures that I have finished painting around 6 months ago. I will be getting back to this project with a vengance in the New Year as I have to have it ready for Gerry Webb's Muster in the first quarter of 2010. The figures are all Old Glory and paint up very nicely with the Army Painter (not the best I can do but 4 to 5 quicker). I see that period is having a renaissance at the moment with some very nice games on the web from the UK and the tasty new options from Mutineer Miniatures. One thing that is worrying me over the last few years are the very nice but over priced figures coming from small UK manufacturers, Musketeer and Mutineer come to mind. I know that it is hard to make a liveable profit from figure making companies (I had Elite Miniatures here in Australia) but charging 1.50 pounds for a figure is a bit rich. The Old Glory range of Mutineer figures are fantastic and only cost me $30 a pack Australian to my door with Old Glory Army discount. Some British and Sikh loyalist troops next. Cheers Scott

January painting total

Not much to report really except for my monthly painting total. I painted the following 28mm figures in January:

16 Swedish cavalry for the Deluge (about 100 to go).
60 Indian figures for the Indian Mutiny (40 Sepoys and 20 civilians, lots to go).
5 Swiss for my Italian Wars project.

Not bad but I aim to do 10-15 Indian Mutiny figures every 2 days for the next 3 months to get the project finished (our first baby arrives in 5 weeks which will upset the painting schedule somewhat I feel).

The Italian Wars figures look very effective with the Army Painter, I have undercoated them white, painted the base colours and then hit them with Strong tone, when dry Matt spray them and then highlight the uniform colours. The plastic GW figures look the part and I am not that picky about very little details. I look forward to getting a French army finished to use against Kevin's Imperialist force (I have around 200 foot, 28 cavalry, 2 guns and hopefully another 150 foot on their way by the end of this week). I will post photos of the finished figures this week as well as pictures of my first large Sudan game using the virgin collection, we will be using Command Piquet which I really like. 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