Saturday 29 July 2017

Sikh Khalsa regulars

The next unit from the basing department is a battalion of Sikh regulars. The regular army was know as the Khalsa. I have taken the colours from a number of sources and although not a specific regiment I am sure they are correct. I am pairing battalions up in colours and facings as I believe they used the french pattern of two battalions to a regiment and two regiments to a brigade.


 The Sikhs had a well deserved reputation as tough disciplined regulars trained by napoleonic french officers the battles were all close run and hard fought. Oddly it was in close combat , where they suffered due to a desire to drop the musket and bayonet and get stuck in with their tulwar swords.


I dont have firm plans but eventually a division of 12 battalions of Khalsa would be nice.

Thats it for now, see you after my jolly to seville.

Wednesday 26 July 2017

Sikh Wars Bengal Native Foot

My next offering from the basing department is my first battalion of Bengal Native Infantry. These have been painted as the 41st who fought in numerous actions through the  Sikh Wars.

The native troops made up around two third of British, or more properly East India and Queens, troops. Usually brigaded with one European and two native units together. This is the basic uniform with the cap being a forage cap with a white cover. Some units fought in their peakless shakos and others wore the native dhotti trousers so I hope to have units in all these varieties.


Native regiments had white officers and native junior officers, nco's and rank and file so I represent this with one white officer per unit. Some light companies were dressed in rifle green so I took the liberty of adding this to the 41st. In later years some of these had baker rifles but I believe they were musket armed in this earlier period

The figures are from the old foundry range which still looks great other than the officer purloigned from a perry carlist war command pack.

Next w

Sunday 23 July 2017

Sikh War Irregulars

So the basing department popped home this weekend, bringing with her a fair number of finished goodies for my Sikh Wars collection.

There is a battalion of Foundry Sepoys and another of Studio Khalsa which I will come back to but for now here are the irregulars plus a few more on the workbench.

First up are the matchlock men 3 bases so far. The rest are nearly finished. All Foundry figures. Mainly Sikhs but three of the same Afghan mixed in.



 Next are the sword and spear men. One base so far I almost have enough for two more bases painted. This will either need to be a small unit or I will have to find some more figures. Again all Foundry.

 I then have two bases of cavalry. Again all Foundry, the command base finishes a unit for me giving me three units of irregular horse and the first base of another unit.

 We then have a Sikh general. I already have 3 command bases but you do need plenty of generals in Black Powder.
I also have a few more on the workbench to add to This colection. Matchlocks, swords and the first Perry Afghan pressed I to service.





Monday 10 July 2017

Russian Civil War workbench and plans

So with the arrival from St Petersburg of Leonids Russians I have been enthused by painting the Russian Civil War again.

It has however thrown up some dilemmas for me too.

First things first though. When researching what cavalry I would do next I realised the siberian cossacks I had were wrong. The source I had used gave them with a yellow band and yellow crown to the caps. The crown should be blue.  So nothing for it but a repaint. Here they are mounted.

Dismounted I only had 5 so added 3 more and repainted their caps. Basing still to finalise of course.

Next I wanted to finish off my second unit of Alexsaiev like many of my units I had gone for 12 figures previously so had half a unit over when moving to 8 or 9  figure units for Triumph of the Will.

For standard foot units I have gone for very scruffy looking units and included the odd parade cap for a little colour. I used the old 1904 imperial parade cap colours.  Red for rifles and green for normal foot with different coloured shoulder boards and cap band for the different battalions in a regiment. I know they should really be khaki but cant help a touch of artistic licence.

This base finishes another unit. It also has one each of the manufacturers I am using. Left to right Leonids, Footsore, Copplestone. They fit together quite well.

I then came to the cavalry. With a unit of 10 red capped cossacks I decided 6 more from Leonid would be ideal. Now these cavalry are just lovely, but I am not convinced they fit with Copplestone. Theres the dilemma. Do I leave like this or get two more from Russia and use the Copplestone ones as the start of a further unit. I cant decide.



As dilemmas go its hardly life threatening but I do need to decide. I am also seriously considering my next unit once the infantry are painted. I like the idea of a unit in the Caucasian Native Cherkesska coat. I like the idea of different coloured coats and hats with some of the larger fur hats worn in the savage division. I have the first two of these from Leonid the rest may have to be head swaps or greenstuff minor conversions on Copplestone Kuban Cossacks. Food for thought.

Thats it for now. Thanks for reading.

Sunday 9 July 2017

Sikh light cavalry

Shot post to share another finished unit, this time Sikh Irregular light Cavalry,

Got a few Sikh Wars units sat with the basing department over in York at present, for now these few will have to do. Mainly Foundry Sikhs with the odd Afghan thrown in, I will be fleshing these out with Perry Afghans.

They join two units in chain mail and armour, once I have the rest back from the basing department I might do a quick review of the forces completed so far.
 The building doesn't exactly scream Punjab so apologies but it is a really quick update.
 I have Bengal Sepoys, Sikh Khalsa regular foot and both irregular Matchlock men and irregular spear and swordsmen on the basing table.
Photography not great please accept my apologies. Few Russian Civil War units to follow and then hopefully I will have my next unit of Saxon hose complete to share.

Thanks fo reading.

Sunday 2 July 2017

GNW Swedish Army Review

So having finished the last unit of guard and reached my initial project goal for the foot i thought a review would be a good chance to try out the camera on the tablet.

So first up is the guards brigade.

 Then second brigade including the grey coated Tremanning and Femanning units.
 
 Brigade three all in pokalem.
The artillery.

The dragoons. 
 
 The horse at least another 6 of these to go.
 And finally the whole lot so far. 12foot,3 guns,6horse.
Getting the hang of the tablet. Lets se how it goes.

Thanks for reading.

New Russian Civil War Figures Workbench

I have just finished the first three of Leonids  Russian cavalry for the  Civil War period and thought I might share the results. Using the tablet again so chance to see if its any easier. At the same time photobucket have decided to charge 400 dollars for third party hosting so I have also switched to flickr.

Leonid is a Russian gamer from St  Petersburg who had a range of  Russian Civil War figures commissioned I think by the same chap who sculpts the lovely studio Siberia figures but I nay be wrong.

The attraction for me is that it adds some variety to the Copplestone range and allows me to finish units off.  I think i mentioned before that under old rules I had 12 figure units and having moved to 8 figures I had an opportunity to increase the number of units without buying and painting lots.

The first figure that got my attention was a Kuban cossack with rifle. It issuch a lovely figure. Added to this I had 7Kubancossacks who were short of the last figure.

The first picture shows 2 Copplestone cossacks. The second is Leonids. The last is both together.


 Being really pleased with how that came under out I also made a start on some Siberian Cossacks. In similar vein I had 2 already left over so needed 6 more here are the first two. First 2 Copplestone again then the lancer. This figure had his sword damaged a little so I decided to drill his hand out for a lance and I am really pleased with the result. I also used a Copplestone horse whilst Leonids were drying. These are a bit bright with their white gymnastirka shirts but I like them.  The last is a Leonid figure on original horse with shouldered sword. Then a group shot.