Wednesday 21 July 2021

More Bengal Europeans and Baluchi

 I was keen to crack on with both the Baluchi and the 1st Bengal European Light Infantry, I have got quite a few bits over the line and off the workbench.

Firstly the Baluchi, I have batch painted as usual and using a limited pallete for each batch, not that you can tell with this first two. 

I have quite a few figures using the off white this swordsman has, quite like this colour. The Swordsman of course is a Foundry Baluchi whilst the Jezailchi is a Perry plastic Afghan.
The pallette of off white, red and blue is a bit more obvious with this next batch of Baluchi.
All Foundry Baluchi, I particularly like how the two matchlock men have come out and the pale blue works really well.
The next three are all Baluchi Swordsmen, again pleased with the result on these guys. Not sure if the Baluchi Warriors in India would have been quite as nearly naked as the first figure but they look nice so I will be mixing three of these in. Again all Foundry figures from the Darkest Africa range.

 
This next is another of the Sikh Currassier, this makes it 8 figures so two more to do. One of the original Foundry Sikh Wars figures.
I ran out of the original horses from the range so this is a substitute Napoleonic horse. Hopefully wont be noticable mixed in when the unit is complete.
The last of the musketeers for the Bengal Europeans, mainly Foundry from the old Opium Wars range with the right hand figure being a Perry Carlist Wars British Marine.
The uniform on the Perry figure is slightly different but wont be noticable within the unit as a whole. The Shakos had the pompoms and badges trimmed off so I could get the covered shako effect which I think works well. Simple but effective.
Lastly the standard bearers, flags are from the virtual arm-chair general and the finials for the flags poles are from Front Rank. I prefer textured flags but bought the full set of Sikh Wars flags ages ago so sticking with them for the most part.
Nice clean simple figures these Opium Wars chaps, I like em.
So thats the Bengal Europeans painted, here they are stuck to bases and ready to ship off to York for the basing department to do her stuff.I think these will look well on table.

Another unit ready for basing then and plenty more progress on some others. I think I have 5 battalions for the SIkh Wars stuck to bases needing basing and the equivelant of 5 more sat in a box still needing to be glued to bases ready for the basing department. Look forward to seeing them complete.

In the mean-time stay safe and see you again soon.

Sunday 18 July 2021

Italian Wars Game After Action Report

 Ken invited me over for a game with the Yarkshire Gamer crew this Sunday, they had started an Italian Wars game last week with Ken and some of the other guys new collections, very much a play test and this week they planned to finish the game.

The Scenario had a French force trying to stop an Italian Force crossing the river and defeating them. The river had 3 fords and a force of both French and Italians would fight over each ford enabling effectively 3 seperate mini inter-connected battles.

The rules are Furioso, the guys are in the early stages of play testing these, so a fair bit of time spent checking rules. At Yarkshiregamer no rules really survive first contact and these will get tweaked and changed to fit the gangs requirements.


I join the game as all three Italian Battles are trying to push over the fords, I take the central command which has managed to get three units of cavalry just over the river so we have a foot hold I need to push forward.

Below is a selection of pictures of the game as I find it, beautiful and colourful figures.















We start the game with my two units of high quality Heavy Cavalry in melee with a unit of French Gendarmes who have already taken casualties. Two rounds of melee and I am able to defeat the Gendarmes with a fair bunch of casualties to my troops and the way forward into the French bank of the river is a bit more open.
                                                           

I need to create more space and try punch a hole in the French and allow the rest of my force some space to get across the ford and into action. The unit of heavy cavalry are destroyed inflicting just a few casualties on the French missile troops.
My second rank of heavy cavalry use the space created to charge a unit of heavy French halberdiers. The cavalry win, destorying one base of Halberdiers and pushing the rest back.
On the far side of the table Kens Stradiots are weaving in and out of the French formations on their way to loot the baggage train and creating havoc as they go, having said that they operating under a rule that give Ken no control over them unless he roles high enough which he has so far failed to do..
Next round and the heavy cavalry beat Ian's French halberdiers and the unit is destroyed.
Exploiting this the cavalry swing onto the flank of the second unit of halberdiers.Unsurprisingly the halberdiers fold and another unit of French is destroyed.On either flanks both Rob and Lonnie have got their best troops, mainly French Gendarmes, blocking the ford and holding Steve and Ken on the bank of the river.
Kens 3 units of stradiots continue to wreak havoc in the French ranks and my heavy cavalry now charge a third unit, this time crossbows who have had no opportunity to reload.I inflict five casualties and Ian typically roles 5 saving dice and save the lot of them. Fortunately I still manage to push Ian back. 
Behnd me the rest of the Italian troops are pushing into the hole in the French lines, Steve has also  managed to get a unit of light cavalry off of the ford o our left and pushing forward.
In the rear of the French Ken gets one of his units of Stradiots under control and charges the flank of guns, the first gun and crew is destroyed quickly followed by the second with no casualties to the Stradiots.
The French still have the largest unit on table untouched in their rear, a massive Swiss pikeblock which has just not been able to get involved. 

The rules use a D6 to determine Initiative, with unit types adding to, or more often reducing Iniative, so for instance Italian infantry are reasonably poor and get -2 to all initiative roles. The initiative is also added to movement rates, so for the Italians that -2 creates really slow movements for the vast majority of foot which can be difficult. This did mean that we had to rely on our horse to win the game. An interesting take which makes for a challenging game.

 With the centre broken and the Stradiots loose in the French rear an Italian victory is declared.

A really enjoyable game, the rules need some clarifications and tweaks but overall I think the team are happy that they work.Pretty sure Ken will have details on his blog in due course http://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/ .

Great fun, thanks Ken.


Monday 5 July 2021

Uniformed Irregular Matchlock Men for Sikh Wars Based

Adding to my Bahawalpur contingent forces for the Sikh Wars I have these yellow coated chaps, I liked the Skinners horse so much that I inadvertantly copied the uniform colours for these guys. Genuinely I was half way through before I realised I had literally copied the uniform.

At the same time I picked up this nice mounted Brigadier, another Empress mounted officer from the old Iron Duke Indian Mutiny range.


I like how this chap came out, the contrast with the blue jacket and red sash works really well.
The majority of these figures are Empress Indian Mutiny matchlock men and would have been muslim troops. The population of Bahawalpur was trabally mainly Baluchi with a large Pathan population too.
My first unit was all Baluchi and this one is all Pathan, I will have aother two of all Baluchi troops to finish off this contingent which feels about right in terms of the mix. The flag is from the Perry plastic Afghan box and I think fits them quite well.
You will see I have included some figures in skull caps which I think adds to the irregular look of this unit. The chap on the far right is a Perry metal Afghan and one of the matchlockmen on the command base is a Foundry Baluchi, the rest are all Empress.
The close up here shows off the quality of some of these lovely sculpts. I will no doubt get more at some point, not because I need them just because they are lovely!

This particular unit didn't come with Dahl shields other than the Foundry figure, again makes them slightly different to some of the others.


Really pleased with these, the other two units for Bahawalpur will be much more irregular looking and one will mainly be armed with swords and shields.

Until the next time then, stay safe!

Thursday 1 July 2021

British and Baluchi for The Sikh Wars

 I have been working mainly in small batches on my Bengal European Light Infantry and the Baluchi's for the Bahawalpur contingent.

First figures are these command figures, all Wargames Foundry Opium Wars range. Its quite an old range now but they still stack up really well in comparison to more modern sculpts.

I love the pose of both the Officer and the Seagent, they feel right. Although the Officer is charging off and the NCO calming things down.
All four of the Privates are also Foundry, a couple of figures in this unit are Perry Carlist Wars marines which fit in surprisingly well.
These figures all have brass fitings and badges on their shako along with pompoms, I have clipped and scraped these off to give me the effect of the shako being covered.
Again the Baluchi's are being done in small batches each with a limited colour pallette which will be mixed together when enough figures are complete. I quite like this off white colour used here with a blue-grey and orange to add a splash of colour.
The eagle eyes will have spotted that this is actually two Foundry Baluchi's and one Foundry Afghan for different units.
This next batch have a more yellow buff colour with a mix of blue, red and orange to add colour.
Three of these are the Foundry Baluchi and the fourt a Perry Afghan, the Matchlock man and the Swordsmen will go into diferent units of ths Bahwalpur contingent.
A peak inside my painted figures box file. Like the workings of a mad scientists brain! As I mentioned I batch paints just 4 or so figures at a time, I get overfaced with large units all the same and dont enjoy them. Once varnished the pinted figures are put away unitl a complete unit is ready to be glued to bases and dispatched to the basing department. There are about 8 part painted units for the Sikh Wars here. Sikh Cavalry, matchlocks and swords, Muslim matchlocks and Swords, Baluchi Matchlocks and swords and the Bengal Europeans which is the most progressed of the lot. 
So the next batches will likely be more Baluchi's but in particular trying to get the last 7 or so of the Bengal Europeans finished

Until then stay safe!