More Baluchi and Sikhs Painted

 So I am pretty focused now on finishing units I have already started for the Sikh Wars project and in particular for the forthcoming game.

I am slightly short on native commanders so this first couple are really useful.

This is the Perry Miniatures Afghan commander alongside a Foundry Afghan Leader, these guys will get based together.

Two more Afghans for the Muslim Hill Tribes, again one Foundry and one Perry. The Foundry figure on the left has a Perry plastic arm instead of sword for a bit of variety.

The next three give me some more blade armed troops, a plastic Swordsman by Wargames Atlantic with Perry plastic sword arm and shield. Foundry Afghan leader, I have gone bright as I dont usually and this will lift a whole unit of drab tribesmen. Lastly a Sikh spearman, again Foundry.

This off white is working really well and I surprise myself by liking the bright yellow and blue for the leader.

This Sikh horseman gives me 6 light irregulars, so one of my key targets will be four more to finish a unit.

Again Foundry Sikh Wars for this chap.

You can see with these next ones the limited pallette batches I am using, the pale blue with greena nd orange works really on this bunch, all Sikh irregulars from Foundry with the right hand chap getting a matchlock instead of spear.

The Baluchi will augment my Bahawalpur contingent, two units to do these take me a decent step closer.

These four leave 2 short of a Swords armed unit so again top of my painting list are the two to finish this unit off. All Foundry Darkest Africa figures with a Vurtual Arm Chair General flag.

Thes last two again Foundry with VACG flag, these leave me 7 short of the last of the Baluchi Matchlocks. So not a huge ammount to do to give me two more foot and one more horse unit, of course it will only give me a week to ase them all if I manage to paint them but.........

Continued good progress, happy with how these lovely sculpts are comign out and I think the units will look well once they are mixe together.

More to come so see you soon.

Bloody Backs AWI Play Test

 For some time Steve has been keen to try a set of rules for AWI. He had started collecting figures for this so I had mine rebased to match and suddenly we had plenty for the first playtest.

As usual Steve ensured we had a plentiful supply of cakes and biscuits with strong tea. Thanks Julie!

The rules are Bloody Backs and with just three sides of A4 you might be forgiven for thinking they would be  bit basic. As it turns out the mechanisms are actually quite clever.

Each troop type has a target factor with Skirmishers being harder to hit and the looser ordered British also harder to hit than the very close order Hessians for isntance. The looser units also move faster than the tighter formations. Simple and elegant.

You also roll for how many actions a unit cant take, the troop quality plus the generals quality is your target and you roll 6 D12 having to get below the target number, so the better your troops and the better your commanders the more likely you are to get more actions.

However in combat you can pick up disruptions up to a maximum of 3, every disruption reduces your number of dice and therefore your chances of getting actiosn to move, fire or remove disruptions.

The game was played on a 6 by 5 feet table with Chris Charlton commanding the British and myself the Americans. Steve would umpire. 

I deployed for the most part behind a ence line which gave limited cover, with 4 small brigades. Two Brigades each had 2 regiments of continentals with one having a gun attached, a third had 3 regiments of militia and the fourth had a unit of rifles and Lees Legion.  

The Skirmishers and Legion depolyed in front of the milita and all but one Continentals ehind the fence, I might regret leaving that one out on a limb before long.

Chris menawhile had three Brigades. From my left to right the first Brigade had a regiment of Hessians, a unit of Jaeger rifles and the British Legion supported by a Hessian gun, next a battalion of Grenadiers, a unit of light infantry and a very large battalion of Highlanders with a second gun, finally two large battalions of British regulars, the Welsh Fusiliers and the 33rd West Yorkshires (my local regiment) 

The 33rd seen here leading the advance.

Chris quickly got his guys moving forward, with only slight delays with the Hessians and the Woods.

Long range for Muskets is only 12 inches so Chrs plows forward as the Pariot forces prepare for the onslaught. The first units engaged are the rifles and Lees Legion, quickly hitting the British but taking casualties in return, the Highlanders take some disruption from the gun. 

Marching to close range the British Grenadiers deliver a devastating volley to Lees Legion and follow up with the bayonet. So players are needign to roll two dice lower than their quality but they increase their dice by the number of disruptiosn the enemy is carrying so in this case the Grenadiers needed 2 from 5. They sweep in and smash the Legion who fail their morale and flee.

Whilst this leaves the way clear to advance on the Militia it also opens a field of fire on the Grenadiers from a arge fresh unit so very much a double edged victory for the British. Further along the line the Highlanders have been stopped by casualties from the gun and the British guns have run out of Ammo whilst the Hessian gun is blocked by its own troops.

Further along the Fusiliers and 33rd have marched up to close range and inflicted casualties and 3 disruptions on the continentals. These guys were always too exposed and are now g oing to pay for my deployment error.

Lees Legion meanwhile flee the table.

Another volley from ther 33rd and they close with the bayonet. I cant see this ending well for the continentals.

And there we go a big gap where my continentals used to be and a wide open flank for the Loyalist army. Doh!

On my left however I have an untouched unit of Continentals beign ignored so they clamber over the fence to try flanking the British forces from the other side immediatley inflictign casualties ont he Jaegers.

The Hessians have charged the Rifles who evade behing their own lines and then proceed to head to the right flank whilst the Hessians close with the militia hoping to pour some musketry in before closign with the bayonet. However they get  anasty surprise as the Militia unload a devastating close range volley, they are unlikely to be strong enough to carry a charge forward now.

Meanw hile I have rushed  abttalion of milita I kept in reserve to plug my right flank, desperate times and all that. Chris has slowed down to wheeel his troops allowing me just enough time to deploy.

At this point I ma thinking its all over but the British on the right have taken their fair chare of casualties and are both carryign three disruptions so when they roll for their actiosn they get none, this is an automatic morale check which they fail. A blast from the cannon helps them on their way.

What looked like a complete British Victory in the offing is now completely in the balance, can the British reform and recover their morale or will the Americans on the left of my line start to roll up the British flank before they can get back int he game.

Well its after 10pm and there is probably another hour in the game so we call it a night.

Completely in the balance and it could go either way. Thoroughly enjoyed the game thanks gents, I look forward to a second outing.

40mm Napoleonics For Sharp Practice

 So this project has been in the back of my mind for quite a long time too, expensive though so it has been shelved a few times. A couple of things made me re-think it.

Firstly its such a great fit for Sharp Practice and of course the Peninsular is what the game was initially aimed at. Secondly the multi figure packs that Perrys do mean that formations can be done at not much more than 28mm prices (£21 for a pack of 10 identical marching figures with multiple head choices) lastly a few figures on ebay at reduced price giving me a head start.

So I have initially picked up 10 French skirmishers and 23 British Rifles from ebay. The Rifles I will paint up then sell the majority as they are nearly all standing or kneeeling firing, I only need so many in the same position, hopefully that can help me fund some of the extra figures. This initial lot will maybe give me 8 or 9 to start the skirmish screens off.

I have used two different cameras so this first lot do look a little paler.

The figures themselves are just lovely and paint up really well. I have finished the first three painted as 5th Battalion 60th Rifles. The Seagent is a particularly lovely figure.

Chum Chris has some oversized buildings that will work.

Inititial thoughts are to have 30-40 French, potentially a mix of 3 groups of 8 line and 2 or 3 groups of 6 skirmishers with command. I may add some Hussars later.

The Allies will be a large fromation of Spanish regulars, maybe 4 groups of 8 then some groups of Rifles skirmishers (3?) and at least one group of Guerillas, if I come across other figures on ebay I will add as I go. So a mix of forces we can use for a variety of games. That all seems pretty managable.

Initially however this is just about enjoying painting these lovely figures, I am certainly doing that.

Four more painted, I am doing different coloured trousers so the same figures are slightly different and I can use more of them.

The chap in pale Blue tousers is wearing the early issue trousers the 60th had whilst the first three have the slightly later darker blue grey. They also wore plenty of brown and grey hence my next colour choices.

Happy with these, I may try a couple of French next. 

A parcel today gives me two more French and 4 Spanish Guerilla's so plenty to keep me busy between working on the Sikh Wars project.

Watch this space for updates.

1st Bengal European lIght Infantry Complete

 Cracking on with a little more of my own basing whilst the department is busy, the Bengal Europeans were my next target along with some other figures.

Also as I have changed jobs (again) had a little play with the new works mobile to see what its pictures are like.

These first few are from my new works mobile a Samsung, a lot softer than the iphone pictures I quite like them.

The Bengal Europeans are mainly Wargames Foundry Opium Wars figures with a smatterign of Perry Carlist Wars British Marines fleshign them out. I have clipped the pompoms off the shako and scraped away the badges so I can get the effect of a cvered shako, simple but effective I think.

The Bengal europeans have a wing on the shoulders as a nod no doubt to their status as light infantry, I considered adding this with green stuff but declided it was a lot of work for little benefit and decided to go without. Apologies to the purists.

Iron Duke will no doubt release soem in due course and I will be left with a choice of keeping these or buying some new ones. Hopefully these will be nice enough to pursaude me to stick with what I ahve.

The flags are from the large set of flags sold by the virtual armchair general and whilst I do prefer textured flags these have the advantage of coverign the whole of the forces involved and still beign quite nice.

The old Iphone is a bit sharper and darker. I still likethe picutres so may flit between the two cameras.

The Seargent on the far right is one of my favourite figures from this range, steadying the troop just as the officer is waving them forward.

The finials for the flag poles are from Front Rank, I do like adding finials to the Queens units.

I also decided to base up the Sikh Curassier and I am happy with how these came out.

I just need to find which box I put the other six in now and unite them with their brothers in arms.

Again the iphone is sharper but much darker. On balance the Samsung is a nicer image.

Ok thats it for now, more to follow very soon. Stay safe!