New Sikh Wars stuff off The Workbench

Beavering away on the Sikh Wars project still and making some decent progress. I have managed to get a few more irregulars completed and the next 4 Bengal Europeans for the skirmish screen.

The first two of these are based so I can pass these fellas across to the basing department and thats my skirmish screen for Bengal Europeans done. I intend one "tiny" unit of skirmishers per brigade in Black Powder terms thats one firing dice so they are a nuisance to the enemy and can sometimes provoke them to use up their first fire bonus early.

Simple conversion (if you can call it that) and paint job happy with the end result.

I like this Sikh irregular command base, three Foundry Sikhs and a wargames atlantic plastic afghan with a Bolt Action Sikh head swapped on, again happy with the result here and they can wing off to York for basing.

I intended a seperate picture of the irregular foot and more of the artillery but it seems I managed to get them mixed up a bit. ANYWAY....4 ranges in a row here Studio Afghan, Foundry Afghan, Foundry Sikh gunner and Perry Afghan, they all mix well as far as I am concerned so add loads of variety.

As with the above these are the latest gunners but I inadverttantly mixed in a Jezailchi with a Choora!

These guys will be used both for the Zamberuks and for two more large ornate irregular guns, the first being this Victorious miniatures tiger head gun. Not quite as nice as the Indus one I think but still nice, although chum Chris laughing says it looks more like TinTins dog snowie than a Tiger! I cant complain he bought me it, thanks Chris!

These three could all be used for the foot units but only the middle one will be, all Foundry, the armoured guy will be spurring on one of the big gun crews and the pointing figure will help crew a camel gun.

These guys will all crew the two big guns, two more gunners and the second gun will see that complete, then I just need to paint the rest of the camels!

Hope you like it, the resemblance to snowie on the gun muzzle in this picture is remarkable, oh dear not what the sculptor enivsaged I am sure.

Back Gaming With First Carlist War

Chris kindly invited me to a socially distanced game at his place whilst the kids were at the pictures, the first game in nearly 6 months, we were to play a largish First Carlist War Sharp Practice, I had forgotton all of the rules.

A very closed down table with a deep-ish river to cross would cause difficulty for the attacking Isabelino's, whilst the Carlists had a village to defend, they couldnt fit much of their force inside it.

Its 1839 and the Carlists have a shipment of Gold to try and help raise their flagging fortunes, one of the villagers has dobbed them in to the government and the vanguard of a punitive force is about to enter the table and dash for the glory without waiting for the rest of the army.

Both forces were reasonably large for Sharp Practice, the Isabelino's having 8 groups of regulars, 2 of militia and 3 skirmish groups with a gun, a rocket and 5 commanders. The Carlists had a simlar sized force but no rocket, originally they were planned to have cavalry but sitting on the motorway for 2 hours due to a crash meant I was late and we decided to crack on without them.

We rolled for commands and I got the Isabelino's.

Initially I was really unsure how to use them, with 5 commanders I would need to put my 8 groups of regulars into 2 formations, but these big formations would struggle in the closed down terrain. Chris would have the same problem but needed to be able to move a little less as he was defending.

In the end I decided my best plan of action was to form column of march and throw my main force down the road and over the bridge as quickly as I could and hope Chris took a little longer to line the walls of the village and shoot me up.

Subtle as a sledge hammer thats me.

The artillery would have to be commanded by the cards as I didnt have enough commanders to spare them one, they also deployed on the deployment marker so would block anything else coming on so I left them off table to start with.

The first card out was my first unit of regulars who hurtled off down the road, Chris got his skirmishers lining the walls but didnt do too much damage, the Militia and skirmishers followed them and once I had 4 flag cards out I reactivated the first unit so they were on the bridge and half way to the target straight away. So far so good, I now just needed my card out early so I could get off the bridge before I was mown down.

Meanwhile on my left Chris was moving his movable deployment point towards a small ford at a weir. I decided to ignore him for now and throw everything over the bridge if I could.

Unfortunately for me Chris's regulars got to the wall before I could get of the bridge and their first volley inflicted some very serious damage on my troops. However I was commited so needed to press on.

Move 2 and I get my figures moving off the bridge, however the shock has slowed them down and I dont roll well, Chris on the other hand fires another devastating volley and things are looking really not very good for me. I am potentially making up time for traffic jam on the way here and could still be home for tea with my force wiped out.

The skirmishers fire into the same target and my woes are compounded as casualties and shock mount, then the officer is hit and his command rating is reduced by his wound. Oh dear.

Chris has now deployed on my flank, his skirmishers supported by a formation of two regulars, I dispatch a formation of two groups of skirmishers to cover this, I just need to keep him busy whilst I push on with my all too bloody assault.

Chris managed to get his skirmishers over with no difficulty but I had deployed twice as many skirmishers to block him in the cover of some rocks so he wisely waited for his formed troops to get over and join him. Unfortunately with too many flag cards coming out at once his formation rolled on an event table and had to reduce their speed by half next go.

Meanwhile I am finally almost over the bridge with my first unit, however I now have so much shock I have run out of counters and started to use dice. The shock has also slowed me down so much I cant get out of the arc of fire, I am really unlikely to recover these guys now so its up to the rest of my formed troops to save the day.

Next card sees my artillery come into action, hopefully they can support my distressed regulars and inflict some damage on the Carlist defenders. First the mountain gun which fires on the Carlist skirmishers and inflicts two shock, our account is finally opened. Then the rocket, "These are fun" says Chris with a knowing smile. I have to roll for direction, 6 inches to the right and 12 inches forward is my first roll and the rocket is over the river in between my two formations of regulars. Second roll explodes the rocket where it is, well I am not sure fun is the word I used, Chris is having trouble keeping his laughter in.

One casualty and 5 shock on my fresh formation of regulars and another shock on the badly shook one which has now started to disintigrate and I am losing morale points at an alarming rate.

I decide we wont be using the rocket again!

The Carlists however are unable to bring their firing under control and shift targets to my fresh units which is a bonus, as the front unit falls to pieces the Militia step forward towards the Carlists and the large formation starts to wade through the river.

Getting into range the Militia volley the skirmishers and one of the units breaks along with its commander, finally we are making progress. My regulars line out in front of the smaller Carlist formation and another volley inflicts another bunch of casualties, Chris moves his large formation around my flank and its now a race to see who charges first.

Over at the ford my skirmishers have seen off Chris's unit whilst the formation has been stuck on the slippy rocks for two moves, it is all going to come down to the next round of fighting over the wall of the village. My morale is almost spent but Chris's has started to slip too.

My card comes out first and Chris is left with his column of troops about 6 inches short of mine, ignoring them completely my two formations charge the barricades. Chris's dice are awful and mine finally come good,  4 units of Carlists broken and two commanders seen off sees his morale depleted to minus 1 and victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat. Hurrah!

Un-believable, if you had asked me an hour before I would have laughed at my chances, the way a game can shift and pivot is one of the things I really like about Sharp Practice and despite being on the wrong end of it this time I know Chris feels the same.

Thanks for the invite, hospitality and Battenburg Chris, hope to see you again soon.

Chillingham and Eclectic Militaria

We had a few days in Northumberland to break the monotony of being stuck at home through Covid. We had been here before but had to break off our visit early so I wanted to go back, one of the oddest places to visit I have been but great fun and interesting for all that.

Its privately owned and on display is the private collection of the owner which is an eclectic mix of militaria from around the world.

The Castle itself is originally 12th century and sits right in one of the wildest parts of the Anglo-Scottish border. They also have a herd of wild cattle, apparantly the original pink eared white cattle the Romans saw roaming the forests when they came and the last place in England that has any.

For the most part I have included pictures here of Indian related items that might be of interest to readers who follow my Sikh Wars project. There are no labels on the exhibits so its a case of working it out for yourself but some of it is really nice. The below for instance are good example of Indian Dahl shields randomly on a cellar wall near the toilets.

Hung from the wall when you enter are a couple of these displays with some lovely weapons, you can just see two bamboo lances of the type used through the Victorian period in India.

The big bronze horns are apparantly Tibetan used to call people to prayer.

Either side of a massive tapestry are rows of Jezails which do look authentic to me. I love how they are all slightly different being hand made.

Below the tapestry is a wonderful example of Indian armour, this beautiful steel Dahls sheild with lots of inscription and scroll work reminds me of the one carried in the Osprey "Victorias Enemies" by a Sikh Gorchurra Horseman.

The Persian four mirror amour and helmet with block ostrich plumes was typical of Sikh cavalry armour but also probably of some other North Indian armies.

The long wooden item leaning against the wall is in fact a Jingle or camel gun, quite a few of thesw` are propped up in corners about the place, interesting given my latest project.

More bamboo lances and Tibetan horns.

This giant mace rminds me of the one the Iron Duke monkey god figure carries, its in good nick and I cant help thinking that may be because it is a replica.

One of a couple of nice Kukri knives about the place.

And an Indian punch dagger, again one of a few scattered around the hall.

The tulwar swords at the bottom of this display look original and northern Indian to my untrained eye.

A couple more Persian style helmets, again typical of Indian cavalry helmets.

This armoured horse and rider I am a lot less sure of, Asian-Middle Eastern or North African not sure, impressive though.

This flanged mace does again look very Indian just sat in the middle of the table.

As we left the hall this ECW Lobster helmet is just sat on one of the steps.

And in the bedrooms full of Victorian furniture an Afghan Knife or Chora is sat on one of the tables.

Outside the Gardens are lovely though not extensive, this was probably the best view I got.

A trio of old field guns are sat rotting on the lawn, they were a bit straighter a few years ago when I visited but the wheels have started falling off.

I will leave you with this lovely arty shot I got of a butterfly, just because its nice!

Well recomended if you are up that way, a treasure trove of militaria although you will have to work out what it is yourself.