More Sikh Wars Goodies

I have thoroughly enjoyed painting these Sikh Wars figures. Its such a diverse and colourful period with a bit of sub plot too with the addition of the Bahawalpur contingent.

These next guys are painetd as the 1st Bengal European Light Infantry, not an exact match for uniform but not far off, the shoulder wings the main difference. Using Foundry Opium War and Perry First Carlist War British infantry. The bell top shakoe's look great. The Foundry figures have shell jackets and the Perrys coatees but you cant tell on the bases so I am pretty comfortable mixing them. I have no doubt that Mike Snook will release properly uniformed versions of these in due course and I will kick myself but until then.......

I already have the next batch of these on the painting table so hopefully not too long before I can share them with you.

These two Officers are actually a commission, I dont normally do commissions but did these as a favour, quite liked them so including them here for you.

The irregulars are also carrying on in the back ground in this case a Foundry Afghan and a Perry Plastic swordsman with a Sikh head.

Lovely dynamic figures these, I dont get tired of painting them which is probably why I have so many.

This next lot are my green coated Sikh unit. The two Foundry command figures are accompanied by three Perry plastics with Sikh heads, I think they look spot on myself and mix in really well.

The red and green is a classic Indian combination, really enjoying these and as with the BELI I already have the next batch on the painting table, this is probably the next unit I will target for completion.

I also want to keep a little momentum with the Baluchi figures for my Bahawalpur contingent so two more here, using a buff and orange pallette but these will be very irregular as a unit so different palletes as I do more.
 

As with the other Baluchis and Pathans they will be useful for the Sikh side when I need them and a multitude of other colonial games too of course. 

Lastly another commander for the British, each Brigade will need an officer so eventually that will be 8 brigadiers plus the army commander so a few more to complete.

An Iron Duke officer on a British Offciers horse. nice figure, not sure I have entirely done the horse justice on this occasion.

Thats it for now, lots more already started so watch out for another update shortly, until then stay safe!

Flags of War 1745 Last Hurrah Kickstarter Review

Its funny how it creeps up on you, its seemed ages away when I put my Kickstarter order in back in November and now they are here, Huzzah!

I actually have quite a lot painted for this project but stored away in boxes waiting for the extra few castings to finish units off units so hopefully a little flurry of finished units to follow in due course.

The previous Kickstarters from Iain at Flags of War were really proffessionally handled and the figures just lovely so high hopes for this last one for the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Iain has not disapointed.

You will of course see the finished figures as they come off the painting table but for now I thought I might just give you a flavour of whats come with particular focus on the new figures.

First of all what greets you on opening the parcel always puts a smile on my face. A shipping list with a little personal thank you from Iain is a nice touch, as is the little pack of Haribo, sweets are always the way to my heart. Also on top of the figures and flags are a couple of free stickers. Iain loves his stickers and I was initially a bit stuck for what to use them for. However as there is a British Grenadiers mitre and a highland bonnet I think they would be best used to mark the storage boxes I will be keeping the figures in for quick reference.

I have partiallyused the kickstarter to pick up a bunch of figures already released but for the purposes of this post I will concentrate on the new castings yet to be released. Each pack of figures arrives in a little plastic bag typically with four foot figures and the card "Flags of War" backing.

The first pack I opened was the dismounted British Dragoons, these will be my skirmishers and fought dismounted as well as mounted, at Clifton Moor in fairly large numbers too. 4 packs of these allows me to create either 2 units of 6 skirmishers or 2 units of 8 line depending on how I choose to use them. I will base them in pairs I think to allow me to use them in either role.

This very dynamic Seargent is a free figure for hitting one of the funding goals and will be based individually as a leader character. Particularly like this.

One unit I was particularly looking forward to was Baggots Hussars, these guys are depicted with carbines fulfilling their scouting and skirmishing role, I have 3 packs so a unit of 8 ideal for Sharp Practice with one spare figure.

Here is a closer pciture of the riders.

As part of the Kickstarter I also get a free Flag with each batch of packs giving me 4 free flag sheets, the first one I picked up was the Argyl militia, I am likely to do these troops without uniforms when I get around to them, but with uniformed officers seconded from the regulars.

Two lots of Highland flags essentially giving me enough for 3 clans McPherson, Appin and Bannerman.

For the lowlanders we have the Duke of Perths regiment.

These in particular I was looking forward to, a pack of loading Royal Eccossais to add to the firing troops, two packs of these will complete a 24 man formation of 3 groups of 8. Its likely these will be the first figures I tackle from this release it will be nice to see finished units rolling off the workbench and to the basing department.

These were released in a previous Kickstarter but they are the first of the Government Highlanders I have picked up, bloody lovely and the standard bearers I plan to use as Seargents with halberds.

I also picked up 3 mounted officers, the first one is a generic British Officer which I particularly like and has the added advantage of a slightly different horse to the cavalry packs.

Then the General Hawley Character in great coat with Pistol on a rearing horse, pistol at the ready.

Lastly the Bagotts Hussar Officer, this is straight out of the penequick drawings and I love the rakish hat. He looks suitable Hussary and ready to plunder. Looking forward to painting this character.

Over and above these I have a bunch of British regulars and mounted dragoons from the last Kickstarter to flesh out the earlier units and a few more packs of Jacobites too. There is room for a few more additions, lowland militia for both sides in particular, but that is the bulk of the figures bought, now I just have to paint them!

Of course there were more releases in the Kickstarter that I didnt partake of this time, characters, casualties and British regulars defending, all are lvoely just not what I needed for now. I am sure they will be on Iains site in due course.

Thanks for reading, until next time stay safe.

Based Sikh Wars

 So I am still waiting for a bunch of basing back from the basing department, but in the interim I decided to base a few up myself. 

These two Sikh generals I am really pleased with, both Foundry miniatures the chap on the right is riding a riders of rohan horse which I think works well for India.

I ave purposely gone for a diverse and particularly bright pallete with these two and I am pretty pleased with the outcome.

To support the larger units I am doing a number of small skirmish screens, this one will be the second Hill Tribes irregular skirmish screen.

The Hill Tribes will be really useful for multiple different periods but can also operate on both sides in the second Sikh War in particular where many Muslim Hill Tribes threw in their lot with the local British policital aganets againts the Sikh Khalsa.

This base of Sikh light cavalry finishes off another part complete unit, I particularly like the colour pallette on these two.

This next one is the completed unit of Sikh regulars with the Patka topknot turban. I think the mix of colours works really well. 

As mentioned in previous posts there is a school of thought that the flags here are incorrect and the Sikhs carried red and gold Rajas colour which was the same for all units, howeverin te absence of any commerically available versions of this and not having seen the evidence for it myself  I will use the ones I have for now. 

Thd majority of these figures I picked up from chum Colin and were part of the original Studio Miniature Kickstarter.

The Bugler is one of the few figures that are more recent additions since the range was upsated, the sculpting is lovely but the figure is noticably larger than the originals and therefore much larger than the other figures I am using. You will see the drummer and standard bearer are actually Wargames Foundry 25mm figures.

A rear shot of the unit to give us a final feel for the overall look of them. Again happy with these.

I dont really enjoy the basing so hoping that the basing department can get back into things with the relaxing of lockdown restrictions and I can share some more completed units in due course.

Until then Stay Safe!

The Baggage Train Completed

 I decided to crack on with basing up the Baggage and I am quite impressed with how it looks all together. Some lovely peices from a number of manufacturers but mainly Empress. I doubt I will add too much more to these.

Indian baggage trains were typically huge and also quite vulnerable, great for small scale scenarios or objectives in larger battles. The British had a lot of trouble in the Second Sikh War in particular with the Sikhs driving off their camels when they were taken out to graze.

One of my inspirations for this was Budowhal. The day before Harry Smiths victory at Aliwal he was caught tired and strung out near the Village of Budowhal , the Sikhs did not press, their leader was a little timid, and Sir Harry extricated his Division but at the loss of a company of infantry and all of his baggage, I have always wondered how he might of fared if he chose to try and rescue the baggage. A nice game at a managable size.

I think this will add lots of character to our games but also serve as an objective in some cases, particularly Sharp Practice games or similar..

Empress ammunition camels with a pretty tired looking Foundry bearer walking alongside.

The elephant limber is Foundry from the Inidan mutiny range and was donated by chum Mark.

I am really pleased with this Empress Bullock cart, the Bullocks could perhaps be whiter but I think they lok OK. 

I dont think they used a lot of donkeys and mules in India but I had these handy so a shame not include them. 

The drovers, Bhistis and bearers. A mix of Empress and Foundry. A suitably disreputable bunch.

The Camels look particularly nice en-masse like this, mainly Empress with a couple of others chucked in. I think thats probably enough camels. Empress do another 4 baggage camels but I think I have enough for now.

So thats the baggage where I want it pretty much, see you next time, stay safe!