Not a new project

Nope I haven't cracked, though the York show might put paid to that. Dave at the club wanted to try out the Fantastical Battles rules with 10mm figures. Naturally I explained the 'No new project' rule. However digging in the memory banks and then through the lead pile. I rememberd that I had bought a Warmaster Chaos starter force when Games Workshop first brought out Warmaster, easily more than 20 years ago. I can remember not liking the rules and never painting the army.

So here are the first 2 bases, 1 Chaos Warrior and the other Chaos Thugs. Found them a challenge and not enjoyable to paint, but will percevier to get the army done and reduce the lead pile.

Not my best work, but will look ok on the tabletop. Looking at the rest I have some chariots, another unit of warriors, about 14 more units of Thugs and 6 units of Marauder horse plus the assorted command figures

Battle of El Walli , part 1

So Thursday night at the club saw most of us pull together our colonial forces for a large but hopefully quick game. It did mean that the natives were made up of Beja, Zulus and Afghans to give us enough numbers.

The British forces were split into 2 commands with Neil G leading 3 companies of the 24th Foot an a detatchment of the 17th Lancers. Andy commanded another company of the 24th and some European volunteers as part of the relief force. He also commanded a company of Marines and volunteers within the village of El Walli.

There mission was to march to the aid of the garrison of El Walli, after their paddle steamer had run aground, their commanders thought it would be a dashing idea to march overland.

The natives were split into 3 commands. Robbo commanded a unit of irregulars and 2 units of Tribal warriors. Neil B commanded a unit of irregular and 5 units of Tribal infantry. Thom command 1 unit of irregulars and 4 units of Tribal infantry. They significantly outnumbered their European adversaries.

The relief force

To start the game the Europeans chose to advance straight up the table. They were very worried about  large areas of scrub on each of their flanks. Pretty sure it would be from these areas that their enemy would emerge. First couple of turns it was all quiet as the natives remained hidden. Andy's regulars though seemed to be reading a different map to the others and would spend much of the game looking rather lost.

Let the Lancers go first

As they slowly advanced the garrison waiting patiently for their arrival. Eventually the cry went up, enemy to the flanks as the natives sprang their ambush. The Lancers had veered to close to the scrub and were surprised by some tribal warriors. However they quickly fought off their foes, but with heavy casualties, losing half of their number.

The garrison stand to

What's that coming over the hill?

Enemy to the right

Right lads, Charge!!!

With their dander up the Lancers decided to charge headlong into the enemy, buying valuable time for the regulars to form up. Lowering lances they hit hard into the enemy, inflicting heavy casualties on the first unit, but the blood lust got the better of them as they followed up into a second unit and met their demise.

With the cavalry gone, Neil G and his 3 companies were assaulted, despite repeated volleys the enemy still came on. The 3 companies were taking a losses they could ill afford. On the left, Andy's volunteers engaged with more of the enemy, managing to keep most of them pinned, If only the regulars would move up in support instead of squabbling about directions.

Fix bayonets

Keep firing

So next week will see the conclusion of the game. The British have taken a hammering on the right flank. Even the garrison of El Walli is moving out to try and support them, but Thom's un-engaged tribal units are moving to intercept them. Things look better on the left with Robbo's natives pinned down.

Now it is a race, can the Brits hold off until the rest of the relief column arrive or will the natives cut them down where they stand....

Afghan Warriors

Following my last post, these are the additional Afghan Tribal warriors I needed to complete a unit. They are all plastic figures from Perry miniatures,  kindly donated by Dave.

They mix quite well with metal figures I had already refurbished. Here they are all together, ready to do battle tomorrow night.

I'll combine these with the 12 riflemen Dave provided already painted. There are enough figures left to put together another unit of rifle arm irregulars.

Refurbished figures

As I've arranged a large multi player game for Thursday, I realised we do not have enough Mahdists for the game, so a few proxies are required. Neil has 4 units of Zulus, Andy another which helps. I have 1 unit of Afghan tribesman, Thom has agreed to paint up another unit while I do the same. Luckily I had these figures left over from my last Colonial project from many years ago. They needed basing and some of the paintwork touched up.

They are all from Foundry miniatures Afghan or Darkest Africa range. Some not for the purists, but they fit and just leaves me 7 figures to complete.

Hopefully we can split the natives into 3 forces 

Zulus, 5 units of Tribal warriors

Madists, 5 units of Tribal warriors and 1 unit of Irregulars

Afghans, 1 unit of Tribal warrios and 2 units of Irregulars.

I also took the opportunity to complete 2 more bases of scrub  adding a few rocks  borrowed from the garden.

So best get back to painting the last of the figures I need.

Volunteers and more Beja

Slowly but surely the Colonial collection grows. First up is a unit of volunteers who fought in the Zulu war, The Newcastle mounted Rifles. They were formed in 1864 and formed part of the Auxiliary corps. 

For figures I used some of the Perry's dismounted, mounted infantry figures. They are a close enough match. Empress do produce models for them but they are in a mixed 1 foot and 1 mounted figure per pack. As I only wanted dismounted versions, out of my price range.

Now back to the Sudan and the last of my plastic Beja warriors. This gives me 4 Tribal units. They extra flag bearer will be swapped out with one of my earlier units. I also did a few more figures in the more recognisable jibbeh as the Beja began with to adopt this clothing as the war progressed.

I do have an order in with Perry for some extra rifleman to round out a unit of Jihadiyya. The figures I got from AW miniatures are too chunky to mix in. I've also picked up a unit of Egyptian foot to support some British infantry I was passed on by a club member.

A few more terrain pieces

As I step up preparation for another Colonial game in a couple of weeks, I needed to continue to expand my scenic options. First up was 3 larger bases of scrub for the Dervishes to spring from. Simple MDF bases with coir mat off cuts added.

I then quickly painted up a couple of resin Sudanese huts from Hovels. Lovely little models to help expand the village.

So these are all the pieces completed so far. Not bad for a few weeks work.

I can add to these the 3 adobe buildings and some walling for a village. I've got a couple more palm trees to complete and I also want to make some medium sized pieces of scrub and a few rocky areas. In the meantime I have the last unit of Beja to complete.

More terrain

After Thursday night's game it was apparent that more scenery was needed. So I cracked on and got these completed. First up is 2 small crop fields. These were simple pieces of artificial grass cut and added to MDF bases. I gave the grass a light cream drybrush to finish. 

Next was 2 additional pieces of scrub  made from a coir mat off cuts. I do have 3 larger pieces under construction.

The last set was some palm trees. These will be perfect around an oasis, village or along the banks of the Nile. I'm not sure of the make, buth the palm trees are plastic models I picked up off EBay.

Pretty happy with how these turned out. Have a couple more palm trees still to use, may combine onto a larger base.

Battle at Ells Bells

Well on Thursday night at the club we had our first run out of 'The Men Who Would be Kings' rule set. A simple scenario with most of the collection getting on the table. The game saw elements of a British Naval Brigade trying to secure a local village, Ells Bells to protect a supply route. As it was our first go we didn't use traits as recommended in the rules.

The British were made up of A, B and C companies of Royal marines led by Lt. Reginald Slowbottom, Lt. Henry Ravisham and Sergeant Cecil Bourne. The were also supported by some Naval ratings led by a Lt. Tom Foolhardy.

The dastardly dervishes were unnamed by their commander. The force consisting of 2 units of irregulars with obsolete rifles and 4 units of fearsome tribal infantry.

The game began with the British moving out in column towards Els Bells, However A Company were surprised when a bunch of Dervishes emerged from some scrub. Luckily they seemed just as surprised as A company and held steady. B company quickly moved to support the right flank of A company, while C company rather idly made there way to the left flank. With flanks looking slightly secured A company gave the Dervishes a volley, hoping to scatter them without much success.

Village of Els Bells

The British move out

My God sir, Dervishes

The Dervishes saw their opportunity and charged straight into A company. The boys in blue got a bit of a hammering and promptly fell back. Meanwhile a second group of Devishes appeared on the upper slopes and poured a rather desultory fire into B company.

Here they come

Ooh that hurt

With A company falling back and more Dervishes arriving, C company formed close order ready to meet the enemy. B company engaged in a fire fight with the Dervishes on the hill, forcing them back and allowing the Navy boys toget onto position. 

Once more, more Dervishes began to appear in the valley and in Ells Bells. A second group charged once more into A company, cutting down Lt Slowbottom and his men. C company though poured in a devasting volley, destroying the unit of Dervishes. B company took there time getting back into position and were promptly charged by more Dervishes. After falling back with a significant number of casualties they relied on the Navy to shoot down the last of the Dervishes.

Dervishes occupying Ells Bells

With C company and the Navy in position they promptly dealt with another Dervish unit, (my phoned died at this point so no more pictures). With no more fresh units left the Dervishes were forced to cede the ground. They could be please with their work. Destroying A company and reducing B company to 4 men.A fun game, need a bit more terrain and can't wait to try them out again.

More Beja and terrain

First completed models of the year are 2 units of Beja warriors for my Colonial project. These are all plastic figures from Perry miniatures. These were deliberately given just a quick paint job as I am trying to get enough units together for my 1st game of the year on Thursday. I did though vary the clothing colour for a bit of variety.

I also used some small off cut pieces of MDF to create some small areas of scrub, just to break the terrain up. I will need plenty more of these. Just need to find the time in between work and painting figures. They are pretty simple affairs, but quick an easy to put together.

So my Mahdist forces are now at 5 units. I still have enough Perry figures to create another unit of Beja warriors. I am also going to create a unit of Jihadiyya. These will be a mix of Perry, Foundry and AW Miniatures.

My Mahdists ready to take on the British on Thursday night.

So back to making more scrub and sorting out some palm trees.

Happy New Year and 2021 in Retrospect

Firstly just wishing everyone a Happy New Year. lets hope 2022 is better than the last couple of years we have gone through. 

So how did 2021 go? on the painting front my numbers were down about 25% on the previous year, just reaching 808 for the year. Suffering for the most part as I painted very few 15mm figures. Also as the club finally re-opened in the summer much of my painting opportunity reduced as I managed to start gaming again. I did however complete 2 projects this year. I completed the WW2 Winter Russians and my Prussian Corps for the FPW (Finally). My main efforts though were focused very much on the Spanish Civil War, probably accounting for about 30% of the painting total. This project will hopefully see some more additions in 2022 as I need to add some more Militia and probably the Legion. I also dabbled in some Lord of the Rings, 10mm Modern, Gaslands, Napoleonics and lately Colonials. For the second year running no tricorns were painted.

On the club front we moved to some new premises just before Christmas. Though a smaller room it is lockable, cheaper and we can game additional nights for no extra costs. Hopefully no more lock-downs so we can enjoy a full year of gaming.

So plans for 2022?  I am also consciously trying not to start any new major projects for 2022. I did order the Pony Wars rules before the New Year with a few starter figures (These don't count). As previously mentioned I do want to add a few more figures to the Spanish Civil War collection. I also need to complete my Mahdists to get some Colonial gaming in. After that probably look to complete my Napoleonic Austrians, Ancient Greeks, Carthaginians etc. So 2022 will definitely be about completing or adding to existing collections. Wonder how long that lasts.

Lastly I just hope to get more games in.

So have a good New Year all and happy gaming