In the Navy

The next unit for my colonial forces was a unit of Naval ratings. The figures are from Perry miniatures, lovely sculpts. I'll use them mainly to support a gatling gun I've also acquired.

This is the 4th completed unit for my force. Just need the last unit of Marines to finish, then some volunteer horse, gatling gun and an artillery piece. Keep me going for a few more weeks, then I can start on some Mahdists.

More Colonial madness

I finally completed another 12 figures for my Royal Marines. These will form the basis of 'B' company. 1 of the figures will join 'A' company as I swap out one if the officers.

The figures are all from Perry miniatures, plastic figures. They are slightly thinner than the Warlord figures but will mix together well. 

The two companies together. With their officers.

'C' Company are built and undercoated, but first I have some Navy ratings to complete. I also need some glue so I can put together the gatling gun and artillery piece.

SCW Rules playtest ptIII

On Thursday at the club I gave the rules another run out. The game saw some CNT militia holding a small town while awaiting some reinforcements in the form of Carabinieros and an FT-17. The Nationalists were made up of a platoon of Carlists backed up by some regular army.

I managed to take a few pictures of the game. The CNT managed to hold by the skin if their teeth with the timely arrival of the Carabinieros. However with most of their units either low or out of ammo they would be hard pushed to hold off a second assault.

I definitely think the revised order system helps the game move alongwith the added issue of never having enough command points to activate all of your sections.

Colonial Madness

Well it had to happen, after a few messages back and forth with club members we all committed to putting together some Colonial forces using The who would be Kings rules from Osprey. We all agreed to also collect some natives that we could combine for use in our own fictitious setting. Also to keep costs down, most figures will be plastic.

I decided to base my force around a Naval landing party supported by local troops. The plan is for 3 companies of Royal marines, a company of sailors support by either a gatling gun or an artillery piece. The local troops will provide some irregular foot and cavalry and possibly a native unit. I will mainly be using Zulu war figures, though there are a few extras thrown in as I had the figures spare.

So first up is 'A' company of the Royal marines. These are mainly Warlord plastic figures. There are 3 command figures from Perry's Sudan range, not for the purists as a later period, but close enough for me. The last figure is from Foundry's Darkest Africa range. He will be replaced by a regular trooper as he moves to command 'B' company.

The second company completed is some local troops. I've used some Boers from Blacktree miniatures that I  already had. They just needed re-basing.

I do have 3 painted mounted troopers that I can put towards an eight man unit. I've ordered some command figures from Perry's and will pick up 2 troopers from Northstar to complete the unit.

As I also committed to some Natives, I've went for the Nile warriors from Perry's Sudan range. One of the chaps already has thousands of Zulu's. Ive already picked up 1 box and a spare sprue. A second box will give me 6 units, 1 of irregulars armed with shoddy muskets and 5 groups of Tribal warriors.  Enough to keep me going over the winter months.

Tricorns get a run out

It's been quite a while since any of my WSS collection got a run out. Happily I managed to get a game in at the club with Sean. I kept things simple with both forces identical. As Sean hadn't played the rules before we played it as a training game.

The game was between My Danes and a Franco-Bavarian force. The Danes slowly gained the ascendancy in the large cavalry melee on their left flank. This allowed their infantry to drive through the French centre, only checked by the timely arrival of a couple of fresh Irish infantry battalions.

Eventually the pressure began to tell with the Franco-Bavarians ceding the field. An enjoyable game and good to get a part of the collection on the games table. 

7DTTRR - Soviets

I made another few additions to my Soviets to round out the force. First up was an extra T-62 to give me 2 squadrons of 3 tanks and a BTR 60 command vehicle.

I then added a 2S1 Gvozdika Self propelled gun. There aren't any stats in the game for it, but just liked the model.

And lastly I couldn't resist a couple of T-72s, especially after looking at the stats for the Chieftans. My humble T-55s and T-62s would be in trouble.

Here is the whole force so far. Should be more than enough for my first game against Mitch and his Brits.

I still have a Hind to build, but after I will need to add a 3rd infantry platoon and possible a couple more tanks.

A bit of re-basing

As my 28mm Austrian collection for Sharp Practice very rarely gets used, I decided to rebase and eventually expand the figures for use in either Black Powder or General d'Armee. They were originally painted up to represent the 15th regiment or d'Alton. 

I decided to go for 40 figure battalions, so another 20 figures were quickly painted up to complete the second battalion. Unlike the already completed figures which were Victrix, these are from Perry as they were passed on by another club member. The uniform is a slightly different cut, no doubt the purists will be aghast, but they are fine for me.

I am awaiting an order from flags of war to add the standard to the second battalion. Once these were done I completed a couple of Brigadiers, some Jaegers and a 6lb gun. These are a mix of Perry and Frontrank miniatures. The Jaegars still need some of their paintwork touched up.

I do still have 12 line skirmshers to rebase. Looking at the unpainted pile, I have enough figures for a Grenadier battalion. There are also some more of the Perry figures, but not quite enough for a 3rd battalion, so ordered another box to put that right and give me a 4th battalion.