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

Beja unit

Finally got the last 6 figures completed for my first unit of fearsome Beja warriors. These are all Perry plastic figures. Easy enough to paint up. Just wish someone could put them together for me.

So that is 3 units completed for the Mahdi. Atleast 3 more to do before I think about adding any extra options.