Doll Drums.

Yes it comes to us all. AND I AM CURRENTLY in the painting Doll Drums!

Which is not to say I have stopped, but is to say I have slowed down considerably!

So slow in fact that I have only managed to get 1 British officer of the colonial period finished.  Many if not most will be looking and saying that is the wrong shade of blue it should be darker. And yes Cavalry and artillery officers should be in a darker blue.

However those attached to the Natal Native Light horse units wore sky blue and that did get faded in the African sun.   And I think he's a pretty good match for the African sky in the Picture.Or if you do not like that explanation just assume it id the uniform colour of Her Majesties Royal Navy Landship Squadron.

Thanks for looking today I will try to get more done and quickly for the next scheduled post on Sunday.

All the Best Clint

Natal Native horse. (10mm)

yes back to my 10mm Colonials. No I have not become the MOST AMAZING figure painter over night... the picture is from the film "Zulu Dawn" and Shows a Natal Native Horseman in action.  Many of you will have realised that straight away.

On with the figures. I bought these 10mm figures about 2-3 years ago from eBay in a job lot of 10mm Colonial goodness. Most of that batch are now painted, but I do have about 100 British foot to do should I need any more (I don't think I do unless it is to change the uniforms from red to kaki). But these 12 horsemen took a lot longer as all the spears and carbines were badly bent and they were on card bases and already undercoated. More importantly I did not know what they were OR who made them.

I now think (but do not know) that they are Magista Militum figures. What I am sure about is that they are 10mm Natal Native Horse.  And as such were used in the 1894 Anglo-Zulu war. Unlike most Natal native units they were fully armed usually with a Cavalry  carbine and between 1 and 3 spears. They were also uniformed in Tan jackets trousers and issued sun hats with red bands around them in cloth. Most Natal Native units only had about 20% firearms with the rest using spears!. But all units did wear the red band around their heads so us ignorant colonials would know they were on our side and not try to shoot them.

Size wise they are a very good match for my 10mm Pendraken colonial troops (and yes the steam tank! More of that another time). So they should fit in well as Pendraken do not at the time of tying make any Natal Native Horse. And that is perhaps the point you will never need so very many of these in fact the amount now painted should be more than enough.  Actually I may need more, as I know every wargamer wants to have something just a little bit quirky under their control and as a club we do tend to have several players to each game.

So my Zulu War 10mm project continues and next time some more Burpas for Matt, as some are on the painting table already.

Thanks for looking today, I hope the weather is good for you. All the best Clint

The battle of Crincklie Bottom. (AAR)

"The Royalists Won!" Well maybe, but maybe not! Matt wanted me to say "The Royalists Won!" as he was playing the Royalists teamed up with Tim who was semi referee as well.  While Graham and myself were playing the Parliamentarian forces.  We were using the "To defy a King!" Rules and it was our first game.

Now what I know about ECW can be written with a blunt crayon on the back of a very small envelope! In other words very slightly more than could b written on a stamp. It has never been a war that has interested me. Oh well never mind! Not knowing the rules I am sure we all made mistakes, I know I did!

I was set up across from Matt.

In the rules you may pick the type of unit, (Foot, Horse, Guns or Dragoons)
You place a card for the unit where it is to start

and then when all the cards are placedyou flip them to find out how big the units are
And another card to determine the level of training the unit has.

This was great fun and a nice mechanic.
Above are my 5 units.
Quality wise 3 of them were "RAW" and 2 were "Trained"
NONE were veterans.

We went first and I was under "Advance orders"
The Yellow counters represent Raw units, and the Brown counters
Units that have been disrupted by doing a manoeuvre that was complicated!
In this instance they came down from on top of the hill!

My left wing where the forces met with Graham was quite strong.
 

My Horse on the right. Well they did try hard throughout the game.
To be honest They should have been on attack orders and not advance orders.
My leader was close behind and I thought I could change orders reasonably quickly!
My mistake not knowing the rules.
The Orders had to come from the army commander and took 4 turns to arrive
 and another 2 turns to understand his writhing!

But on my right all was not lost! My Gallopers were pushed back but my Trotters (despite being Raw) Held in place.
The gallopers rolled 2d6 and scaorred double 1s

My advance in the centre of the board was going strong and we were giving the Royalists  a bit of trouble.
Genuieningly I was winning on the left!

My attack orders are just arriving at this stage!
(Bottom left hand side)
And while the Trotters were being beaten
the Gallopers turned the tables and started pushing Matts Trotters Back.

But My Gallopers took to many casualties doing so
and my Trotters were pushed back 3 turns in a row,
they then broke and header for the table edge!

Grahms Horse had meanwhile started to get around the flank and were riding down
Tims Dragoons. Which were tenaciously holding on to the last stand!
Graham's foot were slowly conceding ground as Tims Foot were pushing forward.

My foot were doing well and the area to the left of the town (Crinklie Bottom)
were out gunning the Royalist forces!

But Tims foot were just about through Graham line by now.
Which left Grahams horse behind them ready to sweep along and fold up that flank
(If the dice gods could be appeased!)

Tim Planning to push right through the line and
Destroy all of Grahams Foot!
Yes Graham was lucky enough to start with some veteran foot!

One more Big Push by Tim and the left Foot would crumble.

meanwhile My Gallopers were destroyed
and my RAW trotters now on attack orders
Charged Malls Trained Gallopers.
It was only ever going to end one way!

The left wing at the end of the battle was only just holding on!
But with Graham Horse through and behind Tims line and with Tim having no more Horse
The left flank could be rolled up.
 

The right flank was almost exactly the same the Royalists had pushed through my Cavalry
but my foot had just about seen off Matts foot.

The rules did give a good game and IF I had known them even a little better I think My cavalry might have held out and possibly even won! (Yeah right... OKAY they might have held out a bit longer!)

The Battle was very bloody as we had the morale rules wrong and quite often units fought till the last stand and that just felt wrong so a re-read of that section I think is needed.

Overall I would claim it as a VERY minor Parliamentarian win But we run out of time so I will take a draw as a fair result!