William Hicks. (Painted)

After the close of the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, he entered the Khedive'service and was made a fellahin of Arabi's disbanded troops, sent in chains from Egypt. After a month's vigorous drilling Hicks led 5000 of his men against an equal force of dervishes in Sennar, whom he defeated, and cleared the country between the towns of Sennar and Khartoum of rebels.
pasha. In 1881,Sudan was controlled by Egypt; Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself Mahdi and began conquering neighboring territory and thus threatening the precarious Egyptian control of the territory. Early in 1883 he went to Khartoum as chief of the staff of the army there, then commanded by Suliman Niazi Pasha. Camp was formed at Omdurman and a new force of some 8000 fighting men
collected—mostly recruited from the
1883 The Egyptian ministry, however, did not then believe in the power of the mahdi, and the expedition started from Khartoum on 9 September. It was made up of 7000 infantry, 1000 cavalry and 2000 camp followers and included thirteen Europeans. On the 10th the force left the Nile at Duem and struck inland across the almost waterless wastes of Kordofan for Obeid. On 5 November the army, misled by possibly treacherous guides and thirst-stricken, was ambushed in dense forest at Kashgil, 30 miles south of Obeid. With the exception of some 300 men the whole force was killed. (See the
Battle of El Obeid).
According to the story of Hicks's cook, one of the survivors, the general was the last officer to fall, pierced by the spear of the khalifa Mahommed Sherif. After emptying his revolver the pasha kept his assailants at bay for some time with his sword, a body of Baggara who fled before him being known afterwards as "Baggar Hicks" (the cows driven by Hicks), a play on the words baggara and baggar, the former being the herdsmen and the latter the cows. Hicks's head was cut off and taken to the mahdi.

Well that is the history. This is a Perry Miniatures 28mm figure and has one of the best sculpted horses I have ever painted. The whole figure is very nice but I was particularly fond of the horse. Yes it is painted for Matt and is now part of his Colonial collection. I hope to put a few of my own figures on the blog tomorrow. (Shhhhs! Don't tell anyone). So until then have fun paint things and if possible play a game or maybe 2.

All the best Clint

Shinnies (Reasons to be Cheerful)

Just a VERY quick blog post. I have received some more shinnies this lunch time. They are for a project I am working quietly on which I hope it will come to fruition during the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

A very meagre order I realise, but one that has made me very happy.  Firstly the main reason for sending for the figures is that I wanted some stuff for the painting Challenge. Yes I do have enough already so I am not looking to take your unpainted on as well. Well I will if the price is right!!!

So what is in the pack and why did I get it? On the left are the 3 Musketeers while on the right are some animals!! One of the bonus rounds is a film/TV/Song/book tie in. And to be honest the Musketeers MAY get used for that IF my other plan falls through. That is not my main plan however. As a club we have played the "EnGarde!" rules a couple of times and I want these for that. No not to represent the actual musketeers, although again they might if my main plan falls apart!

But they will also make some rather splendid "Border Reivers!" And that is the plan. Border Reivers. I have even purchased a book on the subject and am VERY slowly reading it but reading and me are not always best friends. I am dyslexic, for a start but that is only part of the issue.

Anyway the figures are by Warbases ( LINK ) and cost £8.00 for all 4. (plus postage of course).
They are nicely sculpted and cast with very little cleaning up required. At the BOTTOM of the post is a pic of the cast from the TV series and although he faces are a little rounder than I would have hoped. I really do mean a little and nothing a decent paint job will not correct. And I can kinda "guess" the colours now!

The Animals (someone will always ask) are for the Border reivers and are sheep, goats and chickens. All the kinds of livestock one might hope a Border reiver might be able to carry off. Yes I do Have Highland Cattle as well but those were not in the parcel but purchased from Col Bill at a show.  And the Cattle will I hope be painted during the AHPC  as well.

Anyway that is it for today and I shall try to post again soon. Until then take care and have some fun as you deserve it!

Revenge!

My Forces. 3 units of infantry and one of artillery.
Graham had 3 units of infantry and one of cavalry
Bob also had 3 units of infantry and one of cavalry (with lances)

What an ominous post title.  At the club we played The Men Who Would Be Kings rules in a Sudan setting. The British against the Mahdists. Bob Graham and myself playing the British and Tim, Peter and Matt playing the Locals.



Tim's Troops started in the village and were the only
 Mhardist troops on the table at the start of the game.

Our mission was to destroy the village buildings, we had a set number of turns in which to accomplish the destruction. I had the only artillery, but both Bob And Graham both had cavalry. The artillery could destroy the buildings in the village from a distance, but even so it would take me 6 turns to get the village even at extreme range. Or 8 turns of movement if I was to get the every building in range of the gun. Officers all had random traits and leadership values as befitted their race.




Bloody FLASH!
Peters troops arrive at the very first turn.
Mats arrive on the second.

All the british try to advance as swiftly as they are able
but the cannon only moves 4 inches a turn so
I lag behind somewhat.

The cavalry push me from the hill
but not with sufficient force to break me
Worse for peter in hi follow up assault
my infantry actually win and push him back.

Having played the rules before a few amendments were made but even so we knew that if the British were not almost forced to move the game became very one sided as the British would just form square (we had seen this in previous colonial games) and calmly just kill anything that came within range.


Peter (opposite me) moves his troops up using as much blocking terrain as possible.
Matt also moves up but has far less blocking terrain.

Able to hide his cavalry in a valley out of shot
Peter unleashes a charge up hill against my
central foot unit.
 

As soon as I could fire all 3 units opened up on the cavalry.
Not killing them outright but really hurting them and bringing them to about 1/4
of starting strength,

However this cavalry screen was enough to let Peter move his Fuzzy Wuzzies
up and into contact.
There is only so much a unit can do.
Without breking they are pushed back down the hill for a second time.
 

  

Peter was the last Mhadist leader to survive
but with three British rifle units able to fire on them
it was only a matter of time before
all his troops were also killed



While the whole game was enjoyable the British firepower was utterly devastating and it did not lead to a terrible well balanced game.
But with 4 sets of rules among 6 players any issues were VERY quickly resolved.
Overall a very enjoyable day.

Meanwhile Bob has lost his cavalry and nearly lost one infantry unit
and Graham has killed all of Tim's artillery crew (His target of priority)
Broken through the centre and his cavalry were (and later his infantry were also)
pulling the buildings down