Yet more Burpas.

Yes I know.  But here they are anyway. 7 more Afghan/Indian hill tribesman for Matt. A mix of makes Including Wargames foundry and Ironclad Miniatures.. They are all mixed together so I cannot or will not try to explain which is which.




But here are my best guesses.

I think these 3 are Ironclad, not 100% sure but I believe them to be. At the recent Broadside show Matt purchased some and I think they are now reaching my paint table. If as I think they are Ironclad there is more coming.

I have painted them all in a mix of bright colours and dull colours to help with the rag tag look as I want them to look as much like an irregular force as possible. You will note that I do repeat colours, this is because it both saves me cleaning the brush when putting the base colour or and also knowing that there will be loads of tribesmen and that these will be scattered among them means that the similar colours should not be easily recognised. yes a person could easily sit down and point them out but when you look at them as a mass the eye is less picky.

 The next 4 Again I think are foundry but again not 100% sure. But I will say so for now.  Again the colours are all mixed and all repeated. (There will be another 13 to come in this batch and as such the colours shall be more widely scattered so I am not concerned at present).  As mentioned the next 7 are already started and I will work on them each day until completion. I have tried to stick to the more brighter colours for those I perceived as being more wealthy. This is only conjecture on my part and I may well have it very different from real life or even what the sculptor wanted.  No Matter I have shown matt the "rushes" and so far he is happy with them.


Changing the subject: Yesterday I was told that I WON a prize on Vampifan's blog. ( LINK ). I would like to say thank you to the man and while I would like to say what I am getting it changes every time I look at the internet. I have loads of "interesting" ideas from WW2 to Horror to sci fi to Cheap women and Cigarettes. I am also thinking of several scales and at the same time just buying paint. I could for example buy a starter force for Bushido. Or an army in 6mm for the western desert. Or even some Judge Dredd or 15mm WW2 (I was looking at the LVT2 "Buffalo" for my pacific forces. ) As yet I am undecided but want to publicly acknowledge my thanks to Bryan for the generous prize. When I make a decision I will let you all know!

Have a good weekend
all the best Clint

My mistake and a gift

After

Okay I will admit I got it wrong....  I have re-painted 2 figures for Matt. If he had told me on the Friday or even Saturday I would have changed them in time. No worries they are changed now.  Yes you have seen these two figures before but now they have different paint jobs.

Clearly the gut in the Fez has changed from Blue to white and the guy in the turban has changed from white to blue!

Before

After

All my mistake and quickly rectified (OK not quickly but all in a day!) However in doing so another pot of Blue has been exhausted and needs to be replaced either at the next show or via eBay, depending on how quickly I need it.... eBay being quicker than waiting for a show!

Currently on the painting table are a horde (20) of Burpas so expect the start of them at the weekend. However for now Tim (Link) of Frontline wargaming bought down a box of mis casts. Thee it must be said are not good enough to sell and he has no way of reclaiming the resin so he offered them all to the club for free.

Peter and Bob had first pick then me and Richard. We were all very gentlemanly about it often asking if they had missed a specific vehicle or pointing out one they could use. And as Tim did not want them and would have thrown them all away I grabbed the lot that no one wanted. I can give them to other clubs or kids or throw them away myself after all.

As you can see I have separated them into 2 rows. The closet row I have a use for almost straight away. While the 3 at the back I can use but not instantly.

Here is what they are:

• BEDFORD OYD 3 TON LORRY
• Universal Carrier
• Bren Gun Carrier
• Rolls Royce armoured car (1939 Pattern)

Second row.

• MORRIS COMMERCIAL 15CWT PLATOON TRUCK (I think)
• SdKfz 10,(or maybe a SdKfz 7) I would need to check Halftrack
• an Italian SEMOVENTE L40 47/32

 While I do have a use for them I will need to talk to Tim some more and get some crew for the open topped vehicles. But as Freebies I am not one to complain. The damage is mostly air bubbles which can be filled with some time and a bit of miliput. For example if you look at the second picture you can see the side of the universal carrier has an airbubble. All the damage is a quick fix and is mostly on the tracks so mostly not noticeable at first glance.

Any way thanks for looking today and with luck more again soon.
All the best Clint

The Battle of El Obeid (or Shaykan), Sudan, 1883

 

Full film. (only first 15 mins relevant to this post)

Well Yesterday I was lucky enough to play The Battle of El Obeid. The Vid is one of the opening scenes from the 1966 Film "Khartoum." A game put on by Matt. I was teamed with Bob and Peter allied with Matt to be our enemies. Here is the game in brief.


The whole Egyptian column.

Bob had the tail of the column

I was to play the part of
William Hicks
And had the head of the column.

A gift for Matt
The Vulture was from
EMP Miniatures
(Stocked by Col Bill)

The column starts to deploy.
But my Artillery fails to unlimbers and set up.

Fousands of em.. no wait that's the wrong film
The Mahdi's troops are very numerous.

Too many units to kill
we would have to pin them.
But still too many
Just as you would hope in a colonial game

I wheel my cavalry to the left flank to provide a firing screen.

the head of the column
hold of 2-3 attacks beating them back each time.

The rear of the column also gets attacked
this time by Camalry

My cavalry are contacted and a melee ensues.
The head of the column loose a significant number of men
As do the Cavalry
But they both win the fight.

Colonel Bob is attacked on both flanks and has troubles of his own
The camalry are dying but very slowly and Bob cannot spare any troops to help me

Again (Bloody good dice rolls)
stop me from going under but I keep loosing men.
 

I cannot keep enough of the Mahdi's troops pinned and fight melees at the same time.

Weight of Numbers finally prevail

My units are so depleted that even when they win they loose too many men

The Vinegar Strokes.
I just do not have sufficient men to hold out 

I start loosing morale checks and have to flee
pushed back by Matt and Peter

Utter defeat .I manage to get 3 figures from the table

Conclusion: Bob faired a little better than me he still had intact units at the end of the game. However I did manage to get Hicks to escape (one of my 3 figures) but the rest of my troops were either killed or captured. So I did better than the real life general. As mentioned Bob did far better, but he was fighting fewer of the Mahdi's troops. This is no criticism of him at all. It is just the way Peter and Matt decided to attack us. If they had as many troops against him as my forces I would have taken less casualties.

Overall it was a good game and a fairly true refight. I do dislike all rules where Infantry can (and do) charge cavalry. As I struggle to find historical relevance in this. While I am sure it must have happened. 99 times out of 100 the cavalry could evade though by out running the infantry. Still the rules are very simple and cannot cope with too many things. Again not meant as a criticism just an observation. I did make the point that at the end of the game Tribal infantry nearly move as fast as regular cavalry. And that Cavalry have to roll for activation while tribals can move freely. This is a minor quibble and generally the rules did give a good game.

I had some lucky dice rolls (far luckier than normal) but so did Matt and Peter. I never could seem to keep them pinned long enough to stop 2 or 3  units from charging each turn.

But a very good game and one that would have graced any show it looked so good.

Congrats Peter and Matt on the win


Finished in time to tomorrows game. (Unless you know othewise!)

Well the title says it all. I have everything painted in time for tomorrows game.  Or have I?

Starting with 5 tribal cavalry.  Firstly I have not had any message back from Matt so I am not sure if he has seen these yet. So he may want things changed. He probably will not but no problem if he does.

I suspect they are either Foundry or more likely Perry miniatures but alas I o not know. But I am confident some one will and that they will tell me. If I had to Guess I would say Perry miniatures based on the horses.

I have painted them in a random collection of colours so they should fit the tribal feel of the force, with some members having more money and being able to afford more colourful cloh and others less well of and having to buy the cheaper colours. I will admit that is all guess work on my part. So it could be very misleading indeed.






2 Officers for the Egyptian army. The one dressed in white is clearly European. While the one in the blue uniform is possibly Middle eastern and equally possibly Italian, Greek Spanish or even from Southern France or the Balkans.

Matt suggested the colours on these figures so I am confident they at least will e what he wants. Again not sure of the manufacture and more than happy for a more learned soul to inform me.























And while I cannot do a group shot I can at least show all the cavalry together. So the Last pic has all 7 of them in one shot.








Lastly I know Matt looked long and hard (Well that is what he told me anyway)to find an Egyptian MG> these I do know are from Old Glory. !  Officer and 4 crew and painted in the heat wave in a matter of 2 days.  The result was my red paint and a brown paint dried up and needed to be thrown away. I suspect there will be a few more as well like the dark blue (I know that was on it's last legs). As a consequence I will need to replace them tis week. maybe on Monday depends on what I am painting next. If Matt reads this before Sunday it will e more of the same and I will have to order paint as fast as possible. I am only semi joking when I type this as I am sure he will already

 Anyway despite the heat these really were fun to paint and being mostly in one colour were relatively easy.

That is it for today. But if possible have a productive painting weekend.

All the best Clint

More Sudanese. (6 more)

Firstly let e Say that Matt has already received these. Which means I will not be able to show a group shot at the end.

Just 6 more marching Colonial era Sudanese. They are of course Wargames Foundry and are colour matched to fit in with Matts other Sudanese troops.

With luck we will be having a game with them on the weekend.

Next post in 2 days time. I should have some more finished by then.

All the best Clint

Broadside AAR

Here is a report on the game we had at the Broadside show.

We were playing "The Men who would be Kings" rules by Osprey. All the figures terrain and everything else is owned by Tim who was referee. (Yes that is an Airfix Fort Sahara before anyone says!)
Peter and Bob took the Imperials while me and Matt had the Mahdists.
Our job was to hold the town.

With few rifles most troops are only visable to provide a spectacle.

My reinforcments arrive super early (on turn 1)
And I charge them into the British where I can.
The Cavalry and Camalry do well
but die quickly after destroying the British mounted troops.

The defence looks far more formidable that it really is.

In Retrospect all the mahdists should have been in hiding
 and waiting for the British to enter the village
 

A Scratch built
Nile steamer
carrying the British reinforcements

While Matt controlled the Mahdist reinforcements
 that arrived by river.

While we had lost troops the Town was
still in the tribal mahdist hands.
And we had given the British in the desert a bloody nose.

The Imperials assault the defences.
Keeping them out was darned tricky
As they had quite rightly shot the defenders to pieces
before assaulting.
 



The River battle was in full swing.
And despite an attempted boarding of the Imperial steam ship
the Mahdists  were just unlucky with the dice.

The British entered the town at the end of the day

 Conclusion: The Native players (both me and Matt) agree we could not hold the town. The imperial players also agree that while they could take the town they would not be able to hold it for very long at all.

While Questions would be asked in the House concerning British losses I would conclude it was a marginal Imperial Victory. Maybe in the future British foreign policy would change. But for now I accept the defeat and know in the future I would play the Mahdist differently in the same situation.

Overall though a good game and a good day.