An ECW encounter.

We learned,last night,that Paul has another new skill-WASP  WHISPERER!-how? well,as we were playing, a wasp,the size of a Sparrow,flew into the garage,and whilst four of us stood screaming,flapping and waving things at it,Paul stepped forward,and in stentorian tones,ordered the beast out of the garage-AND IT WENT!!!!-our hero and saviour! is there no end to this man's talents??

Top photo is the terrain map,bottom photo is the initial troop dispositions-Dave and I were the Parliamentarians,Paul(or Waspie,as he is now known!) and Graham commanded the Royalists.

We're off!-Graham is attacking Dave's flank with a combination of artillery,Infantry and cavalry, Dave,as per our plan, is sending Infantry to support the farm and village-"Waspie" is attacking the village,and is trying to out-flank me!!

In this shot,Paul(sorry,I mean Waspie) is also attacking the farm hill,and has moved his cavalry forward-exciting stuff!

On Dave's flank,all hell is let loose! Cannister fire as well as muskets is slowing Graham down,but not stopping him-this is tense-in the background you can see the Royalist cavalry moving forward to the inevitable clash-brilliant!!

I have thwarted old Waspie's attempt to out-flank the village by placing one of my Infantry regiments in their way-a couple of salvos saw them off-hurrah! I have also maintained hold of the village by beating back the Royalist regiment sent to take it-another hurrah!!

Top photo shows the Cavalry advance,now that the situation on farm hill has stabilised,bottom photo shows the classic cavalry encounter going on over on Dave's flank-this was swings and roundabouts for a while,but eventually Dave won,forcing Graham to retire(it's good being retired!)

A general shot showing the confusion and troop movement-this is what wargaming is all about!

Top shows my cavalry about to secure the flank,as thevillage is already secure,and safely in the hands of my infantry regiments-bottom photo shows Dave's flank well and truly secure,having beaten and driven back Graham's cavalry and infantry-so a well deserved win for the Parliamentarians!!

Another great game,with a 100% turnout from the "boys"-roll on next week,possibly ancients.

 

Kikuyu! Dozens of ‘em!

 Ok, not as much impact as “Zulus! Thousands of ‘em!” One day I’ll do something mainstream. One day...

Now if you’re anything like me, you’re susceptible to advertising. A long, long time ago a Stratagem Miniatures advert in one of the mags captured my imagination. The range was The Kikuyu Revolt 1902 and the painted examples were an officer and soldier of the King’s African Rifles (KAR) and a Kikuyu warrior. This must have been the 80s or early 90s. I was fascinated! Who were the Kikuyu? What was this revolt?!

The range is long since defunct, but I came across someone selling the minis on eBay. They were listed as Wargames Foundry French! Well not many folk are going to know what they really are.

The Kikuyu are the majority tribe in Kenya. At the time this was the Protectorate of British East Africa. Not as famous as their more warlike neighbours, the Masai, from whom they were heavily influenced, the Kikuyu in earlier times were a forest tribe and their favoured weapon was the bow and arrow. They still relied on bands of bamboo forest to protect their borders, and still favoured hit and run tactics in the forest when possible. However spears, swords and shields had been adopted as more of their lands were cleared for cattle, sheep and goats. (Apologies if any of my ‘facts’ are wrong!)

To represent the archers within the warbands, I’ve used Foundry figures with suitable hairstyles. The Stratagem Miniatures warriors with spears and shields were sculpted by Peter Morbey of Elite Miniatures fame. 

From the rear, there’s just a load of bare bottoms! This is correct. The archers are wearing loincloths which isn’t correct, but I can live with it. From the front it’s a riot of red, black and white with the painted shields.

The shield designs are heavily influenced by the Masai. I sketched several designs from books and photos.

A couple of the photos from the internet used for reference.

The painting was pretty straightforward. A sand undercoat followed by a wash of one part Cygor Brown Contrast paint with two parts Contrast Medium. The Cygor is too strong straight from the pot and the Medium is the stuff that the colour pigment is suspended in.

Then the spear shafts, skin and what I’ve taken to be lion headdresses have all been highlighted with different browns. Metallic colours added, a bit of red and white here and there and also red applied on some faces as the Kikuyu did apply greasy war paint. Then the shields were undercoated grey and painted as you see. The figures would look mighty dull if it wasn’t for the shields!

The figures are based in twos and threes on round bases to add to the irregular look. I’ll probably never find more of the Stratagem Kikuyu figures, so will add more Foundry archers to the force. They’ll need beefing up to put up any sort of show against a mixed force of KAR, police and Masai auxiliaries. I already have suitable KAR in their blue jerseys and ample figures to represent the almost useless police. I need to paint my Masai (Foundry figures) who it would appear just loved fighting! Having painted the Kikuyu quickly I feel armed with the techniques to paint the Masai.

I envisage using Sharp Practice. So need all warriors in groups of 12, KAR in 2 groups of 8 (regulars) and one group of 10 militia-quality police.

When Duncan Macfarlane commissioned the range, his inspiration was this book. I believe it all stems from a very brief mention:

“In October 1902 these same villages revolted and troops were sent out to punish them. The trouble was attributed to medicine men, so two of them were publicly hanged in Fort Hall, which stopped the trouble temporarily; but the Kikuyu are ripe for trouble...”

Meinertzhagen did not participate in this ‘revolt’, but was engaged in several other police/punitive actions described in the book. Some of you clever chaps may recognise his name from his exploits during WW1, mainly as an intelligence officer. 

So there you have it. Kikuyu warriors! Literally dozens of ‘em! I’ll close with an image of just the old Stratagem Miniatures figures.

Sorry I’ve rambled on. Hope you’ve enjoyed something slightly unusual from me yet again!

Cheers

Chris

A Sudanese Sizzler.

Last night Paul,Graham and I had a "typical" colonial game based in the Sudan.Dave turned up but had an early start at the factory,so just watched and added appropriate comments!!! Brian is unwell at the moment so he didn't turn up-get well soon! 

This is the scenario and initial troop dispositions-I ended up as British/Egyptian commander,Paul was in charge of the Ansars and Graham commanded the Hadendowah(thousands of 'em!)

Egyptian Zareba and British square-will there be enough firepower to stop the Dervish hordes??

Paul's Ansars and Graham's Hadendowah-I'm sure we could sort this out in a nice friendly manner!

The onslaught begins-Hadendowah Camels against the 21st Lancers in top photo-lancers won(of course!) Ansars attacking the Zareba in bottom photo(after preliminary rifle fire)

Top photo shows the British infantry in all kinds of bother-I,foolishly, broke my square to give my troops more firepower,but the Hadendowah were too fast and a giant melee is taking place-bottom photo shows my Bengal Lancers helping out and hitting Graham's leading troops in the flank-this was a life-saver for the whole game!!

Two shots showing the desperate fighting taking place on the British flank-this was glorious stuff,with officers falling like nine-pins,regiments being wiped out,and the inevitable gatling gun jamming at a most critical time!!!-But what of the Egyptians? were they sipping champagne and munching on kebabs?...............................

No,no,no no!-despite taking horrendous casualties coming in,the Ansars broke into the zareba and slaughtered the Egyptians-possibly making kebabs of them!!!

In this photo I am slowly retiring(it's good being retired!) my line hoping to stop Graham with cavalry,artillery and what is left of my infantry-by this time the Hadendowah have "shot their bolt" and were a spent force-hurrah!

My line is intact now and the Hadendowah have given in-another hurrah!-My rear is still not 100% safe,but Paul's troops decided to loot the zareba instead of attacking me and suffering more casualties.

One final shot showing the captured zareba-the Egyptians actually did a fine job in defending it!

I do enjoy these colonial games,always fast and furious but damned good fun!We will be playing again next week,but at the moment don't know what.A piece of excellent news is that "Carronade" show up in Falkirk,should be going ahead on the 25th September,and we have been given a table-normality at last???

Four-legged Scenery

 A short photo post. With a bit of East African action in mind, I’ve painted up some wildlife that have languished in a box for many, many years.

Out on the plains of Kenya.

I feel that a bunch of appropriate wildlife will add to the feel of any colonial game.

Zebras and Oryx. The zebras are possibly the most torturous figures I’ve ever painted!

Gnu or Wildebeest. I think that many of these models were bought from Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Co. These days similar wildlife is available from Wargames Foundry and Northstar. And you can find more than one pose!

Roarrrrrrr! Lions on the prowl.

A giraffe. This model was painted a few years back for some exotic gladiatorial combat! The Romans loved seeing the strange and unusual in the arena. I’ve rebased it and it can now relax and enjoy retirement in East Africa. Unless someone shoots it! One of the books I’m currently reading is Kenya Diary (1902-1906), Richard Meinertzhagen. You may recognise his name from his exploits in WW1. As well as the police/punitive actions he describes, there’s an awful lot of wildlife shot!

I already have elephant, rhino, hippo and ostrich.

Four Wargames Foundry African cattle to add to the 12 I already have. Operations against any misbehaving tribes tended to involve the confiscation of vast herds of cattle along with sheep and goats.

A croc, a black cat of some description and a gorilla, also of some description! The crocodile is unbased as it’s nice to have it placed at the water’s edge. I’m not sure of the manufacturer for the black cat and gorilla. I had undercoated the cat black clearly intending that it be a Puma. It may just be a very odd lion...!

The gorilla is more Carry On Up The Jungle than Gorillas In The Mist! :-P

I hope you’ve enjoyed this safari. 

Cheers

Chris

Flower Power

Dave Hudson generously donated this maharajah’s elephant for my Indian Mutiny collection. As a Foundry 25/28mm piece it was far too small to sit alongside Dave’s Redoubt Enterprises Wellington in India collection. Those figures are lovely, but a unique scale.

The piece’s history happens to be known to me. It was painted by my mate Roger Castle for fellow Yorkshire gamer Andy Townsend. When Andy died, his figures were sold. So Dave must have snapped it up on eBay not realising that it would be a dwarf nellie within the ranks of his Indian army.

So back it comes to Yorkshire. And very pleased I am to have it!

A couple of my mates have used nail art decals for wargaming purposes. John Daybell has used them to apply camo to diecast models for Gaslands. Roger Castle uses them to detail saddle clothes. I’d been wanting to try them and decided that this elephant would be my test subject!

Considering some of the many, many nail art decals.

I tried one of the gold designs first, but it just didn’t look right. 

I did like how these flowers looked. Are they authentic Indian designs? No. Do they look ok and break up the large areas of the elephant blankets? Yes. From a normal wargames viewing distance it’s just apparent that there are designs on the blankets. It only needs to be subtle.

I regularly use model kit and wargames decals. These nail art ones went on surprisingly well and completely conformed to the contours of the model without difficulty. I always use decal softener when applying decals. Probably didn’t need to with these.

The finished command elephant rebased to match my Indian Mutiny collection. (The original base was too good to chuck and I don’t like waste. It already has three African cattle on it.)

A great addition. And once again, thanks to Mr Hudson for this super gift :-)

Cheers

Chris