If you go down to the woods today…

Indians!

I just fancied painting some Woodland Indians, but being first and foremost a gamer, I’ve bought enough minis for a French Indian War collection of a Sharp Practice scale. The British side will be supplemented by regulars I already have for the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. They’re close enough. 

These 12 figures are lovely, animated sculpts from Perrys. In Sharp Practice 12 Indians is a ‘Tribe’ group, so that’s my first unit. 

The rest of the minis I’ve bought are Warlord; lots more Indians, Rangers, Coureurs de Bois and Franches de la Marine. I avoided the plastic figures Warlord offer; I much prefer metal minis. And Roj Castle has passed me some spare Fife and Drum minis which I can use to field a group of militia for either side.

I’ve seen nicer Woodland Indians, but then I know a lot of talented brushmeisters!  I’m pleased with these and know I’ll enjoy painting the rest.

A few close ups…

Cheers 

Chris

Whoop, whoop!

 

Battle of Feather Creek ACW.

Last night we had another "Epic" battle using our new "15mm" figures from Warlord Games,we are still "wrestling" with the concept of using Divisions and Brigades,but we are getting there-only a few more weeks before we "roll-out" the figures and rules at Battleground show in November!

 The "usual" terrain map and table before any movement-Graham and Brian were the Union commanders,whilst Paul and I were the "Rebs"

Because we were ,initially, outnumbered,Paul and I took a static roll,defending the town we held,and "demonstrating" against the town that Graham held.

As Paul and Brian discuss tactics and moves,Graham has decided to play "Where's Wally!"-I can see him,can you??????

Two shots showing the grand scale of the game-we were taking horrendous casualties,and even when our fourth Division came onto the board we were never going to take the Union held town,although we did give the Union commanders a bit of a fright!!

One final photo showing the state of both armies! I like these games because they throw up anomalies in the rules,which need correcting(compromise is a great wargaming word!) but also the fact that using so many regiments really slows the game down,so a solution is needed,so next game we will try using a "Brigade" as the unit and not individual regiments-we have enough for it to work,but,again, compromise will be needed-I will be experimenting this week with the concept-there's always a way to solve these things!

Dave and Paul have almost finished their Napoleonic collection,and are busy basing and flocking their troops,Graham is still painting his own collection of Spanish Napoleonics,as well as finishing off Brian's ACW Zouaves,Brian is branching out all over the place,awaiting an order of 15mm Romans,as well as sending away for some ECW plastics,and,I think, plastic Successors!!-where will it all end??-I have nothing to paint at the moment,but am concentrating on terrain etc for the ACW.

Ships,ships and more ships!

I thinks it's an Irish saying that,there are big ships and there are small ships,long ships and tall ships,but the best kind of ships are FRIENDSHIPS-so many thanks to all the "boys" for looking after THE WIFE and I over the past two weeks,being laid low by the most terrible bout of flu(even though we've been double vaccinated and have had the flu jab!!)-special thanks to Paul and Janet who did a couple of "shops" for us.

My mate Chris sent a couple of ACW ships up to me just as I took ill,but,feeling much better, I've managed to get a coat of paint on them.......................... 

These little beauties will,I'm quite sure,appear in a few ACW battles soon,talking of which,before the "illness" descended upon me,I had planned a large ACW battle,perhaps we might even get it played this week-end?...............................

Top,scenario,bottom table before any movement-two "finally's"-one,isn't nature wonderful?

How can a gentle mushroom force its ay through tarmac??-amazing!

two,where is my prolific reader and comment maker,Maudling Jack Tar?-hope you're well and just "resting"-get in touch.

Kikuyu Revolt, 1902

My collection is complete!

From a previous post you may recall that I’d taken inspiration from Duncan Macfarlane to put together enough minis for a Sharp Practice game based on a punitive action against the Kikuyu tribe in East Africa. 

The figure painting is finished. This is always a large milestone in any wargames project. 

The Imperial forces ready to protect the Pax Britannica in the Protectorate of East Africa.

The Kikuyu warriors ready to protect their homeland around Mount Kenya. 

The last figures I needed to paint were the Masai auxiliaries accompanying the Imperial forces and more Kikuyu warriors using Foundry Miniatures. 

One of the new groups of Kikuyu warriors. The Kikuyu anake have a very strong resemblance to the Masai moran as the Kikuyu were influenced by their warlike neighbours. So the spearmen are Foundry Masai without headdresses. I’ve painted their hair natural to contrast with the figures I’m using for actual Masai. The Masai covered their hair with a mix of fat and red ochre. And I have painted the hair on the Masai to represent this. The shields are based on actual Kikuyu designs. The archers are from Foundry. Same ones I’d already used with hairstyles resembling the Kikuyu. However strongly the Kikuyu resemble the Masai, only the Kikuyu have bows. 

The second new group of all Foundry Kikuyu warriors. In the background are the groups formed from the vintage Stratagem Miniatures Kikuyu spearmen and Foundry archers. 

Brings me to 5 groups of warriors for the Kikuyu. Even with such a small force, Sharp Practice can be exciting and fun. I have high expectations for the game!

Officers and leaders in Sharp Practice are called Big Men. The Kikuyu have 3 Big Men and a medicine man (or village elder) who can be a 4th Big Man or an objective for the British. Capture the laibon troublemaker!

Returning to the Imperial forces, first we have some figures I’ve had for many years. 

King’s African Rifles. These are Battle Honors Miniatures. They’re part of my WW1 in East Africa collection. The KAR may have worn the blue jersey into WW1. They definitely wore it in 1902. 2 groups of 8. They are regulars under the rules. They have one Big Man officer. 

Police. These were apparently less than useless. So the police are a single group of 10 militia with an officer. I have no idea how the police were dressed (uniformed? Presumably). So I’ve taken some suitable Foundry askari figures from my Darkest Africa collection. These and the KAR painted by good friend and brushmeister Roj Castle. 

The Masai warriors! These are just great minis from Wargames Foundry. I’ve gone for the full war regalia look. Most wear ostrich feather headdresses. There are a smattering of lion mane headdresses… and one bareheaded as I ran out of figures with headdresses!

The majority of each figure was simple to paint. The shields were a true joy to paint. Again the shields are based on actual Masai designs. There are 2 groups of 12 figures with 3 Big Men to lead them. A captain of Masai levies was called a Leguinan.

The 3rd Masai Big Man is accompanied by a musician. It will be easy to make him a better quality than the other two. Visually it’s clear that he’s the different one. 

The booty! The main thing that any punitive raid achieved was to capture large quantities of livestock. 

Ok. Definitely NOT booty. The women of either tribe were NEVER harmed by warriors and would move around freely during times of conflict. Not sure of their game use yet. 

Cattle and (newly painted) goats will definitely be booty that the Imperial forces’ players will want to capture. I’ve painted several boys and even a couple of Masai warriors to herd the livestock. 

It only remains to play the game (in a while as I’ve commissioned Jerry Miller to make me some bamboo forest for the Kikuyu to hide behind). 

All the best

Chris

Arthurian Anatomy

One of the pleasures of Partizan last weekend was collecting the last of my Arthurian/Late Roman/Romano-British from mate Jerry Miller. The army is complete!

The completed army in battle array. 27 mounted figures, 213 foot figures and 2 artillery pieces. 

I forget how many years this has been in the making. I can’t get an army on the tabletop in John-speed (get well soon, John!)

It’s a nice feeling when an army is completed!

The death of Arthur!  This vignette can be used as a unit base or a command base. One of the pieces I picked up at Partizan. 

The cavalry. The shock troops of an Arthurian army. The cataphracts are the first unit I painted. I look upon these guys as the Knights of the Round Table!

Artillery! These scorpions are a bit of a luxury item and probably just a burden to a mobile army. My basing is a good deal greener than Jerry’s. 

The Wolftails? Saxon mercenaries from Bernard Cornwall’s books. Gripping Beast make the figures so it seemed rude not to include this unit in my army. Behind them are my favourite unit; far too uniform and far too well equipped! They look so pretty though…

Another very well turned out unit. This one is led by a limited edition Gripping Beast general. The centre base can be used as a command base. Behind it are some wild looking Westwind units. 

Where the Gripping Beast units for the most part look relaxed and drilled, the Westwind units are full of movement. Painted by me and Jerry. 

A foray into plastics!  Jerry picked these spearmen and archers up from eBay, spruced them up and sold them to me. I love their yellow shields. 

I hope you enjoyed reviewing my Romano-British army. What of their Welsh adversaries, you ask? Well that’s a blog post for another day… probably 15 years time… sigh…

Cheers

Chris