Sikh Wars - Follow up

 Thanks for the kind comments regarding my last post.

I tested positive for covid on Sunday but between sweats, sniffs, coughs and splutters I have managed to do a little bit of painting and basing.

First up were some old glory Sikh's. Not as nice as the Foundry figures, nor the Studio miniatures range, but the same height as the former and so able to fit in and flesh out my my army. I painted these almost exclusively with citadel contrast paints, (trousers and metalwork were normal acrylics). I think they've come out pretty nicely. 

OG Sikhs, with Foundry Officer

I also managed to do some baggage camels. These are Empress Miniatures and very nice indeed. They too were given the contrast paint treatment - aggaros dunes as the base, with iraqi sand from Vallejo to lighten them up. Baggage was a mix of contrasts and acrylics. This give me 8 elements of baggage in total for my NWF/Indian armies. I think I will add a buffalo cart and bheesties which will make it a fair size and appropriate for the location - trains were often as large or larger than the armies they accompanied and in several cases were not large enough even then to provide the food and fodder required. For this reason they are an essential feature of armies in these areas. 

Whist raking around for more bits to add, I came across a signed copy of Donald Featherstone's book - The First Sikh War - on evil bay, so that got snapped up. He responsible for me taking up wargaming as his book "Wargames" was in my local library as a kid. I've never looked back.  It's nice to have this connection.

I have started to paint some of the Empress/Iron Duke sepoys. This will give me a further unit in shakos and also a unit of deserters....or mutineers. Sepoy uniform didn't change at all from the 30's to the Mutiny and that means I have a ready made army to start cover the first outbreaks and battles around Delhi. For the British units in shell jacket and cap from Sikh war ranges are fine, but even that semi formal uniform quickly gave way to improvised affairs. The Mutiny seems another period crying out to be gamed using TMWWBK - so I will!

Size Comparison - LtoR - Perry Afghan, OG Sikh, Empress Sepoy, Foundry Sikh, Empress Nz War 

(Although the foundry figure is smallest, his base is very thin and with a shim underneath there is next to no difference between OG, Foundry and Empress) 

Sikh Wars Game

 An off the cuff colonial game at the Club last night as it was the first for a few weeks due to holidays. This gave me a chance to get my Sikh Wars figures out, although annoyingly I left the Akali at home!  I also got to put my rather nice village and hill fort on the table too which blended in very well with the mat and bases. 

We doubled up the sides, using two 24pt "brigades" each with their own commander per side. The Sikhs deployed first, occupying the fort and village and stretching across the table following the road.  A small number of Sikh regulars and guns were backed by tribal infantry and cavalry. The British were a fairly balanced force of European and Sepoy infantry and cavalry with a couple of guns. 

The game was fairly balanced, and at the mid point it could have gone either way, but with the failure of two units on the British right to activate the Sikhs were able to gain the upper hand and despite heavy casualties approaching 50%, were able to get a win.  A nice fun game! (Edit - The buildings are by the Colonial Steamboat Company and were an Xmas gift from my wife)

I think TMWWBK is a decent rule set, we missed the blunders and bonuses from Rebels and Patriots so may add them for future games. We also allow pinned units to retire a full move but retaining their pin instead of remaining in place - unless a unit is surrounded it does allow them to pull back this way and stay in the game. Finally we think artillery is just a little bit powerful and next time we'll reduce the dice from 4/8 to 3/6. 

A foray into the Colonial

Over the last few weeks we have been playing The Men Who Would Be Kings. And what a great rule set they are. After our last games at Meldrum using the Risorgimento figs, it was pointed out that we don't really do colonials and for such a popular period that was odd. Well that changed a few weeks later and we got off the ground running since a friend was selling off some (lots, enough!) Zulus that he had painted up and I managed to acquire and paint some Boers to add to a scraping of pith-helmeted British and make up a small field force. Leading how to play with the irregular and tribal troops has been fun and we have had disasters for both sides as the natives have overrun and massacred Boers and British in turn and had the same done to them. Last week the British, led by a bunch of officers with completely conflicting traits and abilities received a bloody good thumping at the hands of some Boers.

What's been so good about the rules is that they are fun. The units are not expensive to build, especially with so much plastic figs,  and the rules themselves quick and easy to pick up. They look like becoming a permanent feature on our tables at Meldrum and if I fancy a kitchen table game I can play against Mr Babbage. Handy that, as I've got a hanquering for India and the 1830-40's.....oops

Anyway here are some piccies from the last few weeks...

A few early games above. With my naval brigade not quite fully up to strength!

My Boers being overrun and then blasting away as the Zulus come on fast!
One more game tonight and then a trip overseas beckons. After which it will be back to the Sugar Islands.....