January 2009 Painting

January's painting total was an impressive 135 Olley points, consisting of 14 mounted figures, 104 foot figures, and 3 guns. But when one looks at the type of figures - all Victorian Colonial and almost all Dervish or Beja warriors - then the total is only impressive for the number, not the complexity of the painting.

Victorian Colonial native warriors, especially Dervish and Beja, are very simple to paint - brownish skin, off-white clothes, brownish shields, and weaponry. No turnbacks, lapels, lace on tricornes, etc., etc. But 121 total figures is still pretty darn good, if I say so myself.

You've already seen the Beja camelry and part of a warrior band in an earlier post, so here are pictures of most of the rest.

This is a complete Egyptian artillery battery organized per The Sword and the Flame (TSATF) rules that we use here in Jackson, Miss. It consists of three guns (Krupp breechloaders), one battery commander, and twelve gunners (four per gun). All the figures are Ral Partha (as with few exceptions are all the figures featured this month). The Egyptian gunners are supposed to be in blue uniforms, but I had already painted nine of the thirteen figures in white uniforms and wasn't going to change them just prior to a game. Maybe I'll repaint them later, or maybe not.

This is a complete TSATF Indian artillery battery armed with small mountain howitzers. Eight of the gunners and two guns were added this month to the officer, four gunners, and one gun that I already had painted.

This is a small part of one of the two 20-figure Beja war bands. They are armed with swords and spears, except for one warrior who has a rifle.

This is a small portion of the second 20-figure Beja warband. They armed the same as the first.

This picture shows the senior Dervish war leader (mounted, on left), a captured Egyptian Krupp gun with its crew, and a senior foot war leader.

Joining the Dervish war band that I have had painted for a number of years was two more, this being the first, consisting of 20 warriors armed with sword and spear.

And the second, also similarly armed.

A note: All the Dervish and Beja flags are courtesy of www.warflag.com .

I still have a 12-figure cavalry unit to paint to complete my Dervish forces, which will ultimately consist of two mounted units, five foot units, and two gun crews.

Next month, I'll get that mounted unit painted and begin work on my Pathan forces and maybe some British and Indian cavalry. With this year's theme being Colonial Adventuring, I will use it as an impetus to get as many of my Victorian Colonial forces painted as I can.

Wargame Tactics by Charles Grant

I just received a late Christmas present in the form of the 1979 book Wargame Tactics by Charles Grant. I am slowly building up a small collection of Old School Wargaming books and this is the latest edition. I started reading the introduction during my morning break at work today and have found that I agree with everything Mr. Grant says about studying the time period in which you are gaming and using the period specific tactics and formations. More on this later.

I spent all of last week cleaning out and re-arranging my computer/wargaming/junk room at home. I still have a little work to do, but it is now much cleaner and better arranged. I even have room for a small construction area where I can work on terrain pieces, buildings, and ships to augment my painted figures. "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Award Announced

We have just been informed that F.M. Reich Duke Wilhelm von Beerstein has invested us with the Ancient and Honorable Order of the Tankard.

( http://reichduchyofbeerstein.blogspot.com/ )

The award will be added to the 28mm figure representing us on the miniature battlefield. Our thanks to the Reich Duke and we will surely treat any of the Reich Duchy's soldiers who fall into our hands in a courteous and professional manner.

[Note: Currently Major General Campbell is in the employ of the Margrave of Carpania, an ally of Germania and Britannia against the Imperium and Gallia.]

2008 in Review

Another year has come and gone. 2008 was the first complete calendar year in which I've been blogging and also the first calendar year in which I've kept track of what I've been painting. So let's look at the figures:

Yearly total: 415 foot figures, 97 mounted figures, and 16 pieces of equipment (guns and limbers), for a total of 625 Olley points (all were 25/28mm figures).

The busiest month for painting was May with 92 points (all foot or guns). Least busiest for painting was June with no figures painted, except for the Zulu kraal I built and all the other preparations I was doing for the extremely large Zulu game I ran at Bayou Wars in the middle of the month.

I painted figures in three wargaming genres and one non-gaming genre during 2008. The largest, at 75% was for my Seven Years War imagi-nations of Carpania, Courland, and Sachsen-Wachsenstein. Next was 14% for medievals, then 9% for Victorian Colonials. The non-gaming genre was 16 ballerinas (2%) for my daughter to give her ballet students as gifts at their winter performance.

Although none of these figures match those painted by the inestimable Der Alte Fritz, I am encouraged in what I did accomplish, which averaged out to just over 52 Olley points per month (equivalent to two 24-figure infantry units or two 12-figure cavalry units). As I stated in the previous post, 2009 will be our wargaming group's Colonial Adventuring theme year. I have a large batch of Soudanese and Afghan native figures to paint, as well as French & Indian War and imagi-nation figures, so it looks like another productive year. I even hope to make a native Victorian colonial fort and modify some plastic ships into 18th Century ships for my New World imagi-nationing.

I hope all have had a joyous Christmas and will have a prosperous New Year!

First Units for 2009

The theme year for the Jackson (MS) Wargamers will be Colonial Adventuring. It will largely be Victorian Colonial games, but we will venture into the French & Indian Wars (including some imagi-nation gaming in the Capitania General de Florida) and other areas that meet our rather lax definition of Colonialism. So there will be fewer European Seven Years War imagi-nation units depicted in 2009 and more Victorian Colonial units.


And the first are my Beja war band for conflicts in the Soudan. These are all vintage Ral Partha figures which I have had for a number of years.

This unit of 12 camelry warriors forms the mounted component of the Beja warband of Abdul Aboulboul Amir.

And this is just a few of the two 20-figure infantry bands that fight for the Amir in the Soudan against the Imperialist British and their Egyptian lackeys!