Sheikh Abdallah

My final figure painted in February is the leader of the Red Hawk Clan, Sheikh Abdallah.  This mighty warrior is also a Falcon Miniatures figure, but this time mounted on a Falcon horse.

 

I tried a new technique with this figure, using a three layer paint scheme on the horse's caprison and a two layer scheme on Abdallah's robe and headdress.  To my eye, it turned out much better than I thought it would.  I probably won't use it for "ordinary soldiers" but will probably use it again for senior officers.  It makes them stand out a little better from the rank and file. The base will get a terrain treatment similar to the camelry unit's bases (see previous post) once I get the second cavalry unit painted and mounted.

February Painting

So far February has not been as productive as January for painting.  I've only done a 12-figure camelry unit and a 12-figure cavalry unit for my convention game play tests that start in April, with the convention in June.  Both of these units are Falcon Miniatures (www.falconminiatures.com/), but with the cavalry mounted on Miniature Figurine horses (which is the way I bought them on eBay).  These two mounted units along with two infantry units (of which only one is painted) will comprise one of the four native commands in my convention game.

Camelry Unit, Red Hawk Clan

 

These 12 stalwarts are all armed with rifles and ready to smite the infidels.

Cavalry Unit, Red Hawk Clan

Armed with a mix of rifles and swords/pistols, these desert raiders can ride rings around the slow moving Egyptians.  You'll notice that there is one dissimilar figure in the right rear.  Since I only had 11 mounted figures, he was "drafted" to fill-in as the "12th man."

The painted infantry unit of the Red Hawk clan was included in my Colonial game at last year's convention.  You can see it here:  Red Hawk Clan Infantry 

And a few words about the convention game:  This game will pit a heterogeneous force of Mahdist, Beja, and desert Arabs led by the Agandar of Karres, one of the successors to the late Mahdi and the late Khalifa.  They will be besieging the Eyptian supply base at Wadi Zoum-Zoum on the Green Nile.  Coming to the base's rescue will be a British river column including Royal Navy landing party troops, Royal Marine Light Infantry, and gunboats.  The game will be presented at the HMGS Gulf-South Bayou Wars 2010 convention in New Orleans on June12.  Convention Link.

Well, back to the painting desk for another Arab cavalry unit and two more Arab infantry units.

More Snow in Mississippi!!

After getting a snowfall back in December (see Snow! in Mississippi?!?), most of us thought that would be all for this winter.  But then we had over 72 hours of below freezing temperatures in January that resulted in ruptured water mains all over the city (Jackson, state capitol), little to no water pressure, and a "boil water" alert.  That shut all the schools, city and state government offices, and many businesses for 3 to 4 days!  And now, another snowfall.

It has not been as traumatic as the huge snowfalls over the mid-Atlantic states. But for the Deep South, it is a very unusual occurrence to have two snowfalls in one winter season.

And in a late entry, I heard on the CBS evening news that 49 of the 50 states in the USA had measureable snow on the ground today, all but Hawaii whose volcanoes on the Big Island had no snow.  Wow!

 

Part of my backyard on Friday morning.

The snow started falling very late Thursday night and continued until early afternoon, Friday (today).  Many schools announced closings Thursday night and the rest of them in central, south, and south-west Mississippi were added early this morning, as were the state  government offices.  So I had a SNOW DAY!!

The woods behind my house, looking pretty with the snow on all the branches.  But just at the right edge you can see a big pine branch over the back fence which dented the top rail.  That was the only damage my property received, thank goodness.

 

The trees across the street also looked pretty but in the lower right corner of this picture you can see another large pine branch which, I think, just missed the back porch roof of the currently vacant house across the street.

We only lost power for about an hour and a half this morning, but there are many across the state who are still without electricity.

We got about 5" (125mm) of wet snow in the south part of the city where I live, as you can see from the accumulation on two of our cars.  There was some sticking on the streets in our neighborhood but as I didn't get out and drive around, I don't know how impeded the streets and highways were.

 

My other across the street neighbor also has a bunch of pine trees in her front yard and lost several limbs, including at least two large ones on her driveway.  And yes, the grass in the yard to the left is that green.  It is winter rye.

 

 

But by mid afternoon, the snow had stopped and the sun came out.  I "plowed" and cleared off the cars before I took this picture about 4:30 pm.  Unlike back in December, it will probably be a couple of days before all the snow is melted since the overnight temperatures for the next week will be below freezing.

All in all, for us it was a pretty event as neither my wife nor I had to get out to go to work and our power was only out for a short time.  We stayed warm and dry inside the house and will be having Rostbraten and spaetzle for supper tonight - a "German" meal for a cold, snowy day!  Schuss, y'all!

British Navy and Egyptian Infantry

The last of my Imperial "troops" have now been completed.  They were two Naval Brigade Gatling guns and crews, three Naval officers, six sailors, and a platoon of regular Egyptian infantry.

The two Gatling guns are each manned with a crew of four gunners (one petty officer and three ratings each) and have a senior petty officer as the "battery commander."  The guns, senior petty officer (blue coat), and two ratings (brown leggings) are Ral Partha figures; the two petty officers in charge of each gun are Miniature Figurines (in yellow straw hats); and the other four ratings were cast by The London Warroom.

 The naval officers and ratings are a mix of manufacturers.  The officer in the center is the Parroom Station "Captain Jack Cole" figure.  The smaller officer on the front right is a Miniature Figurines. I cannot recall the manufacturer of the officer of the front left (unfortunately as he is a nice figure).  All six ratings are old London Warroom castings.

 

The Parroom Station officer will be my senior Royal Navy commander along the Green Nile.  I've decided to name him Captain Daniel Harrington.  He will be a distant ancestor of Admiral of the Fleet Steadholder and Duchess Honor Harrington. He is a nice figure with a stern gaze and is holding a cigar.

Finally, the Egyptian ground forces received their last troop unit, a platoon of regular infantry in the "older" white uniform.

As usual, my can click on each picture to get a larger image.

With the Imperial forces completed, I can now begin on the native forces.  This will be a larger contingent, consisting of a mounted leader, two 20-figure infantry units, three 12-figure cavalry units, and one 12-figure camel unit.  It will probably take me two months to complete them.  I'll posting pictures as they are finished.

Egyptian Cavalry

I am beginning preparations for my 3rd Annual George Carr, Sr. Memorial Colonial Game at the HMGS-Gulf South Convention in New Orleans in June.  The scenario will involve a small Egyptian garrison along the Green Nile branch of the Nile River that is under attack by a large group of former Madhists, Beja, and desert Arabs, all led by the Agandar of Karres, a successor of the Khalifa. [NOTE:  Who can guess from where I obtained the name of the Arab commander? I'll give the answer later this month after I have completed the Egyptian infantry and British naval figures upon which I am currently painting.]

The first figure is my overall Egyptian commander, Major Sariati Pasha.  He will be in command of the Egyptian garrison at the old British base at Wadi Zoum-Zoum (see Wadi Zoum-Zoum).  He is named for an actual officer whom I met while stationed in Germany and was engaged in military planning with a non-NATO North African country.  I hope he won't mind me borrowing his name.

The first unit of the Egyptian mounted column that will be used in the relief of Wadi Zoum-Zoum is a troop of the Egyptian Cavalry Regiment.  These 12 stalwarts are armed with lances, swords, and carbines.

They have also been trained to fight dismounted.

They will be joined by two other mounted units which were painted last year for my Assault on Fort Khalaam game.  This time they will play the roles of a troop of mercenary Baluchi cavalry and a troop of Bashi-Bazouk cavalry.

All of these figures are Ral Partha Victorian Colonials, which are still available from Great Endeavours.

I'm working on a platoon of Egyptian infantry for part of the Wadi Zoum-Zoum garrison and will be posting pictures of them later.

The Year 2009 in Review

I painted 652 points of figures during 2009, with every foot figure or gun counting as 1 point and every mounted figure counting as two points.  Of those points, 63% were Victorian Colonial in keeping with our group's theme of Colonial Adventuring and 37% were 18th Century.

Victorian Colonial

24 Imperial cavalry and 18 dismounts
26 Imperial gunners and 2 guns
3 Imperial mounted officers

180 native infantry
36 native cavalry and 12 native camelry
16 native gunners and 1 gun
5 native mounted and 4 foot leaders
1 Russian advisor

1 pack mule
1 Cigar Store wooden Indian

18th Century

92 infantry
24 cavalry
3 mounted officers
3 foot officers (used as additions to already painted units)
30 Eastern Woodland Indians
31 assorted rangers, frontiersmen, and light infantry
21 foot and 1 mounted special characters (lords, ladies, hangers-on, peasants, etc.)
1 coach with 4 horses and 2 outriders

In addition to all those figures, I designed and built the Victorian era Fort at Khalaam and a number of hills for my big Colonial game at the HMGS Gulf-South convention, Bayou Wars, June 2009.

I also assembled and painted Der Alte Kirche with graveyard walls and graves and the Eisenmuhlen cannon foundry for two "Big Battalion" games this past fall.  In addition to the 8 sections of gabions I painted for the Fort Khalaam game, I painted 12 other wall sections during the year.

Although I didn't accomplish all my goals for 2009, I did make a big dent in the pile of unpainted lead.  Of course I added to that pile and now probably have the same amount in it.  Oh, well, there is always this new year, when I'll be painting more Victorian Colonial, French & Indian War, and 18th Century figures and my Russian and Japanese pre-dreadnought fleets.

Walls, etc.

At MilleniumCon in November of 2008, I bought a batch of various types of walls - stone, timbered, and wicker gabions.  The only problem is that I can't recollect if they were made by Ed of Two Hour Wargames or Al of Askari Miniatures.  :^(  I'm hoping that one of them will add a comment to this posting and tell us how we can obtain them.

Added Comment:  As Ed said in his comment to this post, these products are available from Acheson Creations.  Looks like he has a large number of very interesting terrain pieces and various forts and buildings.

The first piece is a 2.5" segment of four wicker gabions.

They are pictured with an Old Glory Eastern Woodland Indian.

The second type is a 3" timbered wall that is constructed with log walls and packed with earth.

A Foundry British light infantryman is firing from behind it.

There are also two types of 2.5" stone walls, one with several upright wooden posts at one end.

 

Here shown with a Conquest Colonial Ranger firing at the enemy.

And the other is just a slightly tumbled down stone wall.

Shown here with a Redoubt Colonial Ranger.

I've already used the wicker gabions in my Assault of Fort Khalaam Victorian colonial game last summer and the gabions and the timbered walls in the 18th Century Action at Eisenmuhlen game from this past fall.

These pieces are cast with some sort of pearl gray plastic or resin that feels very slick.  Even after washing them in warm, soapy water,  I had to spray them with Krylon Fusion paint for plastic before my brush-on primer would stick to the entire surface.  But that was just a small bump in the road to getting them painted and not a reason to avoid them.