Wood's Brigade of Cleburne's Division

 

This 15mm ACW Confederate brigade has been "hanging fire" for many, many months (since the fall of 2019).  But now its time has come, energized because I need more Confederate forces for my upcoming game at the regional Bayou Wars convention in June.  They are 15mm Old Glory figures and are based for the "On to Richmond" rules.  Please click on the pictures for a larger image.

Wood's Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General Sterling A. M. (Sam) Wood is a mixed Alabama and Mississippi brigade in Major General Patrick Cleburne's Division of Hardee's Corps in the Army of Tennessee.  It is the last of Cleburne's three brigades to be painted.

The brigade consists of the 16th Alabama, 33rd Alabama, and 45th Alabama Infantry Regiments; the 18th Alabama Infantry Battalion; the combined 32nd/45th Mississippi Infantry Regiment; and the 15th Mississippi Infantry Battalion, all told some 1,800 men.

The other units of Cleburne's division are Polk's and Deschler's Infantry Brigades and an artillery battalion (Calvert's Arkansas, Douglas' Texas, and Semple's Alabama Batteries).

I now have six Confederate infantry brigades with two more in the immediate pipe-line.  They'll be fighting against twelve Union infantry brigades.  The game will be a "what-if" scenario from the June 1863 Tullahoma Campaign.  More details to follow.

The Agandar of Chaladoor

 

This is my latest colonial figure to be painted.  He is an Askari Miniatures "Berber Cavalry Scout" that is patterned after the famous 'Red Shadow.'  My leader is titled the Agandar of Chaladoor and has, in other guises and with other names, led native forces in Soudan against the Anglo-Egyptians and in the North Central Frontier against the forces of the Raj.  In this guise he will be leading the local tribes of Aooghastan against both the forces of the Khan of the North (the Tsar) and the British Raj.  He is a fearsome warrior who can energize any tribe who he leads.

His name was inspired by the Witches of Karres science fiction novels of James H. Schmitz.  The Chaladoor is a region of far-off space containing a maze of navigational hazards, inimical beings, and disturbing and sometimes violently dangerous forces.  The Agandar is a notorious pirate leader who calls that region home.  Of course my Agandar is not as notorious but nevertheless is a force with which to be reckoned!

More Kashgari Falcons and an Indian MG Team

 After a long break due to recovery from laser cataract surgery, I was finally able to get back to painting.

Please click on pictures for a larger image.

My first new unit is an Indian Army Vickers machinegun team.

As with all the other Imperial figures I'm using, these are from Brigade Games WW1 in Africa line.  Since the Indian MG team only came with 3 figures I added a British infantryman to make it up to full strength of four figures for "The Men Who Would be Kings" rules.

The second unit is Detachment Two of the Kashgari Falcons.  They are commanded by Subedar Bahadurjit (Victory of the Brave) Singh.  He was lately wounded in a scrape with the Pashtuns and still carries his right arm in a sling.  These are Brigade Games WW1 in Africa line Indians.

If you will recall for my earlier post about the Kashgari Falcons, their turbans are in my high school colors.

I will be taking a short break from late 19th Century Aooghastan to work on some 15mm Confederate figures for an upcoming game of mine.

In Support of Ukraine

 

I don't normally post about current world events on this blog since I created it to showcase my hobby of military miniatures and wargaming.  But in this case I'm going to bend my "rules."

Today my wife and I provided flowers to decorate the sanctuary in our church.  We chose sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine.  The ribbon was supposed to be blue and yellow but I think that I goofed when telling the florist what I wanted.  Be that as it may, the arrangement was all I expected it to be and garnered a number of supportive comments.

If you desire to contribute to the humanitarian relief effort, may I endorse Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) as a worthy agency.  You can make donations here.  PDA is the emergency and refugee program of the Presbyterian Church USA and is responding to the conflict with emergency humanitarian aid through partners already on the ground.  PDA has been working with these partners for a number of years.

Thanks you and God bless!

Captain Krustache & the Kashgari Falcons

 

My latest endeavor has been a "mercenary" unit organized by the famous Captain Krustache of Kashgar.  He has recruited a unit of hardened mountain warriors who will follow him wherever he leads.

The captain is front and center surrounded by this warriors.

The captain is one of Bob Murch's special Movember sculpts.  The warriors are from the Brigade Games Great War in Africa Indian infantry.  These figures appear to be wearing a sleeveless overgarment so that's how I painted them.  Their name and color scheme come from my high school -- the Wingfield Falcons with blue & gold colors.  The skin tones and hair colors of the warriors are based on photographs of modern Afghan peoples - ranging from very light to very dark tones.  I've tried to capture that range in these figures.

There are another 12 figures in the painting pipeline.  I anticipate using them on whichever side needs some additional firepower.

British Infantry for "The Great Game"

 

Following on from all the Russians, I present the first of the British units for my expeditions to Aooghastan.  I will be using "The Men Who Would Be Kings" rules from Osprey for these actions.

All of these figures are from Brigade Games WW1 in Africa line.

Please click on the picture for a larger image.

A British regular infantry unit of an officer and 11 other ranks

A second British regular infantry unit of a noncommissioned officer and 11 other ranks

They will be supported by a Vickers machinegun team.

The 4-figure team set up for firing

And the same team in travel mode

The next units in the painting queue are Indian infantry and machinegun units.  Stay tuned!

Russian Artillery for "The Great Game"

This was my only completed painting for the month of December 2021, it being a very busy month what with Christmas and my church related tasks.

When I ordered my Russian infantry from Askari Miniatures, I also ordered two guns with crews, one a 9-lb field gun and the other a Russian manufactured Gatling gun (Gorlov gun).  I only got the crews and the 9-lbr completed as I messed up the assembly of the Gorlov gun and still have to figure out how to correct my error.

The 9-lbr was a heavy gun with a 107mm bore.  The carriage was iron which was very robust allowing the gun to be transported over rough terrain.

I painted the gunners in their loose-fitting white blouses with red pants.  Their green kepis are upgraded with white canvas Havelocks for sun protection along the southern border.

The Askari Miniatures Russian field gun crew comes with five figures but I only needed four for the rules I use (both "The Sword and the Flame" and "The Men Who Would Be Kings."  But this allowed me to move the fifth figure over to the Gorlov gun crew which only came with three figures.

The Gorlov gun crew has been painted with white canvas trousers.  The white Havelock completely covers the kepi.  My error with assembling the gun was to glue the elevation screw on before I tried fitting the barrel.  Now it is too short and the barrel has a very high angle, almost like it is an antiaircraft gun.  It will be an interesting exercise in clipping the elevation screw, drilling the pin out, and remounting it with a new, longer pin.  We'll see how that goes.

I also began painting some British infantry to be used as opponents of my Russians.  Hopefully I can get some of them finished in January.