My Father's Day Present to Myself

Last week I came across a group of painted Prussian jaegers for the Franco-Prussian War. They were Wargames Foundry figures and were already mounted for Larry Brom's Chassepot and Needlegun rules, which is what we use in the Jackson Gamers. The opening bid was low and since I have wanted a battalion of jaegers, I went ahead and submitted a bid. And lo and behold!, I was the only bidder. So I got them for about $2.00 a figure, including shipping. Can't beat that with a stick, as we say here in the South.


I received them yesterday (Wednesday) after a quick shipping from Massachusetts to Mississippi. When I opened the box and unwrapped the first stand from its protective cocoon of bubble-wrap, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the paint job. I hope that quality comes out in these pictures.

As usual, Foundry has done a good job with the figures and the unit includes an officer, a bugler, and 22 jaegers in a variety of poses.

Here's a close-up of the officer, bugler, and a couple of jaegers.

These jaegers will be very useful in providing support to my two regiments of Prussian infantry that I have so far. Now all we have to do is schedule a game sometime soon so they have a chance to "show their stuff!"

Haddabiera Fanatics

The final foot unit for my Haddabiera tribe has now been completed. It will be a unit of "fanatics" armed with many swords and knives and a few muskets.

The flag is homemade. I again used an on-line translation site to come up with the slogan. In Arabic, it is supposed to read:

There is only one God
Muhammed is His prophet
Death to the infidels

The figures are some I bought from the now out-of-business London War Room. They are actually Lyzard Grin Sikh warriors, but I have "enlisted" them in my quasi-Pathan tribe - the Haddabiera.

Now all I have left to paint before the convention next weekend is a 12-figure unit of Royal Aooghastan cavalry. I was able to get them primed this morning so painting can commence tonight.

New Native Unit - Ral Partha Arabs

Yesterday I completed the second of four new native units for the game I will be running at Bayou Wars later in June. It is composed of 18 vintage Ral Partha Arab type figures armed with spears and two others who are armed with swords. These were easy to paint. I used white, cream, camel, and suede acrylic colors for the robes and turbans. The skin was painted spice brown to simulate a tanned Middle Eastern/Afghan look.

The two sword armed figures are in the front. The one on the left appears to be similar to MiniFigs in stature but is missing all the usual MiniFigs markings. He may be a Frontier or Falcon figure. The figure on the right with the flowing cape had some indecipherable markings on the bottom. I have no idea from which manufacturer he came.

I made the banner on my computer by using the MSWord table feature.
The Arabic script, according to an on-line translation site, reads:

"There is but one God,
and Mohammed is his prophet."

This unit will join with two rifle-armed units to form the Silver Fox Clan of the Haddabiera tribe.

New Native Unit: semi-Tuaregs

After the first play test of the assault on Fort Khalaam (see previous post), we decided that the Haddabiera needed some more warriors. So I got busy with the brush and paint. In less than a week, I had a new unit of 20 native warriors. I decided to give them a Tuareg-like character with blue robes and turbans. Only seven of the figures had the lower facial veil so all the others also got one put on with paint. I used three different blues to give them some variation and to simulate the fading of cloth and dye in the hot sun.

This unit is composed of figures from the old Miniature Figurines Carolingian/Moor line. I don't think that they are cast any longer but there are similar figures available in the MiniFig Medieval range. The unit consists of six CM-7 advancing with spear, seven CM-12 standing with spear, and seven CM-6 advancing with sword. I added the Arabic "B" character to the shield using the special character font in my MSWord program, printing it in white lettering on black. A simple hole punch was used and then the circles were glued onto the shields and covered with Elmer's glue before I blended them into the shield using a flat black paint.


The banner is also made with MSWord, but in this case I translated "Allah is great" into Arabic script using an on-line translation program and then pasted that into a pair of cojoined rectangular cells. I then cut it out and glued it to one of the upright spears. Presto, instant banner.

This unit will join two rifle-armed units to form the Black Leopard Clan of the Haddabiera tribe.

I'm please with the way these turned out and how quick they were to paint. I hope the rest of the native infantry and cavalry reinforcements go as quickly.

May's Painting Accomplishments

May was a very productive month as I labored mightily to complete the figures I needed for my Victorian Colonial games. I think that I've already posted pictures of most all of these. Here's a breakdown of the 106 Olley points of painted figures:

12 Pathan mounted warriors (24 Olley points)
13 British gunners (13)
12 British hussars (24) and dismounts (9)
1 British mounted officer (2)
1 Indian mounted officer figure (1)
12 Bengal lancers (24) and dismounts (9)

Plus the fort at Khalaam and 8 sections of gabions which are not counted in the above total.

Whew! And I have another 60 native infantry and 12 mounted warriors to complete in June!

Assault on Fort Khalaam - 1st Play Test

This past Saturday, May 30, we play tested the Assault on Fort Khalaam scenario that I will be using at Bayou Wars on June 27. Five of our group members helped me in this game. The following pictures (please click on them to see enlarged versions) reveal the scenary and some of the action. We will run another play test on June 20.

Rules used: The Sword and the Flame (20th Anniversary edition) by Larry Brom

Figures used were, with a few execptions, the venerable Ral Partha colonial figures, all owned and painted by Jim Pitts.

An overview of the battlefield, with Phil Young (l), Jay Stribling (c), and Bill Hamilton (r) moving and deploying troops. Not shown are Sean Pitts and Ed Sansing.

A closer look at part of the battlefield showing the left part of the Highlander battle line, the village of Khalaam (occupied by Indian troops), and the watchtower hill and the Anglo-Indian cavalry in the background.

The Fort of Khalaam, garrisoned by a unit of 20 rifle-armed Haddabiera tribesmen and the Emir and his banner bearer.

The Highland battle line with the Royal Artillery battery behind its protective wall of gabions. From this position, the guns began firing on the fort in an attempt to breech the walls.

Meanwhile, in the village of Khalaam, the action is being recorded for posterity by Nigel Bettafloss, star reporter from the London Times, and his cameraman.

Dismounted British hussars skirmish with Haddabiera riflemen on the slopes of watchtower hill. The hussars are supported by the Indian mountain battery on the left and a platoon of Ghurkhas and a troop of Bengal lancers to the right and rear.

Toward the end of the battle, the Haddabiera cavalry launches several last ditch charges. In the foreground, a band of Haddabiera attempt to close with an Indian platoon in square. The Haddabiera closed, but not before they took several casualties from Indian rifle fire. In the ensuing melee, the Indians easily drove the Haddabiera away, inflicting severe casualties.

In the background, the other Haddabiera cavalry band can be seen. Their action is portrayed in the next two pictures.

Here the second Haddabiera mounted band (being played by a band of Dervish warriors), urged on by the cavalry commander (in blue with banner), attack the Indian mountain battery.

OOOPS!

Close-in shrapnel fire killed 10 of the 12 mounted warriors, but the remaining two (the band's leader and a warrior) closed with the battery. The British field force commander and his two escorts joined in the defense of the battery.

The action was furious as the two mounted Haddabiera either killed or chased away the Indian gunners and the battery officer. Then the commander's escort engaged. The Haddabiera warrior was forced back and then one escort was killed and the other forced back by the band leader. Suddenly it was mano-a-mano between the British commander and the Haddabiera mounted band leader. But the British commander's Webley didn't fail him and he killed the Haddabiera leader, saving the situation here in the center.

At the end we staged an assault on the fort to gain some data about the best way to interpret Larry's rules. Here a Highland platoon begins to cross the breeched wall, defended by a few Haddabiera warriors and the Emir and his banner bearer.

The Highlanders assault the breech in this staged test. They could only fit three figures into the breech and two separate attempts were bloodily repulses. After some discussion and a re-reading of the rules (always a good thing), we realized some more testing would be needed. Sean and I will do that at home over the next three weeks to refine the procedures.

I gained a lot of good information and suggestions from this play test which I will incorporate into the final test.

More on Fort Khalaam

I took some more pictures of the progress on Fort Khalaam last night. As usual, please click on the pictures for larger images.

After I had a good look at the walls with the stone effect spray, I wasn't completely satisfied. So I sprayed a coat of the Krylon Ultra-Flat sand camouflage spray paint on them. I think they look much better but could still stand some more work. In this picture, you can also see the "crazing" that occurred when I sprayed the yogurt containers first with the Fusion and then the camouflage paint. I've left them this way because I think the effect enhances the feeling of weathering that a fort like this should have.

Another view of the fort from the side. I also oversprayed the hillock upon which the fort sits with the camouflage sand color so it and the fort walls seem to blend together.

Here is one of the damaged wall sections in progress. After cutting the foamcore and styrofoam down to create the breech, I cut out a piece of very thin plastic as a base for the fallen rubble. Using Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty, I built up the rubble heap and then added rocks and pebbles to give it some texture. Tonight I'll spray it with the Krylon stone effect paint and then tomorrow night with the camouflage sand paint. Later on I'll probably add some more effects to the breeches, but this will at least get me through the game on Saturday.

I also made a three tiered hill at the same time that I was making the fort's hillock. This hill will be the home of a Pressman Pirate set tower. There is a pathway that starts mid-way down the left side of the lowest level and then runs around to the front of the hill before making its ascent to the tower. The rear of the hill is almost vertical face that will be too step for anyone to ascend.

Jim