It's a new project and a whole change of period! What madness is this! Yes, of all the many projects that I have unfinished, I have decided to start a new one. This time it is the Sudan campaign, one of the many colonial campaigns in Queen Victoria's reign. It is also another involving really interesting uniforms, fascinating characters, and enemies who are colourful and very dangerous and determined (and with amazing hair in the case of the Bija!)
I have been drawn into the Victorian period again, largely sparked by using my Martini Henry rifle in a competition based on the service rifle shooting of the day. This event required accurate shooting on true copies of the original targets, but it also had a time element and the requirement to shoot from different positions. This shoot was fascinating and the results showed for me what an excellent rifle the Martini Henry was as a combat rifle of it's time (and my goodness doesn't that barrel get hot after 6 shots in a minute!).
With this enthusiasm still burning I dropped everything else and started work on these wonderful Perry's miniatures from their plastic boxed set. I also bought as many good source books as I could and started reading and learning more about a campaign that I previously knew little about.
One thing that struck me was the wide variety of uniforms and clothing (on both sides), and how it all evolved during the 15 or so years of the war. Even the Ansars changed their dress following the Mahdi's decrees, the 'Fuzzy Wuzzies' having to shave their hair off near the very start of the war, and the purposely patched 'uniform' becoming formalised.
It seems that this particular British uniform (as per the figures) was only really worn like this by the troops who arrived via India (actually on their way home to the UK from India until they were recalled and diverted!). The 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers seems to be the only regiment that I have so far found that wore the equipment and uniform pretty exactly like this. One battalion, The York and Lancaster Regiment, came via Aden but illustrations show them not wearing the pugree and having the chin strap wrapped across the front of the pith helmet at a diagonal . They also seem to be shown wearing the blanket roll across the body.
So it might be that I can only really use the plastic boxed set for this one regiment in Sudan, if I'm really pedantic about it. I would love to hear of any other units who wore the unform exactly like this with Martini Henry Rifle. In the meantime I will buy the lead troops from the Perry's who are modelled to match the York and Lancaster's and the many grey clad regiments.
I do realise that the plastic boxed set will be perfect for other colonial wars such as Afghanistan and NW frontier etc, so will see if my interest spreads out that way too...it probably will!
Back to the figures themselves, the troops assembled really well and the poses are wonderful. I really really like these figures, and I enjoyed building them. This is not something that I say about all plastic figures. I really am not keen on putting loads of bits onto a figure and thankfully these do not require too much assembly. One has just enough choice to make it really interesting and add variety.
Painting involved using Army Painter washes of different hues and thickness to get the desired effects. I wanted lots of shadow and for shades to be a touch lighter than they would be in Europe. For instance, I made the blankets a little lighter to show the effect of the brighter sunlight. In Europe I would have used a slightly darker shade.
I decided to go back and use black to line in and used a Pigma Micron 04 black ink pen to draw the lining in. This proved effective I think, and seemed to be quicker and easier than using a brush. I must remember to do this more often.
The basing required some thought. I wanted to try to capture the right look. One really useful acquisition has been the book 'Go Strong into the Desert' by Lt Col Mike Snook and sold by the Perrys. This book is so well laid out and is perfect for the wargamer. It also has many colour photos of the battlefield (so much unchanged it is amazing!). One thing of note was the contrast of sand and greyish rock.
I had feared making the bases too 'sandy' and losing the figures in the sand as they might blur in. With more confidence from the photos in Lt Col Snook's book, I used some thinned AP strong tone in patches and other shades before dry brushing with Vallejo Iraqi Sand and a top layer mixed with white. A few tufts, AP washed cat litter and static dead grass put on sparingly finished the effect.
I finished the figures last night and put them on the Barrage Miniatures desert mat. I must say that I am really pleased with the overall look.
To finish off I did my usual thing of printing a label and naming the unit. It just helps to tie them into history more for me and make that connection.
So what to do next? I should do my box of Mahdists, but then last night I had a great game of Sassanid Persians vs Late Romans with Ian using 'Hail Caesar' rules and I want to fill in some army gaps...oh choices, choices! 😀
