Third anniversary of my blog

Blimey! Three years! Everything has taken far longer than I imagined it would. Then again, I have been busy over the same period with a major work project.

The Empire forces are well advanced now, with just four units waiting to be painted. (I intend to finish everything I have before ordering anything new.) The Mahdist forces approach completeion (for now) with three more bands of warriors at the basing stage. I hope to have these finished this week.

Basing the last three bands of Beja warriors … for now. (A mix of Perry Miniatures’ metal and plastic figures.)

Basing and scenics

Off-and-on this week I’ve made quite a bit of progress, to the point that I envisage having a number of items finished before the bank holiday weekend is over.

Apart from progress with basing figures, I sorted something which had been nagging since I assembled the Renadra 108mm two-story house: the thinness of the walls, especially when compared to the (very much better) mud brick house.

Quite a few based figures ready for the application of various grasses. The Naval Brigade Gatling gun crews are varnished and ready to base, which I am really looking forward to doing.

A bit of balsa and household filler sorted the appearance of the Renedra two story house. Just a bit of weathering to add and the base to finish.

Painting, basing, and sketching

I’ve had a mixed day today, but it feels like proper progress. I’ll allow the photos to speak for themselves.

The wet palette is just brilliant! Paint from two days ago is still usable, and the Naval Brigade Gatling gun crews are finally ready for shading.

Based figures, goats, and trees with base coat. I reminded myself that it’s much easier if the figure’s bases are painted prior to fixing to the MDF bases. In fact, I think I will paint the figure’s bases first in future.

I made a quick sketch of the strongpoint to get a sense of its size. The observation tower is the tallest part, almost half of the total height. It’s not really a very large piece in terms of its ‘footprint’, just very high. I may consider a lower tower, say half the height shown here. 28mm miniature for scale.

Supplies for basing

I made a quick tally of the likely size of my Sudan project, and ordered what will probably turn out to be not enough.

The following turned up today:
Laser cut 2mm MDF bases
– 120 60mm x 60mm
– 48 60mm x 30mm
– 40 30mm x 30mm

and enough magnetic sheet for lining six box files, and, combined with that which I have in stock, magnetise all the bases.

Magnetic sheet from Tiny Tin Troops, and laser cut bases from Minibits. (Links on the Suppliers page.)

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Infantry unit sizes and basing

I have been thinking about the sizes of my units from a number of perspectives: the number of figures specified by the rules I am considering (The Men Who Would Be Kings and Black Powder); the number of figures and different poses in each of Perry Miniatures’ packs; appearance – which will look right on the table; and cost.

With Blu Tack at the ready, and working with the figures I have so far, I considered: six other ranks plus two command figures, twelve other ranks plus two command figures, and eighteen other ranks plus two command figures. The six plus two option was for Naval Brigade detachments, since historically these units were usually small; but this just looked a bit mean when the figures were placed together on bases.

For now I have settled on twelve plus two for Naval Brigade detachments (I have enough figures for two of these), and eighteen plus two for other infantry companies (although I could see these going to twent-two plus two command figures).

I also need a couple of sergeants with fixed bayonets, so I will order an infantry command pack too. All this means that there will be a few spare figures, but I am certain these will find their way into other units or vignettes.

These combinations look right to me, should work with both sets of rules, and give a good visual distinction between the strengths of units from the different services.

I am likely to base four figures on a 60mm x 60mm base. This will give a slightly open looking deployment, which is informed by a post of Mike Snook’s on the (sadly, now defunct) Victorian Wars forum:

I have allowed a hypothetical one yard per two-rank file in calculating frontages, which is obviously an extra foot over the 24 inches of the ‘infantry drill’. There’s [sic] really two reasons for that. First this isn’t the drill square at Horse Guards, (where nobody fires volleys); rather it’s an undulating piece of rock-strewn desert. People give themselves that little bit more room to prevent the constant jostling effect that would otherwise arise from being dead shoulder to shoulder. Secondly, in order to fire, the book states that the rear rank men in the file come up on the left side of the front rank men. I have estimated the effect of these two things as being an extra foot per file. To be clear: two soldiers to each three feet of frontage where a company has turned towards the enemy and intends to fire a volley.

Naval Brigade, wearing sennet hats: six ratings plus two command figures.

Naval Brigade, wearing caps: twelve ratings plus two command figures.

The fellow on the left will be armed with a Martini-Henry rifle, which needs a sling and a cutlass bayonet.