Work in progress

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve surprised myself with my output this month, especially given everything else I have going on.

Just now I’m varnishing a couple of Empire units, and preparing another for priming, while beginning preparation and assembly of more Beja for my second rub. I enjoy the assembly, in particular a bit of minor conversion work like attaching a sword-armed forearm to a sleeved upper arm, or adding an extra spear to a hand.

I will need to make an order for some additional metal riflemen and charging command and swordsmen, and I fancy some Empire cavalry, but I am mindful of not allowing the lead pile to begin to look unmanageable. I worry less about the plastic sprues, accepting that these represent a longer term effort.

The second rub begins to take shape.

Basing the Hadendowa mounted band

On Friday evening I promised myself that by the end of the weekened I would have assembled and based the Hadendowa camel mounted band, and finished painting the rifle armed band, two spear and sword armed bands, and the command group.

I did a bit better than that, since all the foot and command figures are shaded too; just the highlights to do before varnishing. The camel mounted band of 12 rifle and spear armed warriors is based, waiting for the sandy paste to dry … which I managed to apply without getting any on the figures – a first!

So … all’s well with the world of Sands of Soudan.

Waiting for the sandy paste to dry … Perry Miniatures with a couple of conversions (the fellow on the white camel and the fellow in the bottom foreground have plastic arms holding rifles, to which I added foil slings). The flag is by Adrian’s Walls.

On the painting desk

I had a bit of time to do some painting, but didn’t feel like doing the final detailing the Naval Brigade figures require.

I had a another two bands of Hadendowa warriors assembled and/or prepared for painting, so I set about the blocking in. I now have more figures ready for detailing than I have ever had … at any time … ever.

Top, left to right: two Hadendowa,  spear and sword armed bands, one camel-mounted band, command group, and one rifle armed band.

Bottom: The first Naval Brigade company is ready for detailing, while the RMLI company is barely started. All figures are Perry Miniatures.

It’s been too hot to paint

My study is south facing, which is lovely most of the time. These past days the temperature has been around 32 degrees – way too hot to paint in comfort. I even moved my paints into the basement, where it’s been seven degrees cooler.

I did get on with a bit of base painting and blocking in of the flesh of the next two bands of Hadendowa warriors. I enjoy the blocking-in stage of painting miniatures the least, but the result always confirms that the figures are well underway.

The next two bands of warriors, with a couple of extra command figures.

Hadendowa riflemen kit bashing

One of the things that troubled me was the lack of ammunition carried by the plastic riflemen … while some of the metal rifle-armed figures have ammunition pouches the plastic figures just have rifles. Since it seems likely that they would have carried ammunition in the original boxes captured form the Egyptians, I thought to make amends.

Just now I am preparing a rifle-armed band which will be a body guard for one of the Mahdist commanders, organised with the brass gun battery and a command group vignette. So I thought to add a couple of figures carrying an ammunition box between them. This minor conversion required removal of weapons, careful drilling of hands, and threading of wire rope.

The result looks promising.

Four minor conversions: the fellow on the left has his rifle modified so he can shoulder it in a relaxed fashion; the two middle fellows have rope handles in place for the ammunition box between them; the fellow on the right will bar a flag. This will be the only band of riflemen to carry a flag.

Hadendowa riflemen, and the wet palette

I began work on the second rub, constructing the first of the plastic rifle-armed warriors. Just now I think there will be three rubs, each comprising one rifle armed band, two of spear and sword armed warriors, and a mounted band.

I indulged in some minor kit bashing for one of the figures, dead easy once one has narrowed the choice of torso and arms; one of the features I really like about working with plastic figures.

The wet palette is working really well. I haven’t moistened it since first using it over three weeks ago, and although the sponge has begun to dry out in one or two places, and the hydro paper has cockled a bit, it’s perfectly servicable and has transformed my painting experience.

Hadendowa riflemen, with a minor conversion for the fellow on the left so he can rest the weapon on his shoulder, and the first command group with my Green Stuff World wet palette … which I simply love. It makes painting so much more fluid – literally – espacially on hot days like today.

First Madhist units

Rifles and canon characterise the first of the Madhist units, armed with weapons most likely captured when Baker Pasha’s relief force was roundly defeated at the first battle of El Teb.

The 7 pounder gun crews are a mix of Perry Miniatures’ metal and plastic figures, and a couple of these fellows actually look as if they know what they are about. The rifle armed warriors are also a mix of metal and plastic figures, testament to the excellent compatibility across the Perry range.

Hadendowa gun crews with a couple of capable looking fellows, and a band of rifle armed warriors. The impact of their harassing fire on the battlefield shouldn’t be underestimated.

Progress on the painting bench

In addition to a number of finished or nearly finished terrain pieces, I have a handful of figures and equipment ready for shading and varnishing.

Bases are 2mm MDF affixed to thin magnetic sheet, and will be prepared with Vellajo sandy paste before painting.

It’s taken me far longer than it should have to get to this stage, but I now have some momentum, which is just as well because I have a large number of figures primed.

Gatling guns, limber, Hadendowa flag bearer, and the staff of my field hospital, with a couple of casualties.

Clockwise: Melton Prior sketching, Captain Arthur Wilson, and Colonel Frederick Burnaby. Bases have been prepared with Vallejo sandy paste, and are ready for painting.

Mahdist brass 7pdr mountain gun battery, with crew members converted from metal and plastic Perry Miniatures’ figures.

Half of the first Hadendowa rifle-armed band, with leader based separately …

… and the remainder. These are a mix of metal and plastic figures.

First of the Fuzzy Wuzzy hoards

It seems to have taken me an absolute age, but the first of what I hope will be hoards of Fuzzy Wuzzies are ready for varnishing.

These fellows are armed with rifles and a pair of 7pdr brass mountain guns, likely taken in the aftermath of the first battle of El Teb in February 1884.

Rifle armed warriors caused the British no end of torment, especially when camped at night. Contemporary accounts relate that their fire was more than merely a nuisance, often inflicting wounds on animals and men, and sometimes wounds were fatal.

The first band of rifle-armed Hadendowa warriors. The gun crews are in the foreground, converted from metal and plastic figures, with one fellow pulling a friction fuse lanyard.

These North Star 7pdr brass mountain guns are tiny, just 35mm muzzle to trail.

Magnificent beasts

While I don’t intend to document every small step of progress, this week I have managed to get some day-by-day momentum into the project, so this post is recognition of that.

In addition it’s a long time since I painted camels. The last were for my first century Imperial Roman army [link], Warlord Games’ rendering of EBob’s camels. The Perry Miniatures’ camels are rather more muscular, and I have a sense they will paint up rather well. I also sense I will end up with quite a lot of camels, since both sides deployed them.

I made some progress with the tiny 7pds and their Hadendoa crews too. Base coating seems to be a sensible antidote to a working day which involves very detailed work in the main.

Half the camels and Melton Prior’s horse have been base coated. It’s a long time since I panted camels – summer of 2011 in fact.

More progress with the Mahdist 7pdrs and crews. I plan to finish these and the riflemen at the same time.

Auxilia Dromedarri … I must finish my Romans …

Having a merry little white Christmas

Season’s greetings, and here we are, or rather here I am, almost a year since I published my first blog post, almost three years since I ordered Go Strong into the Desert – where the gestation for this project began, and a year since I received my first order of figures from Perry Miniatures. Over 2,000 page views and three, yes three, followers.

Progress hasn’t been as rapid as I should have liked – even the lockdowns were filled with a major professional project, which is ongoing, and will continue to demand much of my time. Overall then, I am not too unhappy with my progress … I now have a clear idea of the structure of the project in terms of the overall scope, unit composition, army composition, modelling projects, and so on.

On the subject of unit composition, I have revisited this and decided to increase the RMLI and infantry companies to 24 figures, two half companies of 12. This was prompted while looking at the composition of the infantry unit in melee, which had been bothering me for a while. I concluded that the addition of some kneeling and reloading figures would give it more of the character of the eye witness sketches (usually worked up by the artists at The Illustrated London News or The Graphic). Rather than substitute figures I decided to add some, increasing the unit size.

I am now thinking along the following lines:
– Naval Brigade companies 20 figures
– Infantry and RMLI companies 24 figures
– Cavalry troops 6 figures, squadrons 12 figures

This allows for a standard size infantry unit of 24 (a company) for Black Powder and a regular infantry unit of 12 (a half company) for The Men Who Would Be Kings. Cavalry troops are a bit small for The Men Who Would Be Kings, but I think I can live with this, since I would rather not have expensive cavalry figures left over (given that there are three in Perry Miniatures’ codes). Much of this is about the look of the unit on the table … too few figures at 28mm just looks wrong. For the same reason I am making batteries units of two models.

Accordingly I purchased some extra figures; two sprues of plastic Afghanistan/Sudan infantry; six kneeling/receiving infantry; six firing/reloading infantry. I also bought some additional Beja riflemen and crouching spearmen.

White-out … undercoated buildings, tents for the British field hospital, and small barricades including one of sand bags … plenty of sand in the Sudan.

Undercoated RMLI (top) Naval Brigade (middle), Beja camel band, and Melton Prior, with Burnaby just out of shot … reloading, probably. (Did you see what I did there?)

Not much progress with these … I am replacing the flag bearer with a metal rifleman, since I want these fellows to be stealthy.

Beja camel riders

A delivery of a small flatpack unit yielded some very useful polystyrene, increasing my preparation capacity significantly. So I thought to make the most of it straight away.

A handful of free hours resulted in the first of the Beja camel riders being prepared for painting.

Since there aren’t any command codes for these troops in the Perry Miniatures’s Sudan range I decided to convert two of the riders to a commander and flag bearer.

The commander: original figure on the right, and after surgery on the left. The replacement arm and rifle came from the plastic Mahdist Ansar set, and I added a sling cut from tin foil.

Surgery complete: the commander holds his rifle aloft.

The first four of a unit of twelve.

Beja riflemen – more progress

As I mentioned in my last post, these fellows are tricky to paint. The plastic mouldings are just as challenging as the metal castings since they have a remarkable degree of ‘undercutting’, especially the hairlines.

Today I painted base coat for hair and the highlights on the flesh. These two begin to bring the figures to life.

Hair and flesh highlights.

Missed a bit in the hair … happens all the time.

The first Beja

The Beja are trickier to paint than I imagined they would be. The metal castings are intricate, and the plastic mouldings are almost as good, varied poses with lots of detail and great facial expressions.

I looked at this page for guidance on skin tones:
Link: Cool Mini or Not

Black Brown seems to make for a good base. Lightening the Chocolate Brown by adding a little US Tan Earth works for subtly defining muscular surfaces. I plan to matt varnish the figures and then applied a satin varnish to the areas of flesh.

There is a temptation to overdo the eyes; anything too white will stand out too much at this scale, and eyes are often in the shadow of the brow. In any case, I want to avoid the startled look one often sees in miniatures this size.

I am beginning to get a feel for the figures, to learn their contours and details. It’s the beginning of something.

Fred Burnaby preparing to take on the first Beja … getting my eye in.

Mahdist command: one of Osman Digna’s Amirs

With the arrival of a few more Mahdists, by courtesy of Perry Miniatures and Royal Mail, I turned my mind to command groups.

Here’s the first, a static one of an Amir, a drummer, and two flag bearers. I think it will make a nice little vignette.

An Amir and his flag bearers … the Amir will have a name shortly.

Perry Miniatures’ Mahdist Ansar

There are plenty of reviews of Perry Miniatures’ Mahdist Ansar 28mm plastic figures on the web, but I thought to include a brief overview for completeness.

Nicely packaged and presented, the box contains six sprues: two identical command sprues; three identical ‘rank and file’ sprues; one sprue of bases; and a four page booklet. The informative text, written by Mike Snook, includes guides to tribal dress, and six flags.

The figures are cleanly moulded, nicely proportioned, and a good match for the twins’ metal range; if anything the plastic figures are ever so slightly bulkier, and a little taller. This assessment is based on the metal figures I have bought so far, limited to Beja rifle armed and camel mounted figures. There is likely to be more on this in a later post, I feel.

They assemble reasonably quickly, but reward careful matching of arms to torsos, and a little filler as required.

A pretty comprehensive four page booklet, written by Mike Snook, provides a brief history of the different tribes drawn to the Mahdi’s cause, examples of their dress …

… an overview of the 1881–1885 conflict, and even a small set of finely reproduced flags.

The command sprue features two figures, two ‘fuzzy wuzzy’ style heads, one head with a skull cap, one head in a turban, a sword, a Remington rifle, a drum, and a flag staff. There are two of these sprues in the box.

The ‘rank and file’ sprue features six poses, which are duplicated, twelve in all, with two Remington rifles, two sticks, two swords, eight spears, 12 shields …

… 12 Beja ‘fuzzy wuzzy’ style heads, five heads with scull caps (two styles), four shaven heads, one head with short hair, one head in a turban. There are three of these sprues in the box.

There is a lot of subtle detail in the mouldings …

… testament to the skill of the sculptor, the design of the sprues, and the quality of the tooling.

First recruits and sundries

This post marks the beginning of a project I have been thinking about for over 18 months. At the outset I read Mike Snook’s excellent Go Strong into the Desert, which led me to seriously consider the early years of the Mahdist uprising for my miniature adventure.

I like the idea of improvised armoured trains, paddle steamer gunboats, and marauding slavers, while the romance of the Nile and the desert are major draws.

Just before Christmas I received my first deliveries from a handful of manufacturers and suppliers. 

I needed some additions to my scenic palette to allow modelling of mimosa for landscaping and, importantly, zarebas. Accordingly I bought some rubberised horse hair. I also bought brown short and long tufts, and tall shrubbery in yellow/green and natural hues.

I am considering The Men Who Would Bed Kings for rules, and gave the organisation of my forces some thought, but failed to form any firm conclusions about composition for the British. So I decided to order miniatures for Naval Brigade, Royal Marine Light Infantry, and King’s Royal Rifle Corps units, with some medics and war correspondents for vignettes; I settled on early war Beja (the Fuzzy Wuzzys of Kipling’s poem), and ordered two boxes of plastic figures, metal rifle armed, and camel mounted warriors, all from Perry Miniatures.

I also bought the Blood on the Nile Black Powder supplement, principally for the Fred Burnaby miniature, but it turns out to be an excellent source of inspirational photographs.

I bought Union Flags and White Ensigns from Flags of War. I will need to buy some flags for the Beja too … The Virtual Armchair General’s extensive range looks suitable.

My first Perry Miniatures order: metal Naval Brigade, RMLI,
King’s Royal Rifle Corps, and Beja …

… more Beja, and a handful of tents …

… and Blood on the Nile for the Fred Burnaby figure, (the volume is full of great photos).

A range of accessories including Martini-Henry rifles, assorted loads, packs, and helmets, and a water cart, all from Empress Miniatures; assorted crates and bundles from Field of Glory; scale chain from Green Stuff World.

Union Flags and White Ensigns will stake out the territory the plucky Brits are hanging on to!

I needed some additions to my stash of scenics, and rubberised horse hair for mimosa thorn bush.