TMWWBK British in 15mm

 

My British Collection for the Sudan is very nearly painted . Fortunately my uniform choice fits the infantry for the North West Frontier too. Here is the core of the Field Force.

If you squint a bit at the flag we can call them the Royal Irish who were in the Sudan.  

All from Peter Pig, 36 Regular Infantry, and very pleasing figures.

How about some support? 

Here we have a Gatling and a Gardner Gun. 

The gun crews are also from Peter Pig.

From the Lead Pile I exhumed some bags of Minifigs British Sailors. A little slighter than the Peter Pig figures but otherwise compatible.

  Here are another bunch from Peter Pig.

What with the Sailors, I thought I should paint some of the Regulars as Marines. 

They should not have puttees but I rationalised that they would improvise them. Sharp thorns, snakes and scorpions, in the Sudan you would want puttees. 

By way of variety I thought a unit of Bashi Bouzouks would add a splash of colour. These are intended to represent Mounted Irregular Infantry. With Obsolete Rifles and rated Unenthusiastic the unit costs 4 points. 

I have done the mixed mounted and foot Dan Mersey suggests. Peter Pig figures with all the strengths of that brand. These fellows are likely Circassians or Albanians.

I had hoped to add some Sikhs from Lancashire Games Archive range. Alas, I cannot. They are giants.  As are the Gurkhas I also bought. They would do well enough with Blue Moon I think. For this Collection they will not do. Oddly the Ansar foot from the same range will do.

You have seen my British Cavalry before but here they are again for the sake of completeness.

I do have a pair of Heliograph Teams, Peter Pig figures and Scenario friendly. Not only that, another smallish box of figures turned up. It produced a pair of Naval Brigade Gatlings and crews, another unit of British cavalry and one of River Arab spearmen. There are 4 Baggara riders but no horses! The horses must be somewhere. 

I really need to sort out what I have and sell what I no longer need.  Ebay now doesn't require a fee to sell. I could do that.

At this point I realised I could do 3 British Field Force variants. These will appear here eventually as British Columns 1, 2 and 3. 

Column 1, will comprise of two units of Regular Infantry, a unit of Regular Cavalry and a "crewed Weapon" in this case a Gardner Gun.

Column 2, will comprise of two units of Sailors and one of Marines and a Gatling. If I rate the sailors as Irregular infantry I might add a unit of Dinka/ Ethiopian Scouts or one of Bashi Bazouks. Or a half unit of each.

Column 3, will comprise of two units of Regular Cavalry, one of Bashi Bazouks as Mounted Infantry and a Gatling. 

I keep thinking about Hicks Pasha but really I mustn't go there. Some quite interesting units all the same. He wrote that his officers were a rum bunch and TMWWBK does that well. Hicks worked very hard to good effect and no ultimate avail.

In fact, a gun and crew, Bashi-Bazouks mounted and foot and a unit of Sudanese Regulars and one of Egyptian Regulars and I would be good to go. For Hicks that is.  That would require 6 new packs from Peter Pig.  Tempting.

And, that’s it for the moment. Fun to paint and the promise of entertaining games.

 

Sudan River Arabs-TMWWBK

 

TMWWBK gives us a suggested list for a Sudanese River Arab Force. As suggestions go it is a good one and it is where I began.  It is not where I ended up as you will see. I can in fact field a fair few variants of a a River Arab array. The reason being I found three units I had already painted and put away safely. Very safely, I'd forgotten them.

Here are the Baggara Cavalry.  They were a nomadic tribe with the usual attributes. Tough, fierce, predatory and self interested.  The Mahdi won them over, no easy task, and they fought hard for him.

The first unit here is from Essex. It is one of the foundlings. They are rated Tribal cavalry and could be upgraded as suits.

This one is from Peter Pig. I have another 3/4 done.

Now the Jihaddya Rifles who we have discussed before. I have three units, two from Peter Pig and one from Essex. They are rated as Irregular Infantry.  Contra the list, mine won't be poor shots. Essex above.

Peter Pig next.

Some camelry. They could be a half unit of mounted Irregular Infantry or serve in the cavalry. Figures from Essex. Nice enough I think.

Now for the hard hitters, Ansar Warriors.  Rated as Tribal Warriors and crying out for the Fierce and/or Veteran upgrades. Read the literature. I have three units. An Essex and Peter Pig mix first.

Decades ago I read that Ansar means Pure, it does not. Ansar means Helpers or Supporters.

Nice figures and look, the correct River Arab shield. I dislike the cast on flag. I have another such unit that looks pretty much the same.

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Above, something seldom seen. This unit mixes Peter Pig, Essex and Lancashire Games Archive figures. I'm greatly taken by the latter. 

When the Mahdi started out he maintained that fighting was to be done with sword and spear as in the days of the Prophet. All the same he carefully collected rifles and ammo captured from stricken foes. When his policy changed selected men of aptitude were given firearms. They seem to have the most impact in sieges where they certainly shot straight.

The Beja next on this project. I note people are now spelling it Bija.  How ever you spell it, it is apparently pronounced Beejah. Every day is a school day.

Sudan Progress-TMWWBK

 

Things proceed apace. Mike Snook’s Book has arrived. I’ve not read it yet but I have paid attention to the pictures.  All very helpful.

I wanted to get my British infantry finished. The first “Company” above. It carries the Colours which makes the officer the Colonel or at least a Major.  I may have to paint him a bigger moustache. All Peter Pig and 12 figures in all.

 

Another 2 “Companies” each of 12 figures in the same uniform. My Sudan British Regular infantry are done. 

They are versatile too. This uniform will do for the North West Frontier as well.

I had thought of varying my British Companies, Marines, other regiments sort of thing. On balance I chose not to. By way of compensation I may add some Sikhs. That will depend very much on whether Lancashire Games Archive figures match well with Peter Pig. I will be reporting back on that.

A unit of Jihaddya Rifles next. These fellows are Sudanese  originally in Egyptian employ.  Everyone agrees that they were first rate soldiers. In fact, Dan Mersey gives them the same stat’s as British Regulars. Only when under regular command mind you.

All the same they remained formidable when fighting for the Mahdi. He inherited them when he defeated the Anglo-Egyptians. I’m fielding them as Irregular Infantry with an upgrade, not sure which one yet.

The point being they were well trained men who knew how to use and look after their rifles. As for motivation, swopping sides seemed not to bother them. Twelve figures per unit. I will run to 2 or 3 units of them.

It is a bit of a caution to find out this was still the age of the Slave Soldier. All very Mamluk and seemingly non the worse performing for that.

Still with firepower here is a Beja rifle unit. The Beja got loads of Remington rifles from their defeated foe. Ammunition too. They liked to mass skirmish effectively screening and shooting in the charges of the Beja warriors. I wonder if that tactic can be pulled off on the tabletop?

Depending when, we might rate these lads as poor shots. They didn’t know how to maintain their rifles and as time went on might be forced to use the wrong ammunition for want of supply.

Another Beja Warrior unit here. Peter Pig again.

I'm using different shades/colours on the Beja robe. That seems to be right.

I have much more on this project to come.  By way of more TMWWBK fun I have discovered an unpainted Afghan force long forgotten.

From The Deserts of Sudan 1-TMWWBK

 

Fresh from learning to love Lion Rampant v2. I turned my attention to The Men Who would Be Kings(TMWWBK).  Another Dan Mersey production. I’ve had a copy from the get go. I also have a bunch of Peter Pig figures for the Sudan. Badly painted because back then I was using ink wash for the first time. And getting it wrong.

Turning to the sample Army Lists I saw I could field the British one, A Beja variant and nearly the River Arabs. I was 3 cavalry short for them. I set about repainting the little fellows.

I think there is a knack to painting Peter Pig figures. They have a lot of detail. Getting that right is the difference to between a good result and a bland one. Fortunately I now have a lot of Peter Pig painting (SCW,RCW) experience to stand me in good stead.

I decided to paint the British infantry as two units (Companies?) of infantry and one of Marines. The cavalry were to be Hussars.

British uniforms in the Sudan were eclectic. Some in khaki, some in red coats, grey, blue/grey sometimes in the same unit. Add tea stained topis and what’s not to like? I wanted a pair of regimental flags and didn’t want to buy them. Online I found a pair of 19th Century Colours for the Enniskillen’s. That is what you will eventually see here. At this scale they suit any blue flag British regiment. 

The Royal Irish were in the Sudan we just need to squint a bit and it is their Colours we shall see.

 

For the Mahdi’s men I did some visual research. Skin tone varied a lot in the Sudan. Sometimes simply by region and sometimes because of a historical mixing of African and Arab peoples. I wanted to reflect this. 

The Mahdi (above) was a Sufi, a mystic strand of Islam that seeks spiritual enlightenment. He, I read last week, was Shia rather than Sunni as I had wrongly assumed. Sufi devotees can be found among both sets of Believers. 

Forgive me a digression. Another famous Sufi of the period was British soldier, explorer and diplomat Richard Burton. He practiced the Sufi way with enthusiasm. Should you want a good read the most recent Burton biography delivers in spades. 

Burton, is well known for his translation of the Perfumed Garden and the expedition to find the source of the Nile. There is much more to know about Burton. There is also a lot we will sadly never know. His wife burned his papers to "protect his reputation". End of digression.

Anything else on books? Yes, and directly on point. The Mahdi of Sudan by Fergus Nichol is informative drawing as it does on both  British and Mahdist sources. Well worth reading.

Basing made me ponder. Not so much the shape, squares for regular Infantry and round for everyone else. No, it was the terrain. I have settled on rocky sand as it makes the uniforms and Jibbas stand out nicely.

Here are the Beja who "broke a British Square” as Kipling noted. We might pause a moment and think of those men who waded, sword in hand, through a storm of bullets to accomplish that.  Brave barely covers it. 

It inspired Kipling's poem. He knew what Lee-Metford rifle bullets could do to human bodies. I often think that poem must have come back to him after his son died in the 1914-18 War. There firepower met firepower rather than swords and spears. Men fell like autumn leaves.

Here are some Baggara Cavalry. A British officer who saw them charge wrote "You never saw anything so stirring or so recklessly brave." Eventually I will have two units of them. 

As the Mahdi regime continued the characteristic Jibba became more highly decorated. The originals were patched by necessity rather than choice. Mine are sort of mid way.

In theory I only needed to buy a single pack of Mahdist cavalry and it was job done. Too easy by far.  

What about Beja camelry? Well yes, you have to have them,

Shouldn't the British have a gun? Of course they should.

Isn't Mike Snook's book reputed to be very good? Everyone says so. A must have for Sudan Gamers apparently.

In for a penny, in for pound then. I ordered the lot.  After all I had saved on the flags.

Much more on this project soon.

Perchance the Gardens of Japan have popped into your mind.  We might get there yet. I have some Samurai mostly painted.