Captain Cliche: November 2019

North Western Frontier in 15mm for Men Who Would Be Kings

Rogues' Gallery

Derek and Jack have lovely collections of 15mm French-Indian War - mostly from Blue Moon - for Sharp Practice. I toyed with that company's American War of Independence range (which looks fantastic) but I fancied a crack at a different set of rules and a different era. Blue Moon have a rather nice range of North West Frontier / Colonial miniatures. I'd also been involved in a fun little game of Men Who Would Be Kings (MWWBK) and those rules gave me the chance to field lots of relatively small and reasonably colourful units. When I found out that Andy at Old Glory / Blue Moon UK offers a discount on multiple packs, I felt it would be rude not to ...

These were really quite easy to paint. A sandy undercoat, a wash, pick out some colours and go for a drybrush/highlight as needed. Of course, it's mostly khaki or white, which helps! Spot colours really work at this scale on such a drab background. I'd never painted 15mm before and I have to say they are nothing much to worry about as long as you have a decent point on the brush and some clean, crisp paints to hand. I found the GW paints were actually a wee bit thick and splodgy for this - maybe my paints are getting old and gooey?

As with most of my stuff, many of the leaders and units have gathered silly names over time. As ever, these are not intended to cause offence ...

Afghan Regulars - 2nd Afghan War

In MWWBK these tend to be classed as "irregulars." They are a colourful lot and see quite a bit of game-time masquerading as the imagined army of Anarakistan, a semi-independent province on the Afghan border. Their leader is Wali Riffraffi - a canny opponent to British imperialism. Apparently the Afghans purchased a load of old uniforms off the British and even had a unit of Highlanders. Perry's do these in 28mm if you're in to that!

This is Fayiktahn's Irregular Red Coated cavalry

Guzzlah's Gun - cracking Trumpton fireman's uniform going on here.

The Afghan artillery was good and often out-classed the British on the NWF.

These chaps are rated Well Drilled to reflect that.

Mustafa Wazz's Red Coats - often rated as sharpshooters - Irregular "Regulars"

Arfanarz's Brown Trousers - more Irregular Regulars

Pathan Tribesmen

Again, many of these join the Anarakistanian army in battle. Lots of dynamic poses and different types of troops in this lot. In time, I'd like to be able to pit the Afghan regulars against the tribes - it would make for an interesting match up.

Mullah Nuttah's Tribal Infantry (often played as Ghazis - fast and choppy!)

Tribal Irregulars - Deadeye's Boys

Mullah Pohtt's Tribal Infantry

Bushtuqqa's Tribal Irregular Jezails - ping!

Wali Riffraffi's Tribal Horsemen and Personal Guard

Often played as Veterans

British-Indian Forces

This motley collection of sometime adventurers often take to the field as the "Spliffers" - the Southern Punjabi Light Infantry Fighting Force (a less successful incarnation of the famous "Piffers".) I have a few more Indian officers to paint up but there's enough for now.

Heliograph Team. Massacred. Often.

Punjabi Sappers and Miners - famously stoic troops in the real campaigns

Led by the inexperienced Lieutenant Knobsworth

1st group/unit of Ghoorkas. Usually rated "Fierce"

Led by the truculent Major Moodie-Pye.

2nd group/unit of Ghoorkas. Led by the doughty Captain Clutterbuck

A group of British Regulars. Led by Sergeant Lickspittle

Corps of Guides Infantry, led by straightforward Captain Randy Rummage

Corps of Guides Cavalry, led by the wily Captain Cockanney

Munchi's Cannon - Indian Mountain Gun and crew

Sharp Practice - (Some) British Peninsular War

Sharp Practice - British Peninsular War

At this year's Claymore Show I took the plunge and started a British force for the summer project. I wanted to avoid the Rifles for now, so I've expanded on the rulebook's "List 1" - musket-armed Light Infantry, Line Infantry and that left room for some Light Dragoons as support. These chaps came out better than I feared - all that lace etc can be a bit daunting.

The research for these projects is half the fun. I stumbled on the Roll-Dillon combined battalions - a combination of Swiss, British and other "foreign" soldiers. So some of the units have that "regiment" in mind.

These are a mix of Perry plastics and metals. They were a bit fiddly to build and clean up but they look great when they're finished - they are very forgiving for a painter like me!

British Line Infantry - Cumberland/Dillon's

This unit (yellow facings) can be fielded as 34th (Cumberland) Regiment. This was an easy choice given the Cumbrian family roots. However, they can also be fielded as Dillon's Regiment as part of the Roll-Dillon combined unit. Dillon's was originally a French-Irish Regiment which switched sides during the Revolution. It has a varied history, including the Alexandria campaign where officers wore rather nifty top hats.

In Sharp Practice, the British Line are really rather powerful - especially with their volleys and their ability to fire and then charge (with the right chips in hand.) There's 3x groups of 8 in this formation.

In true Lardy fashion, the officers are named. The chap in the white top-hat is Captain Hosenhorn from the 2nd Company of Dillon's 1st Battalion. He has clearly refused to change out of his Alexandrian campaign uniform. He is a bit of a cad, truth be told, and originally hails from Dutch East Indies.

The officer who is more sensibly dressed belongs to the Cumberland Regt. He is Captain Maycock-Ettupp. He's usually accompanied by Sergeants Unthank and Swindle but they are currently MIA.

British Line - De Roll's (Swiss) Company

This is De Roll's (blue facings). They were a Swiss Regiment in British service. Swiss and Roll. Magic.

2x groups of 8 Line in this formation. The keen-eyed amongst you might go apoplectic with rage at the red-over-white stovepipe shako cockade. But stand easy, De Roll's were allowed to reverse the usual colours. They also seem to have had red-coated sharpshooters as well as a unit of green-coated riflemen who may have worn blue facings too. That'll be a future project - I'm projecting that they might have worn uniforms similar to the KGL or Brunswickers which might be a bit different too.

De Roll's are led by Captain Raclette and Sergeant Lindt - both Swiss mercenaries with a long and distinguished history of valour, pillage and standing with hands-on-hips. De Roll's also fought in the Alexandrian campaign which gave me an excuse to use the magnificent be-hatted model for the officer.

British 14th Light Dragoons

I've wanted to give cavalry a spin in some SP scenarios. The 14th Light Dragoons with their orange facings fitted the bill rather nicely as they spent much of their tour of duty in the Peninsular War on piquet (picket?) duty, raiding and generally getting somewhat filthy. I went for the Tarleton helmet as I imagine this force is from around 1811/12 - matching the slightly later uniforms of the French in my collection.

The dragoons are led by Lieutenant Shattenkirk, a Scottish-American emigrant who is seeking fame and fortune with the British army. Shattenkirk has led a couple of dashing charges but it turns out the dragoons have a propensity for plunder and shirking off a table edge if the opportunity presents itself.

Cavalry in SP2 are pretty interesting. They can be a major threat because of their charge range and potential to do damage, but rarely fulfil their potential (especially in a small group of 8.) Some use the term glass cannons. But I like the extra command puzzle they add to a game - for both commanders in a game. I have some French Dragoons waiting on the painting table too.

Light Dragoons can dismount or begin the game dismounted - acting as skirmishers with inferior carbines. Again, they can add an extra dimension to a scenario. They are temporarily/permanently led by a Light Infantry officer because I liked it! He can fill in as a dismounted Shattenkirk, or be fielded as Lieutenant Puddocks who is an enthusiastic indoor cricketer and steeplechase champion.

43rd Monmouthshire Light Infantry

Musket armed Light Infantry. Yes please! At a pinch, these can double up as Dillon's light company sharpshooters too, although they may have adopted the Belgic Shako by 1812. I really like the sculpts for all of these figures. Bravo Perry's.

The Light Infantry are led by Captain Pitlick, a tough Welshman with a mighty fine set of mutton chops. He's supported by Sergeant Leghorn (known as Foghorn to his unit, which is a bit confusing because foghorns weren't invented until 1859.)

No photos of their first foray into action. But suffice to say that each "big man" was cut down to size. I seem to remember one stepping in dog muck, another being shot in the backside, one being barged over and another (Pitlick, no less) being unable to read the map properly. The curse of freshly painted toys!

A few extras for Bashnya or Bust

6mm late war WW2 Soviet and German reinforcements

These were painted a while back, but just got around to basing them properly. All minis from Heroics and Ros to match the wider forces. Same as before, these were undercoated lightly, base coated, washed with GW washes and then drybrushed to pick out the details. A few highlights here and there e.g. for windows or tarpaulins. Then the trusty decals and a liberal dollop or two of Winsor and Newton matt varnish. With this lot, we can now run through the whole B&B booklet and there are a few extras for alternative scenarios.

I really like these little chaps. If I were to do it again, I'd think seriously about 10mm but to be honest this whole 6mm project including scenery was pretty darn cheap, quick and effective!

Soviet forces