Captain Cliche: 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.