Bengali and Indian troops for the Sudan / Anglo-Egyptian War / NWF

Painted these chaps up a while ago. Nice clean castings, wish I could remember who they were from. I don't have my PoW lists to hand so I can't identify which units they represent or even which campaigns, but I'm hoping to get them into battle soon.

Here's what I've amassed so far - six units of infantry and a brigade commander.

Hopefully these steadfast troops will halt the onslaught of enemy long enough to save the day.

 Will 'Rupert' keep his men in order, spot the enemy and join them in the thick of it when the time is right?

1st company finds itself alone but help is not far behind.












Time to give the enemy some of Sheffield's finest - 'they don't like it up 'em.'

Chasseurs D'Afrique

Picked another random bag from the lead pile. Essex 15mm Chasseurs D'afrique. Originally intended for FPW but I think I can use them elsewhere - Crimea, Mexico, Italy and Indochina(?).

 So I've seen yellow cuffs, white cuffs and black cuffs, white belts and black belts. I will have to order another book from Outpost for the uniforms of the Imperial armies.

First units of French Cavalry

First cavalry units for my C19th French, starting with a base of Spahis. Not sure who made these, your guess is probably better than mine.

Although they can operate as scouts and staff troops, they really need some friends to bulk out the unit.

Then there are my  Guard Guides, a full squadron here. Far too well heeled to waste in battle, I shall keep these dainties in reserve. About time I did some line cavalry. I have nine? Dragoons,12 Curassiers (two regiments), 12 Chasseurs D'Afrique and 6 Hussars. I guess I can use the excess Dragoons as picquets and escorts.

French Guard Horse Artillery

Here are two batteries of French Guard Horse Artillery, possibly Outpost but not certain. I suspect the guns are from elsewhere.

French Artillery

Here are my French foot artillery. I think most of these are re-purposed ACW figures.

French C19th - first recruits!

These are my first troops completed for my French armies. Should be good for Crimea, Italy and Franco-Prussian wars.

First up are three batallions of the French Foreign Legion.

 No idea who made these, although looking a the guys at the back (who must be over a foot taller than their colleagues) I suspect that most of these are freikorps though I may be very wrong.

My order from Outpost arrived together with Tom Nutt's book on the French republican forces. It appears I've got the epaulettes wrong for my Legionnaire battalions so I have a little corrective work to do.

1st & 2nd battalion - red strap, green cresent, red fringe.
3rd battalion red strap, red cresent, green fringe.
 The red is called 'garance'  which I think is a deep terracotta  red or 'brick' red.

C19th Flags from East Riding Miniatures

Ordered some of  the von Fahnestock flags from ERM and they arrived the following day - awesome! I picked a selection suitable for the later half of the C19th. Can't find them anywhere else other than Crimean stuff from Navwar.

These are all hand-painted and reduced so they fit with the hand-painted figures! I found someone selling  flag cravats and tassles too - Maverick Models but the contents are not described so well so I'm going put in an order when I'm a little more flush.

Tried out the Fahnestock flags with this French one. Only just realised it's upside down - silly me! Used a paper clip to make the flagpole. Just need a finial and  tricolore cravat. Next time I'll try using some brass rod, hammered and filed to a point. I tried making tassles for my Austrians a few days ago with gold  thread. Hard work and they look a bit aenemic.

Here are three of my French command bases, just waiting for the men to join them.

Royalist Commanders

Lastly are a couple of command bases modeled roughly on the generals from John Fletcher's Liberators! book...

Here I've used Fantassin British generals with staff from Lancashire Bavarians. You can see the difference in size, most noticeable in the horses.

Royalist Artillery

Finally, got round to doing the artillery. These are Fantassin Spanish Artillery 4 pounders with the bicorne replaced with Mirage militia tophats.

The guns look very bluish in the pic but, in reality, they are more  greyish blue.

Dragoons and the Arequipa Sqn

The next cavalry unit is the Dragoon Sqn, made from odd Fantassin hussars, chasseurs and officers, with cut down  militia top-hats. I tried painting Spanish Pintos, again with mixed results, also tried brindled greys, but they just look dirty :(. Never-mind it's all good practice.

Also,  I have finished the Arequipa cavalry squadron, again using Militia top-hats on Fantassin French Chasseurs.

Arequipa Cavalry - Battle of Huaqui

Tinta Dragoons

Welcome to the Tinta cavalry, my first mounted unit for the Royalists, painted up from Bavarian Light Dragoons from Lancashire games...

Here they are.. Fantassin's finished Cotobamba and Paucartambo Regts. I've darkened the blue considerable to try and make it more correct, using Dark Prussian Blue with black washes.

Royalists Huaqui June 20th 1811

The South American Wars of Liberation saw the Spanish governed regions using units raised from the population stiffened with Spanish troops on colonial service. So here are the  1st Btn. Cuzco Militia, converted from Mirage 15mm Austrians. Note the  missing bayonets caused by rough handling of the sometimes brittle, hard metal figures.

I took substantial liberty  by giving them greatcoats for the cold nights up on the high ground around Lake Titicaca. The second battalion were not so lucky....

With the second battalion I tried cutting down some Mirage Austrians with round hats. Not ideal, so I will look for some Spanish top-hatted militia for  the future.

Again from Mirage -  the Royalist Ferdinand VII Regt..

And with the Abancay Regt. formed in front.

Last of the Mirage figures for the Royalists are the Puno and Royal Lima Btns.

Most of these are usually shown wearing top hats for the early battles but I figure the  bicorne is common enough to have a few of my regiments  wearing it. I've since purchased  a load of top-hatted Spanish Militia from Warmodelling / Fantassin which are primed and ready for painting.

Mapuche

Not quite sure what I was thinking! I was mulling over  whether native troops had any influence of the Wars of Liberation. There are Indian units around but  although I can't find them in any Orbats, I am reliably  informed that the Mapuche resisted colonization by anyone for  hundreds of years. If i remember correctly, the Mapuche  provided cavalry that were fielded against Chilean forces by the royalists during the wars for Chilean Independence.

These were quite expensive by my standards. There are two companies providing Mapuche, mine are the less expensive ones from Lurkio Miniatures. I must say they are very nice and come with pre-sharpened wire spears and four bases. The Principles of War rules allow me to base them on 30 x 40 mm bases ( deeper formations for irregular cavalry) which means I can also use them for DBX 40 x 30mm LC units if I fix them facing obliquely. I just had to provide a couple of extra bases to make 2 POW units and then watch  the great film 'Hidalgo' to get an idea of Spanish Pinto colours.

1st Btn. Venezuelan Rifles

First, for this force,  are the  British volunteers who were formed as the 1st Btn. Venezuelan Rifles.

Fantassin figures from their Spanish range.

Cazadores de Los Andes - Battle of Chacabuco 1817

Received a 'wrong' package of   Fantassin figures from a UK supplier - infantry in Shakos with oilskins. Decided to use them for  the 1817 Battle of Chacabuco as Cazadores de Los Andes. I bought a battalion pack with came with three different styles of infantry. looking at the pic it's quite obvious that the men are of different heights, which I quite like. I think I can also use these for the Battle of Maipo.

The uniforms are meant to be a lighter blue than the usual French / Prussian Blue. This was achieved, perversely, by using AV Dark Prusia Blue (their spelling ) and Prussian Blue.

Patriots Tucuman Sept 23rd 1812

Well... What have we here? I found an old bag of Minifigs British with shakos, much smaller than the current '15'mm (18mm). I thought I might used them for some cadets, but when a supplier sent me the wrong Spanish figures (look like British with skirts on), I decided to add them to my Minfigs to complete a unit for the  Battle of Tacuman. So here are the Cacadores del Peru!

Clearly the drummers have been eating well and the Colonel has favoured them with some smart blue greatcoats :) These also fought at Salta, so we shall be seeing them in action more than once.

Patriot Artillery

Here's the artillery at last, painted them as natural wood since no one seems to be able to agree what colour they were! Using British RHA crew from Fantassin

Patriot Command

Here is the Command element for the Patriot forces, based on a general  from Fletcher's Libertors! book...

Patria Dragoon - Patriot

I think there were very few mounted Patria Dragoons, perhaps just one sqn...

These are Lancashire French Chasseurs a Cheval, I will add an Argentine guidon later. For the Battle of Huaqui it will also be necessary to field 2 sqns of Patria Dragoons dismounted. For these I have some Prussian Jagers waiting in the wings....

And here they are... although they appear to be carrying a full set of equipment,. I imagine that dismounted dragoons would be a little lighter, with their equipment left with the horses. However, these chaps may have been dismounted due to a lack of mounts. Anyway, I may replace these with less encumbered troops in the future.

Reserve Cavalry- Patriot

Next, the Reserve Cavalry, again without firearms, so using a mixture of Officers,  buglers and guidon bearers. Definitely Lancashire Prussians  painted up to look like Morenos and Pardos troops (Black and Mixed ethnicity). It escaped my mind that the Prussian would come with greatcoats, so again these guys are over dressed for the occasion and better equipped than their compatriots....

Cochabamba Cavalry

Now for some Cavalry...

These are Lancashire Prussian? Dragoons although I needed troops without firearms. I didn't think I could cut away the weapon at the time, but on some later units I have and I think it looks ok.

So here are the Cochabamba Cavalry ( Until such time as I replace them!). This is the first Regiment, there are two more to come. The Cochabamba Cavalry turned up  just as the Patriots were fleeing so  had little impact on the battle. Still, Orbats require 3 regiments of them and I'm having great fun converting the other two regiments from  various heads, bodies and arms. I'll be determined (as Patriot commander) to hold the Royalists up long enough for these chaps to strut their stuff.

Cochabamba Cavalry Regt.

Patriot - Patrios de Buenos Aires Regts

Finally for now, the Cochabamba Infantry and  the Patrios de Buenos Aires Regts...

Cochabamba Infantry Regt.

Chaps with the berettinas  are Lancashire Vendeans rabble, bicornes are Mirage figures.

Command Stand of the Patrios De B.A

Patriot Reserve Infantry Regt.

Next a bit of a hash up,  I needed uniformed troops without firearms so I cobbled together some Officers and standard bearers to make sword and spear armed infantry for the Patriot Reserve Infantry Regt...

I really like the Fantassin / Warmodelling drummer with the floppy hat ( Don't know it's real name) I need lots of heads like this for some future units but no idea where to find them. 

6th Infantry and La Paz Regts - Patriot

From a  Polish manufacturers Mirage -Austrian range, I found some likely candidates for troops wearing a mix of French and British styles. Here is the 6th Infantry Regt. obtained from the Bognor Model Shop I remembered seeing these a few months back  but at the time I had no use for 15mm Nappies. With the adoption of Principles of War for my smaller conflicts,  these  chaps came in very handy, especially since they were half price ( so I didn't choke so hard when I heard how much they were). Came in at  about 35p per figure. 

Patriot 6th Infantry Regt

Now the 2nd Btn. 6th Regt..

And the La Paz Regt...

Both these previous units are from Mirage.