Some Things Are Just Too Beautiful to Miss!

Oh yeah, and these:

If you've already guessed that I'll be buying gazzoodles of Indian Mutiny mini's from the Empress stall at Salute in six days then you would of course be correct!

Bye for now.

Thoughts on Forts for the Sudan

I've been trawling the internet today in search of some original surviving wall sections of the sort of fortifications that would have been seen at the Siege of Khatoum. The idea being to create some fortifications similar to that of Khatoum to use in imagery for pictures of my Sudan collection.

I came up with some surprising results. I was expecting solid stone walls and that is certainly not what I found. The first three pics are of a surviving wall that is somewhere near the site of the Battle of Omdurman; the last picture of a French Foreign Legion fort in Tunisia. The latter is much more akin to what I was expecting. I remember when reading a copy of Touching History,Paul Darnel's scenery making booklets in the Sudan and WWII Edition and seeing something he had made similar to the fortifications in the first three pics.

In the scan below it's clear that I've been barking up the wrong tree. Possibly there were more permanent fortifications at Khatoum, Possibly with a more north African influence but it seems clear that the majority of the fortifications would have been of the structure oulined in the photographs and Paul Darnel's creation.

Fortifications near Omdurman

French Foreign Legion Fort

At present I haven't got the room to do much work on this project but it would be interesting for future reference. I'll also be making quite a few Adobe type dwellings, possibly even a model of the Mahdi's tomb.

Salute Bloggers Meet Up

Darrell Hindley (moi) is posting this pic..... care should be taken when approaching this individual..... he has a dark sense of humour!

I hope to see you all there. apparently my services are not needed by the Lance and Longbow soc so I'll be free all day. We need to arrange a time and a place me thinks......

Indian Mutiny Rules?

Hi,

Apologies for the lack of posts of late; i've been very busy preparing for Salute on the 25th of this month and haven't had a chance to really take any pics. I'll do so just prior to the great event so you can see what I've been up to.

With all the well deserved hype over the new Iron Duke Miniatures Indian Mutiny range I'm now on the look out for a regimental set that would allow for skirmishers to be thrown forward (literally in game terms).

Does anyone know of a set?

It would be a real shame to waste all those Enfield armes Flank Coys (in the early part of the Mutiny)!!! I've been advised that both Sepoy and John company both have rules for pushing skirmishers forwards and I have another set of The Devil's Wind on the way (the whereabouts of the last set? Well that's a long story!).

I wonder if anyone has anything to say about the two rule sets mentioned above?

The next question is of course basing..... if I go for a 'Regimental' type set up they will be based of square bases with the skirmishers on longer and thinner bases so they do actually look like they're skirmishing. but basing seems to be a biggie with the Indian Mutiny as most of the games I've seen at wargames shows over the years have had a glut of single based miniatures.

It's a question that i would suggest finding the right rule set would soon sort out!

for now though, here's a few pics of the brilliantly sculpted, dynamic and perhaps more importantly action posed Brits from the brainchild of colonel Mike Snook and sold by Empress Miniatures:

I've ordered one of each of the first four packs to be picked up at Salute, which will be standing in as HM64th and/or HM84th as from the literature I've read on the Iron Duke Miniatures site, such was the emergency that they were issued with no hot weather gear and initially did the fighting in their shirtsleeves! I've also ordered a second pack of the third pack pictures to use as an extended skirmish screen. I'll no doubt be adding to this unit some Salute when I hit the Empress stand! The mini's may well have grown to represent both units by the time i leave the show.

IMBC 1 British Inf, shirtsleeves, covered Kilmarnocks & curtain, P1842 percussion muskets, slope arms, 

(centre coys HM 64th & HM 84th to Sep 57).

IMBC 2 British Inf, shirtsleeves, covered Kilmarncoks & curtains, P1842 percussion muskets, charge bayonets, 

(centre coys HM 64th & HM 84th to Sep 57).

IMBC 3 British Inf, shirtsleeves, covered Kilmarnocks & curtains, Enfields, skirmishing, 

(both flank coys HM 64th to Sep 57; light coy HM 84th Aug-Sep 57).

IMBC 4 British Inf, shirtsleeves, command (HM 64th and HM 84th).

I've also included some WIP pics of Sikh/Punjabi Infantry that will be used as Braysers Sikhs and a single pis of the up and coming Madras Fusiliers. They will all be joining my collection!

Bye for now.

Optivisor Advice Please?

Hi guys and gals,

I've been looking at the 'Optivisors' on amazon and i'm a bit befuddled as to what is good quality and what is not!

Can anyone recommend any of the following:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=optivisor

Any help in this matter would be appreciated :)

Darrell.