This must be the fourth time that I have painted up figures for this particular unit for action in the Sudan. Here with improvised lances fashioned from copper wire rather than the soft metal spears that the figures are supplied with. A fun commission to undertake and a pleasure to return to the late Victorian era.
So... Back to doing some commission work now I have the time. This was fun. My first foray into the Italian Wars. My favourite type of job being a small number of figures that the client intends to use together in a vignette of some sorts. I don't often get the chance to paint a yellow and black paint scheme. All five figures from Perry Miniatures.
Many moons ago, I painted up the Eureka Miniatures 1920s Jazz Band and dancers for my late friend Adrian Shepherd. A few months ago, Shep's collection of early 20th century figures passed into the ownership of another gaming chum and friend of Shep. I was lucky to come into the possession of many of his WW1 Tommies which now live in the cabinet along with my own figures. The Jazz band and dancers were originally painted for a demonstration game that was held at York over a decade ago. This game was the Wake Island 192? scenario that we revived for Partizan last weekend. The Jazz band was restored, paint chips repainted, the old basing removed and a new stage and dance floor was created upon which the Wakey-Wakey Jazz Band would perform and the happy well-heeled tourists would dance in the latest style. Picture credit to Jono Carter, fellow gaming chum.
Something different. Some German Paratroopers, a group of plucky english locals and a dodgy looking Nun all from Wargames Foundry.
These chaps are Crann Tara French Fitz James' Cavalry figures from their WAS/SYW range masquerading as Kürassier in the service of the Rheinish-Palatinate 174?. The Cornet is a WAS Savoy figure from the Lead Pile....I neglected to order a French Cornet figure.
The Palatine Hohenhauser Dragoons from the 1740s. The troopers come Crann Tara Miniatures and are re-purposed Savoy cavalry figures. They look like generic Dragoon types with the important aiguillettes on the right shoulder. The figures on the Command stand come out of the lead pile and are from Minden Miniatures mounted on three available standing horses. There is a little artistic license with the uniform details (black turnbacks instead of red) simply for more visual interest. I am fairly agnostic about the details being perfect.
I have had these sitting on the "to do" shelf since I first purchased them at Colours, Newbury in September, 2023. Painted up as the Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars ready for service in Egypt and Palestine between 1915 and 1918. I used this unit to experiment with a different technique for painting horses. I am pleased with the initial results but the process needed a little tweaking which, I reckon, I had cracked by the time I did the final two horses. This year at Colours, I came across the M&C Model Painting stand tucked away in a corner. They had a box full of "bin ends" of older AK Interactive paints from their Figure range (now replaced with the excellent AK Interactive 3G range of paints) at a knock down price. A few minutes of rummaging resulted in a fistfull of bottles, two of which were "Desert Uniform Base" and "Desert Uniform Lights" which have been used here on the troopers' tunics over a base coat of either VMC US Field Drab or AK3G British Uniform Base. Lots of movement in these lovely sculpts from Paul Hicks as befits a regiment involved in the last "arme blanche" charge against guns in Britsh military history at Huj, November 8, 1917.
