Thursday 12 January 2023

Wounded leaders and a Mahdist gun - more for the Sudan

With CanCon only ten days away I'm putting final touches to everything I will need to run the four participation games of Sharp Practice set in the Sudan. The last remaining item was to find a couple of prone British figures to use as markers for when a leader takes a temporary wound that has him incapacitated for a while. 

I have created figures already for leaders that take a wound that remains with them for the duration of the game (you can see how I made these in this post). 


In their case I use a standing figure with a bandage, but for those who are literally knocked off their feet for a while I like to use a prone figure. The quickest solution I could find was to use the two prone figures that come on the command sprue in the Perry Zulu War set. Of course the uniforms are not exactly the same, the main difference being the lack of puttees, but in several other respects they are very similar. The only modification I made was to trim the lace off the jacket sleeves. I thought about having a go at making puttees, but given the figures are glorified markers and may never even see use in a game I thought I'd fudge it a bit and rely on the paint to do the work.

When needed I simply substitute the existing leader figure with the prone figure. Should the leader dust himself off and get back on his feet again then the original figure is returned to the base. Obviously their main role is to serve as game markers, but they also help to tell the narrative and that certainly makes it worth going to the effort of creating them. 



The other addition is a Mahdist gun and crew from the Perry Sudan range. This is a very atmospheric set with three of the crew representing captured Egyptian gunners pressed into service by the Mahdists. A dejected looking lot who are suitably attired in ragged clothes and shackled at the ankle. The fourth figure is their Mahdist overseer who is about to compound their misery by giving one of the gunners a beating.


I've based the gun and two figures together and kept the other two on separate bases so I can remove casualties. I used the sanding tool on my Dremel to make recesses in the gun base so that the figures can all fit around the gun and blend in.


As I said in my post reviewing my 2022 gaming year, the Sudan project grew from a modest start and has taken on a life of its own. It's not finished just yet (if any project can ever be truly called 'finished'), but I think I'm close to having most of what I need for the scale of games I'm playing. On the workbench at the moment are three groups of Naval Brigade infantry and their leaders; one more group of regular British infantry and another twenty Beja spearmen. Once they're completed I think I can be reasonably satisfied I have the units I will need to cover most of the likely scenarios I'd want to play, but hey....never say never, eh?

6 comments:

  1. Lovely painting sir! Very smartly done
    Cheers
    Matt

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  2. Fudging it? Your fudge is the acme of quality confectionary. I wish I could get out there to see or play those games. I know you'll be too busy running the games and keeping the action moving for the player to do your usual AAR but a quick synopsis would be appreciated.

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  3. Fantastic! I like the irregular base the gun is on.

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  4. Fantastic work and very clever. I am sure the games will be great and attract a big crowd.

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  5. Lovely work! Very crisp colors!
    Best wishes,
    Jan

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  6. Four Games! They will have to carry you out of there! When will your fans see a report of the Convention and especially of your games?

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