British for the Sudan

I think my interest in the colonial period was triggered by this photograph of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders formed up in square in a barren stretch of desert. It is nothing, if not incongruous. Men from Scotland, dressed in uniforms designed for European conditions, in the middle of an expanse of desert that couldn't be further from the Highlands. It begs the question, what on earth are they doing there and why?

As it happens, I've yet to add figures in kilts to my collection, for now the majority of miniatures are from the Perry Miniatures plastic range that covers the period 1877-85. 

I've used them for a few different rule sets including The Men Who Would be Kings; Death in the Dark Continent and a variant of Sharp Practice.

I had initially based the figures individually, which made sense at the time as several of the rule sets required casualties to be removed. However, I've gone off sabot basing and moved over to multi-basing instead. In this case in groups of four figures. That's been the excuse to create this new post to reflect the new appearance of the collection. 

I like the compact look of the figures and the more seamless appearance of the basing.

Most of the commanders and leaders are from the same Perry plastic set. 

I've carried out a couple of very simple conversions to create wounded figures that I can use to replace a leader figure once a wound occurs. 

 

The two prone figures are also Perry plastics. In their case they come from the Zulu war British set, as the Sudan set doesn't contain any casualty figures. To say I 'converted' those two is to stretch things a little. I haven't even gone to the effort of giving them puttees. All I did was shave off the cuff details and piping and paint them in khaki.

I made use of a few spare Perry plastic figures to make up a suitable deployment point.

Also from Perry Miniatures is a contingent from the Naval Brigade.

Unlike the regular infantry figures these are all in metal.

I particularly like the command figures, which are full of character. 

One of the key contributions made by the Naval Brigade was to operate heavier weapons, like the early machine guns, in this case a Gardner gun. 

And a 7 pounder screw gun, once again from the Perrys.

I have a small mounted contingent from the 19th Hussars. Once again these are metal figures from Perry Miniatures.

While the vast majority of figures are from the Perrys, there are a few extras from other ranges. I wanted a group of figures that could represent something like a railway survey party or armed civilians. The intention is to use them as characters in scenarios where they may need to be rescued or escorted. This set below is from Wargames Foundry and come from their Darkest Africa range. 

Thinking along similar lines, I acquired this camel train and drivers from Empress Miniatures. Once again they could be a scenario objective or something to be protected and escorted. 

The Mahdist opposition to these units haven't required rebasing but do deserve a post of their own, one where I can compile the full collection in a single spot. That's a job I will get around to soon.