Naval Brigade for Sudan

I've added a unit of Naval Brigade to bring a touch of colour and swagger to my British force for the Sudan. There is definitely something slightly incongruous about a bunch of sailors fighting Mahdists in the desert but I think that's all part of the appeal.

All the figures are from Perry Miniatures and are grouped together for use playing the Sharp Practice variant for the later colonial period. This gives me three groups of eight infantry with a selection of leaders.

I particularly like the set of command figures. It includes a very nice selection of different characters.

The set also includes a mounted officer.

These now join the 7 pounder screw gun, also from Perry Miniatures.

And a Gardner Gun, again from Perry Miniatures.

While there is always room to add more for now this gives me enough options for British infantry and support weapons to cover most of my game needs. Of course in this hobby there is no such word as 'never' or 'finished' so I'll avoid boxing myself into a corner by suggesting this is the end of the Sudan collection. Let's just say, it's the end for now.

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?

Cavalry for the Sudan

The Sudan project started off with quite modest ambitions but I've found the Sharp Practice variant has delivered so many enjoyable games that it's inspired me to add a few additional units. The one thing the project has been missing is mounted units, so I've rectified that by adding a unit for both the Mahdists and the British.

These are all from the lovely Perry Miniatures Sudan range. The units are based on a standard Sharp Practice mounted unit of eight figures plus a leader, which is convenient as Perry sell the figures in sets of three.

For the Mahdists I've decided to mix up the groups to include those with rifles, spears and swords rather than have them as a homogenous unit with the same weapons. I'm imagining each warrior arrived with his own mount and choice of weapons.

The British represent the 19th Hussars, who all carry their sword but are also equipped with a rifle. A few of the figures lack the usual animation you'd expect from the Perrys but they work well as a group.

I don't know what it is about painting mounted figures but I find I labour over them. Perhaps it's the fact they aren't complete until you have done rider and mount and so the time from start to completion seems to take that much longer. Whatever it is, I'm always happy at the end but don't always enjoy the journey.

Wounded leaders for the Sudan

A leader in Sharp Practice can incur a wound that leaves him with one less command initiative for the remainder of the game and my solution to remembering who these leaders are has been to either create a specific base or to replace the figure with one showing someone wounded. For the Sudan project I've opted to do the latter.

The Perry plastic set of British infantry includes an arm in a sling which makes this a relatively easy thing to do. The set also includes a bare head and I thought that might look good bandaged. The solution was simple enough, I sculpted one using Milliput to give me two distinctly different figures. The one with the sling is dressed as an officer while the other works as an NCO.

I enjoyed doing this, if only because it wasn't complicated and I managed to achieve exactly the result I was after.

The figures fit into the leader bases I have created. 

It's a simple matter of swapping one figure for another in the case of a wound. Not only does it work as a suitable game marker but it helps to keep the table themed and adds to the narrative.

For those who are knocked off their feet and suffer a temporary wound I like to use a prone figure. The Perry plastic Sudan set doesn't contain any casualty figures but there are 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.

In the case of the Mahdists I've made use of the Perry metal set of casualties. In this case the prone figures are used to represent a leader who has suffered a wound that has put them out of action temporarily.

The standing figures of men being hit are used in the same way that I use the wounded British figures - to represent a wound that will last throughout the game.

Additions to the Sharp Practice Sudan project

I'm going to be running Sharp Practice participation games set in the Sudan at the Lard Down Under event in January 2023 at Cancon in Canberra. Having played several games now I've identified a few extra game aids that I need, some of which will be particularly useful for those games.

Deployment markers are one of those things I've been meaning to get around to making ever since I started the project. I've made two for the Mahdists, both using Perry plastic figures which you can see below. A primary deployment point on the left and a movable one on the right.

At this stage I've made only a primary deployment point for the British, again using Perry plastic figures.

I've added a couple more British officers. I have in mind a scenario where a British survey party or a heliograph team have escaped an ambush and are defending a building until help arrives. I thought the figure on the left might be particularly suitable for that setting. 

For the British I've added a Perry 7 pounder screw gun and crew.

With another scenario in mind I wanted something that could feature as the focal point for an Escort Duty scenario. A camel train was an obvious solution. This is a lovely one from Empress Miniatures.

The two handlers are probably more suited to an Indian or Afghan setting but whose to say they haven't been brought over to Sudan by one of the British contingents that came from India? Painting them all in white was a way to keep them versatile for a few different settings.

I find casualty figures always come in useful and these are a set of Perry metal figures. My original intention was to use them to replace battle casualties and dress the table.

I've since rebased a prone figure to use as a replacement figure in a leader's sabot base when the leader suffers a wound.

The prone figure will represent a wounded leader who is unconscious and temporarily out of action.

I'll use one of the standing figures for a leader who has suffered a lasting wound that will impact his command ability for the duration of the game.

Last, I made up a very quick and simple conversion of a Perry plastic figure for a Mullah (Holy Man). I used one of the heads for the later Ansar wearing a skull cap. The waving arm is an existing one from the set and the other arm is simply one with a weapon removed.