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Author Topic: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game - added paint / basing test  (Read 5579 times)

Offline randwulf

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I have a set of British from Artizan Designs and would like to get a set of Afghans for opponents.

What other miniature ranges do people recommend? Also does anyone have some list variations that they have tried for this period using MWWBK? How compatible are the different ranges? I also have not based anything yet and would like to keep the basing uniform. Are there some good examples of palette / tuft combinations that work well?

Cheers,
Kev
« Last Edit: April 01, 2018, 12:33:26 AM by randwulf »
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Offline S J Donovan

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2018, 01:38:29 AM »
Tiger miniatures has a range of 2nd Afghan war miniatures including cavalry and Afghan highlanders.

Offline Mad Guru

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2018, 04:23:23 AM »
These are bountiful times for gaming and ghe Second Afghan War in particular and NWF in general!

You are probably familiar with Artizan's own Afghan figures, but in addition to Tiger Miniatures mentioned above, you can also get excellent Afghan tribal and regular army forces from:

Perry Miniatures at this LINK - https://www.perry-miniatures.com/index.php?cPath=23_96

Wargames Foundry at this LINK - https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/the-north-west-frontier-1880-1908

The Foundry range above was also sculpted by the Perrys, so the figures, though slightly smaller than the newer Perry Miniatures, have a similar style.

RE: Terraining figure bases, here's a LINK to a post on my blog with some info on my approach.  It's pretty simple and doesn't use tufts, but might be of some use:

http://maiwandday.blogspot.com/2012/11/rocky-terrain.html







EDIT: I agree with Will Bailie about Old Glory, their NWF Tribesmen are amongst their very best figures and I have several units of them which serve very well alongside my Foundry and Perry Afghans!
« Last Edit: March 23, 2018, 05:23:50 AM by Mad Guru »
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Offline Will Bailie

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2018, 04:38:07 AM »
My Afghan tribesmen include figures from Artizan Designs, Old Glory and Castaway Arts. I'm very happy with all three suppliers and mix the figures in the same units.  I'm currently adding some Perry Miniatures to their number.

For price and quality, Old Glory is a good start.

Offline TWD

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2018, 06:19:26 AM »
I too would recommend the Old Glory, Artizan and Perry models.
All mix well together and paint up nicely.

The Tiger miniature are cheap. That is their sole attraction. In my view you get what you pay for in this case.
 The OG ones are only a bit more expensive and an order of magnitude nicer.

Offline randwulf

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2018, 07:35:49 AM »
I hadn't seen the Old Glory miniatures before. You certainly get a lot of bang for your buck.

For MWWBK you need 16 figs per unit, so 2 packs of tribesmen would give you 60 figs, close to 4 units. The command pack looks a bit large to flesh out the units.

To add some command which do you think is better?
https://www.artizandesigns.com/prod.php?prod=1946 or
https://www.perry-miniatures.com/product_info.php?products_id=3460 or
https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/1st-afghan-war-1838-42/products/ind201-warrior-command
« Last Edit: March 23, 2018, 07:38:41 AM by randwulf »

Online Plynkes

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2018, 08:30:47 AM »
So I take it you are looking for hill tribesmen rather than the Afghan regular army itself? I say that because you mention using 16 figures per unit, which is what you use for melee-oriented spear or sword infantry.

In TMWWBK the bulk of your tribesmen are probably better represented with irregular infantry rather than tribal infantry (which would be 12 figures per unit rather than 16). They were famed for their long-range sniping from the high ground, with massed charges like the Zulu or Ansar's usually being reserved for once the enemy was on his last legs. Perhaps have one or two tribal infantry units to represent religious fanatics or brave warriors who like to get in close once the enemy have been softened up.

In fact, I think the sample Pathan army in the book has something like 3 irregular units and two tribal.  There is also an Afghan regular army list if that floats your boat.

« Last Edit: March 23, 2018, 08:46:16 AM by Plynkes »
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Offline randwulf

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2018, 11:55:13 AM »
I am trying to be economical in both figures and cost. This will be a 2nd army that I will buy and paint up to try to tempt an opponent to give a game a go.

So  ... based on the MWWBK Parthan List:

num
type
figs
pts
ptsTot
figTot
figs
pack
figTot
3
Irregular Infantry
12
4
12
36
Old Glory
Pathan Tribesmen with Muskets and Jezails
30
1
30
6 fig short
2
Tribal Infantry
16
3
6
32
Old Glory
Pathan Tribesmen Charging with Swords
30
1
30
2 fig short
2
Tribal Cavalry
10
3
6
20
Old Glory
Pathan Tribesmen Mounted on Ponies
10
2
20
Artizan Designs
Afghan Irregular Command
4
1
4
Command
Artizan Designs
Afghan Irregular Swordsmen II
4
1
4
Command

Dees this look Ok? What might be some good optional units?
« Last Edit: March 23, 2018, 11:58:44 AM by randwulf »

Offline Will Bailie

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2018, 03:06:02 PM »
I will temper my praise for OG Pathans by noting that the mounted figures are not as nice as the foot. (i.e., they are rather ugly)

I'd replace at least one of the tribal cavalry with more shooters.  Cavalry in TMWWBK is vulnerable to shooting.  It is harder for them to take advantage of cover.  They hit hard in melee, and will cause damage, but usually end up very depleted so even though they might win the fight, they will be so worn down that you won't be able to use them again (compared to infantry who can keep on shooting even if their numbers are reduced).


Offline randwulf

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #9 on: March 24, 2018, 01:25:15 AM »
Updating the list with a few options. This should allow a variety of units to be taken with appropiate +/- adjustments to field a 24pt army.

num
type
figs
figTot
figs
pack
figTot
4
Irregular Infantry
12
48
Old Glory
Pathan Tribesmen with Muskets and Jezails
30
1
30
48
Perry
Afghan tribesmen skirmishing with jezails
6
1
6
Perry
Afghan tribesmen skirmishing with Enfields and Brown Besses
6
1
6
Perry
Afghan Tribal Command
6
1
6
1
Tribal Infantry
16
16
Artizan Designs
Afghan Irregular Command
4
1
4
16
Artizan Designs
Afghan Irregular Swordsmen
4
2
8
Artizan Designs
Afghan Irregular Swordsmen II
4
1
4
1
Tribal Cavalry
10
10
Perry
Afghan tribal cavalry command
3
2
3
12
Perry
Afghan tribal cavalry, sword and shield
3
1
3
Perry
Afghan tribal cavalry, sword/pistol
3
1
3
1
Crewed Weapon
4
4
Perry
Afghan tribesmen with mountain gun
4
1
4
4
« Last Edit: March 24, 2018, 01:27:41 AM by randwulf »

Offline guitarheroandy

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2018, 08:42:08 AM »
I was a play tester for TMWWBK and have put on several convention games with it as well as playing regularly at my club, almost all games being NW Frontier.

We do the following with our Pathans:

1. No cavalry. In the hills, the tribes didn't use them. On the Afghan plains, absolutely, but our games are all set in the 1897 Pathan rebellion, so no cavalry.

2. Most Pathan riflemen (Irregular Foot) are downgraded to 'poor shots' (hit on a 6) to represent the lower rate of fire of tribal warriors compared to Anglo-Indian troops. To represent their uncanny sniping ability, we make them some of them 'Snipers' where the enemy leader is killed on any double, not just double 1! We also have at least one unit that isn't downgraded. We field a mix of 'obsolete rifle' and 'musket' warriors in our forces to represent the mix of weaponry. (All our Anglo Indians get 'modern rifle' and British units get 'sharpshooter' to represent the greater rate of fire of the Lee Metford magazine rifle).

3. We field all our Irregular Foot as having 'Born to the Hills' meaning that they can run about over rough terrain as they like AND we give them 'Fieldcraft' so they can go to ground.

4. We field some units of Tribal Foot as swordsmen, which even in 1897 is right. All swordsmen gain the Fanatics rule, so have no short range shooting (most Pathan swordsmen had no short range missile weapon) but become Fierce so hit on 4+ in melee. At least one unit per 24pt force is upgraded to be Ghazi fanatics.They gain 'Veteran' and have 'move' and 'attack' as free actions. This makes them very interesting to play with!

5. No artillery. Most Pathan tribes didn't use any. Again, on the Afghan plains in earlier wars, this may differ.

Our typical convention Pathan force is:

1 x Sharpshooters (obs. rifle, snipers)
3 x Riflemen (obs. rifle downgraded shooting)
1 x Jezzails (musket downgraded shooting)
2 x Swordsmen
2 x Ghazi Fanatics

We can always upgrade more units to 'snipers' if the situation warrants it.

The Anglo-Indian force opposing it:

1 x British infantry ('sharpshooter')
1 x Sikh infantry (Fierce)
1 x Guides infantry
1 x Gurkha infantry
1 x Maxim gun
1 x mountain artillery (we usually give the unit 'the gentleman has a bottle' trait to reduce its effectiveness, especially if the Maxim is also being fielded)
1 x Bengal Lancers

We find that all of these tweaks give us a very 'theatre-specific' feel to the games and everyone who has played our convention games or club-night games has loved them. We play multi-player with 50+ points per side usually too (although we don't really count points, to be honest. We just try to play well-designed scenarios of our own making! We're on about 50-50 victories too, suggesting balance in the scenarios!

Feel free to borrow any of those ideas or not as the mood takes you. :)

Oh, by the way - almost all my Pathans are Old Glory. They are cheap as chips and paint up really well!

Offline randwulf

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2018, 06:18:00 AM »
That's a lot to think about. Just reading the rules does not give you the insight needed to see how a game runs. This input is much appreciated. I think I will get a stack of OG afghans and get painting.

Then all I need to do is find is an opponent. Most in the area that I am in, Tokyo, seem to play 40K or Bolt Action.

Offline Will Bailie

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #12 on: March 27, 2018, 07:38:36 AM »
If you can field both sides, then it will be easier to find players.  And of course there's Mr Babbage!

Thanks, Guitar Hero Andy for the comments, I'll be certainly reviewing them before my next game!

Cheers

Will

Offline LordSpode1879

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #13 on: March 31, 2018, 04:54:22 PM »
Apologies for hijacking this thread but I'm looking for recommendations for Ghazi fanatics? Would generic sword-armed figures be ok with a suitable paint-job?
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Offline guitarheroandy

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Re: Afghan miniatures for a MWWBK 2nd Afghan War Game
« Reply #14 on: March 31, 2018, 07:59:51 PM »
Apologies for hijacking this thread but I'm looking for recommendations for Ghazi fanatics? Would generic sword-armed figures be ok with a suitable paint-job?

I use Old Glory sword armed/sword and buckler-armed Pathans for mine, but I painted them in purely white clothing, simply to help discriminate between them and the ordinary swordsmen units for whom I included some blue (Afridi-style) clothing or coloured turbans, and used models wearing poshteens...