2nd Afghan War: UD 14/12 completed village (15 images)

[Silent Invader]

They look brilliant. Total genius to spot the opportunity to create these out of the Zouaves.

I thank you 

For completeness, a mini in his new home:



The terrain is covered in a Workbench thread:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=89628.msg1109575

I've actually succumbed and bought the remainder of the plastics for this project. Most have had the basic assembly done (though a few sprues are still awaited) and I should end up with:

24 Afghans (18 rifles, 6 swords) - 4 units
12 British (all rifles) - 2 units

[commissarmoody]

Nice! Looking forward to seeing more of them

[Silent Invader]

Thanks  

Anyways, Monday is usually a hobby day for me and so I knocked out the basic assemblies of the rest of the minis for this little skirmish game.

A taster then, of 12 British and 24 Afghans. All are Perry and await their GS.



The Brits include conversions for advancing poses:



The Afghans include a couple from AWI Colonials with hunting jackets to become sheepskin waistcoats, with some of the Zouaves converted into firing and other poses:



The Afghans have 18 rifles and 6 super-melee-swordmen

I'll put up proper close ups when I've added the GS

PS: no 2 minis are the same

[Mad Guru]

Absolutely fantastic!  Can't wait to see the progress continue on these figures!  Back in the early '90s I converted some 15mm Mike's Models Renaissance Ottoman Turks into Afghan/Pathan tribesmen, with no two identical figures in the same 20-figure basic unit.  This project of yours reminds me of that, Silent Invader, only at a much, MUCH higher level of quality!

[Captain Blood]

Ingenious plastic modelling Steve. Looking forward to the GS-werk 

[OSHIROmodels]

You're never happy with a plain, normal figure are you 

cheers

James

[Silent Invader]

Thanks Mad Guru!  

Oh, and having just clicked on your website link I discovered that 'you' are the Maiwand Day blog. Your blog is a must read for anyone with a little or a lot of interest in the subject and I've visited it a fair few times in the last couple of weeks. Well done to you!  

And thanks Richard and James too.  

Back to the figures, for those interested in the Zouave conversions a bit more info about the shooting pose pictured above. The plastic Zouaves 'as is' are all in advancing poses. The shooter uses a Zouave torso cut at the waist and rotated, WotR legs below the knee, a European Mercenaries right arm with 'gunne' butt mated to a Zouave rifle snipped from a shouldered arms pose and a EM pikeman's left arm (I think).

There are two other similar shooters but for those I used 'right arm with rifle butt' cut from spares on the British Infantry sprue. The nice thing about the Perry right arms is that the butt can be positioned into the shoulder rather than be in the crook of the elbow.

Incidentally, the standard British poses are all 'on the back foot' and given that my little skirmish should have a lot of movement and melee I wanted some 'on the front foot'. The change is achieved with quite a bit of separation! A modded mini generally has cuts to the base (to change the feet location) then cuts and repositioning at the ankles, knees, hips and waist plus changes to the standard arms to match the new pose (which is generally to lower the angle of the rifle).

Edit: Needless to say, the Brit in close-up has standard rifle arms but I did go all Hannibal Lecter on his face. I wanted my sergeant to be the only Brit with a full beard but each 5-man sprue has only 5 of the correct helmet types, one of which is fully bearded. The adaptability of Perry Plastics then came into play as I merely cut out the bearded face and replaced it with one I preferred from a spare head. Simples.

 

[Malamute]

You never fail to amaze me with your ingenuity

Great stuff, looking forward to seeing how the rest paint up.

[Silent Invader]

You're too kind  

It wasn't how I'd planned to spend my day, I'd intended to be painting for GoT but I have a sore wrist / trapped nerve so am lacking a steady hand!  

[Silent Invader]

So I succumbed to the lure....

I have more sprues coming, this time Sudanese Mahdists, to make another 12 Afghans, which will put me on 36 versus 12 Brits,about the right ratio methinks.

And then I read about the 9th Lancers who were involved in other actions. Empress do some great metals but I'm determined to keep the core minis as conversions of Perry plastics (why? fun!). I'm pondering how to put together a small scouting contingent of 6  

 

[Captain Blood]

Plastic kitbashing. It's the crack cocaine of miniatures wargaming... 
Looking forward to how you're going to manage plastic lancers... ACW cavalry as a base?

[Silent Invader]

Plastic kitbashing. It's the crack cocaine of miniatures wargaming...  
Looking forward to how you're going to manage plastic lancers... ACW cavalry as a base?

 

It's nonsensical really, especially when I can buy 'ready made' figures but it is soooo much fun .... so yep, plastic addiction.

Thing is, it's so circular. There are always bits left over on a sprue, so so they get worked into something else, which means more sprues!!!

But to the point in hand, yeah I'm thinking ACW will play a part.  

EDIT: Hmmm. British Napoleonic Light Dragoons might be better.....

[Malamute]

Got to feed the habit somehow

[Silent Invader]

Got to feed the habit somehow

So last night I spent well over an hour intently studying images of sprues then cross referencing against images of the 9th Lancers. As a starter I've settled on

1x Colonial British Infantry command sprue
1x Napoleonic British Light Dragoon sprue
2x Napoleoic Britsh Hussar/Light Dragoon horse sprues

Cost including postage about £12, which I think will give me:

3 mounted
3 dismounted with loose horses

Reading up on their role in the 2AW, the 9th were mostly scouts and escorts but did take part in a number of charges (significant losses) and pursuits. If I understand it correctly, the terrain did not favour the charge with lance and so the carbine saw more use.  One thing I can't get clear on is....

....if they were using the carbine what did they do with the lance?!?!

Any thoughts on this latter point would be appreciated.

Btw, I'm assuming that they used the carbine from the saddle, being 'proper' cavalrymen and not mounted infantry.

 

[Traveler Man]

Nice conversion work indeed. I wouldn't have guessed their origins as zouaves.