Last spring Perry Miniatures started their new
Victoria's Little Wars Range with a new set of plastics: British Infantry 1877-1885. These figures are appropriate for the 2nd Afghan War as well as the Mhadist revolt in the Sudan a couple of years later. Thus these small fellows seemed utterly perfect for my project since there haven't been too many alternatives on the marked and I love the Perry sculpts for their excellent anatomy.
Undoubtlesly the battle of Maiwand was one of the most famous - if not THE most famous - engagement of the 2nd Afghan War. Thus a delegation of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment seemed mandatory for my collection. As
The Men who would be Kings works with rather small units I opted for a twelve men unit to start with. Although there have been a some discussions which colour the puttees of the 66th were I decieded to go for the option mentioned in the painting guide: Navy blue puttees for the whole unit. Imho this seemed reasonable and I wanted the unit to stand out on the battlefield.
After all the figures were wonderful to work with. As usual for Michael's and Alan's work the figures are well detailed and full of live. All the figures share the P1870 Valise equipment, the puttees and the Martini Henry rifle. All iconic pieces shown in the British campaigns at the North West Frontier during the 1870s and early 80s as well as in the Sudan shortly afterwards. To suit both campaigns there are two sets heads included. One set with a puggree as worn in the Sudan and one set with a helmet cover as worn during the 2nd Anlgo-Afghan War. This makes the set rather useful for most colonial enthusiasts but makes them useless for the British campaign in Zulu land. However luckily Michael released another set of plastics for that theatre of war lately.
As usual I employed Vallejo colours for the uniform and the Foundry skin set for the face and hands. For the tunics I used the same palette based on VGC "Khaki" as for the 72nd Highlanders earlier. For the puttees I used Vallejo Model Color 'Dark Prussian Blue' and 'Prussian Blue'.
My only worry is that the box contains only two ensigns. Since during the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War the colours were still taken onto the battlefield it becomes a problem for small unit fans like me to find enough ensigns to give two of them to each unit. Luckily in the past the Perrys made command sprues from there plastic boxes available individually. I hope they'll take that step with this box as well. Luckily I was able to lay my hands on one the 28mm incarnation of 2nd Lieutenant Walter Rice Olivey. He was one of the ensigns bearing the colours of the 66th during the battle of Maywand - namely the Queen's Colours - and died with the Colours in his hands. Let me quote Col. Mike Snooke's from 'Into the Jaws of Death' narrative of the situation:
By now 2nd Lieutenant Walter Olivey had also been hit and seriously wounded.
He was observed with a handkerchief wrapped around a nasty head wound,
but when somebody tried to relieve him of the Queen’s Colour so that he could go
to the rear he refused point-blank to leave his post.
'Into the Jaws of Death' by Col. Mike SnookeThe author refers to a contemporary account given by
Lieutenant Manus L. O'Donel which is available on the excellent homepage of the
'Maiwand Journal' a homepage or project dedicated to the name giving battle. Well-known experts and authors about this topic are presenting parts of their research there.
By the way Col. Snooke's book is a piece of literature that I cannot recommend enough. He covers a couple of British military blunders of the high Victorian Age from 1879 - 1900. His presentation of well researched facts and his casual narrative style are as informative as captivating.