Sharp Practice in the Sudan (update 26 March)

[MaleGriffin]

Lovely work! I'm so jealous! Khaki is khaki is khaki and I wholeheartedly agree, your figs, your color choice! I'd be proud to play with them!

[TacticalPainter]

The one thing missing from my Sudan collection has been mounted units and I'm looking forward to seeing what impact they have on what is already a fluid and fast moving game. We've been playing the small three game campaign that was published in Lard Magazine 2021 to accompany the Sudan variant rules for Sharp Practice. However we've played without British cavalry or mounted Mahdist horsemen (because I didn't have any) and simply adapted the forces accordingly. I've addressed that now with this batch of Baggara horsemen from Perry and not far behind them in the paint queue is a similar number of British hussars.

[fred]

A great looking set of figures.

We are playing Napoleonic SP, and have found cavalry a mixed bag, Dragoons have been not too effective, but impact cavalry can really skittle an enemy unit! Will be interesting to see how they work in a later period.

[TacticalPainter]

A great looking set of figures.

We are playing Napoleonic SP, and have found cavalry a mixed bag, Dragoons have been not too effective, but impact cavalry can really skittle an enemy unit! Will be interesting to see how they work in a later period.

We use cavalry in some of our AWI games and when committed at the right time they can be very effective. I hold out less hope for the Mahdist cavalry as breech loading rifles and machine guns could make a mess of them if they are not used carefully. On the other hand the British cavalry are likely to be far more effective given the majority of Mahdists have only edged weapons, although they will still need to be committed carefully.

[TacticalPainter]

Hot on the heels of the Baggara horsemen are these 19th Hussars from Perry. I don't know what it is about painting mounted figures but I always find them a real chore and I've no idea why. I'm always happy with the end result but there is something about the process that I find laboured. A mystery. Anyhow pleased that these now give me options for a mounted unit for both the Mahdists and the British.

We used the Mahdists in a game last week and I suspect I committed them far too early as they were quickly driven off with a few volleys of breach loader fire. To be expected, I guess. At least these Hussars should be in with more of a fighting chance given the lack of Mahdist firepower, but like all cavalry, timing is everything.

[CapnJim]

Very well done!  All them horsey-fellers look great! 

[Jack Jones]

Great inspirational stuff there – thank you!

Cheers
JJ

[Mudyinsquall]

Amazing project and painting keep it coming

[TacticalPainter]

I'm running four participation games of Sharp Practice in the Sudan in the Lard Zone at CanCon in Canberra on 21-22 January. The only thing I needed to add were a few prone casualties to represent British leaders that had taken a wound that temporarily incapacitated them. As you can see from earlier posts I have created figures for leaders carrying a wound that would impact them for the remainder of the game but I didn't have any prone figures to use for the temporary wounds. I've solved that by using two of the prone casualty figures that come with the Perry plastic Zulu War set. The uniforms are very similar, with the most obvious difference being the lack of puttees. Other than trimming the lace off the sleeves of their jackets these are as they come out of the box.



As with the other wounded leader figures the idea is to substitute these for the leader figure when a wound occurs. They are really just glorified wound tokens but I think they maintain the visual appeal of the table and add to the narrative.  It's a simple matter of replacing the figures in the leader bases.





While doing those I took the time to finish off a gun for the Mahdists. This is also from the Perry's Sudan range and features a crew made up of captured Egyptian gunners who are shackled, one of whom is about to take a beating from their Beja overseer. A very atmospheric set.

I've based the gun and two crew on a single base but the other two on separate bases to allow me to remove casualties.

[Nighthawk]

those bases are fantastic. I've tried to do simular for my bases and haven't come close. So I just settle. Not happy with the results. But what can you do if you don't have the talent or product. 

[CapnJim]

Those chaps look great too!

[Grumpy Gnome]

You continue to impress mate! 👍

[TacticalPainter]

A little gap between new additions but here is a Naval Brigade contingent to join the British. These are all Perry Miniatures once again, I particularly like the command set, some very characterful figures in there.

[CapnJim]

Those fellas look good too.  They oughta be able to give somebody a good whoopin"...

[Juan]

Fantastic painting work. About the Cavalry, I think that, in these late Colonial periods, they are great, and useful, as Mounted Infantry more than as pure Cavalry.