15/18 mm East Indian (including Sikh) combatants

[Conquistador]

Hope I did not post this (or something similar) already...   ... and missed it in threads.  

I am looking for "best sources" of 15/18 mm East Indian (including Sikh) soldiers both uniformed regulars and irregulars.

Intended usage - both formations in battle and individuals for skirmish games (such as IHMN in VSF plus actual historical skirmishing.)

Gracias,

Glenn

[Piero]

How about giving a specific period/campaign/year?

[Conquistador]

How about giving a specific period/campaign/year?

How about, "This is the colonial sub forum, '... Exploring and Colonization of the world in 19/20th century...' so anything earlier or later is excluded."  Sorry if I am pointing out the obvious here but if I wanted East Indian armies from the from the 5th to the 15th century I would have posted it in the Medieval sub-forum.  Wash, Rinse, Repeat for Age of Myths, Gods and Empires; Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts; and possibly Age of the Big Battalions.

I honestly don't know a thing beyond the bare bones basics, (actually less,) about uniforms of native forces and those associated with the European powers in India.  Wikipedia tells me, "...  the Portuguese were the next Europeans to arrive for the purpose of trade, first arriving in May 1498..." and "... The Netherlands, England, France, and Denmark established trading posts in India in the early 17th century..."  so I am assuming that in this forums purview it would be primarily English and French influenced and their more traditional opponents.

Edit:  Wait, did France even have a presence in India in this period?  I don't think so...

Gracias,

Glenn

[commissarmoody]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_India
I hope this helps

[sjwalker51]

Aaa ah, you mean 'East' as in the subcontinent of India as distinct from 'West' (Jamaica etc) or ' Native American' (Plains Wars) - must admit your question confused me a bit as well at first, as the Sikhs are up beyond the North West Frontier, and the North East Frontier (with Burma) Indians look very different as well.

Are you looking for figures suitable for the early period of 19th century imperialism (c.1790-1850ish - Mysore/Maharatta wars, Tippoo Sultan, Wellington at Assaye, Sikh Wars etc), the Indian Mutiny or the later Empire (c.1860-1900 - NW Frontier type stuff)? Not trying to be clever but Piero's question wasn't that stupid :-)

To address your original question, there's quite a lot of recent new releases in 15/18mm covering the wars in India: off the top of my head, for early period, look at Freikorps (a bit old), Irregular, Black Hat Miniatures, Two Dragons (now owned by Caliver). Most cover the Sikh War and Mutiny quite well. Blue Moon have just started a later period NWF range. The old Warrior Miniatures Pathans are quite nice, and some Minifigs regular Indian infantry are OK ( but single pose packs).

Probably a load more but hope that gives food for thought. Osprey books on the relevant campaigns will probably give you enough information on uniforms etc.

[Piero]

Well - assuming a time period from 1800 to the Waziristan campaign of 1820, that's 120 years. During that time, the Indian army was split between the three presidencies (Madras, Bombay and Bengal, later adding on the Punjab Frontier Force and a host of local units, and finally drawn together into the Indian army. There were at least six major changes of appearance in response to military fashion and (less often) tactical needs, and each presidency responded in its own fashion to such changes. Changes in commanding officers and adherence to traditions, whether real or imagined meant that by the 1880s one would be hard pushed to find two units in the whole of India who looked the same.

On that 120 years, these soldiers took part in over 30 campaigns across four continents. That's a fair number of possible opponents. I've tried to do the maths, but each time I get part way through and I'm at a number that makes the mind boggle.

It hardly befits someone asking for help to respond rudely to a question that was merely designed to help limit a huge number of possible responses.

Still, never mind. Before, as you said, you knew nothing. Now you know something. Good luck with your... project.