Looking for Sikh Cavalry

[Chairface]

Hey

I'm starting a VSF project and want to use Sikh Cavalry riders for it. Can anyone recommend a line (lines) that produce Sikh Victorian era Cavalry in 28mm? I am leaning towards Redoubt, but there are only two poses. Thanks.

[Plynkes]

Do you mean Sikh Cavalry of the Indian Army or of the Sikh Khalsa Army?


(Not that I can help you in either direction, but it might help others to help you if they know that.)

[Chairface]

Do you mean Sikh Cavalry of the Indian Army or of the Sikh Khalsa Army?


(Not that I can help you in either direction, but it might help others to help you if they know that.)

My appologies. That was a bit vague of me. Sikh Cavalry of the Indian Army.

[argsilverson]

Brigade Games: packs BG-WIEB90 & BG-WIEB92
http://www.brigadegames.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?

not exactly Victorians but very close being WW1.

Another option could be some of the victorians produced by "little lead soldiers" which has some Indians in parade
http://www.littleleadsoldiers.com/

[Justin Buck]

I have some of the redoubt mounted sikh's with crouched lance.  They are some nice figures, not too big like their Zulu range.

[6mmfan]

Old Glory make some in their Indian Mutuny but they may be too early for what you want and they dont have lance. Also in their Northwest Frontier range there is some Bengal lancers and Guides but I dont know if they are Sikhs or not!

IIRC Foundry make some as well.

Cheers
Kieran

[Paul E]

Not a great photo but Foundry do these.

 

[Dewbakuk]

I'm not a fan of Old Glory figs, however, I do own the NWF Bengal Lancers (who most definately are Sikh). They are reasonable figures, better than many of their ranges. Depends on the level you are after. The redoubt ones are quite big from what I've heard, but are probably better sculpts, not actually seen them though.

[Hammers]

Are you asking for Sikh cavalry specifically, or any Indian army horse? Because, and Plynkes, correct me if I am wrong here, Sikhs are an ethinic and religious group from which during the Raj rather homogeneous regiments were drawn. Bengal Lancers are cavalry regiments from the region of Bengal in the NE. And they were of mixed ethnicity with a majority of muslims. I think.

[Malamute]

Chairface,

Scroll down the link here and you will a photo of the OG Bengal Lancers that I use in my VSF games. (They are decent enough figures, better than many other OG sculpts.)

Bungditin's Bhurpa Lancers from Khalibar

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=6220.0

[Plynkes]

Hammers, the "Bengal" in Bengal Lancers means the unit belongs to the Army of the Bengal Presidency. It doesn't describe the ethnicity of the troops.

The Bengal Army had Punjabi (and therefore Sikh) units of infantry and cavalry under its command as well as other peoples. For example, the 11th Bengal Lancers were originally Probyn's Horse*, a unit of Sikh Irregular Cavalry raised at the time of the Great Mutiny.





*They got that name back again after the Great War. They also later had "5th King Edward VII's Own Lancers" tacked on the end too, which made for a bit of a mouthful.

[Hammers]

Hammers, the "Bengal" in Bengal Lancers means the unit belongs to the Army of the [wiki]Bengal Presidency[/wiki]. It doesn't describe the ethnicity of the troops.

Thanks for (at least partially) clearing that up! I had to look up the Bengal Presidency bit.

I should also add that Castaway Arts in Australia makes very nice Bengal Lancers fir for the Victorian age.

[Plynkes]

Sorry about that. Yeah, British India was divided into presidencies (administrative provinces), each of which had their own army. The others were Bombay and Madras. The presidency armies were eventually done away with and the Indian Army unified into a single body around the start of the 20th Century, I think.

Our example the 11th dropped "Bengal" from their name in 1903, so I reckon it was round about then that it happened.

[Dewbakuk]

Ah, that all makes sense and I stand corrected. All the references to the Bengal Cavalry that I've read (that mentioned it) was to Sikhs. However, it's entirely probable that they were about the Sikh units 

[Plynkes]

Yes, some Bengal Cavalry units were raised from Sikhs in the Punjab, some weren't.

For example this chap:

The Hon. Malik Umar Hayat Khan of the 18th Bengal Lancers (as was, the name had changed again by his day to the 18th King George's Own Lancers), is clearly not a Sikh. They were originally the 2nd Mahratta Horse.


Whereas...

Rissaldar-Major Sher Singh of the 13th (Duke of Connaught's Own) Bengal Lancers (originally 4th Sikh Irregular Cavalry or Watson's Horse) is most definitely from a Sikh regiment.