Indian Mutiny - new project

As any normal wargamer I wander from project to project - some of them I never I get to play as I will loose interest while painting the miniatures. Latest example is my interest in Darkest Africa, which saw me trying to get a Force Publique and an Arab Slavers force. Before I had finished the last minis I had decided to sell, and within a day of putting them up for sale I had sold them.

This was around the time that Sharp Practice 2 was launched and after reading some reviews, seeing the YouTube videos that Richard Clark has made, and listing to Neil Shuck's interview with Richard I knew I just had to try it out. So I decided to get the PDF version.

When it came to the conflict that I wanted to use the rules for I was drawn to the Indian Mutiny, although I will not rule out getting into the other main conflicts that the rules are aimed at some later point. The reason for choosing the Indian Mutiny was because of the variety of troop types available to each side and the excellent Iron Duke Miniatures that I had been keeping an eye on.

So before the money received from the Darkest Africa sale burnt a hole in my pocket, I had made an order with Empress Miniatures for some of the Iron Duke miniatures. I will be collecting both sides, as I have found out that this is something I prefer.

One of the options for the Rebel forces are Badmashes and I was looking for suitable figures when I came across Mutineer Miniatures - unfortunately the Badmash pack was listed as sold out. I wrote to Mutineer to hear when/if the pack would be back in stock. 4 days later I received a reply that the minis were back in stock and prices had been reduced from £6 to £4 per pack! So I shelled out on some officers, artillery, civilians, badmashes, a few more sepoys and regular infantry.

There is one problem with the Indian Mutiny and that is the amount of Rebel forces needed. The cost of a Regular British group of 8 with Enfield rifles is 10 pts, and for those points you can get 3 groups of 10 Sepoy Rabble! So early on I made the decision to gather the groups/units that I wanted but a half the force size. In the above example I would only need 4 British regulars and 15 Sepoy Rabble - a lot more healthy for my wallet. I have not found anywhere in the rules where this should be a problem, so this is what I am aiming for.

When my Iron Duke miniatures arrived I started basing them on 25mm Renedra plastic bases, while the Leaders are placed on 32mm washers. I then started painting Sikhs that I got for the British, and yesterday I finished to groups of 2nd Staffordshire Regiment groups.

The Mutineer minatures arrived Monday and I have only unpacked them so far. So a lot of work still to do.

The last thing I bought was the two of the three wagons which will typically be used, Ammunition Wagon and Engineer's Wagon, and three draft horses from Warbases. I made the Water Cart from some of the other carts and bits that I had lying around.

I have also bought and MDF board and gotten it cut up in 2x2 pieces. Some terrain pieces have also been gathered.

Must admit that I am very excited about the project, the rules sound great, the miniatures are beautiful, and hopefully the terrain and the board will be so as well. This is the largest project that I have commenced since my brief venture into SAGA - The Crescent and the Cross.

Here are some pictures of the painting table and the individual minis.