Hat Indian Colonials

Like many of their latest 20mm figures I think the Colonial War Indian Infantry are simply a joy to customise and paint.

I moved the standing figures heads, who are loading their Martini's, 90° to the left to get the effect.

The Officers are from the Waterloo 1815 Anglo-Egyptian Army...

The link for their review on PSR is here...

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=794

...fortunately there is an excess of officers in the set, which although could be seen as an issue works very well with the officer 'less' figures of Hat.

I wanted my infantry officer to have Gauntlets I borrowed a few arms from Italeri´s set of Confederate Cavalry

Strelets Colonials

Strelets, have for one reason or another, a pretty bad press with regards to some of their products.

The lads at PSR often give them a bit of a beating for their general level of sculpting which they report for this set as being fairly poor.

The one comment on PSR which stood out for me was their statement, "This set is quite unimpressive".

The set is reviewed by PSR here...
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=961

I have found the set to be both very useful with exciting and dramatic poses...and a great deal of variation. Although some of the faces do resemble men from another planet!

Very definitely this is not a set that has 20 blokes all in a line firing, nor is it one which is wholly accurate. I do like the officer with the Arab scimitar...he´ll be making an appearance later.

With a little paint work, mixed in with some imagination it is worth the investment.

I set some time aside to decide how I was going to paint the first batch...and with a little 'licence' I gave them redcoats.I would recommend this set.

It has a good range of figures for wargamers and painters...also it does have a number of excellent poses for the diorama builder too.

I mixed in an officer from Waterloo 1815. With a borrowed arm from one of his colleagues!

I enjoyed painting them.

The Navy´s here

I used the bodys from British WWI Sailors - the figures are from Raventhorpe Miniatures and the heads come from the same company from their Sudan range.

The figures are great to paint and work well with the plastic figures...although the heads & helments are a little on the large side.

Enjoy

18th Hussars

The Cavalry are from Qualiticast´s Zulu War range...I bought these a few years ago and decided to work on the Sudan Campaign rather than the Zulu War.


I wanted some cavalry to support the Desert Column, so I converted them to represent the 18th hussars. I know they are not supposed to have pennons...but they look so much better with them. I made them from toothpaste tubes...the metal is great for making flags and pennons etc.

The Officer is converted using an arm from an infantry officer.

I am waiting for Hat to finally produce their Zulu War Lancers so I can add a new Troop.

Peter Gilder's models from Wargammes World

Peter Gilder's images have provided me with soooo much inspiration as well as enjoyment over the past few years.

The following images were scaned from a number of old wargame magazines I have kept with me. Although I am interested in plastic minitures I think these are some of the best images I have ever seen...they are simply excellent.

Enjoy!

British Colonial Cavalry

10th Sudanese Battalion 1898

This is how the 10th Sudanese Battalion looked at the battle of Atbara 1898

Naval Brigade

Redcoats in the Sudan

Gorden Relief Exhibition 1885

More great images from Military Modelling & Army and Navy from before the advent of the internet.

Guardsman, Guards Camel Regiment, Gorden Relief Exhibition 1885.

Royal Navay Officer, Naval Brigade, Gorden Relief Expedition 1885.

Leading Seaman, Naval Brigade, Gordon Relief Expedition 1885.

Another great front cover image, this time from the October 1976 edition of Military modelling.

I have enjoyed using these images to inspire my painting, I hope you all will also find them useful too.