Picking up those brushes again.

Hi and welcome to the occasional mutterings of Dave Doc, a military modeller and some time gamer. Gaming and model making has given me a real education, History & Geography(obvious really), Artistry, Politics, Economics, Logistics, Project Management -you try building miniature armies without the last 3.

I will use the blog to record my creations & the odd occasion I actually do some gaming.

I have always been inspired by the aesthetic side of gaming. Playing on well constructed terrain using excellently painted units is always a joy.

Wednesday, 8 March 2017

Sudan - Australian Artillery Battery

One of the things that I found really interesting about building forces for fighting in the Sudan was the variety of troops the British Empire pulled in to fight in it. The New South Wales government offered its support (LINK) to the imperial cause and an infantry battalion and artillery battery were mobilised. This was to become the first overseas deployment for Australian forces. They did not end up doing much fighting and had only very small losses as the British government abandoned any attempt to overthrow the Mahdi who had taken Khartoum after Gordons death.

Never the less they will still be represented - along with the infantry in due course and I am sure they will participate in some "what might have happened" scenarios. Of course they will also do service in some other colonial campaigns too.






So here I have 3 deployed 9lb guns , 3 open and deployed limbers with 12 crew. The guns are the Perry 9lb set from their new Victoria's little wars sets. - I have replaced the cast metal firing lanyard with thinner twisty rope and soldered this into position so it nicely strong and rigid.



The gun teams have had a lot of work with all the various traces. The rope is made from garden twisty wire - twisted together in a drill - I needed to made 6 feet of the darn stuff to make the 4 traces per teams these were then soldered into place and the wire is coated in solder which makes it rigid.  The riders have had milliput saddles made too. The limbers and horse teams are all by Tiger miniatures . The guns and crew are the Perry 9lb set from their new Victoria's little wars sets. I could have got a ready made limber set from Wargames Foundry , but I have seen it and it looked too small to me - I wanted this to be big! - I know.... I blame the sun....


Well to move your guns you also need limber teams - of which there are 3 teams with 18 horses, 3 limbers , 3x 9lb guns - and 4 riders - there will be 9 riders eventually but due to a lead pile deficiency (hangs head in shame)  I thought - and still think I had some. So anyway I am awaiting on a mail from a manufacturer re sourcing some as part of pack so will just add these as and when I get some figures.  The riders I do have  are a mix of various mounted figures I had lying around.

I enjoyed making these - something different

I managed to get all imperial troops out for a video review too



Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

26 comments:

  1. Phil8 March 2017 at 21:49

    Wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Kiwi8 March 2017 at 23:58

    The Australian deployment of 400 soldiers in April 1850 to NZ for the Land Wars was earlier but at that stage Australia wasn't really Australia. Just a bunch of Colonys really. They had to agree a long time later to become the Commonwealth of Australia and it almost included New Zealand.
    Cracking unit though. Excellent addition to your forces. Cheers mate

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DaveD9 March 2017 at 08:47

      Thanks for that , learnt somethingnew

      Delete
    2. Paul O'G9 March 2017 at 11:35

      Yes, but the Sudan was the first time that an entire unit was deployed. The 400 chaps to Kiwi land were a levy that were incorporated into British units, rather than being their own entity. Thus, the Sudan was the first deployment of an Australian Force as a cohesive unit..

      Brendan is quite technically correct, we weren't Aussies until federation which occurred in 1901, when troops were already deployed to the Boer War. So I guess they can rightly claim to be the first troops deployed from the Commonwealth of Australia.

      Delete
    3. DaveD9 March 2017 at 14:29

      even more interesting

      Delete
    4. The Kiwi10 March 2017 at 01:29

      Really interesting Paul. cheers mate.

      I just have to comment again on how good this unit is though. The Rope work I find particularly good! The horses though (walers perhaps) look so good with the depth of colour. cheers

      Delete
    5. DaveD10 March 2017 at 08:53

      Thanks ...the horses are in oils so it's a pretty simple method.

      Delete
    6. Millsy10 March 2017 at 22:58

      One day we'll throw off our Imperial yoke and rise up as a true republic! One day...

      Delete
  3. Chris Gregg8 March 2017 at 23:59

    The artillery are extremely well done and your video is a truly amazing sight to behold, such a complete army is rarely seen in colonial wargaming, thanks for showing it.
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DaveD9 March 2017 at 08:47

      Cheers.. still a few items to add to it.. but not too many

      Delete
  4. Carlo9 March 2017 at 04:22

    Looking wonderful Dave. I have some brilliant books on the New South Wales contingent to the Sudan in 1885 (as I would) so your depiction of them is simply perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Michael Awdry9 March 2017 at 06:10

    I thought these were sensational Dave, all the work that went into the construction was certainly repaid with the final result.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Matt Crump9 March 2017 at 07:27

    Massively impressive collection....and great to see them all together 🙂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DaveD9 March 2017 at 08:48

      Thanks Matt .. it's a rare sight until I get my new games room!

      Delete
  7. Paul O'G9 March 2017 at 11:37

    Bravo - great to see this addition to a brilliant collection

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mallius Vane9 March 2017 at 18:13

    Blimey! Really impressive seeing them all together like that!

    ReplyDelete
  9. marinergrim10 March 2017 at 07:02

    Very impressive and imposing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Colgar610 March 2017 at 08:42

    Nice! I have an Old West wagon that has sat gathering dust forever while I try to work out how to do the traces &c. It's useful to know that someone else has thought about such things :-) .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DaveD10 March 2017 at 15:51

      thanks - twisty wire and superglue will work too!

      Delete
  11. Vinnie11 March 2017 at 08:42

    Outstanding.....just outstanding

    ReplyDelete
  12. Stephen Gilbert17 April 2017 at 10:14

    Ruddy marvellous, Sir. Very enjoyable.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)