Blood on the Nile - Black Powder

Regular readers will know that I am collecting 10mm armies and terrain for my Sands of Sudan project. I have been inspired by the pictures in the rulebook and also by others blogs.

http://withpyjamasthroughthedessert.blogspot.com/

The above blog is heavily influenced by the Perries figure ranges as well as some custom and bespoke terrain building.

I have found another source of inspiration and this is a quick review.

Blood on the Nile from the Black Powder stable has a wonderful selection of eye-catching photographs of the genre albeit in 28mm. I have tasked myself with producing acceptable 10mm facsimiles largely from the Pendraken range and of course scratch building by my own fair hand.

The scenarios cover a range of period battles and encounters which provides a considerable backdrop to arrange several games which I hope to explore in due course.

Battle of Tel-el-Kebir 1882: a British Expeditionary Force of 12,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry and 60 field guns advance through the darkness to attack an Egyptian Army of 20,000 infantry and 67 field guns.

Battle of Shaikan 1883: the infamous Hicks Pasha Disaster sees a substantial Egyptian Army take on an enormous Mahdist force with an inevitable outcome.

Siege of Khartoum 1884:  a beleaguered General Gordon fends off the Mahdist hordes, but not forever and gradually succumbs while the Relief Force is but a day or two away.

First Battle of el Teb1884: another Pasha, this time Baker Pasha leads an Egyptian/Sudanese against a Mahdist field force and doesn't find the victory he was looking for.

Second Battle of el Teb 1884: finally a half decent British Expeditionary Force gets to grips with the Mahdists for a ding dong in the desert.

Battle of Abu Klea 1885: a not so large British force picks on more Mahdists while looking for water and are lucky enough to get away from a massacre.

Battle of Omdurman 1898: at last a proper British army with a decent number of Egyptian troops gets the Imperial victory Her Majesty desires.

The Blood on the Nile book is designed to work with the Black Powder ruleset and does that job admirably. The story of the hostilities comes in a tongue-in-cheek style and does a lot to set the flavour of games to come. The forces are detailed in a historical fashion and also in wargames style for a unit by unit breakdown. There are also appendices offering additional material and the colour photographs provide a wealth of eye-candy which I constantly refer back to.

Let me know how you have got on in this period and what changes or adjustments you have made in your own games.

Looking back at The Great Game

The Great Game, the Battle of Waterloo, Glasgow 2019.

A friend of mine brought this to my attention. I played a tiny tiny part in making this game happen but many others played significant roles. Have a look, whether you are a wargamer, a figure painter, a modeller, interested in military history, an archaeologist or just a charitable soul you will find something of interest here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMoTMr2Qk9o&feature=youtu.be

Hope the link works.

Sands of Sudan - Progressing

The Imperial Forces in the Sudan receive re-inforcement from France.

This row of adobe buildings below are scratch-built using 2mm plasticard.

This row of buildings are MDF from Laser Craft Art. Can you see much difference.

https://lasercraftart.com/cube4/10mm-scale-buildings/10mm-scale-arab-adobe-style-buildings.html

The mosque in the distance is another scratch-build.

The Legionnaires are by Pendraken with mule train (loads are scratchbuilt) and baggage camels.

Rocky outcrops, again scratch built by me, plasticard, cork tiles, plaster, gravel and static grass.

Might do some Englishmen next.

Sands of Sudan - Encounter

A patrol from the 42nd ...

… and round the corner ...

Sands of Sudan - Mosque

Having sorted out a small village or a large hamlet (do they have hamlets in the Sudan?) I thought it would be nice to have a mosque. I'm not aware of anyone making a mosque in 10mm (I'm still looking) so I thought I would make one instead.

Here it is:

I built the main body ( a box shape) from 2mm plasticard.

I added arch shapes with another layer.

I made a minaret with some plastic tubing and miscellaneous items from the bits box.

Now I have to paint it.

Sands of Sudan - Buildings

I need some buildings in 10mm to populate the battlefield for my Sands of Sudan Project.

I got a pack of adobe buildings from a company I have not used before.

http://lasercraftart.co.uk/

A village pack of 4 buildings came at a good price of £10 including P&P so looked a bargain.

They are easy to construct using PVA in about an hour and I left them to dry overnight.

I plan to tart them up just a little bit, removing some of the straight edges, basing them and maybe improve the 3D look.

I note that they have gone out of stock and the company are trying to clear their 'covid' backlog. I will certainly purchase some more in due course.

Meanwhile I will have a go at a larger building using plasticard, maybe a mosque or a palace. I have placed an internet order for some plasticard so it will be a few days at least.

Horses for my Chum

I painted a few horses for my chum.

Here they are:

Apologies for the shadow, it was a very blustery day (think just short of a gale)and the sun was coming and going like nobodies business and I was rocking back in forth between gusts.