Wednesday 27 October 2010

2nd Mahratta War

As I mentioned in a previous post I have become interested in the wars against Mysore and The Mahratta Confederacy 1799 - 1807 ish. I have therefore embarked on building forces to represent both these kingdoms and the British and East India Company troops who fought them. Looking around for suitable 28mm figures I came across the range by Redoubt Enterprises. They are, in my mind, lovely figures, nicely sculpted and full of character. I have posted a few photos to show my efforts so far. My painting doesnt do them justice but I have yet to see any other painted examples anywhere. On top of this the Redoubt website only has line drawings of a few of the figures, so it wass a leap of faith when I made my initial purchase (would I like them or not?). Well I do like them, very very much!
The first photos show some of the sepoys I have painted. These have green or orange facings and will be expanded into units of 24 figures. I hope to base my initial forces on the order of battle of Assaye.

To this I will add other troops and types to give my British some variety (and to stop me getting bored!).


Initially I will be raising Mahratta forces but I intend to use them as Mysore troops also, with a few variations. I have opted to keep it simple in terms of painting and organisation. All regular Mahratta battalions will be in white with Turban and sash in a uniform colour. This will give ease of identification on the table and also will look quite appealing.



As you can see by the photos I have based the figures painted so far but have not flocked the bases. I am still undecided on the final finish of these.


I have completed one artillery crew so far. The Mahrattas had a lot of artillery attached to their regular battalions and I will have one gun model per unit. The good news is that I will not have to paint any guns for them as I intend to use my French Napoleonic cannon.

There will be lots of cavalry to paint and I have the first unit sitting in the box waiting to get started, they are beautiful figures. Also I intend to add a couple of irregular match-lock battalions.

Well thats how far I have got so far. I will update as I progress. Thanks for looking!

5 comments:

  1. Lovely - great start. I too looked high and low for images of Redoubt miniatures for the period. In the end I learned they were taller than norm and looked elsewhere. I'd still love to see the other figures in this range. Please drop into my blog if you haven't already for a different spin on the British in an alternate India.

    Frank
    http://adventuresinlead.blogspot.com/

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  2. Thanks Frank. Hopefully I will post some pics of the cavalry soon. I have already dropped into your blog. Very nice figures and one which I will follow with interest. Dave.

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  3. I heartily approve! I look forward to seeing the collection in the flesh and having a game :-)

    Chris

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  4. It is rare to see these figures and yours look particularly nice. The only others I have seen are in the collection of Charles Grant who used them for a couple of games at the Napoleonic Fair back in the late nineties.

    Thanks for showing them.

    John

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  5. John, thanks for the kind comments. i hope to have some more stuff finished soon and pics posted. I saw the Grant figures in magazine a while back and i agree it is rare to see them. This is a great pity as i think they are lovely figures and it is a fascinating period.

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