A Colonial Conundrum of Sorts

Basing sorted - infantry will be in 3s or 2s for dedicated skirmishers (30mm x 15mm), cavalry and artillery on a 30mm square - a gun and two crew or two riders and 15mm square bases for foot single figures, commanders and so on. Mounted commanders will be on 30mm x 15mm bases. The order is already in with Warbases! The Post It note was used to measure out the sizes I needed and how the figures looked - as Mike’s Models are on the diminutive size the 30mm frontage is ideal.

I spent some time yesterday evening sorting through the 15mm Mike’s Models colonial collection and planning the next steps. Now that the cold light of reality has set in I find myself looking in various directions as to what to do with the disparate elements of the whole. Summing up the situation would be a good start so this is what I have been pondering.

The three line infantry standard bearer groups - far too nice to be ignored in my opinion, redcoats and standards flying proudly!

1. There is a lot of British - in pre and post Khaki (more of the former). The redcoats consist of a 12 figure unit of highland infantry (in trews) and there are a further 12 infantry with yellow facings, 7 with green and 8 with a tan/buff colour. There are also 16 in rifle green but 5 of these have white helmets whilst the others have a tan colour. 

The sole tribal figure in the collection - a solitary Zulu warrior

2. NO OPPOSITION! No Zulus or Mahdists and only a representational two units of Egyptian/Sudanese and one Boer. I have a had a change of heart about this as I had originally planned to muddle through with some paint job improvisations but now the stakes have been elevated somewhat. I plan to add a Zulu force as historical opposition for the Redcoats. They will be simple to paint which means they an be table ready relatively quickly. The only other thing I need to address is the shortage of artillery for the British - a point I mentioned previously and is now even more pressing!

3. The Plan(s). I am still fleshing out the back story for Madasahatta 1880 but suffice it to say it will enable me to indulge in a relative smorgasbord of types for the German/Turkish force. Along with the white coated Egyptians, Sudanese Askaris and Boers I would need to add some German Schutztruppen and possibly a naval landing party, not to mention a couple of warships. That is one option. The next and possibly more immediate option would be to acquire and paint up Zulus or similar. I am not looking at the Sudan at this stage although certainly there is the raw material to do so from the British side - both for the earlier Khartoum period and the later Omdurman one. The final option, and this is one that is rather left field, I could raise some Martians for some VSF action. 

I have plenty to think about with this collection but for now the priority will be to get them rebased and refurbished and with a rather more representative artillery set up

Conundrums of sorts but nice ones to have all the same!