David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Wednesday 17 February 2021

Command stands for the Army of Pendawar

 No army is complete without commanders, so right at the beginning of this project I decided to integrate my command figures and bases into the painting queue as I went along. The Army of Pendawar will only have two Brigades of infantry, each of two Native and one European Battalion in the initial phase. So, aside from a base of figures to represent the army’s overall commander, I need two Brigade commanders to be represented. Here is the first of those two bases, featuring a rather hot and bothered looking mounted general accompanied by a junior officer on foot and a ‘water-wallah’. The figures are all from the Perry Miniatures Napoleonic range’s British in Egypt ~


I also decided to incorporate into my two European battalions a seventh base of figures to represent the battalions’ commanding officers. Of no practical purpose in a game, except perhaps to confer the extra dice for Large units if we choose, but I like the idea of the overall look it will give to the game. It will also mean that if a Brigadier is ‘killed’ in a game there is a ready made replacement on the table. By mounting these battalion vignettes on regular 40x50mm bases rather than round ones it will help us remember to lower the Command Rating of the newly created Brigade Commander by 1! The first such base also serves as a test piece for painting the Perry Miniatures British Napoleonic figures, as it comprises a Mounted Officer, a sergeant with spontoon, and a musket armed private, and represents the 38th or Staffordshire Regiment ~

This is the inspiration if you will have it for the command bases of the European battalions, and incidentally for my flag designs, showing General Lake at the Battle of Delhi, 11th September 1803.

Next in the painting queue after the 3rd Native Infantry Battalion I’m working on currently will be a battery of foot artillery, again from the same Perry Miniatures range.


22 comments:

  1. Splendidly realised vignettes there, the project is shaping up a treat Sir, a brilliant start.

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    1. Many thanks for the enthusiastic response PJ! I shall need all the encouragement I can get as we go along I think.

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  2. Those are lovely David and this project is shaping up rather nicely already:)

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  3. Lovely looking command stands. I’ve been tempted by this theatre a few times and I’ll be interested to see how things turn out.

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    1. Thank you Peter! Probably not as well as I hoped will be the answer I expect

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  4. Some nice work there David, very characterful.

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  5. Very nice looking command stand David!

    Christopher

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    1. Your encouragement is always appreciated Christopher.

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  6. Your command bases are very nice, David! There will be a lot of mounted officer-Sahibs on the tabletop!

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    1. Thanks Gonsalvo! The more officers the better!

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  7. Very nice indeed David...

    The Perry’s British in Egypt is an excellent source for ‘Tropical’ service troops...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you Aly, much appreciated. As to the Perrys' range, well yes, but as ever it's incomplete from the India theatre perspective. But leaving that aside I could welcome packs of NCOs, for Centre and Flank Cos, and similarly Officers.

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  8. Great looking command stands. The chap in the white hat really is the ticket!
    Regards, James

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  9. These look good. If I had my time again I would have done Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign just for the uniforms...

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    1. Thank you John. Time, what we don't have as much of as we'd like I guess...

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  10. Lovely command bases...they should provide great motivation to the troops under their command!

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    1. Well, as I'm likely to be the native for, I hope not!😁

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