Irregular Wars "Stuff"

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Mapuche, only conquered by the Chileans in 1880, when they brought machine guns!

[GrumpyOldMan]

4 sets with potential, but no photographs - can anybody assist?

19th Century, Americas, War of the Pacific: Ragged Foot SAP4

WW1 East Africa: Ruga Ruga NEA2
WW1 East Africa: Masai Spears NEA3
WW1 East Africa: Porters NEA4

Masai


Rugga Rugga


Porters



Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[steve_holmes_11]

Thanks Grumpy.
A picture certainly does illustrate a thousand words.

The Masai being in full regalia - masks 'n' all limits their flexibility a little, through I see them making fine shaman figures (Alas just one or none per army required).

I think I can convince myself that those rugga rugga are weilding matchlocks.
That fills in a lot of gaps among the west and east Africans, and may supply some good cimaroons for the Americas.

The Porters probably need a bit of conversion if they're to travel beyond the Congo basin.
Maybe a bit of crude carving of those rather neat packs would do the trick.
A couple of pack llamas wouldn't hurt either.

[Steve J]

Love the maps and as others have said, the Songhai empire was in West Africa. For the Songhai troops a mix of the Afghan range and Indian Mutiny figures would work well, based upon my time living in Nigeria.

[fred.]

Glad you like the maps Steve - I will have to find the original and correct the world one.

And thanks all for the pointers for the figures - an order for half a dozen or so packs placed today.

[steve_holmes_11]

A huge Thank You to everybody who has contributed to this thread.

I'm now convinced that 10mm has the figure ranges for Irregular Wars.
I also think that figures smaller than 15mm provide potential for attractive diorama bases - the doet of thing that players of Impetus rave about.

I'm currently wavering on a couple of decisions.


30mm square bases or 40mm square.

This is the big one - and it boils down to "Bigger armies or more variety of armies".
It'll be a personal choice.
Smaller bases don't necessarily represent a great economy, since purchasing figures by the 30 (or 15 mounted) may generate a lot of unused surplus.
I'm entertaining the idea of marking unit strength with a 7mm mini-die, and worry that this might consume too much of a 30mm square base.

I can help myself by "crunching the numbers" on base count for various armies.
Some of the subcontinental Indian forces, for example, could yield a massive army if the commander opted to go heavy on the levy.
An all-Spanish Conquistador force would be tiny by comparison.


Which armies to collect.

This is the open ended one.
I've already covered Portugal and the East Indies with a different scale and ruleset.
I don't necessarily see a benefit in repeating the exercise with smaller figures.
There are plenty of compelling alternatives, each with its own distinct character.


I think I'll return to painting the lead mountain while I contemplate those two big decisions.

[paulr]

Don't forget that Leon is usually happy to do part packs etc, at a slight premium

http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,15349.msg223223.html#msg223223

[steve_holmes_11]

Don't forget that Leon is usually happy to do part packs etc, at a slight premium

http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,15349.msg223223.html#msg223223

I think I had seen that before, noted it and then totally forgotten it.
Many thanks for a very handy reminder.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hello

Just another thought, how about Vietnam porter's for Asian armies.

[steve_holmes_11]

Hello

Just another thought, how about Vietnam porter's for Asian armies.

Excellent idea.
Takes me back to my 15mm Malays, when I co-opted a bunch of Vietnamese civilians to serve as my village elder / shaman.

[steve_holmes_11]

I think I've IDd a few genuine gaps that would provide for a number of Irregular Wars forces.

In the Americas:

Woodland Indians with Bow.
Woodland indians with club/tomahawk. (Shot are very much the minority at this point in time)
A native american with a "long spear" - appears among the southern Mexicans, Mississippi Indians and (with pikes) among the Mapuche.

An Africa:

An "Armoured lancer", I interpret this as the type with both horse and man in padded armour.

Among the maritime Europeans

Figures to fill out the "adventurer" and "volunteer" bases.
A mix of armed gentlemen in their finery, lower classes as militia and armed sailors.
Arms should include cold steel, pistols and arquebus.

Foot soldiers with polearms / long spears.
These had certain advantages over pikes in the new world.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hello

Maybe for the African cavalry you could proxy the TB line Mongol Heavy cavalry when they become available:-







Agree with you about the native Americans.

For the Maritime Europeans, I imagine you've had a look at the Pirates, Early 16th C. English/Scots, Elizabethans (Irish?) and ECW (the pikes are shorter with these.)

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[steve_holmes_11]

Those Mongol Lancers are quite a good match for the Africans (Splendid looking chaps - superb hats)
I suspect two difficulties:
  The elaborate hats - headgear is awfully distinctive on bunches of 10 and 6mm figures.
  I'm guesing that the Mongols carry a bow and quiver - I'm rather rubbish at filing those details off.
 
I'm wondering whether the Sarmatian or the Late Roman cataphracts might be an easier conversion.


I had a quick nose about all the ranges you mentioned for the Maritime Europeans.
There are essentially three grades of fighter who don't quite fit.

Gentleman Adventurers: The leaders and financial backers of an expedition, and their bodyguards.
I'm thinking of men in fine clothes (Some of the League of Ausberg range would paint up nicely for this) equipped with a mix of swords, halberds, pistols and the occasional long-arm.

Volunteers: Soldiers of Fortune, or the sailors from the adventuring fleet.
The pirates aren't bad, but would ideally be mixed with a few other types.
Some of the recent Irish Elizabethans might be useful as might some dismounted dragoons.
Once again I'd expect a mix of weapons: Swords, muskets, halberds or half-pikes.
I wouldn't expect these to have much in the way of armour - through some volunteers might be well equipped, and a bunch of jolly jack tars might be rather scruffy.

Specific footsoldier types.
There's often a small number of reliable units with spears, polearms, pike or sword and buckler.
Pike or sword and buckler are easy finds.
Spears could be a cut-down pike.
The tricky one is the polearms company.

[Techno]

I'm guessing that the Mongols carry a bow and quiver - I'm rather rubbish at filing those details off.

Is it worth considering a Dremmel/mini-drill and some appropriate sized burrs, Steve ?
A bit of green stuff for repairs ?

Cheers - Phil

[paulr]

Is that how you repair your fingers, with green stuff 

[FierceKitty]

Mmm, those lancers look rather classy. I modelled some of my imperial Abyssinian army on those, in fact, using IM figures for the Negus' guards and Pendraken Sarmatians for feudal nobles.

[Techno]

Is that how you repair your fingers, with green stuff  :-

No, Paul.

I use red Sylmasta A+B and Zap 'superglue'....that way, you don't notice the blood.

Cheers - Phil

[steve_holmes_11]

Is it worth considering a Dremmel/mini-drill and some appropriate sized burrs, Steve ?
A bit of green stuff for repairs ?

Cheers - Phil

Could be my lack of skill at fault here.
I have a Dremel type tool, but my efforts at cleaning casts using the burrs have been rather destructive.
There's generally a loss of control, and a deep gash across the surface of the cast.

I've also not found a reliable method to secure the subject figure at 10mm type scales.
There's the danger of squeezing the life out of it.

[Techno]

Wot I do, Steve.....

Is stick the model to a wine cork with a blob of green stuff, whether I'm working on a dolly to make a new model, or converting a metal master.

Once it's set, the cork's perfect as  something to hold.....And if I need to, I can 'Dremmel away' to my heart's content.

Cheers - Phil

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Two probs there Phil, cant afford wine with corks, and I'd get an attack of greens if I used corks....