1st Belooch Battalion, Bombay N. I. and Rowbottom's Mosstroopers.

When I started re-basing my Indian Mutiny collection I came across some packets of figures I'd never got around to painting . I believe the figures were bought when Foundry used to do deals - so that shows how long I've had them !.

It's nice to be able to pick a brightly coloured unit to paint and these are the 1st Belooch N.I.who remained loyal to the British .

Early in the Mutiny the British forces lacked cavalry and solved this problem by using civilian volunteers and the displaced officers from the mutineering Indian regiments.

Here are a selection of Foundry mounted officers representing 'Rowbottom's Mosstroopers' as featured in George McDonald Fraser's - 'Flashman in the Great Game' , which I am rereading at the moment . I was shocked to find it was first printed in 1975 ! - that's 40 years ago ! but still a brilliant read !.

Indian Mutiny Encounter Battle.

I've played another Indian Mutiny game using 'Black Powder' and this time I've managed to record most of the action . The British column moves down the road flanked by a cavalry Brigade .

My newly based loyal Sikh cavalry.

The British CinC General Crawley ('Creepy 'to his men !) espies the approaching enemy .

Colonel Mac Duff cheers his men on !.

The enemy appear - I dice for when and were the Mutineers came onto the table. Staff ratings were also allocated randomly. This Indian commander is only 6 - rather poor . The problem that the mutineers had during the rebellion was the lack of overall leadership.

The Indian cavalry with accompanying Camel Guns - it always seem to me a rather foolish thing to put a gun on a camels back - the seem unstable at the best of times !.

The table on the first move, British left hand side, Indians top right.

Hodge joins me for the first few moves then is ejected from the room for chewing trees !.

The British infantry deploy, the blue marker is for 'First Fire' and the water 'bisthi ' to mark that the unit is 'Steady' - it automatically passes it's first moral check.

The Indian cavalry attack the British right - rather successfully as well ! - overrunning the Horse Artillery section and driving the British cavalry back.

The crisis on the right ! , the CinC rallies the retreating Light Dragoons as the Sikh's manage to halt the victorious Indian Lancers.

More Indian forces appear , unfortunately having moved onto the table they did nothing to assist the cause and simply stood there unwilling to move.

The Mutineer cavalry charge the British Artillery but in the nick of time the Light Dragoons arrive and drive them off , the Sikhs pursue and destroy the Indian lancers . The Indian Cavalry Brigade had to take a moral test which it failed and fled the field ! . This took the pressure off the British and their artillery was able to deploy and start shelling the remaining Indian forces.

The end game - the Mutineer force in the top right had not advanced and when trying to do so it's commander rolled a '12' which means a 'Blunder' has occurred and it retired off the table ! . This signified an end for the Mutineers with over half their force missing or casualties-they were beaten ! , but it had been a close run thing with their cavalry almost overrunning the British right . I'm still fiddling with the the 'stats' for the troop types , but 'Black Powder' allows you to tailor your armies to hopefully simulate their historical counterparts.  

Fruits Of My Labours .

I've been battling on with my re-basing of my Indian Mutiny figures and have got enough done for a game . Here we see a British attack on a Mutineer held village .

Mutinous Sepoys and guns man a wall .

The attacking British force - Artillery battery nearest the camera then loyal Madras Sepoys , Highlanders and Royal Horse Artillery . The alongside the officers are a home made markers to signify their Staff Rating .

The British C in C's command base - unnamed as yet - I hope he is aware that the regiment behind him looks like it is about to open fire !.

The Indian Commander watches as a regiment of Sepoys moves up into position . There is always the temptation (which I have resisted up till now) to dip into the local Indian restaurant take away menu for names of Indian generals and villages ie the village of Rogan Josh etc . Unfortunately my camera battery ran out of power so I was unable to record the actual battle , which was a narrow win for the British. Getting these figures onto the table has spurred me on to get the rest of the collection re-based .

Production Line Re-Basing.

I decided to use 'Polyfilla' to cover the bases as this would be cheaper than 'Bastex' , so I've been applying a layer of it to bases carefully around the figures feet and then letting it dry overnight. I then watered down some suitably sand coloured paint and painted it onto the filler. 

When it's dry I then apply some PVA glue in patches and sprinkle with static grass .

The watered down paint pooled in the recesses of the filler and so I've not needed to highlight the bases . This is NOT my favourite task but it's getting done and I will feel virtuous at the end of it !. 

First Fruits of Re-Basing.

Well I've got the first two units re based of my Indian Mutiny collection. A large order of bases has arrived from 'Warbases' so I can crack on getting them done . Decided on 40mm square bases each with 3 or 4 figures to them and 5 bases to the 'standard' unit in 'Black Powder' , cavalry will be 2 to a base and 3 bases to make them 'small' units . Above are the 42nd Foot 'Royal Highland Regt.'

These are my first unit of mutineers the 10th Bengal Native Regt. These are in full dress as they appeared earlier on in the revolt , later they adopted the white undress uniform and stopped carrying their colours .  I decided to use 'Polyfilla' to cover the bases and then paint it a sand colour and add flock as this will work out cheaper than 'Bastex' . The figures are 28mm Foundry from their Indian Mutiny and Sikh Wars ranges. I've decided to glue them all onto bases first so I can start playing with them which will encourage me to continue with this mammoth task .

The Curse of Re-Basing.

There is one subject that will make the average gamer blanch and reach for a stiff drink and that's the subject of re-basing figures , I hate doing it ! - but it can rejuvenate a collection of figures and get them used again . My wargaming friend 'A' loves it ! he has re-based  collections of 100's of figures and swears bye it .(whole forests have been felled to feed his need for MDF bases). Many years ago when Foundry sold their figures singularly and I visited many wargaming shows (helping 'S' with his S&A Scenics stand) I bought a few Indian Mutiny figures off  Dave Thomas each time I saw him (when he carried them at shows) and slowly built up a large collection of them .

I also bought cheaply the odd unit of painted figures off the Bring and Buy . The collection had no uniformed size of basing apart from all being based singularly . This reflected the various rules I had been using , the were housed in a collection of tool boxes which ended up in the darkest recesses under my gaming table .  Because they were not readily available they didn't get used and only resurfaced recently when I was de-cluttering . I transferred them to box files and considered what to do with them .

I've always been interested in the Indian Mutiny and rather than sell them off I decided that I would use them with the 'Black Powder' rule set which I've been using with my 'Garibaldi' project. However this meant the dreaded re-basing ! , my New Years resolution was to use my existing figure collections rather than start new ones - soooo the bases have been ordered and when they arrive the work of basing will start .  Watch this space ............