Black Scorpion Miniatures - Royal Marines

Over recent months I have picked up at the occasional show the odd pack of Black Scorpion's Pirate range. Sculpted by Adam Clarke they are some of the finest looking miniatures around, cast in resin they were a touch lighter than what I was used to, but they took the paint well.

Was I distracted by the glass show case or loose change in my pocket who knows.

Black Scorpion's range contains figures for Pirates, Privateers and Royal Navy together with Pirate Dwarves, Elves and Orcs & Goblins, these more fantastical ranges are of little interest to me not when I can have them facing off against the Guardians of Atlantis and Mantics new Trident range.....

Nautical nonsense :-)

I knew they would come in handy for some Black Powder type skirmish gaming just not sure where.

Customers Men breaking up Smugglers and Wrecker gangs in Cornwall?

Scouting Parties in the Caribbean?

Taking on Highwaymen in the English Countryside?

Fighting off raids from Atlantis.

 

A pleasure to paint and something a little different from the Deserts of Egypt.

Slowly the lead mountain starts to shrink.

The wonders of Amazon.

Another year passes by, but thanks to the wonders that is an Amazon wish list. Friends familiy and loved ones have come up with the goods - who said gamers are difficult to buy for :-)

With an over night stay in hospital scheduled plenty to keep me in reading matter, Charles Grant's excellent Volume on the French Army in Egypt is the highlight with some wonderful colour plates by Bob Marrion, plenty of inspiration for more French units.

Ideas for the Haitian project are taking shape with some background reading to get me in the mood. Loads of scope for Sharp Practice and if I concentrate on the native Haitian forces they can be used to light both British, Spanish and the French - talk about multi-purpose gaming..

A couple of Oil Storage units for the Modern Chechen games and whilst battlefield ready do need basing and some fencing to make them fit on my table top. Who can say the Rogue Star rules might be suitable for my 15mm Sci-fi gaming?

The only choice now is what to take to read...

Mameluks Cavalry Force within Sharp Practice.

With the first outing of the new look Egyptian project tonight and after completing the French Legere time to switch back to more Ottoman's.

The Mameluks were originally slaves who came to rule Egypt for themselves, they were renowened horsemen each riding an Arabian stallion, their tactics were to charge in at the gallop discharging their carbines and numerous pistols before finally slashing with the Scimitar....

Following up to the rear of the Mamelukes was a number of foot servants at arms, there role was to mop up after the charge and collect the discarded firearms before finishing off any survivors.

The core of the cavalry were painted a few years ago but a quick reorganisation and some newer releases from Brigade Games mean't that they were in need of a slight make over.
I have added in 4 further mounted figures to bring them up to a more rounded cavalry force.

I am a little light on the core cavalry as the unit should be made up of 8 figures for the Mameluks, but will consider back filling still further in the coming months for now it will be 6 figures on the table but will fight as 8.

The core make up for Sharp Practice is as follows together with the supporting stats.

Leader Status III

Leader Status I
Three groups of Impact Cavalry.
Leader Status I
One group of Scouting Cavalry
Leader Status I
One group of Wallahs with Big Choppers.


53 Points
 

Mameluke Cavalry					Type	Impact Cavalry
Points Value	9	Weapon	Carbine and Sabre		Size	8
Formation	First Fire	Controlled Volley	Crashing Volley	Step Out	Drill	Characteristics
Always	Yes	No	-	2	2	Tally Ho, Sam Colts Equalizers.

Scouting Cavalry - Bedouin					Type	Scouting Cavalry
Points Value	4	Weapon	Lance		Size	8
Formation	First Fire	Controlled Volley	Crashing Volley	Step Out	Drill	Characteristics
No	Yes	No	-	2	-	Tally Ho, Moveable DP, Prominent Leader

Servant Men at Arms					Type	Wallahs
Points Value	4	Weapon	Big Choppers		Size	12
Formation	First Fire	Controlled Volley	Crashing Volley	Step Out	Drill	Characteristics
No	No	No	-	1	-	Prominent Leader, Tactical, Moveable DP.

Napoleon takes a day out...

Second post in two days, I really have hit a purple patch.

Next up a set of French Officers from Brigade Games including Bonny himself. I picked up a couple of fish tank specials at the local pet shop which will be perfect for the desert campaigns.

I can't imagine where the inspiration for this photo came from..

Wonderful castings all of which it could be argued depict Napoleon.
Asuming he has not been cloned all can be used for various officers within my Sharp Practice collection. An exploring officer, Artillery officer or table top NCO?

I received my latest flag order from Grahame at GMB Designs, a very comprehesive list of standards and regimental colours, well printed and produced on a good quality paper. The only problem is it gets you thinking about additional regiments to match his flags..

The colour party.

I look forward to getting these on the table in the coming weeks although I am not sure the man himself will make an appearance, however it's always a little risking, what with the curse of freshly painted figures in their first game. The whole course of the war could change.

Not sure what will be next, but I see Perry Miniatures have released a couple of new packs so perhaps another order will be on the cards.

Armée d'Orient - French Uniforms.

I am simply to easily distracted to paint 000's of figures for Regiment after Regiment of Napoleonic’s which is why Sharp Practice appeals so much, once you have your core force complete your support elements can be made of a vast number of troops types, which means that I get to choose what I paint next.

From my earlier post you will recall I based my core force from a plate from a company producing flats called Glorious Empires.

You can find them here. http://www.gloriousempires.com/.

There catalogue provides a comprehensive uniform guide and some great ideas for the next support elements for the French Egyptian campaign.

Some many choices so little time - Next up the little Corporal himself....

Grenadier with sun shield

Foot Guide

The Coptic Legion

The Greek Legion

Marine Infantry

The Maltese Legion

French Office

French Marine Infantry

French Aide de Camp

Camel Corp 1

Camel Corp 2