Painting Tartan

The uniform illustration by Michael Perry

The site which really helped me on this was:

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/ToySoldier/tartan.htm

I used quite dark colours: Humbrol 104 (Oxford blue -appropriately!) and 91 (black green). 104 is my generic dark blue for the likes of French Napoleonic infantry and ACW Union troops. 91 is the colur I use for Napoleonic British riflemen (I see the new Sharpe is on this Sunday). I used a slightly lighter green (Humbrol 30, Dark green) for the small squares and 81 (pale yellow) for the yellow lines. Normal Humbrol yellow (24 trainer yellow) was too bright.

I drew on the squares with a soft pencil, having used the Perry Uniform guide to get the scale of the squares on the kilt, and then painted with a 000 Windsor & Newton Series 7 sable brush. It needed quite alot of touching up and the rear of the kilt, with the pleats, was a nightmare as I tried to estimate where the patterns would fall.

Never mind, I will do some more on the next batch tomorrow morning now we have light evenings for a while.

First Gordon Highlanders painted

Well, I have, at last finished four Gordon Highlanders (only 18 more to do). I don't think I have ever found figures so stressful to paint but now that I have done them I do feel more relaxed about the others and have even started on the next four (I don't think that I can face more than four at a time!). The tartan looks OK (from a distance) and now that I have a technique for doing it it's not such a worry. I need to work at the hose as I used colours without enough contrast so the diagonal check doesn't show at all in the pictures.

Here is the corporal; lots of character as you would expect from the Perry twins.

Royal Naval Brigade Completed

In finishing the Gardner Gun today I have finished the Naval Brigade. At the ratio of 1/33 I am using I should really only have 5 figures to represent the Brigade but with two guns with crews of four I am obviously going to be well over this. I have decided that as a wargaming unit I will add four sailors as well. So here is the complete Brigade ready for action.

The Bluejackets of the Naval Brigade were the first British Troops to land at Suakin in February 1884. At El Teb the 125 men, three Gatling Guns and three Gardner Guns were attached to the 1st Brigade and formed the front two corners of the square. When the Beja first charged it was three of the machine guns, that had been run out in front of the square, that fired first. Later Admiral Hewett led a charge of the sailors with fixed bayonets.

At Tamai the force was slightly larger at 163 men. They were in the 2nd Brigade in the left hand top corner of the square. When the Black Watch charged they left the Gatling and Gardner guns stranded outside the square. When the Beja charged some of the guns had to be abandoned and the Beja subsequently threw one of them down a ravine, although the sailors managed to pull it out later. Ten of the naval crew were killed and seven wounded but not before they had disabled the guns. It was whilst defending one of these guns that Private Tom Edwards of the Black Watch won the Victoria Cross.

Later about half of the Naval Brigade served with the desert column. But that is another story and another army!

Right, there is no excuse now, I have to start some Highlanders!

Royal Naval Brigade: Gardner Gun

The success of the Gatling Gun soon encouraged others into the market The Gardner Gun was invented in 1874 by a former Civil War Captain in the Union army William Gardner of Ohio.

Origninally it had only two barrels and a crank loaded and fired each barrel in turn.

Francis Pratt

He needed finance to produce it, however, so went to the newly formed Pratt and Whitney Company. Francis Pratt had worked for Colt and had a reputation for being one of the top gun designers working.

Mechanism of the original two-barrelled version.

It was developed in conjunction with Pratt and Whitney but despite successful trials from 1875 until 1879 the US Army declined to buy the gun, as they felt it was not an appropriate weapon for their only military activity at the time, against the plains Indians.

Inside the crank case for the five-barrelled version.

The Royal Navy, having already bought the Gatling Gun, were more interested, however and Gardner was invited to England to demonstrate the gun, which by now had a five barrel version as well.

The two-barreled version on board ship.

The Admiralty were impressed enough that they not only adopted the weapon but bought the rights to produce it. Gardner stayed in England to supervise the construction of the weapons in Leeds and lived there for the rest of his life, dying in 1886. The British Army bought the gun in 1880 but its actual introduction by them was delayed because of opposition by the Royal Artillery.

The gun was light, reliable and could fire over 800 rounds a minute.

Royal Marines Light Infantry: Completed

The Royal Marines, along with a force of sailors, were the first British troops landed at Suakin. The 464 men and 14 officers of the RMLI were commanded by Lt Colonel (brevet Colonel) Henry Brasnell Tuson, Royal Marine Artillery.

At El Teb the Marines formed the rear of the left hand flank of the square as it advanced, behind the York and Lancaster Regiment. As they approached and skirted the hill where the Beja were located they became the closest British to the Ansar lines. The men in the square were ordered to turn 90 degrees which put the RMLI in the front as they advanced on the dug-in Beja. The first Ansar charge of the battle caused the Yorks and Lancs, who had outdistanced the Marines as they moved forward, to fall back about 40 yards. The RMLI rushed up to close the gap and oust the Beja who had entered this gap in the formation. The Marines, along with the Naval Brigade and the Yorks and Lancs, were involved in bitter hand to hand fighting as they pushed the Beja out of their first position. The Marines had 2 officers wounded and 3 men killed.

At Tamai the RMLI formed the rear of the 2nd Brigade Square under Major General John Davis and accompanied by Graham himself. When the Black Watch charge opened up the square and the Beja flooded in, the whole British battalion was forced back onto the RMLI completely disrupting their formation. As the Second Brigade began its fighting retreat the Marines were a key element in keeping the steady discipline needed as troops from all the units in the Brigade became hopelessly intermingled. The Marines lost 3 men and 15 wounded at Tamai.

100 RMLI later served with the Guards Camel Regiment in the Desert Column but that is another Army (about 2010)!

Royal Marines Light infantry Officer

Despite a trip to the US last week I managed to finish the officer and two more men for the RLMI; so that is a third of them done.

Although the RLMI had white leather equipment in the Sudan the officer's revolvers holsters and belts were brown.

Gordons Arrived!!

I ordered these just before I left for California last week and they arrived whilst I was away.

There do seem to be an awful lot of them! I liked the NCO figures so much that I cut a stripe off one and made him into a lance corporal, just so I could put him in the unit. You are only allowed one NCO in TSATF but I didn't want to leave him out so, for gaming purposes, I will only count the sergeant.

There was quite a bit of flash on one set (well, a lot for the Perries, anyway) but I sat down and got them all filed and based whilst watching Strictly Come Dancing with the family (that Alesha Dixon is a fine looking woman, I must say).

Alesha Dixon: Even more attractive than a Perry Highlander!

And talking about gorgeous figures I love this officer holding up his helmet. This is the sort of figure the Perries do so well; oozing with character. I'm not going to put him in the unit, though, but am going to use him as a test figure for the tartan. I still need to finish the RMLI so mustn't start the Highlanders. I can start this one-off, however. And I am going to give him a red coat!

Royal Marines Light Infantry: Painted 1

Well, I got three painted rather than the six I was aiming for this week, but that's because I did some more Spartans and some GNW Swedes.


They look quite striking with their white equipment and helmets, I think. I'll try and get some more done this week but it looks like I may have to go back to America on Saturday so won't be able to paint next weekend.

Next unit: Royal Marines Light Infantry

The next unit I'm going to do is the Royal Marines Light Infantry. There is no disagreement on the numbers in this unit; all the sources agree on 478 which is 14 figures at 1:33.

Stuart Asquith in his recent War in the Sudan 1884-1898 describes the RMLI as being dressed in undress blue with white helmet and black or white leather equipment. I'm not convinced by this and suspect it refers back to the earlier Egyptian conflict in 1882. There is a watercolor sketch in the Victoria and Albert Museum that shows them wearing grey. Crucially, Count Gleichen in his book With the Camel Corps up the Nile, describes them as being in grey uniforms with white helmets and equipment so that is what I am going for.

Two very small illustrations I found on the net seem to confirm the grey uniform. Firstly, this illustration from the official Royal Marines website; you would assume that they would get it right.

Secondly, this photograph of a number of Royal Marines outside their medical tent in Suakin in 1884. This looks like a grey not a navy blue uniform to me.

Given that they are light infantry I wanted them in rather more active poses and looking a little less regimented. They need a lot of work so I would think that it will take three weeks to get them done. Right, that's enough typing now I better get the rest undercoated!

Painted: 2nd Battalion The Princess Victoria's Royal Irish Fusiliers

Here is the completed unit. It looks rather small but they were a small force, less than 350 men!

The Royal Irish Fusiliers landed at Trinkitat in late February 1884 and immediately began patrols with the Black Watch and the 19th Hussars into the surrounding country. There could be a few imaginary skirmish scenarios here! On 28th February they moved out, with the rest of the Expeditionary Force, to head towards El Teb, bivoucing overnight at Fort Baker. The RIF made up the forward section of the right hand side of the square with the KRRC next to them in the battle the next day.

At Tamai, in Buller's second brigade, they formed the front left hand corner of the square. The square, whilst heavily engaged, managed to drive off the Beja with rifle fire before they came into hand to hand combat, unlike their unfortunate comrades in the first square.

The Second Battalion (former 89th foot) returned to England in 1884 and were replaced by the First Battalion (former 87th foot) who joined the river column in the 1885 campaign, but that's a whole new army!

2nd Battalion The Princess Victoria's Royal Irish Fusiliers

Depending on the sources there were between 334 (Asquith), 343 (Preziosi) and 350-400 (Featherstone) troops of the Royal Irish Fusiliers present before El Teb. At 1:33 this gives between 10 and 12 figures. I am going for the lower figure of 10. This is small for a TSATF unit as British units are supposed to be 20 figures but until I have played a game I won't know if this works or not.

The Royal Irish Fusiliers had been formed in 1881 from the 87th and 89th Foot and some local militia forces from Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan. Both regiments had been formed in 1793 as a result of the war with France. The 87th served in the Peninsula where they became famous at the battle of Barossa on March 5th 1811 when the first French Imperial Eagle was taken by Sergeant Masterman (and not Richard Sharpe!).

The 1st Battalion were with Graham in Egypt in 1882 and saw action at Tel-el-Kebir.

There are several sources which describe them as wearing the new grey uniforms and they are illustrated like this in the picture in the Royal Engineers museum in Chatham. I have already painted four figures in this uniform so only need to do another six which I will try to get done next weekend.

3rd Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps

Here is the completed battalion. Figures given for the KRRC for EL Teb vary from 630 (Featherstone), 610 (Asquith) to 546 men and 19 officers (Preziosi). At 1:33 this would give 19, 18 or 17 figures. I have gone for the middle one mainly on the basis it would give two equal ranks.

The KRRC were at El Teb and Tamai comanded by Lt Colonel (brevet Colonel) Sir Cromer Ashburnham (1831-1917) his ADC was Lt Colonel William Lewis Kinlock Ogilvy (1840-1900). At El Teb four companies formed the rear of the right hand side of the square with the rest of the battalion inside the square. As a result of EL Teb and finding this formation rather unweildy for a force of over 2,500 men Graham, at Tamai formed two squares, one for each brigade which advanced in echelon. The KRRC formed the rear of the 1st Brigade Square.


Here is a single rifleman showing the KRRC's red piping on the front of the jacket, the cuffs and the collar.

This is my second completed British unit and I really enjoyed painting them. They were certainly much quicker to paint than the Naval Brigade; I got the whole lot done in three weeks. Next up is another 1st Brigade unit the 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers.

King's Royal Rifle Corps: second batch

I finished the second half dozen figures today so only have six more to finish the unit. Hopefully, I will get them done this week. This batch includes the bugler and the last one will contain the officer.

King's Royal Rifle Corps: first batch

I finished half a dozen of these today. They are the first Sudan figures I have completed for nearly two months. Now they are done I am glad I went for the green jackets as they look different. I used to have an Osprey on the Zulu war which had a picture of the 1879 KRRC uniform in it but I sold it on eBay earlier in the year so I based the uniform on a cigarette card illustration of the uniform of the 1880's.

THE KRRC had 610 men in the 1st Brigade, under Buller, so, at my 1:33 scale, that would make 18 figures, one of the bigger British units. This batch includes a sergeant and the the next group, which is under way, includes a bugler. TSATF rules make no use of musicians but the Perry figures are too good to ignore.

The unit which fought in the Sudan was the 3rd Battalion which had been moved from South Africa to Malta. It was from here that it was called up to fight in Egypt in 1882. In South Africa during the Zulu War it saw action at Ginghilovo, Hlobane (where Buller won his VC), Kambula and Ulundi (where it was also under the overall command of Garnet Wolseley). It stayed on in Africa for the 1st Boer War, now under the command of its CO in the later Egyptian and Sudan campaigns, Lt Col Cromer Ashburnham. It was engaged at Laing's Nek, Ingogo and Majuba Hill.

For an enjoyable novel about this, not very well remembered, conflict with the Boers read John Wilcox's Last Stand at Majuba Hill.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Stand-Majuba-Simon-Fonthill/dp/0755327195/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-5958963-9779040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193001007&sr=8-1

Let's hope Wilcox manages to get his hero, Simon Fonthill, into the Sudan!

Royal Naval Brigade: Uniforms: Officers

RN officers wore dark blue double breasted jackets with gilt buttons. Some wore white single breasted jackets. They wore white shirts with black ties. Trousers were white or blue. All leatherwork was black or brown, including shoes, although boots were worn as well.

Helmets were white with blue pugarees (or puggaree, pugree or pagri depending on how you spell it. From the Hindi for turban, anyway, derived from the Sanskrit parikarah).

Rank insignia were in gold on sleeves and were as shown:

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3761

Royal Naval Brigade: Uniforms: Ratings

I have completed my unit of Naval Brigade sailors. I have painted 14 figures, which is more than I need: five or six would be more accurate at a ratio of 1/33. But I felt that I needed a few extra for smaller skirmish and non-historical actions.

Uniforms

The information about uniforms for the sailors of the Naval Brigade is probably more unclear than for any other British unit in the Sudan. Partly this is because they are not a homogenous unit but consisted of sailors from a number of different ships. Even working out which ships they came from is not easy as these changed over the course of the campaign. Also artists of the time have shown them in different uniforms. I suspect they would not have displayed such a heterogenous look as I have depicted them in.

Headgear

White covered (or blue, i.e. without the cover) round caps with black headbands, black ribbons and the name of the sailor's vessel in gilt wire on the headband.

An alternative was the wide-brimmed straw Sennet hat. Sennet was a particular type of straw much used in the Orient. Naval slang for this hat was a Benjy. They were abolished by the Royal Navy in 1921.

This is a Canadian version from the early Twentieth Century.

Perry Miniatures do not offer a figure in a Sennet hat, even though Michael Perry mentions and illustrates the hats on his useful uniform guide on the Perry miniatures website.

http://www.perry-miniatures.com/index2.html

(go to The Sudan-Extras).

Copplestone Castings used to do RN sailors in Sennet Hats but they have withdrawn them.

Redoubt do some but the figures are crude and I suspect that they are far too large to use with the Perry figures.

http://www.redoubtenterprises.com/shop/?page=shop/browse&category_id=731095ef8c2b705fb650fd93fcea3595

There is a picture from the time illustrating sailors in Sennet Hats and white trousers.

Jackets

These are mainly illustrated as dark blue serge blouses worn over a white shirt with a black neckerchief. White blouses are illustrated too. With the dark blue blouse the collar could be light blue with three white stripes (as I have done them) or plain dark blue (no stripes) to match the blouse. With white blouses the collar was, again, light blue with white stripes or plain white. No buttons of course.

Trousers

Dark blue or white.

Leather belts and equipment

I have seen these described as black or brown with brass buckles.

Shoes

Everyone seems to agree that these were black.

Leggings

Brown or drill canvas or black leather.

Water Bottle

I have seen this described as having a grey felt cover.

So, it seems that you can use pretty any combination of these and probably be right!

Tomorrow I will look at the officers' uniform.

Royal Naval Brigade Gatling Gun and crew

I finished the Gatling Gun and crew during my holiday last week. Nothing sums up the Colonial period like a Gatling Gun and they are often used as a symbol of appalling British Colonial tyranny by apologists when speaking about the British Empire.

The Gatling Gun was invented by Richard Jordan Gatling in 1861. It had 6 barrels originally and an effective range of 1200 yards. Despite the date they only saw limited service in the American Civil War.

The British adopted it for Colonial service in the 1870s and the RN mounted them on board ships as a deck-clearing (prior to boarding) weapon. It never saw action in this capacity, combat by boarding having long finished.



The RN Gatlings were made under licence in Britain and had ten .65 calibre barrels (not the more usual .45 calibre), and with the side cranked mechanism used had a rate of fire of 800 rounds per minute (in theory).

It's first use by the British in action (by Naval Brigade troops) was at the battle of Gingindlovu on 2nd April in the Zulu War of 1879. The model used in the Sudan (as in South Africa) was probably the 1871 model. It was deployed in the Ashanti war but didn't see action (other than a demonstration to impress some Ashanti envoys!).

The cylindrical magazine was called a Broadwell drum after L. W. Broadwell, an agent for Gatling's company. Inside were 20 stick magazines arranged around the central axis, each holding 20 cartridges with the bullet noses oriented toward the centre. As each magazine emptied, the drum was manually rotated to bring a new magazine into use until all 400 rounds had been fired.

Valentine Baker had (and lost!) two Gatlings at first El Teb. The Mahdists had one of these Gatlings available in their battery at Second El Teb (recaptured by the British at the battle) although I haven't seen any accounts that they actually used it during the battle (unlike the Krupp Guns). Graham had three Gatlings (all with naval crews)which saw action at second El Teb and Tamai. Unlike the other artillery which was transported in pieces by mule or camel the Gatlings and Gardeners were moved purely by the muscle power of their bluejacket crews.

I only need one for my force and one Gardner, which I have bought but not built. I made the mistake of building the Gatling gun before painting it and the whole operation was a lot more difficult as a result. The Gardner will be painted and then assembled! These sailors have the grey felt covers for their water bottles that were issued at the time for naval personnel.

I have a particular affection for the Gatling gun (horrible thing though it must have been, particularly if you were a tribesman armed only with a spear and hide shield) as my father bought me a model one when I was a little boy. It was grey plastic and mounted on wheels. You dropped those little silver balls that you decorate trifles with into a hopper on the top, turned the handle and they spat out the barrel and mowed down my Timpo soldiers very effectively. I would pay quite a lot of money to find one of those models again!

Three more Naval Brigade sailors

I've been away all week in Scandinavia so haven't had any time for painting but I did finish these three sailors today who now join the one on the left that I had already done. Except now I look at them I notice I haven't done the ships name (or at least an impression of it!) on their hat bands. A job for morning light I think! I'm glad there weren't more Naval Brigade troops in the Sudan as they are right fiddly to paint!

The ship in the background is my Darkest Africa paddleboat; an extended version (I thought his original was a bit short!) I made from the the Gary Chalk plans from Wargames Illustrated a few years ago. It's still not finished as it needs its rear canopy and a few other details.

Vice-Admiral Sir William Nathan Wrighte Hewett 1834–88

Here is the commander of my nascent Naval Brigade. It has to be Admiral Billy Hewett VC. Admiral Hewett was Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy's East India Station and commanded the 150 seaman, 400 Royal Marines and six gardiner guns that comprised the Naval Brigade. He arrived at Suakin on 16thDecember 1883 in his flagship, Euryalus. Following Baker's disastrous engagement at First El Teb Hewitt was put in overall military charge and the 15o Seamen and marines he landed to preserve order were the first British forces officially deployed in the Sudan.

At Second El Teb he personally commanded the Naval Brigade from the Square and led a charge at swordpoint! No wonder he was known as "The Fighting Admiral"! He won his VC in the Crimea when, having been ordered to retire from a Naval Brigade Battery being threatened by Russians, he shouted: 'Retire? Retire and be damned! Fire!'

He died in 1888, in Haslar Naval Hospital, and is buried in Portsmouth where he has a suitably nautical headstone!

First Naval Brigade Sailor Completed

Here is the first sailor, looking very much like he has come off a Players cigarette tin. I am quite happy with him and will work on the rest of the unit now. I have decided to keep it at 14 men, and even that is a bit high proportion-wise, but much less and they won't be a viable unit I think. In the pictures below I hadn't painted the brass end of his scabbard yet. This is now done!

My order arrived from Perry Miniatures (with one wrong code-as usual. This is the second time it's happened). The Gatling gun is great and I will do that in combination with the rest of the sailors. I won't order the Royal Marines until after I have done the KRRC (and some more Beja!).

Here is the whole unit as it is now. In reality there were only 150 sailors in the Naval brigade which means I should only have about 6 figures. But I want 4 figures to guard each gun plus officers. I also need to be able to field a bigger unit for non-historical battles.
I probably won't get any more done on them this week as I have to finish the Greeks for Saturday.