Zariba, zariba!

Or, More Fun with Rubberised Horsehair.

This is becoming the summer of terraining, as I finally put sand and paint and horsehair together to make these two zaribas/zarebas, or makeshift defences. A zariba was simply "an improvised stockade constructed especially of thornbushes and used for defense in parts of Africa". They were constructed by British forces in the Sudan from acacia bushes to protect encampments, supplies and pack animals.

Ok, it's a tight squeeze with my big ridge tents. Time to buy some renedra bell/dog tents...

I used two large vehicle bases I grabbed on a whim from Warbases at Salute. I'm a sucker for paying a quid to save me the time it takes to draw out and cut my own shapes and I've also found that the mdf is much less prone to warping. These were really easy pieces to make, I just sandpapered the edges, built up some height using wood filler and leftover cardboard and coated the top in PVA and sand. Once thats dried, I painted it with two watered coats of emulsion and wash/drybrushed to achieve the right colour. Then just rip/cut the rubberised horse hair as before, tease into bushy clumps, dab on the same stone-coloured emulsion and hot glue gun it onto the base.

With the KRRC manning the defences - they were built to fit an eight-man tray. 

Sudan: Mounted Infantry, Anglo-Egyptian OOB

Working thought the Salute lead pile, first of the unit for the refreshed Sudan project. These are the camel corps in melee pack, instead painted as Mounted Infantry drawn from the KRRC, which I already have a unit of. Fantastic sculpts these, very dynamic.

Oddly, these were only bought as the Perry stand was out of infantry firing lines! I gather Sudan was popular at Salute. I wanted to do my second ordinarily unit of infantry next, the Royal Marine Light Infantry. But I had the command for the RMLI already and painted them up at the same time, notably different to the KRRC with their white pipe-clayed helmets and packs. I wasn't sure what colour the bugle's cord should be but blue seemed to be fitting despite my best guess of green.



Im drawing up an force loosely suitable for engagements around Suakin. I decided early on to do an Anglo-Egyptian force, either to do relief operations of garrisoned troops, or as an 'alternate history' El Teb (I imagine a plausible scenario at the first El Teb where some Egyptian troops manage a fighting withdrawal and escape. while still a crushing defeat necessitating the deployment of British troops a reduced Egyptian field force is available). Sorry purists, I wanted both British and Egyptians without breaking the bank!

The Beja crash against the British line

The loose OOB for Black Powder looks something like this at the moment:

Commander-in-Chief

Brigade Commander leading a British infantry brigade
-King's Royal Rifle Corps
-Royal Marine Light Infantry
-Naval Brigade
-Gardner Gun

Brigade Commander leading an Egyptian infantry brigade:
-1st Battalion
-IXth (Sudanese) Battalion
-Bashi Bazouks on foot
-British 7pdr Screw Gun

Brigade Commander leading the cavalry and scouts:
-10th Hussars
-Mounted infantry
-Mounted Bashi Bazouks

The Secret Project: Revealed!

I've not been doing that much hobby stuff recently, mostly as my hobby time has been eaten into by some quality time with the PS3 (mostly the excellent and damnably addictive Batman: Arkham City) But, to keep the post rate up, I thought I'd do a series of posts to this summer's Secret Project. 

You may recall there were a few clues:

-small scale narrative campaign using Brink of Battle
-miniatures by a preferred manufacturer

-I already had one force painted (well, most of it) 

-some of the minis would find a dual use in Pulp scenarios. 

So, imagine yourself in Egypt, 1883. Egyptian-held Sudan is in turmoil. El Mahdi has emerged and gathered his 'Ansar' around him: the tribes Korfodan, Beja and Nile Arabs. Yup, is time to dabble in Colonials! Much inspired by forums as wells as blogs such as 'Maiwand Day' and 'Horse and Musket',  it was a small-scale and entertaining painting distraction. 

First up, some Egyptian Infantry (Perry Miniatures):

I tried a new flesh tone on these and think it came out quite well. I reckoned they will be serviceable as North/African or Turkish military/paramilitary types for 1930s Pulp. 

Next, pith helmets galore, it's the stalwart British infantry (Perry miniatures)

Painted as King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) from the incredibly useful Perry miniatures painting guide here. 

Another mini from the pack above, painted in a khaki uniform, he serves as character for the campaign (more on that later) this would be Sir Henry Huffington (he is actually a stand-in for Huffington, as there is more suitable figure I've got my eye on...). I put him on a beveled base as he also join my 28mm Pulp characters on some adventures, as a further well-traveled friend of the Professor. 

And finally, some members of the Naval Brigade running at trail (guess what...Perry Miniatures!)