Afghan Tribal Force Update #1

"Let me introduce you to my little friend!"

I have spent the better part of the month travelling in the Iberian Peninsula of the early 19th Century and now it is time to get back to the North West Frontier of the British Raj in the late 19th Century. As I build my Afghan Force to fight the forces of the Empress Queen in the uprising of 1897 to 1898 and, the (fictional) Imperial Russian Forces for the same time frame, I have determined that I need more figures armed with firearms than I previously thought.

This will be the leader of my first fire armed unit of 12 figures and they will be rated as Irregular Infantry per The Men Who Would be Kings. (Paid Link)

For my core force, instead of having 3 units of Tribal Infantry (16 figures) and 2 units of Irregular Infantry (12 figures), I'm going to switch the numbers and have 2 units of Tribal Infantry and 3 units of Irregular Infantry.  I like the alternative basing method of 3, 2, 1 for The Men Who Would be Kings (Paid Link), which allows me to create mini vignettes with the basing, and I organize my figures that way when I paint. For my core force (so far!) I'm using the hard plastic Afghan Tribal Infantry (Paid Link) from Perry Miniatures which can be assembled in a gazillion ways. The above leader, and I always base the leaders this way, will be based as a single figure.

Two figures to a base.

Three figures for this base.

One of the challenges in painting units that are not "uniformed", is that it takes me longer to paint them since I cannot set up an assembly line; e.g., paint all of the red jackets, then paint all of the blue pants, etc. As a result, I usually paint them in batches of 6.

These three figures will definitely be based together.

This is the standard bearer for the first unit of Irregular Infantry. He will be based with one of the figures below on a 2 figure base.

The last 2 figures of my first 12 figure strong force.

My Irregular Infantry will be based 2 x 3 figures, 2 x 2 figures and 2 x 1 figure. My Tribal Infantry will be mounted 3 x 3 figure bases, 2 x 2 figure bases and 3 x 1 figure bases. The following will be in the first Tribal Infantry unit and were actually my test figures for painting the Afghans and I'm pleased with the results.

Tribal Leader and Standard bearer.

Tribesman.

Another angle gives you and idea of the animation that is possible with the Perry plastics.

Which now brings us to the BFG. Artillery in The Men Who Would be Kings (Paid Link) represent small artillery pieces like mountain guns -  but when I saw this Large Cannon (Paid Link) from WizKids I was struck by shiny new tow syndrome and knew it had to be in my army. 

That's the update for now: Full steam ahead to finish the first unit (and to purchase some crewmen for the BFG)!