Pulp Figures Thuggee Fighters with Martini Rifles

Another versatile and outstanding pack from Pulp Figures, the Thuggee Fighters with Martini Rifles can be used for just about any Colonial conflict in and around the British Raj. For In Her Majesty's Name I am going to use them as Indian Army deserters who have joined the evil cult of the Mad Guru. Game profiles for the Indian Army deserters can be found in the supplement Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun.

For In Her Majesty's Name, these will be Indian Army deserters that have joined the Thugs and their profile can be found in Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun. Of course they can be used for just about any Colonial rules or actions.

Pulp Figures Thuggee with Separate assorted Weapons & Picks

 Thugs and phansigars (noose operators) from Pulp figures.

The figures shown are from Pulp Figures pack PBT 21 Thuggee with Separate assorted Weapons & Picks.  The selection of weapons are truely amazing allowing you to customize your collection to your hearts desire - with weapons left over! The other item I appreciate: The weapons actually fit in the hands without additional filing or drilling! You can see some of the selection of weapons included, though I gave the sacred burial pick of the cult of Kali, forged in a holy ritual to one of Fu Manchu's minions.  I'm sure it was part of Dr. Manchu's collection.

The figures can be used for a variety of popular Colonial rules. Rules for Thugs in the game In Her Majesty's Name can be found in the supplement Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun.

Next: Thugs with guns!

Pulp Figures The Mad Guru

The Guru has reestablished the Thuggee, a murder cult that had been suppressed 50 years previously.

Eduardo Ciannelli portrays the Guru in the film Gunga Din (1939) as a dignified, intelligent, though murderous defender of the Indian people. Ciannelli was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals. The contrasts between the characters of the Guru, Gunga Din, and the Sergeants Three are a whole dissertation on the state of the British Raj - but that is a discussion for another day.

Eduardo Ciannelli as the Guru: "You seem to think warfare an English invention. Have you never heard of Chandragupta Maurya? He slaughtered all the armies left in India by Alexander the Great. India was a mighty nation then while Englishmen still dwelt in caves and painted themselves blue."

The dignity that Ciannelli brings to the role and his monologues about India and the future are in stark contrast to the disciplinary headaches and shortsightedness of the Sergeants Three, and an extent Gunga Din. But every good buddy adventure film needs a villain, and the Guru fits the bill perfectly. For In Her Majesty's Name I am using the profile for Jera, High Priest of Kal that is found in the supplement Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun.

 "Mad? Mad. Hannibal was mad, Caesar was mad, and Napoleon surely was the maddest of the lot. Ever since time began, they've called mad all the great soldiers in this world. Mad? We shall see what wisdom lies within my madness. For this is but the spring that precedes the flood. From here we roll on. From village to town. From town to mighty city. Ever mounting, ever widening, until at last my wave engulfs all India!"

Pulp Figures pack PBT 24 The Mad Guru perfectly reproduces the atmosphere of this classic character and associates. In addition to the guru there is also a idol of Kali, a body guard, a loyal adherent (sculpted to look like the Guru's son Chota played by Abner Biberman) and a cobra!!! in a basket.

The Kali idol. Unfortunately I managed to get static grass all over it before I sprayed it with a clear flat enamel. Oh well. Still looks great as an accessory to a game.

Chota and a great python in a basket! For Chota I will use the profile of a Thuggee leader (Naib Subedar) from Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun.

  The menacing bodyguard; also can be used as an excellent leader figure. His profile will be that of the deadly warrior Sardi from Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun.

I added an old GW Lizard man shield to his back. With his arms crossed, it conveniently covers any straps he uses to carry it on the back - plus it looks menacing!

KALI!!!

Next: Pulp Figure Thuggees!

Pulp Figures The Sergeants Three (Gunga Din Hollywood 1938 Version)

 SGT Archibald Cutter (Cary Grant), SGT 'Mac' MacChesney (Victor McLaglen), and SGT Thomas 'Tommy' Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) sculpted during the part of the movie when SGT MacChesney orders and leads the charge of his command across the rooftops of the fictional town of Tantrapur.

As mentioned in my previous blog entry, The movie Gunga Din is a 1939 RKO adventure film loosely based on the poem of the same name by Kipling combined with elements of his short story collection Soldiers Three. The film is about three British sergeants and Gunga Din, their native bhisti (water bearer), who fight the Thuggee, an Indian murder cult, in colonial British India. The movie continues with the central theme of the poem, the sacrifices the Indians made on behalf of British Imperialism.

Soldiers Three is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. The three soldiers of the title are Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris, who had also appeared previously in the collection Plain Tales from the Hills. The current version, dating from 1899 and more fully titled Soldiers Three and other stories, consists of three sections which each had previously received separate publication in 1888; Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris appear only in the first section, which is also titled Soldiers Three. The books reveal a side of the British Tommy in Afghanistan rarely seen in the Twilight of the British Empire. The soldiers comment on their betters, act the fool, but cut straight to the rawness of war in the mid-east as the British began to loosen their Imperial hold.

 British Army rank insignia prior to the 1902 Dress Regulations

In the movie Gunga Din, SGT's Cutter, MacChesney, and Ballantine are sergeants in the Royal Engineers as evidenced by the grenade above their chevrons and the R.E. on their epaulets. They are tasked with keeping the communications open between Trantrapur and the local British Imperial Garrison. In the grand tradition of "buddy" films, the characters are almost caricatures that we will come to love in latter movies: SGT Cutter is always scheming for riches: SGT MacChesney's devoted duty to Queen and Country and his low opinion of many Indians, and SGT Ballantine, tired of the Army and ready to hang up his sword, get married and go into the tea business. Though argumentive amongst the three, there is nothing but loyalty between the three friends and the ultimate realization of sacrifice of one character, Gunga Din, who only wants to be a soldier and in a larger sense he "saves the British Raj."
 

 Cary Grant as SGT Archibald Cutter, always on the look out for treasure.

For In Her Majesty's Name: 

Name: SGT Archibald Cutter, Royal Engineers

Pluck: 3+

Leadership: +1*

Speed: +1

Fighting Value: +3

Shooting Value: +3

Talents: Bayonet Drill, Engineer, Erudite Wit, Fearless, Grenadier, Tough

Basic Equipment: Brigadine, Pistol, and sword. May also purchase a Military Rifle (+9 points). May also purchase a Congreve Rocket Gun (+7 Points) and must purchase the rocket grenades separately. May also carry any kind of grenade but must pay the appropriate points.

Armor: 9

Cost: 58

*Special Leadership Rule: All of the Sergeants Three have a Leadership of +1. They can combine their leadership for Initiative and any pluck rolls that can benefit from Leadership if the figures are in range. This rule is negated if their are any British officers present; then it is just a +1.

"Now you're all under arrest. Her Majesty's very touchy about having her subjects strangled."

 Victor McLaglen as SGT 'Mac' MacChesney: A tough, get the job done with little respect for the local inhabitants.

Name: SGT "Mac" MacChesney, Royal Engineers

Pluck: 3+

Leadership: +1*

Speed: +0

Fighting Value: +4

Shooting Value: +3

Talents: Bayonet Drill, Beserker, Engineer, Fearless, Tough

Basic Equipment: Brigadine, Pistol, and sword. May also purchase a Military Rifle (+9 points). May also purchase a Congreve Rocket Gun (+7 Points) and must purchase the rocket grenades separately. May also carry any kind of grenade but must pay the appropriate points.

Armor: 9

Cost: 63

*Special Leadership Rule: All of the Sergeants Three have a Leadership of +1. They can combine their leadership for Initiative and any pluck rolls that can benefit from Leadership if the figures are in range. This rule is negated if their are any British officers present; then it is just a +1.

One of the most poignant moments of the movie is when Colonel Weed, the senior officer, reads lines from the "newly" written poem by the war correspondent Rudyard Kipling as they are burying Gunga Din: "Though I've belted you and flayed you / By the living God that made you / You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din." A tear runs down MacChesney's eye as Din is made a Corporal of the regiment and will be forever listed among the honored dead.

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, as SGT Thomas "Tommy" Ballantine: "You displease me greatly, and I ignore the both of you."

Name: SGT Thomas "Tommy" Ballantine, Royal Engineers

Pluck: 3+

Leadership: +1*

Speed: +1

Fighting Value: +3

Shooting Value: +3

Talents: Bayonet Drill, Duelist (Sword), Engineer, Fearless, Lightening Draw (Sword), Tough

Basic Equipment: Brigadine, Pistol, and sword. May also purchase a Military Rifle (+9 points). May also purchase a Congreve Rocket Gun (+7 Points) and must purchase the rocket grenades separately. May also carry any kind of grenade but must pay the appropriate points.

Armor: 9

Cost: 65

*Special Leadership Rule: All of the Sergeants Three have a Leadership of +1. They can combine their leadership for Initiative and any pluck rolls that can benefit from Leadership if the figures are in range. This rule is negated if their are any British officers present; then it is just a +1.

"The trouble is you don't want a man for a husband! You want a coward who will run out on his friends! Well, thats not me, never was, and never will be. I don't care how much I love you! And I do very much. I'm a soldi... I mean I'm a man first!"

Gunga Din and the Sergeants Three.

Next: The Mad Guru!

Pulp Figures Gunga Din (Hollywood 1938 Version)

You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

In the poem Gunga Din, by Ruyard Kipling, the flawed character is the white, British soldier and the overall hero? An Indian water-bearer for the Imperial Army. The movie Gunga Din is a 1939 RKO adventure film loosely based on the poem of the same name by Kipling combined with elements of his short story collection Soldiers Three. The film is about three British sergeants and Gunga Din, their native bhisti (water bearer), who fight the Thuggee, an Indian murder cult, in colonial British India. The movie continues with the central theme of the poem, the sacrifices the Indians made on behalf of British Imperialism.

Sam Jaffee plays Gunga Din, the manliest man to ever wear a diaper in a film.

Though some of the movie's elements are products of its time, it is still a rollicking, entertaining film that has influenced other films and has become a "must watch" with the starring roles of Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Victor McLaglen and Sam Jaffe in the title role.

 “ This is only pleasure for poor bhisti”

Here are my stats for Gunga Din for In Her Majesty's Name:

Name: Gunga Din, Regimental bhisti

Pluck: 5+

Leadership: 0

Speed: 0

Fighting Value: +1 (Did you see him bayonet that Thuggee?)

Shooting Value: +0

Talents: Inspirational, Medic

Basic Equipment: Water bag (Medic), bugle (Inspirational - an exception since he is not a leader), knife, and any weapon he can pick up on the battle field.

Armor: 7

Cost: 21

For The Men Who Would be Kings attach Gunga Din to any British Imperial Infantry unit for 1 point and he and he is "Inspirational" which allows the unit to reroll every failed Rally roll once. When casualties are taken, you must roll to see if Gunga Din is one.

Gunga Din and The Sergeants Three.

Corporal Din.

Next: The Sergeants Three.