"When Irish Eyes are Smiling . . . "

Happy St. Patrick's Day and here are some of my Irish troops:

 Manus O'Cahan's Regiment of Foot - English Civil War (28mm Warlord)

Colonel Alexander MacDonnell's Regiment of Foot - English Civil War (28mm Warlord)

Army of the Potomac Irish Brigade - American Civil War (15mm Old Glory)

164th New York Volunteer Infantry - American Civil War (15mm Essex Miniatures)

1st Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers - WW II (15mm Battlefront)

Dillon's Regiment of Foot in French Service - War of Spanish Succession (15mm Dixon) 
 

FitzJames Regiment Regiment of Horse in French Service - War of Spanish Succession                  (15 mm Dixon Miniatures) 
 

 88th Regiment of Foot (Connaught Rangers) - Napoleonic Wars (28mm Wargames Foundry and Front Rank)

WoFun Miniatures Peninsular War Unit "Add-ons": The French

 And now the French Add-ons in 18mm that I purchased for the Peninsular War:

French Light (Legere) Infantry. For gaming they are really indistinguishable from Line (Ligne) unless you want to give them higher morale.

I didn't remember ordering more French Light Infantry, and when I checked my order form I didn't. I contacted WoFun and they informed me it was their gift from them to me for being a new customer. Wow. Yep, another order will be going in.

Swiss Infantry in French Service.

The officer and flag bearer should be in red, the drummers can be in either blue or green (Napoleon's livery). Looks like the command is simply the French command and frankly, I did not notice until I took pictures. At this scale it really doesn't matter.

There were a few extra figures so instant skirmisher stand.

French Chasseurs a Cheval

WoFun Miniatures Peninsular War Unit "Add-ons": The Allies

 

Individual units can be ordered from WoFun which they refer to as "add-ons". With my initial order I purchased several additional units for the Anglo-Portuguese Army and the French and their allies. The average infantry unit in 28mm comes with one unit; but, I'm doing my armies in 18mm. Surprise! You get two units!

Huzzah! Two units for almost the price of one! Here are the Portuguese Line infantry with some sneaky basing I did that I will explain later.

The average infantry unit in 28mm comes with 46 figures and WoFun standard basing at US $19.15 while the 18mm has 92 figures with WoFun standard basing at US $20.26. As always, you can choose your own basing method from their extensive variety of bases.

Above are examples of the bases I received; the one on the right already has the two rank bases punched out. What I did for some of my units, like the Portuguese, was to add the flag rank to the single rank base and I was able to use the extra figures as additional skirmishers.

"British Infantry with "Blue" facings (typo on the website!)."

British Heavy Dragoons

Next: French Add-ons for the Peninsular War

British Political Officer: Colonel Sir Robert Warburton, KCIE, CSI

Robert Warburton, born in a Ghilzai fort between Jagdallak and Mak on 11 July 1842, was the only son of Robert Warburton a lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Artillery, by his wife, an Afghan lady related to the Afghan Royal family. At the time of his birth his mother was flying from the troopers of Sardar Muhammad Akbar Khan, who pursued her for months after the massacre of English at Kabul on 1 November 1841. She was sheltered by her relatives, and finally rejoined her husband on 20 September 1842^.

Colonel Sir Robert Warburton, KCIE, CSI.

In 1862, Warburton returned to India as a young artillery officer and stationed with the 1st battery of the 24th brigade at Fort Govindghar, the fortress of Amritsar. In 1866, the financila failure of the Agra and Masterman's bank left him with only his pay to support himself and his mother. To increase his resources he exchanged into the 21st Punjab infantry. While serving with the transport train he showed great tact in conciliating native feeling and received the thanks of Sir Robert Napier for his services. On his return to India in April 1869, he was attached as a probationer to the 14th Sikhs, and in July 1870 he was appointed to the Punjab commission as an assistant commissioner to the Peshawar division.

14th Sikhs in the Punjab.

At the end of September 1872, he was removed temporarily to the sub-district of Yusafzai and stationed at Hoti-mardan, and in February 1876 he was permanently appointed. Under Sir Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari, he took part in several enterprises against the hill tribes who persisted in raiding British territory, particularly against the Utman Khel in 1878, and was five times complimented by the government of the Punjab and thrice by the secretary of state for India. In 1879, during the Afghan campaign, Cavagnari made repeated applications for his services, but the Punjab government refused to spare him. In July, however, he was appointed political officer of the Khyber, a post which he held for eighteen years.

The Khan of Lalpura, the leading Mohmand chief, and, at his right shoulder, seated behind the rock, the British political officer in the Khyber, Captain (later Colonel Sir) Robert Warburton.

In the British Empire, a Political Officer or Political Agent was an officer of the imperial civil administration, as opposed to the military administration, usually operating outside imperial territory. The title was particularly attached to a government official acting as a political adviser to the ruler of one of the princely states in pre-independence South Asia, though it could also designate a kind of special envoy or ambassador (e.g. "Political Officer to Afghanistan").

Colonels Warburton and Armstrong discuss the situation on the frontier with rumors of Russian spies in the hills with the tribal nations.

He obtained a remarkable influence over the hill tribes, perhaps in part due to his Afghan blood. He raised the Khyber Rifles from among these tribes, a force which for many years kept the pass tranquil. His camp became the rendezvous of mutually hostile tribesmen, who carefully refrained from hostilities so long as they remained within its precincts.

Colonel Warburton speaks softly but he does carry a very big pistol.

On 1 January 1890, in recognition of his services, he was created C.S.I.. In 1893, he was nominated to the brevet rank of colonel.

Colonel Warburton discusses the political situation on the frontier.

Moving on to the next tribal area with "The Red Beard" Mabub Ali. Colonel Warburton was put together entirely with parts from the Hard Plastic Afghan Tribesmen from Perry Miniatures (Paid Link).

I plan on developing some special rules for Colonel Warburton for The Men Who Would be Kings (Paid Link) and for In Her Majesty's Name (US Link and UK and Europe Link).

The 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry

"Ran Vir Jai Sada!"

My next unit for The Men Who Would be Kings is the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry which has a long and distinguished history. I decided to model them as D Squadron which was composed of Jat Sikhs. I decided to base them using the alternative basing method of 3, 2, 1 with a total of 8 figures for a Regular Cavalry unit.

The Subadar Major.

The 3rd Regiment of Bombay Light Cavalry was raised at Sirur on 4 May 1820 by Major Peter Delamotte. It had 3 squadrons on its establishment, of which one was provided by the 1st Regiment of Cavalry and one squadron from the 2nd Regiment of the Cavalry. The rest were inducted from suitable Indian Officers and NCOs from 1st and 3rd Battalions of Poona Auxiliary Infantry, which were disbanded in 1820.

Regimental History:

• 1820 3rd Regiment of Bombay Light Cavalry
• 1861 3rd Regiment of Bombay Silladar Light Cavalry
• 1861 3rd Regiment of Bombay Light Cavalry
• 1876 3rd (The Queen's Own) Regiment of Bombay Light Cavalry
• 1903 33rd Queen Victoria's Own Light Cavalry
• 1911 33rd Queen Victoria's Own Light Cavalry
• 1921 33rd/34th Cavalry
• 1922 17th Queen Victoria's Own Poona Horse
• 1927 The Poona Horse (17th Queen Victoria's Own Cavalry)
• 1947 To Indian Army
• 1950 The Poona Horse (17th Horse)

The unit was amalgamated in 1921 into the present regiment, the battle honors of which tell of service in three Afghan wars, in Persia, Abyssinia and China, as well as in World War I. The regiment has fought with distinction in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani wars, with an officer winning India's highest gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra, in each war.

Campaign Service:

First Afghan War
Battle of Kandahar-1842
Battle of Ghunzee-1842
Battle of Kabul-1842
Battle of Meanee-1843
Battle of Hyderabad-1843
Persian Conflict
Battle of Kooshab-1856
Indian Mutiny
Battle of Sindwaha-1858
Abyssinia 1867-68

Second Afghan War 1879-80
Battle of Girishk
Battle of Maiwand
Battle of Kandahar-1880

China

Boxer Rebellion
Battle of Peking-1900

World War I
First Battle of Ypres-1914
Battle of Givenchy
Battle of La Basse-1914
Battle of Armentiers-1914
Battle of the Somme-1916
Battle of Flers–Courcelette-1916
Battle of Cambrai-1917
Battle of Shaiba
Battle of Ctesiphon
Capture of Damascus

Third Afghan War

Take that you bandits!

World War II
First Battle of El Alamein

Annexation of Hyderabad-1948

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

The Poona Horse is currently an Armored Regiment in the Armored Corps of the Indian Army. 

The motto of the regiment is ‘रण वीर जय सदा’ (Ran Vir Jai Sada); which translates to 'the gallant warrior, ever victorious'.