Some progress
Plodding along. Paid work has been utterly crazy and weather hot, plus She Who Must Be Obeyed has set up her Zoom Station in my "Play Room", so not as much progress has been made as might have been wished - and what there has been has been disjointed and a tad erratic.......
A little rough and random "building" (can one "build" ruins) for the (somewhat eclectic ?) "Lost City" - something too easy to drift into but which is strangely therapeutic..
Also above; a few "20mm" Irregular Miniatures Patham/Sikh bods completed, which painted up nicely, a semi-completed Ju-Ju tree, a "stony base" which will serve both as a "Mysterious Pool" and as a base for the Ju-Ju tree when it's in a village.
I also dug out my veteran old "Ould Regiment" (painted up in the 80s ?) for a Spring clean and check..
I had thought about giving them a dark wash, as they are bit "Toy Soldier" bright, but the Jury's opinion on FB was leave them as they are, and really I agree, so I'll content myself with adding some sand to their bases... I gave them a couple of extra non-coms/officers (below - as if there weren't already too many chiefs) from HaT, even if these do look a little delicate next to the Esci and RSM chaps, plus painted one of the mounted officers in a Patrol Jacket.
It did strike me that the HaT figures, with their rather tall helmets, if given trousers rather than gaiters, might paint up as Victorian policemen*... Hmm.....
(Though, seriously Denyer.. Why..??**)
(** Then I suddenly remembered an article from a 1970-80s Military Modelling or a wargames magazine with a "Chasing armed anarchists" linear scenario based on a real incident in London.. I have "civilians" in the form of Boers waiting to be painted.... And will still have the magazine squirrelled away.... Oh dear.... With such thoughts are new projects born....)
The rough and ready semi naked chap at the side is for a planned "Naked Prey" scenario (not seen the movie for decades but watched it online the other week).
Meanwhile:
Dug out my old copy of Callwell and from this have sketched out some adaptions to TMWWBK's "Mr. Babbage" rules, with tweaks specifically for "Hill Tribes" and "Bush Warfare". Need to play-test these, then I'll "publish".
The Project....
Some progress on the "Not Sanders of the River" project: card values for the Player and Non-Player Tribal Chiefs to "play" against each other (right click; "open link in new tab" to see them better).
The cards will provide "imponderables" for the campaign element, affect players' Influence" (good) and their levels on the "Infringement Track" (bad - the higher the level, the greater the risk of the British deciding to step in) and, in many circumstances, act as a "scenario generator" for my on-table games.
I'm toying with using two decks, a blue backed and a red backed one, to provide more options, since the ideas keep coming... I need to set-to and draw out the "final" map..... Part of me wants to do it by hand, but I have been looking at some of the mapping software out there... Hmm.......
Meanwhile, in less "creative" (aka lazy) moments, as the man said "When all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman" - even if it has made me feel guilty about my stalled "Russians In Central Asia" project...
Onwards - and with occasional sideways detours - upwards...
