You Can't have too many Elephants.

My various Indian projects often move with almost glacial slowness- what with work and other stuff getting in the way-  but I do get the odd item finished every now and again  so here are a few pictures of the most recent efforts that I have actually finished myself. 

Rohillas Jezzailichis, or Pathans if you prefer.
All Old Glory 28mm from the same pack CNP2

 
 

There will be a fair amount of intermixing here between the various units and forces stretching from the late 18th century until the end of the Indian Mutiny and in a few cases even later- though of course much of the earlier stuff is not usable for the later campaigns.

Another shot of the Pathans/Rohillas.

A pair of old Willies !
A couple from the old Suren 'Willie' range of 30mm figures 
These from his Sikh Wars range.

Now for the finale as you might say. One of the reasons for wargaming Indian campaigns is the simple fact that you can model Elephants. I have a couple on the painting table currently - in the queue as it were- but this is the first one to be finished. 

Elephant drawn 24pdr gun.

Another shot of the same model..

The elephant and limber are from AW miniatures who do some nice stuff for India - though perhaps it it on the large side for some tastes. The gun , which fits in perfectly, is an old Hinchliffe model from the 30mm range but you can get a nice 24pdr from AW.. I had a couple of these Hinchliffe pieces lying about so it  seemed appropriate to use them.  Different crews from  the 1790s onwards will use this in various scenarios. 

 This will be having its first outing tomorrow as I am umpiring a small game for our little group .

 Should be fun! 

Last Salute 2-Not with a bang but a whimper.

 Last Saturday saw the re-vamped Salute 2020  at  Ex-cel in London actually happened. Well when I say happened .......

I had decided beforehand that this would be my last Salute. After all I've done 28 as a trader and I've had enough of the travelling and all around faffing about. As I've said previously I'm pulling back a bit from shows so next year will only see me and the crew (that's you Jim) at 3 events as traders. Mail order will of course carry on as normal.

So back to the show. As usual the Warlords organisation was pretty flawless, despite extra Covid related faffing set up went like a dream. No problems.

 Getting to the Hotel  cost us an extra 30 quid in congestion charges for the weekend (Hope you enjoy the extra cash Sayid) but that is not the Warlord's fault.

 Saturday dawns and again a bit of extra faff  to enter the venue  but this was not unexpected- though perhaps ex-cel could have made the info a bit clearer but again once inside, no problems.

However where the hell did Salute go?

Trader numbers were down . I was told 35 no shows by one of the Warlords. And as for the games , basically there seemed to be more blank empty tables than  full ones. Wide acres of empty space that SHOULD have been a-bustle with games,  greeted the wanderer in his spare moments. Again not the Warlords fault but the fault of the no-shows who didn't turn up. Obviously many had not bothered to inform the Warlords or the tables needn't have been set out- nice of those no-shows  to be so well mannered.

One nice game stood out for me, a lovely Wellington in India affair put on by Martin Gane as his friends - who I think were all Warlords- the 6 pages (yes a mere 6 pages) of rules they used look interesting too.. once I get time to read them properly.

What amazed me was that I actually had time to see the show .... except that it wasn't there. Trade was pretty sluggish but again that was expected due to Brexit and Covid- almost no Europeans turned up.. There was no point this year  where we were rushed off our feet - which in the past has been 'Salute Normal'.

Of course none of the particular problems of this years show can be laid at the door of the Warlords. But the combination of circumstances did rather take the shine off an event that is usually the showcase for the wargaming hobby . It wasn't Salute it was A.N.Other wargames show.

So the end of an era- for me at least and no it did not end with a bang.

Last Salute

 The re0imagined 'SALUTE 2020' is now little over a week away .

This will be my last Salute.

Two nights in a hotel  and 12 hours in a van(6 hours each way - less if we are lucky) plus the rigours of the show itself are no longer as easy as they used to be- nor are they as much fun.

 Time was when I did 26 shows a year before the internet and, like horseshit, I was never off the road but the world has changed since those 1990s days.

 I've done 28 Salutes as a trader plus a couple as a demonstrator and its enough. 

It's the travelling that gets you.

After this I'm sticking to shows closer to home, maybe even do some as a demonstrator again - which would be nice.

Now don't misunderstand I'm still selling soldiers and  there and back in a day shows such as York and Partizan are still in my sights but long journeys and  bloody hotels are off the menu.

 Been there done that.