Search Glorious Little Soldiers

Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts

Friday, 17 November 2023

Khalsa ! A Guide to Wargaming the Anglo Sikh Wars.

It's Out!  

So here is my second book and my first in the Helion Wargames series.


It was  both fun and challenging to write. To be honest I found the 'wargaming' bits sometimes more of a challenge then the 'history' bits but it all seems to have come out right in the end.. I have not yet seen a print copy  but the final proof looked pretty dammed good in my very biased opinion.
 Interested chaps can  buy a copy here.

https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/khalsa-a-guide-to-wargaming-the-anglo-sikh-wars-1845-1846-and-1848-1849.php?sid=d865002267875a99daed8df532ee2691 

on the Helion website at an introductory offer price.
 Also Helion will be at Battleground Wargames show in Stockton - on- Tees on Saturday 25th November - as indeed will I .
 My gaming group and I will be running a Sikh Wars game in 28mm based around one of the scenarios in the book.
 See your there perhaps. ?


Tuesday, 17 October 2023

Khalsa- a Guide to Wargaming the Anglo- Sikh Wars.

 Well here is the cover of our - that is mine and Jim's -  book on wargaming the Sikh Wars due out next month. 


So here Gentle readers is some actual evidence ! 

On the Helion Website here

https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/khalsa-a-guide-to-wargaming-the-anglo-sikh-wars-1845-1846-and-1848-1849.php?sid=84a711aebc2164d537e86cbcb48738bd&fbclid=IwAR2_hkt5ITwYyWt2y3hlItLeWXLo5lel-IA1LHuzIBJmaemSfXKDoQ7jWAw  

Saturday, 14 October 2023

It has been a while !

 Sometimes you  simply have to let something slide. there simply are not enough hours in the working day.

Last weekend was Partizan which meant  getting the van from the hirer , loading up said van then getting up at half past bloody early for the drive to Newark. Doing the show - which was pretty busy- loading up and driving back. Unloading then getting the van back to the hirer on the Monday morning. Does not leave a lot of time for much else over three days. This time was made a bit more frantic as for the previous two days I was also unpacking a shipment from the USA and pulling a bundle of back- orders to make sure I didn't sell 'em at the show Then of course you have all the catching up to do when you get back. mostly done now but still some back orders to go out next week. Phew!

 Previous to that I was busy putting the finishing touches to my soon to be published (I'm told November so in time for Crimbo dudes!) book 'Khalsa - A Guide to Wargaming the Anglo- Sikh Wars'. Helion being the publisher in their Helion Wargames series.

Sikh Ghorcharra. The mainstay of the Sikh cavalry. No Sikh army can have too many of these chaps  so there are always some on my painting table.


 Almost 70.000 words plus a bundle of photos of mine and Colin Ashton's Sikh Wars collections in action. Add to that the Uniform and organisational guides and  several scenarios and 'scenario sketches'  and I'm pretty pleased with it Not for a moment forgetting the figure painting chapter by my good friend James Main which adds  considerably to the book. Now all I'm waiting for is to see it in print.

 Oh and yes there is a fair bit of narrative history in there as well..

The Sirmoor Local Battalion- a Ghurkha unit. This unit fought in the First Sikh War at Aliwal and Sobraon.. Despite the 'rifles' style uniform they did carry colours .


I'm told I'll have copies in time for Battleground show on November 26th - at which event Helion  are listed as a trader so we shall see.

 Our gaming group are doing a Sikh Wars demo game so in my few and far between spare moments I am painting Sikh Wars figures to add to my still growing collection. Oh and maybe a bit of the World Cup.

Monday, 26 June 2023

Finished- well more or less.

 OK That is the Sikh wars book finished more or less- Text completed anyway along with the maps and some of the illustrations.

 

25BNI. A Foundry unit painted by my Co-Author James Main. 

This should be out before Christmas this year or so I'm told. I do still have a bundle of photos to take though I have about a dozen or more already in the bag. Still more to do though.

Sikh Regular dragoons Old Glory models painted by me. 


 Those in this short not will not be amongst those in the book.

 

Sikh High command . Old Glory figures painted by me. 

Right off to the photo 'studio' .

Friday, 27 May 2022

Wargaming De Boigne's Campaigns Part One.

While I was at Partizan it came up in  a conversation  about my book- 'Their Infantry and Guns Will Astonish You that there aren't any ranges  available to wargame the campaigns out lined in the book.  Well that is both true and false. 

True there aren't any dedicated  RANGES for these fascinating campaigns.



 FALSE because there are plenty of figures out there if you look about yourself and stop being a lazy chap expecting to be spoonfed. After all building such an unusual army is part of the fun of this hobby.

The first place to look of course is any 'Wellington in India ' range, which of course you will understand when you have read the book.

One of DeBoignes battalions with its 'gun company' .Figures are First Corps with Old Glory AWI  command figs which have been give Spare Redoubt sepoy heads. 


 Redoubt have a good range in 28mm as do AW Miniatures though personally I'm not keen on the AW cavalry. In terms of size the 2 ranges are  fairly compatible  unless you are one of those anal dudes with a case of '3mm angst'. These 2 ranges will take care of most of the regulars but I also use some of the First Corps SYW Indian troops too. They do a couple of nice sepoys  but you will have to source other command figs. These are smaller than Redoubt 

Assorted Irregular cavalry - all models are Old Glory either from the Sikh Wars range or the Renaissance Persians


Foundry and Empress also do plenty of useful models  for the Mughals and other more irregular troops. Empress also have some useful  carts waggons and baggage items geared to Indian armies. 

 Old Glory do plenty of the irregular types  hidden in the Sikh Wars and Indian mutiny ranges - some of their Pathans are doing duty as Rohillas in my slowly growing collection. .

 If you can source them Indus miniatures do some useful figures but beware some are, rather oddly, left handed.

Perry have a few Bombay sepoys hidden in their British Napoleonic and their plastic Afghans are a useful source of spares parts for conversions - as are the Wargames Atlantic plastics.

 Eureka in Australia have some very useful 28mm in their Golconda range  but they seem to be a little difficult to source.

A mob of Irregular Infantry again all Old Glory models  from the Indian Mutiny or NW Frontier ranges - with a couple of  Muslim Militia from the Crusades range for good measure. 


I have seen some rather tasty 20mm/1/72 scale models from Schilling Miniaturen - a German company  worth a look  certainly  as they are very sweet indeed. 

Elephant towed 24pdr gun  by AW miniatures.  Although from their Indian Mutiny range with earlier crew this piece will fit neatly into earlier campaigns .

Rohilla matchlockmen from Old Glory - actually out of the NW Frontier range. 

British gun and crew of the Bengal Artillery. Crew are AW gun is a Sash and Saber model


In 15mm Minifigs do a Wellington in India range - never seen them in the flesh but the pictures look OK. Freikorps 15 used to have a warfare in India range but no longer sure who owns these now.

 In the tiny sizes Irregular do some useful stuff in 6mm .

So building armies for these campaigns is very possible with just a modicum of effort.

Once you have the armies then you can think about rules.... More on this when I have had a little think .... 

 

Thursday, 27 January 2022

BOOK CHAT

 Tonight at 7 pm I'm giving and online book chat - under Helion's auspices on my book.

 Their Infantry and Guns will astonish You.

 Josh Provan will also be talking about his book 'Bullocks Grain and Good Madeira.

 Each of us will give a short presentation then both will be taking questions. I'm told Helion will be giving the audiencea discount price on each of our books.

 Should be fun ....

Monday, 2 August 2021

Published- and in my grubby mits too!

 Arrived earlier today so I am feeling just a tad pleased with myself 

.


The colour plates by Giorgio Albertini look splendid and as usual Helion's productio values are right up to the mark. 


Of course now all I have to do is source some figures for the various armies ...... 

Thursday, 15 July 2021

Publication Date.

 


I have been given a publication date of July 21st - that would be NEXT WEEK DUDES !  for the publication of this my first book so you can see I'm just a tad exited about this.  Looking forward to it. 

Wednesday, 9 June 2021

Complications .....

I am finding out that there is more to publishing a book than writing the thing. Currently  going through the final proof before the book goes off to the printers. Checking the 8 pages of colour plates and the captions to the Black and white illustrations and the maps and battle plans is quite a bit more arduous than I imagined when I started. Not that I begrudge such duty - far from it  but it does not half make your back ache poring over the screen for such a comparatively long period of time without a break.

 Still , no worries it is getting done.

 However what with that and getting the usual crop of orders out- not to mention a bundle of back orders  it means that other stuff- such as figure painting has been almost entirely absent for the last week or so .

 Hence no new pics in this post

 well perhaps just this one ...... 


In Helions Autumn schedule.