Prototyping Terrain for the Boer War

So, I've painted 33 Boers and a dozen British in a rush and it's time to do something else for a bit. 

I have comparatively little terrain for the Boer War. This weekend, I tried an experiment to see what I could do with what I had. What you are looking at is a kind of layout I might use if the garrison of Ladyking or Himberley might have sallied out one moonless night to see what mischief they might wreak on a Boer gun position.

You're looking at one of my two 90 by 150 centimetre tables. The ridge-line or kop is made from layers of 30cm square cork tile. I faced them with grass matt paper on one side and left them in their natural state on the other.

In the foreground are my imagined denizens of the bushveldt - anthills and acacia trees. The table itself is green on one side and au naturel on the other for a more arid look. I am making a few more anthills as I read so much about British troops taking cover behind them in the big battles of the war.

A Boer sentry stands guard while his fellows sleep in the farmhouse to the rear of the Kop. He will spot the English if he rolls a six and fire his rifle to wake his mates.

La belle Alliance standing in for a Dutchman's farmhouse; and not too badly either if the images of various Boer houses I have seen are anything like right.

An attempt at an entrenchment with a 25mm scale resin wall and a couple of old resin Gabions. The wall lengths are about 15cm.

Another shot of my Long Tom in it's emplacement with a sentry by it for scale. There are improvements that could be made - the addition of the artillerists impedimenta, a firing platform and perhaps a small tent for the ammunition.

Any feedback and suggestions are more than welcome.

This particular layout I imagine as one that I would use in a mooted rule set. I see this as being a stand alone skirmish scenario to be played in the context of a larger seige. A raid is planned. Two small parties go out each with a co and with a captain in charge of the whiole show. Move by move the creep forward, dreading the moment that the Boer sentry (rolling a 6) spots them. S small squad of his comrades tumble out of their tent and start firing wildly at the Khakis in the dim, pre-dawn light. Hit chances and movement all are reduced because of the darkness. The British scramble into the Boer Sangar, desperate to set of the gun cotton charges they have brought before the rest of the Boers scramble up the Kop from the farmhouse below...

The Infamous BVC

The Bush Veldt Carbineers were a Light Horse in South Africa notorious for the conviction and execution by firing squad of two of it's officers and the imprisonment of a third for the murder of numerous Boer prisoners of war. They were just one of many small units of what were basically irregular light infantry raised to prosecute the guerilla war against the diminishing Boer commandoes as the Boer War ran down in late 1901-2.

Their job was to out-Boer the Boers. They are a troop type that is absolutely necessary if one is to war game the later phase of the Boer War. I'll probably make up the troopers from Willie Lancers with heads swapped from figures with slouched hats. 

I am also considering getting together a unit of New South Wales Lancers which could probably be done in much the same way with or without lances.

This figure is a lightly converted US Cavalry officer from the Willie "Wild West" range. Sadly the horse looks a little like an over-sized dog!

Almost... There...

 

Up the Chamla with Willie

 

A WIP of the latest project. 

After spending the last couple of weeks on the HLI, I thought that it was time to pull out the screw gun team that has been patiently waiting on it's turn to be made ready for active duty. The castings were in fair condition, but did take a couple of hours to clean up - one of the joys of using figures that were designed more than 45 years ago. A small problem is that the gun's carriage was short shot and not fully formed in the mould, so I'll be scrounging some plastic card to make good.  

What you see here is the weekends' work. I have another three mules to finish along with a pair of gunners before I can tuck this one safely away. 

The basing is sand on PVA painted with one of the GW "crackle" paints. That's then dry-brushed with a bone shade and topped with three or four different types of grass tuft.

The Order of Battle is now:

The Infantry

The Buffs

The Highland Light infantry

The Seaforths

The Guides Infantry

The Cavalry

The 21st Lancers

The Navy

The Naval Brigade Gatling Guns

I am staking a claim to a Mountain and a Field Battery, some Guides Cavalry, perhaps some Lancers from Bengal and another couple of infantry units.

Then it's Pathans in a big way. Then perhaps a few Mahdists. An Ross, just to tease you a little, some Boers.

Earthworks

My trusty hot-wire cutter comes through with the goods again.

I've opted to paint the block-houses in GW "Boltgun Metal" washed over with some burned sienna as a light tarnish and to add some definition on the corrugations.

I decided on this approach as there was no information really on whether the blockhouses had been painted or no. Besides, I squinted at some poor quality, black-and-white internet images for long enough to convince myself they were bare metal!

Block-house work in progress

Just a quickie to show you what's on here.

The idea here is to build a block-house in stand-alone form that I can drop into a terrain piece. The circular part is an industrial-scale toilet-paper roll cut in half with a saw, whlie the gable-ends and ceiling are of that perennial favourite, foam-core board.

The the roof and all the rest of the "corrugated iron cladding are a roll of finely corrugated cardboard I found a few years back in a stationers. It has a flat backing so it takes an even skim of glue well for when I have to laminate it onto a thicker card for stability. It's just been cut as a square and scored to fold for the roof.

The miniatures are Hinchcliffe in the Slade Wallace personal equipment. Very nice figures that I'd never really considered before.

Getting out of the doldrums

You know how it is, you get into the project doldrums and you need a break. That's about where I'm at with my ACW project, I'd say.

I've long been interested in the Boer War, but not really wanting to commit too deeply.

Thus I'm going to do a little mini-project - a couple of Boer War Block-houses and a pair of TSaTF-sized infantry units. Not too much, just enough to slake that little thirst.

However, there are dangers; now I'm eyeing-off my Sudan collection.

Uh-oh...