27: IN MIDST OF BATTLE, FIGURES ARRIVE FROM THE PAINTER (!!!)

Ironically enough, though this was the fastest Maiwand refight we've played yet, the game stretched out over the longest amount of time -- perhaps a week -- because we played in short one to two hour bursts over 3 or 4 different afternoons/evenings (I think it all totaled up to only 3 or 4 hours of actual playing time, which was impressively fast, at least for us!).

A positive result of this was the arrival -- when we were about halfway through the battle -- of a box from Igor, illustrious figure painter in my hometown of Brooklyn, New York. In it were the 30th Bombay Native Infantry (Jacob's Rifles); the Maiwand Smooth Bore Battery comprised of two 6lb. Indian Mutiny-era guns, one 12.5" howitzer, and three 4-figure crews (painted as if they were supplied by drafts from the 66th Berkshire Regt.); native baggage carriers; some native civilians; 3 more dhoolies; the Bombay Sappers & Miners; and 3 mounted Afghan generals (my own conversion jobs).

I wasted no time in replacing my unit of red-turbaned Sikhs with these new figs (who are also Sikh figures, but specially-painted to serve as Jacob's Rifles). I also replaced the 10 Corps of Guides Infantry figures I'd used as the small unit of Bombay Sappers & Miners (at the real battle there was a single company but in order for their presence to be felt I field them as a 10-figure half-of-a-basic-unit). I added the new dhoolies and baggage wallahs to the board, and removed the 3 screw-guns I'd been using as the smooth bore battery, along with their motley collection of crew figures, and replaced them with the beautifully-painted Wargames Foundry Indian Mutiny range guns and Foundry Boer War Britsh artillery crew (which I'd done a bit of conversion work on to fit better with old-fashioned muzzle-loaders rather than more modern breechloaders). Finally I replaced a few odd Afghan regular cavalry figures I'd been using as mounted commanders for the Afghan Regular Army Maneuver Elements with the newly-arrived conversions, which I must say all looked terrific, at least to me!

Here are some pics of the newly arrived troops BEFORE they entered the fray. At the very bottom are some of my favorites -- Jacob's Rifles. The figures are Sikhs from the Perry Sudan Campaign range, with flags from the legendary Rick O'Brien, AKA: Flag Dude...