"MAIWAND DAY at the MUZEO of Anaheim" Topic

On Sunday, December 18th, together with Harmon Ward and the St. Crispin's Irregulars gaming club, I'll be bringing my "Maiwand Day" terrain and armies down the road a piece from LA to Anaheim to run a game of the 1880 Second Afghan War battle of Maiwand, pitting a small Anglo-Indian force against overwhelming numbers of Afghan regular infantry, cavalry and artillery, tribal irregulars, and Ghazi fanatics, to complement an exhibit of Victorian British artwork called "The Queen's Gallery" in the MUZEO museum.

You can read more about Harmon and the club's ongoing (and in my opinion quite laudable) efforts to use these museum activities as opportunities to recruit newcomers to our hobby here --

TMP link

I want to take this opportunity to invite any and all colonial-minded TMPers within reach of Southern California to pay the Muzeo a visit while I'm there. The doors open at 10:00am and close at 5:00pm. I'll probably be setting up for at least an hour in the morning, but there is an entire museum to visit before and after the game! (Which barring any unforeseen museum mishap, should run the entire day.)

At the suggestion of others I've created a Facebook page for the event. I'm not on Facebook but for better or worse a couple of my kids were able to help me out. If I'm lucky I'll figure out how to put the page to constructive use before the actual event rolls around. If interested, please check the "Maiwand Battle" Facebook page out here:

link

PS I'll be using the same mash-up of TSATF & 800 Fighting Englishmen I recently used for the same scenario at the Colonial Barracks convention in New Orleans. It uses old school methods of fire and melee, and big-battle variants for command-&-control, movement, and morale (which is folded into the movement phase). This enables the game to move significantly faster while preserving the ability of a handful of men in a "last stand" to inflict significant casualties (if they manage to roll well enough), and -- most importantly to me -- retains the nail-biting drama of player vs. player hand-to-hand combat rolls, along with the glorious triumph, and soul-crushing defeat that goes with it.

PPS If you're not familiar with my Maiwand Day terrain and troops, and have an interest, please check them out at my blog:

MaiwandDay.blogspot.com

THANKS, and hope to see one or two of you in person on December 18th!

Boy, I wish I could be there for that, Mad Guru. I hope it is a success!

Gorgeous table, terrain, and figures !!

Great blog MG looking forwad to some new posts!

Thanks guys!

Mark, it's not THAT FAR from Wisconsin, is it?

Chick, it was really a pleasure meeting you in New Orleans. I hope whoever takes command of the Afghans at the Muzeo can channel some of your style!

Willie, I know I've been remiss on the blog post front, but my one-map odyssey there-and-back to New Orleans, and the fact that when I got back, my wife was in the midst of buying and selling houses (it's actually not quite that dramatic, we started the process before I left), which as you can no doubt imagine, with 3 kids, is currently taking up a GREAT DEAL of my time and attention! I promise, when my friend Matthew hands over his 400+ high-quality pics from the Colonial Barracks convention game, I will be posting like mad!

Good stuff looking forward to those pics!

"Mark, it's not THAT FAR from Wisconsin, is it?"

Actually, I might have driven there if it wasn't a holiday week! I could have used the time off. Well, maybe you'll show up at New Orleans next year. I've been out of miniature gaming for a while, but I still paint a little now and then, slowing rebuilding my Colonials after selling a lot of them off over the last 15 years (as new and better lines come out…Perry's, Empress, Artizan)…because the bug still keeps on biting. I bought TSATF in 1980, and have dozens of variants and rules mods from The Courier, Savage and Soldier, and The Heliograph. So, I plan on going to New Orleans next year for sure!

This game is truly epic!!!!! I highly recommend going to any con just to play in his game. It was amazing. The research, the detail, the terrain and figs all amazing. MadGuru built and ran a truly amazing game. I can't say enough about it. I had the pleasure to meet the MadGuru and play in this awesome game at Colonial Barracks, which was a blast by the way!

Go see or play this game before he mothballs it!!!!!

Cheers,
Sgt. Guinness

mjkerner -- sounds like you started with TSATF almost simultaneously with me. I bought as a 14 year-old in '79, and also have a large collection of variants, etc., from all those same venerable mags! Sorry about the holiday weekend thing, but hopefully we will cross paths in person sooner or later, though I know I'm much less interesting to spend time with without "Maiwand Day" in tow!

Jeff/AKA: Sgt. Guiness -- THANKS SO MUCH for your very kind words, my friend! I only wish you and all your buddies from Florida could attend as well.

Harmon,

If you get a chance, please let me know if it might be possible for me to show up late in the day Saturday to set up for Sunday's Maiwand game.

Things went very nicely at the MUZEO. I don't think it was a record-setting day in terms museum attendance, but the visitors showed lots of interest in the game, and asked lots of questions, and I think everyone there had a fun time. The Brits beat a hasty retreat back across Mundabad Ravine, and proceeded to fortify positions in the twin villages of Mundabad and Khig, even dismounting their cavalry to add to the firing line.

When the Afghans reached them, things went fifty-fifty, with the ghazis, irregular tribal cav and regular cav winning half the melees and the 66th and Bombay Grenadiers winning the other half, while the ill-fated Jacob's Rifles got an unfortunate "6" on their "Stand-&-Fight" die roll -- the only result which would have, and did, cause them to turn tail and rout off the table. At that point the museum was about to close and we needed to beat a hasty retreat in order to pack up and load out before they locked the doors on us.

I call the result at the time we ended a narrow Afghan victory. The Afghans still hadn't brought their powerful artillery train to bear on the villages, and their vast numbers of regular infantry had yet to make their presence known, so despite taking massive casualties, they had a good chance to overwhelm the British positions, despite their defensive strength.

At the start of the game, Hector Maclaine -- the firebrand RHA officer who ran his guns up to engage the passing Afghan army, somewhat contravening his orders at the time -- did exactly what he'd done in real life, sticking around a bit too long to fire at the advancing enemy, resulting in his gun being overrun and lost. In the game the figure representing Maclaine escaped the melee alive as a "fall back," which is much better than the real Maclaine did, being captured, held prisoner for about a month, and then having his throat cut just before British troops reached him in the Afghan camp at the end of the battle of Kandahar.

I'd like to thank my friend Matthew Rigdon for showing his Texas spirit by helping me out at the last minute, putting together a DVD of Second Afghan War imagery, plus the scene of the attack on the British residency at Kabul from "The Far Pavilions," which played in the background of the museum gallery behind our game table -- he even threw in some battle footage from "Zulu," and the final charge from the 1968 "Charge of the Light Brigade," all of which perfectly fit the Victorian British paintings and artifacts on display.

I'd also like to thank Harmon Ward and his fellow St. Crispin's Irregulars gamers of Anaheim, several of whom showed up to help out and to play -- and a special thanks to RJ and Rod Galati, who treated us to lunch and dinner.

And a very big thank you to several members of the legendary Bengal Club who made the trek down to help as well, and even brought some very nice hand-outs they had prepared for the occasion.

Last but not least I need to thank my entire family -- my mom & dad, my wife and our daughters, all of whom showed up to lend their support. But most of all, my son, who accompanied me back and forth from LA to Anaheim on Saturday & Sunday, loading, unloading, carrying a ton of stuff, lugging and setting up tables, and generally helping me out a great, great deal.

With my family and I about to move, Maiwand Day will be taking a brief leave of absence. I hope to be back some with some blog activity in early 2012, showing off another Afghan/NWF rocky hill, which may even be big enough to use to refight the battles of Charasiab or Kandahar. In the meantime I wish everyone reading this a very Merry Christmas -- or, for members of my tribe, Happy Hanukah -- and a WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!

I was only able to visit briefly but the board and figures were very impressive and all of the players most courteous and helpful. This event also induced me to see the "Muzeo" for the first time which was a pleasant surprise and a nice venue for the demonstration game.

It must have taken a great effort to bring the game to Anaheim and set up, take down etc and all this just before Christmas. So a big Thank You is in order to Mad Guru and all the gamers who participated.

You're very welcome, Flight Sergeant -- and thanks very much for the kudos!

Mad Guru and other Colonial-era collectors.

I saw at Maiwand a number of miniature brands represented on the field of battle. All looked great. The Perry Sudan War figures looked perfect in the Afghanistan setting, and I really enjoyed the lancer-to-sword armed conversions of the Perry Bengali cavalry. I learned that some Redoubt figures were deployed. Also the Foundry galloping limbers and, I think, Boer War artillerists looked grand.

My question is, what other manufacturers' figures can be used for 1880 Afghanistan/ NW Frontier and 1884-5 Sudan?

For example, do you use Empress Miniatures figures? The Foreign Service helmets would need puggarrees of course. Is this correct? I know the Indian Service issue helmet is quite different. Are there other distinctions I'm missing?

The thoroughbreds (Ebob's?) are tall compared to the Perry small Arab horses. Is the Empress range otherwise serviceable, in particular for the artillery? I assume they would stand quite tall compared to Foundry's Darkest Africa collection but have not measured them close up. Is the Empress artillery piece a better choice than the old Foundry?

In the case of Foundry, do you use Zulu War or Boer War figures?

The Indian Army personnel seem to be more readily available. Here I certainly like all of the Perry Sudan collection for all types. As the Osprey books point out, Tel el Kebir to the Second Boer War was such a transitional era.

Any figure collecting suggestions would be great.

Hello again, Flight Sergeant.

I don't know if you're familiar with my blog -- MaiwandDay.blogspot.com -- but there are many posts there regarding various conversions I did to various figures, to turn them into more accurate representations of various different units present at Maiwand, as well as some other Second Afghan War British and Indian troops. If you haven't seen the posts before, visit the blog, type "conversion" into the search bar, and I think scrolling through the results will be worth your time.

Meanwhile, to answer your specific questions directly, focusing on Afghanistan 1878-80, which is the campaign I focus on most…

Besides Wargames Foundry, Perry Miniatures, Empress, and Redoubt, the other manufacturers present on my table were:

Castaway Arts (of Australia)
Eureka (also of Australia)
Pontoonier Miniatures (an American company whose figures are available via British manufacturer and distributor Newline Design)

Castaway make nice Sikhs and Gurkhas, as well as Bengal Lancers, and excellent British artillery crews.
Eureka make Sikh and Punjabi pioneers.
Pontoonier make a full range of 3rd Burma War (1885) troops, including British infantry dressed in khaki, wearing puttees, outfitted in Valise equipment, and carrying Martini-Henry Rifles. The only thing wrong about them for Afghanistan 1878-80 is that they have puggarees on their helmets, while most British troops in Afghanistan wore smooth cloth covers over their own helmets, which mostly hid the puggarees. Of course these are fairly esoteric details, and I doubt anyone will complain if you field Pontoonier Brits without removing their puggarees, though I removed the ones on my own troops.

As you know, Empress make a very fine range of Zulu War Brits, perhaps the world's finest in 28mm. I used several of their figures for very specific purposes -- to convert into Colonel Galbraith of the 66th, down on one knee, holding the Regimental Colour in one hand and his sword in the other, just before his death on the South side of Mundabad Ravine. Also I used the Empress pack of Ensigns for my own regular standard bearers for the 66th. Many British officers in Afghanistan wore puttees, but some wore boots, so you don't need to convert all their pants legs and anklets into puttees, unless you want to. I also converted the Colonel Durnford figure into General Samuel Brown of Afghanistan fame, as they both were missing their left arm and both wore patrol jackets. The Empress guns are beautiful and their crews can certainly serve in Afghanistan as well, either in blue uniforms or khaki ones, and again, either with their loose pants as sculpted, or if you feel like doing some carving, with homemade puttees.

Other choices for British artillery crew wearing puttees include the Foundry Boer War crews you spotted, and also some very nice Castaway Arts British artillery crews, who wear the same style of short tunic E/B battery RHA wore at Maiwand. I don's use Empress for regular British infantry, but if you wanted to you could use them for the 59th Regiment, present at Ahmed Khel, and said to be the historic inspiration for the British line infantry battalion that routs in the face of the enemy in "The Drums of the Fore and Aft" by Rudyard Kipling. They wore red coats and blue home service trousers without puttees throughout the first part of the war, before later donning khaki. Again, the puggaree is not really an issue, since in reality in Afghanistan, most of the British troops wore that smooth cloth cover over their helmets, though you may want to carve and/or file down the band around the helmet base.

The gorgeous new Empress 17th Lancers make practically perfect 9th Lancers, British cavalry present as several major engagements. Again, all you have to do is slightly adjust their Zulu War helmets, if you feel so inclined, but if you don't do so, I doubt many will notice. I used similar figures from Foundry, painted up as the 9th.

The Empress army Gatling gun crews are the nicest ones available, IMHO. Perry's Sudan range, which is just as nice, only has Naval Gatling crews. BUt the Perry sudan screw-gun with army crew is also a perfect fit for Afghanistan.

Regarding the Perry Indian troops, check out the post on my blog regarding converting a unit of the Bengal/Bombay infantry into older, Second Afghan War style turbans. it was time-consuming, but turned out well. The Sikhs need no such conversion.

The old Foundry Zulu War and Boer War British infantry figures are all very nice indeed, but for 1878-80 Afghanistan the Zulu War troops only work well for the 59th Regt., while the khaki-clad Boer War troops, while quite nice, all carry Lee-Metford magazine-fed rifles. Luckily there is no such problem with the gorgeous Foundry Boer War RHA galloping limber!

With regard to the Foundry Darkest Africa figures vis-a-vis Empress size-wise, to be honest, in my experience the Darkest Africa figures are quite large as Foundry figures go. I have a lot of the British officers and characters mixed in with my troops and they fit quite seamlessly with the larger, more modern figurers. Not so the historical Foundry NWF figures -- the Guides, Sikhs, Highlanders, Gurkhas, Bengal Lancers, Guides cavalry -- which are beautiful, but small compared to figures from Perry, or Empress. But personally I have no problem fielding them in their own separate units side-by-side with units of the larger figures.

Last but not least, my own favorite British unit from the Second Afghan War is the 72nd Highlanders, who wore puttees, khaki jackets, and old fashioned "pouch belt" equipment, with greatcoats worn "en banderole" over one shoulder. The perfect figure for this unit is the Perry Miniatures "Indian service dress," who can also represent the other regiments who marched into Afghanistan in obsolete equipment.

WHEW!!! Hope I didn't just overdose you with info, Reggie! Afghanistan 1878-80 is indeed a period of great transition, with troops simultaneously wearing a mix of old and new uniforms and equipment. It's one of the most interesting things about the campaign IMHO.

Mad Guru
Thank you very much. That answers everything! And now, to work. Oh yes, one last question: what did you use for the Regimental Bhishtis?

They are from Wargames Foundry, and Castaway Arts. Castaway sells theirs as individual figures. I believe 1 Foundry bhisti is included in one of the "Civilians characters" packs (IND216) in their "Indian" range, which is a mix of items from their old NWF, Sikh Wars, and Indian Mutiny ranges. In the same pack you get some baggage wallahs. My dhoolies are also from Foundry, while the camel ambulances are from Castaway Arts.

Here's a LINK to the video we showed in the b.g. of the game at the museum. As mentioned above, it includes period maps and photos, some nice pics of the Maiwand game from Colonial Barracks, and the scenes of the Siege of the Kabul Residency, from 1980s TV miniseries "The Far Pavillions," as well as a couple of other Victorian military movie scenes. It runs just under 40 minutes altogether…

vimeo.com/33963571

Thank you O Mad Guru, for schlepping all that kit from Los Angeles. It was amazing to see and a pretty incredible game. Please let us know when you set it up again. I hope to have an opportunity to play.

You're very welcome, Harmon, and thanks for the help you yourself provided unloading, setting up tables and settling us in. I will certainly let you know the next time "Maiwand Day" comes to life… though having just moved, I must confess that will probably not be for some time. Until then, please give my best to the Galatis and the other fine "St. Crispin's Irregulars" I met, when you see them next.