"Perry plastic 1880s Brits - help the twins" Topic

Guys

Was having a very pleasant, as always, chat with Michael P at Partizan over the weekend. He professed a keenness to do plastic 1880s Brits (and even has some helmets 3 upped but was unsure as to what kit would work best for most people's taste.

Suggestions would be most helpful if you'd like to see these in production. Personally a mix of puttees and gaiters on a frame would be sublime to cover pretty much all conflicts from 1879 through to 1885 (with a choice of bottles n heads) but what do you think?

ps any pics would be amazing, I think I've seen gaiters in both Sudan and NWF but can't find the evidence.

Plastic Pathans!! Nuff said!

Great intel @Phand99
I had spoken to Alan P at Salute who indicated that Mike would soon start work on some Pathans thopugh I thought the idea was to do them in metal. The general idea seemed to be that they could compliment the BIF guys in airpipe helmets for Ambela type actions.
That said @abelp01 has a very good point – plastic Pathans would allow tons of variety, and if the weapons were right, the creation of armies for the entire 19th and early 20th Century.
EC

I would prefer Sudan British but the Perry's have the pre-eminent metal range for the early Sudan campaign all ready. It may be more fruitful for them and gamers to create the plastic British in 1879 kit for the Zulu war.

By the way the start of this thread pretty mush sums up my experience of TMP.

The poster asks a specific question about specific figures and gets two answers basically saying "don't do them. do a range that I want instead" LOL

You're right twicethecaffeine my thread should have read: Do plastic British for the NWF and plastic Pathans! Nuff said!

Why not both?

If dreams can come true, I would like them to make 1879 Gordon Highlanders:

no probs abelp01 we did also speak about Paths (I had the same BIF idea) and the thinking was positive but can we stick on the Brits kit please? MP said helmets are ready so all is needed is some intel on the rest of the kit.

Gaiters and puttees would cover Zulu, 1st Boer, 2 Afghan and at the very least late 1st Sudan. Unless I'm mistaken and I think I've seen gaiters used in India and the Sudan. Can anyone verify or has views?

I also love the Perrys Afrika corps plastic and in that set you have different german head gear, foot/leg wear and equipment. So I think that 5 gaiter dollies and 5 dollies with puttees on a frame would work a treat and would make most colonial gamers very very happy?

suggests to me gaiters were worn in india? Got this from a very useful image heavy discussion over at LAF

link

by the way didn't they also wear gaiters in the anglo-egypt war 1882?

On the Gordons aren't you just a water bottle away from converting the already extensive kilted metal perrys?

I'd rather see him concentrate on the more exotic campaign dress Egyptian types as shown in the Mike Snook book. or at least a separate metal head sprue with turbans & fez covers/Keffiyeh for Egyptian regulars & Bazingers

It's possible to do British in red coats and gaiters, for the Zulu and 1st Boer Wars. You'd need a change in helmet (add puggaree) for Egypt and some units in the Sudan. BUT -- the cuffs change on the coat in (IRRC) 1881 to a plain round cuff.

Anyone with the most basic modelling skills and a bit of patience can shave off the cuff lace of the Zulu War era tunics BUT it's hard to sell figures with the expectation that buyers will do the work. I think it's been established that wargamers will complain about, well, almost anything ---

Personally would like Brits in the home uniform for Martian or German invasion games.

Guys, happy to start a Perry plastic wish list thread up, but for now can we stick to Brit 1880ish uniform/equipment that will work as a plastic set.

otherwise nothing will probably get produced!

It would be nice to see home service helmet. Purists may cringe, but the home service helmet makes a good air pipe helmet if the spike is clipped off (at least in 28mm).

It's like herding cats, isn't it?

Given the ready availability of plastic Brits for 1879, it make sense to produce a set that would cover Brits for the Sudan (complementing the plastic Ansar), Second Afghan War, Burma and the many NWF expeditions of the 1880s.

Then, with the rank and file in plastic, we all go out and buy the more specialist stuff in metal to justify them producing the range in the first place.

I'm no expert on the uniforms of the period, so can't comment on how best to compose the sprues but if you can get some sort of consensus on the campaigns that such a set could cover (fat chance!) then you've got a fighting chance of getting some sensible replies.

And a box set of generic Pathans/Afghans/NWF tribesmen would definitely get my support (with separate sprues for the different firearms used during the 19th century, as the dress hardly changed from 1830 until well into the 20th century)… Just saying!

Let's see here… I'd suggest trying to cover the widest possible variety. separate water bottles, so that the builders could choose their own. maybe even separate backpacks (my knowledge of the kit carried by soldiers is pretty weak).

To accompany these, plastic Zulus, Sudanese, and Pathans.

My own project is much later (1897 Pathan Revolt) and in 15mm, so I'm not really the ideal responder.

@ Rhingyll;

I agree! Figs in kilts, or trews. But I'd prefer the 79th.!

I would prefer the 1879 kit. Something colorful.

In the spirit of suggesting the most arcane topics to make certain the Perry twins take the most monumental financial bath – that's the object, correct? – I propose the West India regt in full parade gear 1885-7. Optional snowshoes and a separate sprue of band equipment, stretchers and casual-wear headresses.

They should have packs too. Look at this Melton Prior sketch of Tamai:

Probably the best way to go would be separate parts from waist down and from the tunic up, with two sets of lower bodies included so the modeller could choose whether to build them as Zulu War style figures with leather gaiters or NWF/Second Afghan War/Third Burma War puttees. Both types could serve in Egypt and Sudan at different times. As mentioned above I agree the very subtle differences between red, khaki and other tunics worn by British infantry from 1878 into the 1890s are not big enough to present a problem for most of us.

As also mentioned above you would want uncovered (Zulu War), smoothly covered (Second Afghan War) and pugaree covered (Egypt and the Sudan, Burma) helmets, as well as wooden Zulu War style water-bottles and leather covered glass water-bottles as used in Indian and Afghanistan.

A choice of Valise pattern folded greatcoats/blankets or knapsacks to go atop figures sculpted with straps on their backs, so you have the choice of leaving off the heavier equipment so they're in "light order", with their baggage elsewhere, would also be very useful.

If the weapons were left as seperate add-ons, you might also be able to have both Martini-Henrys and post 1888 Lee Metfords, though maybe that would be left for a supplemental weapons set to "modernize" the figures into the 1888-1902 era. This would also get into the differences between the Valise and Slade-Wallace patterns of infantry equipment, but for those who cared they could make replacement newer style ammo pouches to come with the newer weapons.

*NOTE: I believe the pic above with troops in red coats and brown leather gaiters is from the 4th Ashanti War of 1895-1896, witness their bolt-action magazine-fed Lee Medford rifles. Troops such as these could easily be reproduced if their weapons were not sculpted on.

They could also do an "alternate headgear" sprue with glengarrys and forage caps.

I think the Perrys know all of this and more and I doubt they really need any help from us figuring such things out… but it's still fun to dream!

Personally, like Rhingyll above, what I've been somewhat desperately waiting for the past several years, since Empress announced they were going to release figures for every troop type that participated in the Zulu and First Boer wars, is the 92nd Highlanders, wearing old pouch-belt equipment and greatcoats "en banderole". No one I know of has ever made kilted highlanders thus equipped in 28mm. Empress says they will come some day, but last I checked they were not on the horizon.

In fact… if the Perrys combined the upper half of their metal Indian service dress Sudan British with the kilted lower half of either their Gordon or Black Watch figures, they'd be set, and then so would Rhingyll and I, whether they released them in plastic or metal!

As long as they finish their metal British Interventionist Range first.

Plastic Sudan Brits? It's a no brainer surely!

They could sell them as a box set with the Mahdist Ansars – they would fly off the shelves!

If the did do the rifles seperately on the sprue, they could also sell a seperate pack of metal lee metfords..

if they went for half the box with puttees and half with gaiters, I think you would get people complaining that only half the figures are what they need and that the rest are wasted…

There was an 'interesting' thread going about the PSC tank range the other day, with some complaining of too many options, meaning wasted plastic! I know you can't please everyone…

I'd rather the box contains just puttee clad figures, if you want some with gaiters, there are always the Warlord figures….

If there are gaiters, then I'd like to see some of the later shakos too, so that an 1871, Battle of Dorking game is possible…

"I think the Perrys know all of this and more and I doubt they really need any help from us figuring such things out… but it's still fun to dream!"

I agree. However, I would like to see figures suitable for the 2nd Afghan War.

Dreams do come true!

Indeed