"Indian Mutiny, 1857 - First Game" Topic

Indian Mutiny really does seem to be flavour of the month!
In our first outing in the period, the British were given an almost impossible task of dislodging heavily entrenched Mutineers. Despite the almost super human efforts of a British line regiment and a Highland regiment, they were let down by some of their ‘less committed' troops. The Mutineers were also more resilient than expected.

Great period. Very exotic and colourful. Many scenario ideas that can be gamed. Lots of smaller scale battles that can be refought. Fantastic ranges of figures from great manufacturers.
Rules: The Devils Wind (heavily amended)
28mm Figures: Mutineer, AW, Empress-Iron Duke, Irregular
Buildings: bespoke

British Artillery bombards rebel positions:

Mutineers antique heavy guns. No Indian Mutiny game is complete without elephants….

Highlanders without kilts! The 78th (Ross-Shire Buffs):

Mutinous sowars baying for blood:

Forces melee

British infantry breaks through rebel lines:

From behind rebel positions:

Sepoys in shakos:

More at:
nottinghamwargames.co.uk

What amendments did you make to The Devil's Wind? We thought a re-write might be in order.

With Devils Wind, we basically re wrote. All that is left of the original is the multiple figure bases, broad troop categorisation and the excellent 'spirit' of the rules.

Missing ‘Mutinous Sowars baying for blood' pic:

Great looking game.

Can you really get the 'spirit' of something out of bases and troop categories?

Nice looking game. Figures are terrific.

I've often thought this would be a fine period to expand into, finances and time permitting, due to the reasons given above.

But say, didn't the 78th fight in proper uniform? What I remember reading in histories all referred to red coats, feather bonnets, and kilts, as per the norm, hardly any field modifications at all, and the 78th suffered for it, in the heat and all the forced marching, yet they fought magnificently and helped save the Raj for the Queen.

The 78th did not wear red coats and kilts. The Iron Duke Miniatures site has details on the 78th and nearly every other regiment here:

link

I'll check this out, thanks! Then I'll go back to re-trace where my impression came from, what book it was I read about all this.

Hmmm… this link seems to be mis-copied, it's an art dealer's site?

But then, this: link

I consulted a raft of British and Scottish uniform books and found an illustration of one of the 91st (Argyllshire) Highlanders in a drab, workmanlike outfit much as shown in the miniatures pictures. But the Osprey MAA title, "British troops in the Indian Mutiny 1857-59" describes how the 78th arrived from Persia to form part of the Lucknow relief force, and how the Persian units had only their cold weather uniforms. The 78th are noted as having deposited their feather bonnets at Poona before the Persian expedition and had no chance to retrieve them, so they began the campaign "in covered forage caps, red doublets still of the double-breasted cut, kilts and hose (see MAA 198, plate A1)" . Sure enough, I checked this other title and that's what is illustrated. This uniform is based on officers' descriptions, according to the plate notes. Apparently, after the relief of Lucknow these uniforms along with those of the rest of the garrison, deteriorated into a mish-mash of articles and types.

I do see this page from Iron Duke,

link

but I'm not sure how these conflicting accounts are resolved, or why supposedly informed sources do not seem to agree. I'm not an expert or scholar of this conflict and can only shrug my shoulders at clashes like this.

Regarding the 78th uniform in the Mutiny:
My understanding of this is that many Victorian painters painted from second hand accounts and their own (sometimes flawed) knowledge. Few were ever present at any of the battles. Hence, you tend to get a lot of pretty 'parade ground' uniforms in campaign settings making it onto their canvases.
The Mutiny came as a bit of a shock to the British and a real ‘make do' attitude prevailed in the early stages. Many of the units were clad in whatever they were hurriedly issued with or could get their hands on quickly. The climate in India during those months was punishing – both scorching hot, humid and wet. First hand accounts of the campaign indicate that the British attire had deteriorated completely and troops appeared very ‘rough and ready'. Likewise there are lots of first hand witness water colours and sketches that support this.
Also, I seem to pick up that the British had a much more laissez faire attitude to uniformity on campaign than say many of their European counterparts. That's my excuse anyway!!!

Really nice looking game and superb figs!