"Afghans with Martini Henry Rifles" Topic

I am trying to raise a unit of 25/28mm Afghans armed with Martini Henry rifles to represent part of Danny and Peachy's Kafiristani army from "The Man Who Would be King" movie.I want to create some variety among the figures that make up the unit without any conversion. I have found that Empress Miniatures has a set AFG04 *Jazz Age Imperialism) that has separate heads that can be swapped and Ironclad Miniatures set number NWF03 has Martini Henry armed Afghans. Does anyone know of other manufacturers that currently produce Martin Henry armed tribal Afghans? Thanks.

Old Glory..there is pack of warriors armed with MH

Although kinda hard to tell if these are actually Martini-Henry rifles, they are the only Pathan pack identified as carrying rifles.

link

Jim

They have a mixture of MHs and bolt-action magazine-loaders.

I have some of the OG Pathans w/MH. How many do you need?

Hi Bob, OG have a pack of Afghan tribesmen with Martinis. I'd be happy to take a pic for you of mine painted. If I'm not mistaken there are also a few OG Ansar with Martinis that may fit the bill. In addition some of the Empress Jazz Age Afghans have Martinis. Between all those figs you could easily create that unit. I can't wait to see it painted. Though a few head swaps may be needed.

How cool would it be to convert figs with the appropriate head gear and uniform to match the movie?!?!
I knew you man cut from the same cloth as me bud!
JB

Thanks all. I had forgotten to look at Old Glory.

Big Red. – Sent you a PM.

JB – I have some extra heads from Empress miniatures that I can swap.Will try my best to match the movie but can't exactly guarantee it.

Bob,

What a great idea!

But I do have a question for you, my friend: are you raising the unit of Danny & Peachy's riflemen from their early days in Kafiristan -- at which time they would indeed appear much like the average Frontier Tribesman -- or later on, when they wore specially made uniforms, which if I recall correctly looked a lot like Billy Fish's Gurkha uniform, only in brownish khaki, unlike Billy himself, who had a similar very sharp looking outfit in rifle green? I think they go into action dressed both ways, but I really need to see the movie again, as it's been too long, so thanks for reminding me!

Mad Guru – I really would like to do the later version. The later will be a challenge in their more formalized uniforms and strange headgear. I really need a good photo of exactly what those later uniforms looked like. I have a few still shots but they only show some bits and portions.

I probably won't be able to to do the later version due to the extensive conversion work.I was thinking about converting the new Perry Afghans in beehive hat firing line but they don't have Martini Henrys and that is the main point of it all. Unless I can figure out a way to make their rifles look like Martini Henrys.

Hmmm.

I think in that case you might want to go back to your own very first suggestion and use that Empress "Jazz Age Imperialism" pack AFG04 – Afghan Tribesmen with assorted weapons (Martini-Henrys and Enfields) since it looks like they all have Martini-Henrys. Also they come with separate heads, and one of them wears a pointy skullcap much like the ones worn by the guys in all those pics from the movie, so you can ask Empress to send you a bunch more of those heads, or pay a little extra for them if you have to. Empress is usually pretty good about that kind of stuff.

I know you want to avoid doing any conversion work on these figures, but you could pretty easily add the puggaree around the base of the cap with a bit of green stuff, and then if you paint them in that blue-gray-purple with the buff smocks -- the Empress figures in that pack all look to be wearing vests over their long shirts -- they could do the trick…

You know… Jeff mentioned possibly using some OG Ansars… how about the Perry Bazingers, who carry 1868 "Egyptian Rolling Block" Remingtons, which don't look all that different from Martini-Henrys, and they have that "ragged wannabee regular" feel. Only thing is you might want to do a little bit of carving and/or sanding down to make the ones in fezzes more narrow towards the top…

The command pack has some buglers who might fit well:

Only downside with the Bazingers is if you look close they look more Sudanese than Afghan, with little or no facial hair. But I think they'd still work, and they have pretty much the right kind of "modern" breechloading rifles.

Or… maybe go with the new Perry Afghans in beehive hat marching, who all have appropriately Afghan faces…

…then clip out their old Enfield rifles and replace them with Martini-Henrys from the Empress Zulu War accessories pack -- which look exactly like Martini-Henrys!

Obviously that is a bit more conversion work, but because of the sculpts and how they're carrying their rifles, it wouldn't be all that difficult, much easier than if you used the "Firing Line" pack, and the "marching" pose might work well for their "rag-tag regular" vibe.

Hmm. If you ARE considering conversions, you could try plastic Martini Henry arms off the Perry Sudan or Zulu British glued or pinned onto something else (such as Beehive Afghans as you say). The covered helmets from the Sudan set with the brims trimmed would be decent bases for the helmets shown above. The MH arms from the Warlord Zulu War British would also work (and are a little better sculpt IMHO).

The more fully clothed bodies in the Mahdist plastics might do. The bandoliers would likely be easiest to putty on, although Warlord DOES have a suitable plastic part on their Bolt Action British equipment sprue:

(Bottom left, just above the mortar tube. And as a bonus, that sprue gives you a couple of usable revolvers… at scale there's not much to pick between a Webley Mk I and Mk VI).

Anyone with a single kit of plastic Sudan or Zulu British (any manufacturer!) WILL have lots of spare MH arms; if you don't yourself, should be easy to ask around and get some.

Mad Guru and mrinku – Great ideas and suggestions, Thank you.

Lots of great ideas there guys! Unfortunately I think any choice is gonna involve extensive conversions unless you do minor conversions and rely on the paint job to be the defining factor as to what you are trying to achieve looks wise.

Sounds like fun. I look forward to your wip.

Cheers,
JB

JB – I think in the end it will being a paint job with some minor coversions. No one will remember exactly what the movie uniforms looked like except me, who will know they are not correct. Arghh! Come on Perry Bros. Make a six figure firing line set of Kafiristanis with Martini Henrys.I have the Peachy Carnahan figure from Artizan Designs to lead them.

Wouldn't it make more commercial sense for Artizan to make them?

Henry Martini – I was thinking the Perrys could add a firing line set to their Victoria's Little Wars line. The Kafiristanis may not be historical but the brothers did take an alternate history route when the produced the British Intervention force.

All true, Bob, but I believe Henry Martini was referring to the fact that it's Artizan who already actually produced a pack labelled, "Chaps who'd Like to Be King"!

Hmmmm….

You know what… Artizan has 2 different packs of "Afghan Irregulars w/rifles" and… they ALL carry well sculpted MARTINI-HENRY rifles… and they all could easily be painted up to look like Peachy's Kafiristani "raggedy regulars", as seen here:

You might want to mess with their headgear a bit, to make the skullcaps look more "pointy" and to give the turbans a visible pointy cap poking up from the middle, but even without that they could work with the right paint job -- and you get 8 different poses.

MG – I have seen those. I guess I am leaning more towards the more regular looking uniforms that appear at the end of the movie. but i t be more work than I have the skill level to accomplish.I will tinker and experiment for a while and consider the ragged look as my exit stategy.

Check out the big brain on Mad Guru!

MG- I actually looked through my figures and found that I had bought those two Artizan sets. I did a very quick and sloppy paint job on one of them to see how it would turn out using the colors of the more regular looking rifleman. With a headgear conversion on the figure below to look more helmet-like and add the pugaree they might be good enough for me.

Thanks, Smokey… I think!

Hey, Bob, not bad at all, especially with your painted-on vest to match the movie's Kafiristani riflemen! Personally I'd go with a more subdued shade of purple, but I know you like some brighter colors in your armies! Also… is it just me, or does that figure's painted face look a lot like Sean Connery?!

If you do a bit of work on the headgear, I think you'll be in great shape.

MG – I mixed violet-blue with some black to get the color but I think that the Vallejo Royal Purple may be closer and I could give it a grey wash if necessary to tone it down. I painted the trousers black as they looked to be that color in the photos.Maybe they are purple as well.His face does look like Sean Connery.

Bob, if one day in the not-so-distant future this thread ends with you posting pics of the finished unit… it may well qualify as one of the most productive in TMP history!!!

Also… I think that figure of yours is poised on the glass surface of a small patio table, but man, its surface texture would make a great water terrain feature!

MG – You never know when a piece of furniture can suddenly become a terrain feature. That would really my wife off and it would takes weeks for me to recover from the fallout.

I didn't realize that the word would get bleeped.