Pathans (Thank Goodness for Dip!!!)

Hi All

Here are the first Pathans for my 'Legends of the Old West Alamo' adaptation set on the NW Frontier of India in the last quarter of the 19th Century. The models are by Old Glory (one of the best ranges they actually do!) and Castaway Arts. 6 models were painted about 5 years ago 'properly' and the rest have been painted with neat basecoat colours over either a white or off-white undercoat, metallics were washed witha 50/50 mix of black ink and water and then the models had a good brushed-on coat of 'Army Painter Strong Tone' dip. This has been followed up by a good blast of Testor's Dullcote.

The secret is to be REALLY neat with the basecoats and to choose the colours carefully!!

Photos were taken on the 'rockery' area at the back of my garden...perfect NW Frontier terrain!!!

I haven't painted the banner yet...

Basically, there will be three types of Pathan warrior in my rule set: Fighters, marksmen and Ghazi fanatics. They will be led by the following heroes: Senior Mullah (priest/war leader); Mullah (priest) and Malik (Tribal headman). Here you can see a unit of fighters supported by a unit of marksmen, led by a Malik. I have decided that all my marksmen models will be the Old Glory 'kneeling' poses for ease of differentiation on the tabletop.

Next up, 12 more fighters followed by a unit of Ghurka Riflemen for the Brits....

Quick update...

No pics yet, but you'll all be pleased to know that I have 30 painted Pathans ready for this NW Frontier thang I'm planning... have 12 more on the go at the mo and anticipate them being done by middle of next week, then it'll be a blast of Dullcote so I can take piccies!!!

I must say that the 'neat basecoat colours and Army Painter dip' technique is bloody brilliant for this kinda thing. They actually don't look too crap, even without matting down the bright shiny gloss finish that the dip gives!! Ok, they aren't going to win me any prizes, but that ain't the point. It's about getting 160 odd Pathans painted and ready for gaming by about next Easter along with about 60 Brits/Indians to fight 'em. They look more than decent enough for that and are stil better than 90% of what you see on the cover of Miniature Wargames magazine!!! (Sorry MW...great articles sometimes, but far to many cruddy pics of relatively poorly painted minis...)

Actually, am very tempted to paint some of the Brits 'properly', as I succumbed to some Foundry and Perry models and some of Empress Miniatures FABULOUS Zulu war Brits - ok, so the latter ain't really NW Frontier, but they are the best Colonial Brit models since Perry's Sudan range and I had to buy a unit. They are so good, that Army Painter would almost be an insult...but having said that, it's all about time and getting them onto the table, so I may well end up biting the bullet and dipping...

I have also bought some Eastern buildings via EBAY from the Colonial Steamboat Company, which are lovely...pics of those when I do the Pathans...

Next job is to actually write up properly on the PC the rule tweaks for Legends of the Old West/Alamo that I'm going to use, along with the 'solo play' rules for controlling the natives... At least if I do that, I can get some solo games in playtesting before I take them to the wargames club....as it stands, they are on about 15 sheets of dog-eared A4 where I 'jotted'...not good!! Can't possibly even play a solo game with those!!

Tune in in a week or so for the pics...