TMWWBK Indian Mutiny - The Raja Of Rhanipur's Mercenary Baluchi Matchlock Men

Here is the first unit for the Indian Mutiny rebel forces. These are Mercenary Baluchi tribesmen serving in the Raja of Rhanipur's private army in his Baluchi Battalion. They are Foundry models from the Darkest Africa range. They'll be Irregular Infantry, with antiquated musket (matchlocks) and poor shots (representing low rate of fire) but I'll upgrade their fighting stat to 5+ due to the fact that the Baluchis were fierce raiders and these models have huge and hulking great tulwars and little bucklers. They'll not be a lot of use against British/Company regulars in open battle, but they'll be tougher to shift if holding a prepared position in any scenario where the British/Company are attacking.

I wanted the three units of the Raja's personal army to be quite brightly uniformed to contrast with the mass of sepoy rebels who'll mostly be clad in off-white, so I chose yellow, purple and pale blue as they are pleasing enough together. However, I had no idea how bloody awful Foundry Bright Yellow is as a colour. It went on ok as a base coat over the white undercoat, but didn't take the dip wash well and was a nightmare to highlight due to low pigment strength. Still, after a huge battle, I managed to get them to look half-decent, so they'll do. They look ok at table-top distance and the bright colours will look good on a big 6x6 table if and when we take this project to a wargame show.

Next up: Rhanipur Citizen Matchlockmen