Saturday, May 9, 2015

Turbaned Gentleman & Friends


With my current yen for The Sword and the Flame, I was looking at what exactly was needed to get a game going.  Now my copy of the rules is the 20th Anniversary edition which include rules for The Sword in the Jungle. 


The Sword in the Jungle is a small unit version aimed at African exploration in the late 19th century. There hasn't been much in 1/72 plastic aimed at this particular period, but HAT recently released some Ruga Ruga which include some rather excellent African porters, like this chap. 





And his friends here, there were very simple to paint, just a quick blast of Army Painter brown spray, a wash of Army Painter dark shade and then a few quick dabs of colour here and there. These were taken with the Macro function on my DSLR and I reckon that while the painting might not pass muster under that sort of scrutiny, at three feet they look very well. 



Several Sword in the Jungle scenarios call for porters, so I have based up a unit or two. I don't think I'll be straying to Africa just yet, but these were a pleasant quick paint. A welcome distraction from my books to be honest. I took more care than usual, because they are so simple to add a few spots of highlighting here and there. 




My experiment with conversion is a qualified success.  This chap started life as a German Askari before I attacked with malice afore thought and some green stuff.  He looks reasonably well, though I am kicking myself.  I had intended him for India or possibly Afghanistan.  However, astute readers will realise that he is rather beardless for those localities, perhaps players will not notice once he's on the tabletop. 



He turned out probably better than I had any right to expect, but I'm still annoyed that I forgot about the beard. 


5 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you very much Gordon. I was trying to find your blog, but when I click on your name I get a G+ account.

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    2. The G+ Thing happens all the time now..started a couple of months back, anyone whose newly followed my blog recenty and I try to follow back it just Shows up as a G+ account---why I can´t track the new Blogs down but they can follow mine I don´t know.
      Great paintjobs and Conversion

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  2. I was well into my 20s before I was able to grow a beard. (slow to mature..........). Surely some hangers on are as young, or perhaps he is Hindu? 1st hand accounts do mention their presence north of the pass.

    Very nice work on the rugaruga porters. Its a good time to tackle the period in 1/72.

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    1. That is a possibility. Or I can just hope that no one looks too deeply. I might do another one - I have a couple of Askari lying around and to be honest, they are not the nicest figures in the world.

      I was rather pleased with the porters, though I have anther 17 of them and I doubt I will be able to spend the same amount of time on all of them. They were fun though.

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