Monday, January 20, 2014

From PhilH: 28mm Colonial Sudanese Infantry & Khalifa Command Stand (56 points)


Phil returns Michael's volley with his own with these excellent Sudanese infantry and a Mahdist Khalifa.

From Phil:
The Sudan project continues apace (well, apace for me). Tempted as I was to save everything up for a Millsy-esque points bomb, I decided against that folly. Today I bring you another unit for the Anglo-Egyptian forces: the Sudanese IXth infantry. The Sudanese battalions were regarded as the elite of the Egyptian army, being professional soldiers recruited for life from Southern Sudan and the Nuba mountains. The Xth and XIth were even recruited from old soldiers that had been captured by the Mahdi, served in his Jihadiyya before escaping en masse in 1885 and re-enlisting in the Egyptian army.  
Mine are officered by an Egyptian (in the final photo, painted pre-challenge), though it was also known for Sudanese to be promoted from the ranks. The IXth's conduct alongside the Cameron Highlanders at the battle of Ginnis led to them being presented a unique standard in 1886: of red silk fringed in red and gold with Kosheh and Ginnis as battle honours and a central wreath. Other Battalions carried a green standard with only an Arabic numeral. 
The uniforms of the Egyptian army changed quite a lot between the various campaigns. I've settled on having my Egyptian units in a white summer uniform and Sudanese in a blue with white trousers. All units were later issued khaki uniforms. 


Also rolling off the table is this Command stand for the Mahdists: a Khalifa and his faithful standard bearer. Both were part of my first challenge batch but set aside part way through. I pondered a while how to paint the Khalifa, given he has such a large robe aching for some freehand like patches in the Mahdist style. But for a religious leader, I was also tempted by the understated purity of a plain white robe. In the end I settled on white with a jagged edging in blue. The standard bearer is converted from a standing spearman, carefully trimming his cast on spear off and replacing it with the Flag Dude banner. 


Beautiful work Phil! I really like both of the banner bearers, especially the Sudanese trooper. The flags from Flag Dude have such excellent animation, and I love the all-in-one cost (I have quite a few myself), but I wish he would upgrade his image files to eliminate the jagged line art - there really is no excuse for it in this day and age.

This Khalifa and his uniformed Sudanese opponents will give Phil 56 points, placing him one point behind Michael in the Victorian Side Challenge. A tight race - well done! 


16 comments:

  1. LOL. There's no shame in retaining some perspective sir. Points bombs are for the slightly touched, myself very much included.

    Regards your submission Phil, these are absolutely beautiful and make me want to get back into my Sudan project in a big way.

    Curt, you're right about the flags. Surely by now this kind of thing is unacceptable for a commercial venture?

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    1. Thanks Michael. You should - it is year of the camel after all!

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks Clint, one day they might grace a game!

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    1. Thanks Tamsin. A fleet it is not, but I'll get the whole lot painted eventually!

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  4. Oh well done Sir, a cracking entry indeed! A painful reminder too of how just much more research I need to do in this area.

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    1. Research? Pah!

      I did buy 'Go Strong Into The Desert' after Christmas - I drool every time I glance over it but haven't had chance to bury my head in it yet. But a good fact is that the Egyptian army had a Sudanese Zouave regiment...

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  5. Sadly, I hate hate hate doing flags and Flag Dude do a 'ready to use' product that I can just stick on and be done. The animation is great too, if a bit unrealistic.

    I'd prefer sharper images, but it's a price I'm willing to pay (just!)

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    1. Why thank you! I'm really pleased with them, a quick and fun unit to do with a little bit of history aswell!

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  7. I agree with you completely Phil, I'm just the same. I'll glady keep buying his stuff but I do wish he'd modernize a bit...

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  8. These are spiffing! Really well done Phil.

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    1. Thanks Dave - perhaps you might expand your project beyond El Teb and paint the unit up in soem unfeasible ratio to put me to shame... :-)

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Thanks for your comment! As long as you're not a spam droid I'll have it up on the blog soon. :)