Saturday 8 April 2017

The Men Who Would Be Kings


With my change in jobs this year, to be an educational mercenary, I've been forced to cut back on my wargaming projects and significantly reduce my expenditure. This means that I have been looking for ways to double up or even triplicate the use of terrain, rules and figures in order to squeeze out the last drops of time, money and effort, rather than starting anything new.

The current focus has been on using my existing desert terrain as a platform for skirmish level games in both 28mm and 15mm, with an emphasis on the latter to keep the cost down. This is one reason why I've been planning the No End In Sight based project for post-war platoon level campaigning in Aden and other hot locations in the Cold War.

Today I had another idea. This would involve re-repurposing the 15mm Peter Pig colonial figures that I amassed (no exaggeration there!) for Patrols in the Sudan over a decade ago. I actually have a Madhist army for PITS and played a few games back in the day, but haven't used it for ages due to a lack of interested opponents at the club.

I do have plenty of spare figures for the British and Mahdist, however, including Hadendowah, Camel Corps, a Naval landing party, British and Egyptian infantry, artillery and some extras like heliograph teams, engineers and baggage. Quite a lot in fact. So, I thought to myself, why not use them for colonial skirmish games with Dan Mersey's The Men Who Would Be Kings rules?

It's just an idea at the moment but it would be virtually cost free and would help to reduce the lead mountain, without the need for loads of painting or vast numbers of bases. I'd like to have a crack at PITS again or possibly even Death in the Dark Continent with these figures but, as a realistic project, the skirmish option is far more likely to fit.

I'll have to dig out the figures and work it out!

5 comments:

  1. Ahh someone else who has the same problem with PeterPig figures. I go overboard when purchasing those figures. I have a huge collection of the AWI figures, 'hey' you in the Jail' figures and WW2 figures. And the Vietnam figures are very tempting.😀

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh yes, it's a slippery slope all right. I was at a show a few years ago and was greeted by the Peter Pig lady with 'You are one of our best customers' which was a bit of warning. Great figures!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, cost is a consideration for those of us on a budget. I do like the Peter Pig range, but I've resisted temptation so far. Good luck with your project.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would certainly like to try PitS - one of my (many!) stalled projects is 6mm PitS

    ReplyDelete
  5. PITS is a good game, especially if you play the dervish side as you get to pop up all over the place.

    ReplyDelete

Labels

Bag The Hun (747) AK47 (488) Books (481) Ironclads (476) Wings at War (392) Back of Beyond (236) Pre-Dreadnoughts (229) Coastal Warfare (226) Britain's Small Wars (199) Bolt Action (175) What a Tanker (170) Target Locked On (162) Victory at Sea (155) MiG Alley (150) Knights of the Sky (149) Napoleonic Naval (146) Old West (146) Chain of Command (145) Find Fix and Strike (137) Sandbox Skirmish (119) Naval Command (118) Bag The MiG (117) Naval Thunder (117) Pirates (116) Indo China / Vietnam (114) Air War Over Khalkhin Gol (108) Fistful of Lead (108) 15mm Sci-Fi / Near Future (95) Darkest Africa (91) VBCW (89) Strength and Honour (84) Shows (79) Ancients (78) ACW (77) The Football War (75) France's Small Wars (67) Boardgames (66) Corsairs and Cavaliers (66) Shipwreck! (66) BKC (65) Rapid Fire (63) Saurian Safari (62) Cruel Seas (60) Saga (60) Air War C21 (58) Journals (57) The Men Who Would Be Kings (57) Nimitz (55) Flashpoint Alto Cenepa (53) IABSM (53) Flashpoint Taiwan (50) Finest Hour (49) Gladiators (48) International Naval Wargaming Day (47) Red Actions! (47) Scramble for Britain (44) Flashpoint Baltic (42) Fortifications (41) Cold War (39) Duel of Aces (36) SCW (36) Thud Ridge (36) Desert Spitfires (34) Flames above the Falklands (34) RCW (34) War of the Pacific (34) Death in the Dark Continent (32) Atlantic Wall (31) Post Apocalypse (31) Iron Cow (30) Lion Rampant (30) Bag the Springbok (29) English Civil War / Anglo Dutch War Naval (29) Algernon Pulls It Off (28) Mexican Revolution (28) Normandy Firefight (28) Full Thrust (27) It Rolls For Ivan (26) Bulldogs Away! (24) One Hour Wargames (24) Samurai (24) Jet Knights of the Sky (23) 28mm English Civil War (22) Imaginations (22) Achtung Kommando! (21) Flashpoint PVO (21) PITS (20) Galactic Heroes (19) Steamer Wars (19) Strontium Dog (19) Ancient Naval (18) Iron Cross (18) Winter War (16) Aeronef (15) Aircraft (15) Imperial Commander (15) Rate of Fire (15) 2mm English Civil War (14) Aliens (14) Dragon Rampant (14) Mad for War (14) Arctic Eagles (13) Black Ops (13) CY6 Jet Age (13) Congo (13) Impetus (12) Wars of Insurgency (12) Zulus! (12) Flashpoint Fleet Air Arm (11) Gaslands (11) 633 Squadron (10) Franco Thai Air War (10) Jungle Green (10) Sharp Practice (10) 28mm Future Wars (9) Bohica (9) Dux Britanniarum (9) Merry Xmas Mr Sankara (9) Adventures in Jimland (8) Cry Havoc (8) Dreadnoughts (8) French Indian Wars (8) HYW (8) Renaissance Naval (8) Star Wars Legion (8) Sword and Spear (8) Through The Mud and Blood (8) Frostgrave (7) Target for Tonight (7) Five Parsecs From Home (6) French Resistance (6) A Mighty Fortress (5) Air War Angola (5) AirWar:1918 (5) Bombers over Germany (5) Check Your Six! (5) Five Men at Kursk (5) Fivecore Skirmish (5) Maurice (5) Seven Days to the River Rhine (5) Three Musketeers (5) Arab Revolt (4) Continuation War (4) Corvette Command (4) In Her Majesty's Name (4) Infamy Infamy (4) Medieval Naval (4) Never Mind The Billhooks (4) What a Cowboy (4) Battletech (3) Gangsters (3) HOTT (3) Hind Commander (3) Lord of the Sea (3) Luft 46 (3) Mourir Pour l'Indochine (3) Sturmovik Commander (3) Wings Over Suez (3) Blood Red Skies (2) Chincha Islands War (2) Crom (2) Disposable Heroes (2) Fire and Steel (2) Fivecore Company Command (2) Iron Stars (2) Judge Dredd (2) Lethal Skies (2) NUTS! (2) No Go Zone (2) Pulp! (2) Starfighters! (2) War in El Dorado (2) Whispering Death (2) A Billion Suns (1) Air War 1940 (1) Battlegroup (1) Black Powder (1) Dropzone Commander (1) Falklands War (1) Harpoon (1) Load and Return (1) Missile Threat (1) Missiles at Sea (1) Naval Wargames Society (1) Norway 1940 (1) Spanish American War (1) Sunray is Down (1) Ultracombat Normandy (1) Xenos Rampant (1)