Sudan Project Painting Update

The Ansar charge into a steady line of Egyptian troops with Royal Artillery supports.

Click or Double Click the pictures to enlarge.

I have painted approximately 225 Dervish since March 19th and another 100 or so British and Egyptians since the project began. The Armies In Plastic ("AIP") figures are so easy to paint that the brushes almost work and move by themselves -- I'm just going along for the ride.

So here is the update on the Dervish portion of my Sudan Project:

                  Finished    WIP       Extras        Total

Beja #1          60            0            0               60

Beja #2          20           25           15             60

Ansar #1       60            0             0               60     -- cream jibbah and green patches

Ansar #2       24            0            36             60       -- all with round shields

Ansar #3       24           24            12            60       -- all spearmen with wicker shields

Ansar #4       24           14            22            60       -- all swordsmen with wicker shields

Riflemen       20           20            20            60

The WIP (work in progress) column represents figures that I have that are in primer or upainted figures on hand. The term Extras indicates the number of new figures that I will need to order to complete the unit.

Beja #1 unit

Beja units #2, #3 and #4

My original roster called for only two Ansar units plus one Riflemen unit. However, noting that the Ansar can be grouped into poses of (1) swordsmen carrying a wicker shield, (2) spearmen carrying a wicker shield, and (3) swordsmen carrying a round shield, I decided to separate the three categories into their own 60-figure unit. Thus the original Ansar #2 was supposed to be a 60-figure unit, of which 72 figures have been painted as of today. Ansar #2 has been subdivided into Ansar #2, Ansar #3 and Ansar #4, each having 24 figures painted as of today.

The Beja warriors are so easy to paint that I decided to paint a second unit of them for my Dervish army. I dare say that a third Beja unit might be possible as well.

Royal Artillery infantry, in grey, provide support for a British 12-pounder. The cannon can be converted into a Gatling Gun by swapping barrels.

So at the end of the day, it looks like I am working towards painting seven units of 60 Dervish for a total of 420 figures. Now anyone who regularly follows this blog knows that Der Alte Fritz likes symmetry knows that he is not likely to stop short of a nice round number such as 500.

And after 500, could 1,000 be too far behind?

Major General Pettygree and I have a collective 430 figures, largely metal, outside of the 420 plastic figures that I am painting. So with 500 + 430 = 930, you just know that DAF is going to have to paint those last 70 figures, don't you?

This all adds up to a recipe for a grand wargame event. Bill and I are planning our annual Big Battalion Game and this year's event will be 54mm toy soldiers in the Sudan. Assuming that pandemic events improve sufficiently, we could stage the game around September 2020. If gathering 10 people together is still not safe, then we will postpone the game, maybe into 2021 or until the environment changes for the better. Nevertheless, I will plough on and paint figures and make terrain as if the game will be played in September or October of this year.

The planning of a game provides the inspiration that I need to start a project and see it through to its end. I am well along the path in that regard.

So what do you think? Please feel free to leave comments.