Wellington in India – 6mm armies.

Following on from my recent post about my East India Company armies in 6mm, I thought I’d give you a quick update about my project and how it’s going so far

Indian regular troops and Spearmen

One of the biggest problems I’m actually having is finding some suitable scenery to use for my battles – I honestly have no real idea about the terrain of 18th and 19th Century India – so I’m looking for some guidance or suggestions in this area – any help would be welcome? Feel free to comment below

Indian Spearmen from the Irregular miniatures Dark Ages range. The Indian Armies had large numbers of irregular Infantry armed with various bladed weapons

In terms of the figures themselves, you can see my existing East India Company Army on the link below

East India Company Forces – 6mm Scale

I’ve got a good collection of figures from Irregular Miniatures “Wars in India Range” – 35 pounds for a whole army, which is balanced according to their own historical reference material. I’ve used two Mysore armies and one HEIC army for my forces so far (still plenty unpainted, there’s a lot more to come!)

http://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk

I’m trying to make my “native” armies – that is my Indian forces – as generic as possible so I can use them for both Mysore Troops and also Maratha troops – I’m hoping the subtle differences can be overlooked at 6mm scale.

Two battalions of regular Indian Sepoys from Irregular Miniatures Wars in India Range. These units would have been trained to European standards by European officers

Close up of a battalion of regular Sepoys. Officers are Europeans. Most commonly the European officers were French or Dutch, although Portuguese were also common. British officers were also employed by the native armies but were bribed by the East India Company to desert, before the wars against the HEIC began

I need a lot more Artillery as well though, as that seemed popular in the native armies, as well as irregular cavalry as they generally had swarms of them at every battle, hoping for loot and stragglers!!

Unit of Mysore / Indian regular cavalry. The Indian Armies had a lot of cavalry, although most of it was considered “irregular” by European standards. In most cases they were mercenaries or warriors working for loot, and were paid according to the quality of the horses and weapons they brought with them.

Four units of irregular matchlock men. It was not uncommon for Indian Armies to field large numbers of matchlock men, even though the flintlock was the dominant weapon in Europe at the time.

Indian Matchlock Men. It was said that the matchlock was more accurate and packed a bigger punch than the flintlock, despite having a slower rate of fire.

Indian Matchlock Men. These guys are in white tunics, purple turbans and trousers with black belts and leatherwork. They carry swords and other bladed weapons for close quarters combat

I’m intending to start with the Battle of Seedaseer in 1799, and gradually progress to doing the Battle of Assaye in 1803, which I might try put on as a wargame at the local club or at our club wargames show, Valhalla whenever we are allowed to hold such events again. This is because Assaye is a large battle, with over 50,000 troops present

Indian Infantry

Indian Infantry

As always I’m open to suggestions and feedback so if anyone has anything they’d like to contribute, drop me a comment or suggestion in relation to these forces below

A selection of native troops