Sudan painting..

It's good to be back behind a paintbrush following the French holiday, and these are the first fruits of my labours...

...for this first foray, I decided it was time I dipped my toes into the sands of the Sudan again, so for your delectation may I first present some Egyptian infantry in their characteristic khaki and sand.

The Egyptian army had it's (re)birth following the battle of Tel el Kebir in 1883, it started off eight battalions of foot, but by the time of Omdurman was up to nineteen. These were comprised of separate Egyptian and Sudanese troops.

My copy of Asquith (see top) tells me that each Egyptian infantry battalion comprised four companies of 200 men up until 1898. In order of seniority they had regimental numbers of the 1st through 8th, and 15th through 18th (the Sudanese would have been numbered 9th - 14th)

General opinion is that the Sudanese were the cream of the army, with the Egyptian regiments often being placed in the second line - time will tell with these guys! Either way, in my rules these guys (two bases) represent a company..

Next - some opposition, Dervish camel riders.

Asquith tells me that the organisational unit of the Dervish army was the "rub" which comprised between 800 and 1200 men.

Each rub comprised four sub-units called "standards", three of them fighting formations, and one administrative. The three fighting units would have been a sword and spear armed unit, the well known jihadiyah rifle men, and the third would have been the cavalry/camelry which these guys represent.

The "standard" was subdivided into "hundreds", and in the rules I'm using this base of figures represents one of those 'hundreds'...



All figures are from the incomparable Peter Pig - so much character in such a little figure - and are in 15mm.