South Staffordshire Regiment - uniform help needed

I'm currently painting up a few test figures for my Sudan project in the colours of the South Staffordshire regiment and wanted your opinion on their trousers.

Below are two images, both from the Perry Miniatures website which demonstrate the uniform worn by the South Staffordshire regiment during their time in the Sudan. As you can see, the trousers are two different shades of grey, a lighter and a darker, but I wondered which you preferred?

Currently, the figures I'm painting are wearing the lighter shade on the left but could just as easily be given darker trousers such as those on the right.

Please let me know your opinions by leaving a comment. Thanks!

The Battle of Olite - Partizan 5th September

Here are a selection of photos of the demo game I helped put on with Paul of Touching History. It's centered around the Spanish town of Olite, Navarre, at the end of Napoleon's campaign in Spain. Captain Aubergine (me) had been tasked with protecting the road to the North, covering the retreat of Napoleon's armies but spied an opportunity to snatch a last minute victory from the allies and regain some lost pride for the French. Now follows some photos of the game, all taken by me except for two which were taken by Paul, and a sort of battle report (annotations of the pictures follow below each one - they are also clickable).

This picture shows the game's initial set up. The town is held by a small detachment of the 95th rifles and a horde of Spanish guerillas who are defending the bridge. My small skirmish force is at the other end of the board, near the barn.

My scouts had reported a strong defensive position held by the Spanish on the other side of the bridge, so in light of this, I chose to advance through the fields to my right to attempt to enter into the town via the unguarded ford...

...I should have known better than to have expected the 95th to leave such a strategically important location unguarded and as I advanced through the field came under heavy fire from the British sharpshooters, losing two in the heated exchange. The 95th pulled back across the river to take up defensive positions with my light company is pursuit.

The 95th opened fire on my light company from across the river before they could get into position but only scored one kill, the rest of their shots ricocheting of the low stone wall before them. My French company returned fire and killed three riflemen, forcing their retreat (picture by Paul Darnell).

As the 95th pulled back (once again) on the left hand side of this photo, Captain Aubergine (me) ordered his fusiliers and grenadiers to advance in force and storm the heavily defended bridge, supported by another company of lights. Aubergine's tactic of 'Guerre de Foudre' or 'lightning war' was again very successful and the speed and efficiency with which they advanced took the Spanish defenders by surprise as the French steamrollered over the bridge and into the town. Those that weren't killed in the initial assault broke and ran back to the market in the centre of town (picture by Paul Darnell).

This photo shows Lieutenant J. Cousteau of the light company triumphantly leading his men along a side road after forcing the 95th to retreat. There were a number of snipers dotted around the town and no less than 8 or 9 shots were taken at my Lieutenant but none so much as left a scratch! He's a very lucky man. Had Sharpe, Hagman or any of the others been there on the day, Lieutenant Cousteau's life may have been more endangered!

Here is one of the snipers previously mentioned but his efforts didn't amount to much on the day.

It ended in a heroic victory for the French but could have ended very differently if Paul's dice throwing had been better (he must have averaged ones and twos the whole day!) or had the French reinforcements arrived in more spaced out intervals. Paul and I have however agreed to stage a refight so it could go very differently for the French (here's hoping it doesn't).

Expect a couple more photos of the game over the next week or two, along with some of a few other games at the show. Also expect to see some pictures of how my Sudan project is coming along!

The Battle of Charlotte - Partizan 5th September

I had a fantastic time putting on my first demo game at Partizan in Kelham Hall and really enjoyed my day. I've just been looking through my photos and I took quite a lot! It'll take me some time to go through them all and write a proper battle report of our Napoleonic game but that will come in the next few days, along with a few photos of some of the other games I saw whilst I was there.

Firstly, I'd like to show you some photos I took of the 'Battle of Charlotte', an American War of Independence engagement put on by Steve Jones of paintingshed (his blog is definitely worth a look!). You can read more about the scenario on his blog.

At about 9:30, half an hour before the show opened, I noticed the light pouring into the hall and beautifully dappling across the game board. I rushed over to his table and starting snapping away and got a couple of great photos! They look very realistic and it looks almost like the sun is bursting through the clouds. The main hall at Partizan is well known for being poorly lit and some of my photos of my own game didn't come out too well but these look great.

The American militia advance towards the British line whilst some sharp shooters protect the neighboring farmhouse from attack.

The morning light reveals the American position along the edge of the wheat field.

Some American militia hold off the British advance further down the line. However, the rail fence offers little protection from the British muskets!

Steve made all the terrain himself and also converted a few Hovells buildings to his own specification. As far as I know, he also painted all the figures but please correct me if I'm wrong. It was a very impressive board with some wonderfully painted miniatures on it. I'll post a few more photos of the whole board in a subsequent post.

You can find Steve's blog at - http://paintingshed.blogspot.com/

Partizan Reminder

Just a little reminder that I will be putting on my first game at the Partizan Show at Kelham Hall in Newark tomorrow (Sunday 5th September). Doors are 10am - 4pm and I think it's £4 for adults and £2 for concessions.

It's a Spanish Peninsular Napoleonic game which features 3 companies of French pitted against Sharpe and his rifles (assisted by some pesky Spanish Guerillas). I'll be in command of the French and Paul Darnell of Touching History will be in charge of the combined allied force. The photo at the top of this post shows the terrain we will be gaming on!

In this photo, my mighty French force is advancing along an exposed road, open to fire from Sharpe and his 95th rifles (hopefully they wont be as accurate as they're famous for in tomorrow's game!)

Another French force advance towards the town using the cover of the farmer's fields and a low stone wall to avoid the fire coming from the guerillas holed up in the town.

I think our game will be in the main hall so it should be easy to find. I should also be easy to find if you fancy a chat! Just look for the young looking chap next to the game and that'll probably be me - I'll have a checked shirt on if it's any help.

I'll post pictures of most of the games on show at Partizan throughout this coming week along with photos of our game and a battle report. I look forward to meeting those of you who visit the table and fancy a chat.