Qajar Persians 2

 A bit more progress on the 'eastern' front.  Using Libre Office Calc and the 1988 list I was able to see what the finished army may look like.
 

		Qajar Persian Army List (alpha)	Figs
Compulsory
	1	Persian Armoured cavalry (gen) – lance & bow	3
	1	Persian LC - bow	2
	1	Mercenary cavalry – bow or jezzails	3
	1	Camelry (mtd inf) – bow	2 or 3
	3	Regular ‘new’ infantry – muskets	12
	2	Irregular warriors – matchlocks	3 or 4
	2	Skirmishers - bow	4
	11
Optional
	1	Irregular warriors – matchlocks	3 or 4
	1	Zamberek Camels - light gun	3
	1	Siege or Medium gun – 3/2 crew + 10/4 horses	1
	14

 Notes: The artillery barely qualifies at 0.3 of an element so is only included for 
             a 'bit of colour'.
            Totals in the second column have not been adjusted for grade.
            The ratio of  1:3 horse to foot is double the 'standard' for Napoleonic armies.

There have been a number of books published since 1988 so there are likely to be copious revisions once I have managed to read one or two of them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also did some figure research - two manufacturers - Khurasan and Irregular. 

(A)  http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/qajar-persians.html

Mounted = 3 figs, 3 poses
Foot = 8 figs, 4 poses
Art = 4 figs, 4 poses [no gun]

QP01 - Cavalry - swords, long coats, tall hat
QP02 - Cavalry Command - (1x trumpeter, 1 x std bearer, 1 x sword), long coats, tall hat  
QP03 - Infantry Marchatt - musket, marching, uniformed, tall hat
QP04 - Infantry Skirmishers  - muskets, uniformed, tall hat
QP05 - Infantry Command - (1x drummer, 1 x std bearer, 1 x sword), uniformed, tall hat
QP06 - Infantry Artillery - (4 crew), uniformed, tall hat

NB:  I have added the QP numbers for sake of reference (they do not appear on the website).

The infantry and artillery crew are all uniformed 'new' soldiers.

 (B)  http://irregularminiatures.co.uk/

Armies of the Caucasus (18th & 19thC) - only 1 code in this range is denoted as Qajar:

CAU 1 - Qajar cavalry with lance and bow (see above)

The remainder are a mixed bunch as follows:

Armenians - CAU2
Caucasus - CAU4, CAU12, CAU13, CAU14, CAU15, CAU16
Chechen - CAU3, CAU8, CAU9, CAU10, CAU11
Georgian - CAU5, CAU7, CAU17, CAU18, CAU19, CAU20

Whether all, or some, can be used for the Qajar I do not yet know.  Interestingly the Georgians could provide an historical enemy force.

The irregular elements will, no doubt, have to come from other ranges e.g. Essex have some Zamberek camels.

An Unboxing

 Received today (Sat 22nd) box from Vexillia:

5 x packs of figures plus a free extra die (you can never have too many of them).

As you may know the proprietor is retiring and offering generous discounts. Looking at all the figures I was, initially,  tempted by the Medieval Russians:

C032 - Russian infantry, command group - 4 variants (I got 2 x trumpeters - no std bearer)

CC33 - Alexandr Vevsij, command group - Russians of A.Nevskij 1240-1350

I don't believe that the guy ruled for 110 years (no matter how legendary). 

To make up the numbers (and offset the postage cost of £4.20) I also purchased some Early Romans.  Upon checking the stock list I saw that there were 3 packs left so I took them all.

 RM002 - Medium Spearmen (class II) - Roman 650-338 bc

Not long ago in receipt of a Forged in Battle pack of Etruscans (with pila).  Hopefully when I next put my Latins into action they may have some more suitable Bd figures (and not just Marian Roman substitutes).

Not a bad haul for £14.99 - one DBA army re-enforced (Russians) plus more for the DBM Latins.

Now I'm still on the look out for Gauls...Hmm!

Qajar Persians

This week I was asked about two of my peripheral interests - Qajar Persians & the Taiping Rebellion.

Here's a little on the first of them:

Persian flag of Northern Khanate

My initial research was online (of course).  I even downloaded (and paid for) a pdf on the subject:

"The Persian Army of the Napoleonic Era - Qajar Dynasty 1779 - 1857"
by David F Brown             Publisher:  Evil Gong Press

There were other books available on Amazon and Ebay but not at prices I could afford.

 From my own collection I only discovered one piece of data - an army list:

From: "18th Century Army Lists" by Cheltenham Wargaming Association
by Chris Russell   Published by Tabletop Games 1988
For WRG 1685-1845 rules.  pp37-38

PERSIA

1     C-in-C @ 100 pts
1     Subordinate general per brigade @ 40 pts

Cavalry

6 to 14     Persian Armoured Cavalry - Irregular fanatic skirmishing cavalry
                with lance and bow @ ppf   (3 to 5 units)
6 to 10     Persian Light Cavalry - Irregular fanatic skirmishing cavalry
                with bow @ 9 ppf  (3 to 5 units)
8 to 12     Mercenary Cavalry - Irregular warrior cavalry with bow @ 8 ppf
               (1 to 4 units)
               Extra to make them soldier @ 2 ppf  (up to 2 units)
               If skirmishing cavalry with Jezzails   (up to 2 units)

Infantry

4 to 9      Camelry - Irregular warrior infantry with bow
                mounted on camels @ 5 pts per figure  (up to 2 units)
16 to 24   Regular infantry - Regular raw line infantry @ 3 ppf  (up to 6 units)
                Extras to make them trained @ 1 ppf
16 to 20   Irregular warrior charging infantry with matchlocks @ 3 ppf  (3 or more units)
12 to 16   Skirmishers - Irregular levy skirmishing infantry with bows @ 2 ppf  (2 to 8 units)
                Extra to make them warrior with Jezzails  @ 1 ppf (up to half units fielded)
2 to 10    Zamberek Camels - Regular raw gunners with very light gun mounted on a camel
               @ 16 ppf  (up to 1 unit) 

Artillery

2 to 5     Siege guns each with 3 raw regular crew, limber with 10 horses and
              levy drivers @ 69 pts  (up to 2 units)
             One unit can be medium gun with 2 crew and 4 horses @ 45 pts.

NOTES

This list is suitable for Persian armies including Nadir Shah's invasion of India 1739
and wars against Russia 1722-23 and 1801. 

ppf = points per figure

I tried to contact the author and Cheltenham Wargaming Association but without success.

I asked yesterday at the club if anyone had a copy of the old WRG rules.  I only got blank looks.  Oh well!  Maybe somebody will turn up a copy from their archives.  An understanding of the points system and classifications would be most helpful.

For next time I will prepare a list of my online research....and maybe a bit on the Taiping Rebellion.

Vapnartak 2020

I managed to get there and back without any trouble - phew!!!  Heavy mist / low cloud on the way out but no snow (that's a rarity).  80 mile round trip.

Didn't seem to be as many demo games as usual.  Notably absent were Peter Pig and Society of Ancients.  Not much in the way of paper goods either (books, rules, etc).  Bring & Buy much better organised - actually managed to see what was on offer and buy something.

So here's my very modest loot list:

1 x box Revell Aztecs (Mr McNulty got there before me and snaffled all the Persians).
3 x Khmer cavalry plus artillery piece with crew (Irregular) - all destined for Ian's army.
1 x carton of Etruscan hoplites with pilum (Forged in Battle) - ordered, yet to receive.

Met plenty of people - even one from King's Lynn!

Found a company importing and selling Eureka miniatures to the UK.  Didn't have a DBA list handy unfortunately.  Need to check what I might require in the future. 

Was going to buy some Donningtons but the stall seemed somewhat disorganised - if you were not taking the blister packs they were not interested in talking to you.  Curious!

A huge show with plenty on display but I can't help feeling that something was missing!  Still, by far, the best wargames show in the north.