Indian Mutiny conversions
When I was at Monash University I studied Indian and British Empire history. One of my favourite areas of study was the Indian Mutiny of 1857. I competed an obscure disertation on novels of the Indian Mutiny, a topic which I had to justify as a historical subject. There are hundreds of novels on the topic. I did not read them all but the oldest one was written in 1859. I had to stay back late at Melbourne University to read it in the rare books section as it could not be borrowed.
At the same time I had a vision of wargaming the period in 54mm. I got as far as making a twentyfour man regiment of British converted from Action Pack Confederates. They look very feisty in their charging pose and are among my favourite toy soldiers. I had some Action Pack French Foreign Legion that had been kept next to a hot tin roof by a certain Adelaide collector who will remain nameless, Bob Bolton! They had become brittle but I salvaged their heads and transplanted them on the Confederates. The officer was made from two figure halves and given a straw hat and pepperbox pistol converted from a six shooter.
The Indian Mutiny figures did not progress beyond a few figures. The Britains Detail bare chested Arab makes an excellent Mutineer. Another figure was made from the top half of a Marx Alamo Mexican and a bottom half of a Marx African native. The other one is a conversion from a Hing Fat pirate.
The British saw service, a number of times, in the invasion of 1860s toy soldier America. They will next be used as Imperial Mexicans for the 1860s as the uniform is very similar to that intoduced in 1866.
At the same time I had a vision of wargaming the period in 54mm. I got as far as making a twentyfour man regiment of British converted from Action Pack Confederates. They look very feisty in their charging pose and are among my favourite toy soldiers. I had some Action Pack French Foreign Legion that had been kept next to a hot tin roof by a certain Adelaide collector who will remain nameless, Bob Bolton! They had become brittle but I salvaged their heads and transplanted them on the Confederates. The officer was made from two figure halves and given a straw hat and pepperbox pistol converted from a six shooter.
The Indian Mutiny figures did not progress beyond a few figures. The Britains Detail bare chested Arab makes an excellent Mutineer. Another figure was made from the top half of a Marx Alamo Mexican and a bottom half of a Marx African native. The other one is a conversion from a Hing Fat pirate.
The British saw service, a number of times, in the invasion of 1860s toy soldier America. They will next be used as Imperial Mexicans for the 1860s as the uniform is very similar to that intoduced in 1866.
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