Monday, May 11, 2015

Kapelle Mounted Rifles

Its already on record that in 1859 (I need to check that date) the Faraway Trading Company lost its Colonial government status in Northern Atlantica.  The old Director General's Bodyguard which had kept the peace in Kapele, when not fighting Faraway's wars, had to be disbanded or taken over. HM decided on the latter and the unit was taken on as a sort of colonial Gendarmerie under the name of The Kapelle Mounted Rifles and given new uniforms.

The Kapelle Mounted Rifles in their new uniforms c1880. Another unit refurbished and ready for the next war.
The Director General's Bodyguard was one of the first units I did for the 40mm version of Faraway's armies. Since the original 54mm version of Faraway and Oberhilse was set in the 1870's I started doing them in the uniform of the Canadian Governor General's Bodyguard at that time. I had barely started when I decided to back date the campaign to c1840, muskets and coatees or shell jackets rather than rifles and tunics. I decided to leave them in butcher boots and helmet but shortened the tunic to a shell jacket. Not quite an appropriate combination but with all that dark blue it was hardly noticeable and they became a favourite unit.


Faraway Trading Company Director General's Bodyguard c1840
The presence of blue cavalry in the Red army and red cavalry in the Blue army was awkward at best when doing battle reports and eventually I retired the rec coated 1812 New York Dragoons that Oberhilse was using and I issued red shell jackets to the DGBG but never liked the effect. I didn't like the white trouser stripes with the red jacket and the tight blue pants didn't look right and somehow seemed to accentuate the poor job I had done on the helmet plumes. The regiment fell out of favour but was still  used when necessary. Since I'm back to the 70s and 80s I decided to trim the plumes, put the tunics back and fix the colours.

Now I like them again!


5 comments:

  1. I don't suppose red uniforms in a blue army and vice versa would have been any worse than the intermixture of blue and grey at 1st Bull Run, though that ended badly for the wrong chaps in the wrong uniforms at the wrong times, I suppose.
    Both are splendid units but I especially like the redcoats and the dismounted fellow on the left who looks like he is hurrying to the firing line. Very splendid.
    Kapelle is a nice echo of a storied Canadian place name - nice.

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    1. It was no trouble when recounting US vs British/Canadian battles, it was only when I switched to Red vs Blue that it got confusing for some readers if I took short cuts with unit names in battle reports so a case of work caused by my laziness!

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    2. ps I also like the sdvancing figure and the horse holder pulling on the horse, both converted artillery men.

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  2. Ross Mac,

    Whilst I have been away I have been putting the finishing touches to my take on a 'universal' set of wargames rules. They require play-testing, but they draw heavily on my previous designs as well as having strong influences from Joseph Morschauser and Richard Borg.

    All the best,

    Bob

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