BALKAN BOYZ FOR ONE HOUR SKIRMISH

 

Colorized Photo of Montengrin soldiers...could be during the Balkan Wars just prior to WWI, or could be anytime back to the Russo Turkish War (1877).  They wore the national costume as their uniform all the way up to WWI. 

Inspired by the rumpus kicked up by the Balkan business in my new foray into One Hour Skirmish Wargames, OHSKW (and my variant for the 19th Century), I have returned to the painting desk, recovering elbow and all, in order to do up some more frontier elements to put on the table for future games. These forces are highly problematic, I think, in any "conventional" game, but they are just the thing for OHSKW. Yes, I can (and will), put together scenarios of Prussian Jagers vs Austrian Jagers, set in the 1866 campaign, among others... 

A welcoming committee formed of the Local Lads of the Balkan League about to greet Ottoman visitors during the First Balkan War, 1912. From left to right: Greek, Montenegrin, Bulgarian, and Serb volunteers/clansmen,

...but I intend to fully leverage OHSKW to put together games in the many and various contexts of the militarized frontier zones of the Balkans--and the very many small unit actions pitting local irregulars against the various and sundry outposts and incursions of one army or another, or games set in the continuous policing and raiding actions that are very much of the same cloth as the more familiar "Border Reivers" of the Scottish:English frontier... 

A Montenegrin "irregular" in his environment: not to be taken lightly.

...except with the many more overlapping frontiers in the Balkans, and with Bashi Bazouks, local militias, volunteers, mountaineers, and a smattering of regular and semi regulars, like Grenzers, chasing each other about. But enough of the preamble. I have expanded my collection to get me into these other zones. And I'll start this post by showing my Montenegrins. As usual, you may clix pix in this post for BIG PIX...

My new contingent of Montenegrins (Russo Turkish War Outpost Wargame Service figs ordered via Badger Games). This will be more than enough for a OHSKW element. 

The command figures. In OHSKW, there probably won't be a need for three of them in a game, but having these gives me options.

The infantry in three poses. Advancing (upper left), firing (upper right), and kneeling (bottom).  I think the kneeling figures are the best sculpts of these. It took a bit of work to get the striping on the sashes right, but was worth it in the end, I think. 

As with my previous observation about variance in sculpts among some Outpost Wargame figures in the Russo Turkish Line, these Montenegrin figs seem to also be from two different artists (note the difference between the three highlighted command figures vs the others).  They'll still all work very nicely on the table, mind you, but it is noticeable upon closer inspection.

A closeup study of one of the command figures: still, when they are on their game, i would stack these Outpost figures up against just about any others when it comes to sculpts.

Romanian Dorobanti Militia

As long as I was "in the neighborhood," I expanded my Romanian Dorobanti Militia (previously, I only had two single mounted figures of these: as used in the Balkan Fracas game). 

New Dorobanti Militia: this gives me enough of these fellows to compose an element for a OHSKW game (these are also Outpost RTW figs).  Although they do not make a leader figure in the Dorobanti kit, I added the trumpeter who will to serve in that capacity should I need one for these fellows. 

While I was in the Romanian way, I expanded my Romanian Chasseurs. I now also have enough of these to field as a standing contingent in a game (or have a game just with these). The trumpeter and the officer, in particular, will come in handy. I can use the Chasseur officer in the role of a regular assigned to lead the Dorobanti  militia on the table as well. 

Albanian Tribesman/Volunteer/Soldier...

Of course, on the other side of the Balkans, there are the Muslim and Non Christian elements. They, too have tribesmen and such, who, faiths aside, are not very different than the aforementioned mountain clans of the Greeks, Serbs, Montenegrins, Bulgars, Croats, etc. 

As I was embarking on this project, I knew that I would be in need of some of the colorful "Bashi Bazouks" to add to the mix. Lo and behold, there was the above contingent on ebay on offer just when I wanted them (Kismet!).  And I scooped them up. Of course, these are classified as Egyptian Bashi Bazouk Perry figures in their "Sudan" range. However...

Bashi Bazouk prisoners in the Russo Turkish War...

Colorized Post Card from the late 19th Century: Bashi Bazouks.

...Bashi Bazouks are Bashi Bazouks (tautologically speaking), and they range across the Ottoman/Muslim territories not only in North Africa but in the former (and at the time current) Ottoman lands and cultures in the Balkans (and points east). So I scooped up these figures. They were a bit monochrome for my likes, so I did touch them up a bit...

Touched up, remounted, and table ready for the Balkans: this is what they look like now...

On all the figures, I brought out the details of the weapons stowed in the sashes. For the leaders, I set them apart by painting them in vests with yellow details.

Inventorying the figures, they broke down into three groups. Advancing with rifled musket (6 on the right); Advancing with modern rifle (6 in the center), Loading and Firing with rifled musket (6 on the left).   

 

For game purposes, I wanted the modern rifles to stand out at a glance from the rifled muskets, so I painted them in vests (adding the sleeves: they were all painted in jackets--no vests--originally), and added the blue details (to spiff them up: just because).  There was one leader figure with a modern rifle (carrying a pistol). I left him in a jacket (painted red with blue distinctions).  So now this contingent can be put on the table and easily recognized. 

For the loading and shooting group, I left them as is, as far as the jacket, but I repainted a few of them in brighter colors and I added details to all of them. For both sets of rifled muskets, I also ornamented the rifles, giving them gold barrel bands (as another way to distinguish between them and the more utilitarian modern rifles, the barrels of which are all steel with no embellishment). 

For the last group, advancing with rifled musket, aside from the gold barrel bands, I left them pretty much as is since they came with the added color of their headgear and scarves. 

I've a few more contingents like this I intend to add to my OHSKW collection, but these small additions to my collection will certainly allow me to engage in plenty of Balkan mischief for now! 

Excelsior!