I spent much of my first years wargaming playing 15mm Afghan wars at Akrotiri Wargames Club we had some great figures produced by Mikes Models these were not to everyone's tastes as they were very chunky. I loved them and my number one favourite unit were the Bengal Lancers. When I decided to get into the NWF in 28mm I just had to have a unit of Bengal Lancers. Luckily Wargames Foundrys range for the NWF is fantastic
check them out. I took advantage of Foundry's offers in January to buy myself loads and loads of these fine NWF figures including 12 Bengal Lancers. It has taken till now for them to work their way up to the top of my painting list.
A bit of history on the Bengal Lancers:
The regiment was raised by William Hodson, one of the most famous
personalities of British India. He was the son of a vicar, an old boy
of Rugby School and a graduate of Cambridge University. HodsonÕs Horse
was born in the Punjab during the Great Mutiny of 1857. It was formed
from risalahs raised and brought in to Delhi by prominent Sirdars.
Hodson was at that time, on staff duty with the Delhi Field Force. By
the time Delhi had fallen the regiment was large enough to be split into
three separate regiments. Unfortunately Hodson did not live long
enough to see this happen as he died in battle in March 1858.
The three regiments of
Hodson's Horse became two in 1860 when the third regiment was disbanded. The 1st and 2nd Regiments soon became the 9th and
10th Bengal Cavalry.
The first overseas posting for the 9th was Malta, in 1878, and then the
Sudan in 1885 in which year they became Lancers. The regiment then
served in Chitral in 1895-7.
In 1914 the 9th were stationed at Ambala so were sent to France with the
Ambala Cavalry Brigade. They stayed in Europe until February 1918 when
they were posted to Palestine. They finally returned to Ambala on 1st
January 1921 creating a record for length of time spent overseas, more
than 6 years.
The bit most relevant to my NWF project:
The tribal attacks started in June 1897 in the Tochi Valley but after an
attack on Shabkadar Fort, on 10th August, the regiment was ordered to
proceed by train from Rawalpindi to Peshawar. At the same time a Troop
went to Shabkadar, escorting guns. Then came the attacks on the Khyber
Forts which involved the regiment in further movements but the
mobilisation of the Tirah Expeditionary Force did not start until early
October.
The Force was split into three columns. General Sir William Lockhart led two divisions as the main column, into
Tirah
while the other two, the Peshawar and Kurram columns advanced on the
flanks. The 9th, commanded by Major Dawson, were part of the Peshawar
column which saw less action than the other two. However, one wing of
the regiment was forced to fight it's way out of a dangerous situation
on the Bara River.
Capt. Brasier-Creagh
was leading B and D squadrons with Lieuts. Smith and Maxwell, having
been ordered to reconnoitre the road to Mamanai through the Gandao Pass.
Whilst coming back along the Bara River, the Captain and D squadron
were fired on from the front. Their escape route to the rear was also
blocked by snipers. At first they dismounted and returned fire but it
soon became clear that the only answer was to mount up and ride right
through the enemy. They sustained heavy casualties, a jemadar and 5 men
were killed and 4 wounded. The horses also suffered, with 18 killed and 9
wounded. Sixteen NCOs were recommended for gallantry awards and Kot
Dafadar Mir Jafar Khan was given the Order of Merit.
The above information was taken from the excellent British Empire Armed Forces
Website .
I was prepping the 12 Lancers today and wanted to add the pennants shown on the colour plate above so I dug out my metal sheets bought a few years ago which I use for flags (I used to use the lead from wine bottles but you really see that now as they are all screw top). I cut these to the correct size and snipped the ends to create the desired pennant shape and glued them to the lance tops. I am starting to get an itchy brush finger for these NWF figures now as I have my second favourite unit the Gurkha's to do also.
so the 12 figures are ready for me to gravel the base's along with another 12 sword armed horseman and 12 mounted Tribesman (for starters)
