The 95th Rifles’ Song of Drums and Shakos

Chosen Man Cooper followed by Riflemen Harris advance in the Song of Drums and Shakos game.
“Chosen Man” Cooper, followed by Riflemen Harris, takes a shot in the Song of Drums and Shakos game.

I’ve been giving some thought to skirmish gaming over the last year or so – it started with Fantasy, as I was looking for something to do with my collection of classic D&D (Dungeon’s & Dragons) RPG figures that I’ve collected over the years (some dating from the early 1980’s, others being more recent 2000 acquisitions after the release of 3rd Edition D&D tempted a (very) brief revisit to the P&P (Pen & Paper) RPG world), however the idea rapidly spread to Napoleonics (to use my assorted surplus figures from my Lasalle/SHAKO armies) and then it’s spread to thoughts of doing the F&IW (French & Indian War); and with the new releases by Empress Miniatures this year, the 19th Century New Zealand Wars!

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Empress 1840’s New Zealand Wars Māori and Colonial Figures

Roly over at “Dressing The Lines” has got his first batch of NZ Wars figures done, and I must say they are looking pretty smashing! He’s done a great job of them and also of giving the bases a New Zealand touch with ferns and tussock-like grass! Roly is planning to experiment with using a suitably modified “Sharp Practice” for his games, however this requires a reasonable number of figures (i.e. dozens to 100+), and Roly has the luxury of another gamer at hand doing the same period. I have been rather procrastinating over ordering some of the Empress Miniatures figures as I’ve been undecided about what rules to use – however I’ve pretty much decided on initially trying SDS (“Song of Drums & Shakos” – a variant of “Song of Blades & Heroes“), which will allow interesting games with just 6-30 figures a side… Needless to say Roly’s efforts are a much needed prompt to get organised and order some figures! The photo is a small lower resolution one of some of his figures – Make sure you check out the full set of photos at Roly’s Dressing The Lines blog… Continue reading “Empress 1840’s New Zealand Wars Māori and Colonial Figures”