Welcome to "Adventures in Lead", a blog dedicated to the hobby of miniature wargaming. The figures and terrain on this site are mainly for a campaign set in exotic "Indostan", a distant land bearing remarkable similarities to 18th century India during the Seven Years War. Bits and pieces from other projects may pop up here as well from time to time, including colonials, gladiators, pirates, dinosaur-hunting and even some RPG'ing.
The actual campaign journal and after action reports for the Indostan campaign can be found on their own blog - "Indostan: The Jewel in the Crown", the link to which is found by clicking the small image below-left.
If you do find anything remotely interesting on this blog please leave a comment, it's what keeps these sites going and their authors motivated - Thanks for looking.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

More New Stuff for Indostan

Here are a couple more things for our Indostan game this weekend.

First up is a scratchbuilt palanquin. This thing has bothered me for quite some time, about 4 years actually, and I have already had a shot at building one here, but never completed it, due to its clumsy look. I finally bit the bullet and forgot about being able to fit an actual miniature inside and went with a fully enclosed model instead.
"Sorry gentlemen, I must leave you. My ride is here."
The palanquin is made simply from a foamboard base with thin cardboard sheeting. The supporting "pipe" is made from an ear bud tube, that goes directly through the whole piece. I was able to get the slightly curved roof shape (although it is a little hard to see it) by packing a few extra strips of card down the center of the roof.
The new improved Palanquin 2000
Whenever I set about to build anything my plan usually demands the piece to be versatile, hence I have made the bearers removable. This has two benefits. Firstly the palanquin can also represent a "parked" vehicle and secondly the bearers can be utilised for other projects (I see them carrying a tiger fresh from the hunt between them one day). The bearers, by the way, are Foundry Indian Mutiny figures. The poles are simply toothpicks that have their pointy bits inserted into the palanquin "pipe".



The second piece is a Front Rank ammunition cart. This is a nice model I scored years ago (a pair actually) from a car-boot sale, but like a lot of things has sat unpainted in a box. I'm a big fan of Front Rank and their vehicles are no exception. The cart comes with both a wicker and wooden cover, and includes traces for hitching the draft animals. BIG yoked horses were included in the buy, but of course for Indostan, one must simply demand oxen. They should probably have been painted for use by either the British or the French, in blue or red, respectively, but you know how versatile I like to be.
The wicker...
the wooden...
...and the oxen

18 comments:

  1. What wonderful oxen, sir!

    And your other models are lovely too.


    -- Jeff

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  2. Well done. I really like the palanquin. I can't wait to see it show up in one of your games. The wagon is great too. Never can have enough of them.

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  3. Are the bullocks new as well? They look great

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  4. Thanks Jeff & Chris.
    @fireymonkeyboy - no the oxen are not new and have been used before in Indostan, but have never had their own post per se. Ever since reading Sharpe's Fortress I just knew I must have white bullocks pulling wagons and cannon in our games. The models are actually Foundry "African Cattle" as opposed to their "Oxen".

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  5. I like the palanquin; neat cart and oxen

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  6. A fabulous solution to the problem, although the first attempt was pretty good you know!

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  7. The palanquin is excellent. Agree totally with the comments re Front Rank products.

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  8. Very nice work. I like the idea of having the palanquin separate from the bearers, it adds versatility.

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  9. Clever design of the palaquin. It all looks great! /Mattias

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  10. That palanquin is pure genius!

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  11. Glad to see Indostan back in action.

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  12. Wonderful images and figures - love the palaquin and other period pieces. Best, Dean

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  13. Again thanks all for the encouraging words!

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  14. Just wonderful, excellent additions Frank.
    Cheers
    Stu

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  15. Great work.

    The bearers work on their own to.

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  16. Very, very nice figures of yours. One of the best blogs I have seen actually.Love your work.I will start following from now on. :)

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