Māori skirmish

My Evil Gong Māori took to the field last night in a late night gaming session while the Christmas pudding was steaming away on the hob! Here's a couple of snaps of the early stage of the game.

The warriors entering the clearing from the south (bottom) see their opponents forming up on the far side.

First contact - individual combats dominate the game while the larger warrior groups close on each other.

I took advantage of a sunny morning the next day to get some close up shots.

Evil Gong Māori

While WWI in 6mm has been the main focus of my attention for the past few months, with the Christmas Truce approaching, I thought I'd pop my head out of the trench for a small distraction.

I've had a box of Evil Gong Māori in 15mm sitting primed for a couple of years. The promise of some skirmish action in the near future has prompted me to take them the next step. Some of the sculpts are really quite nice and paint up well (and I've just slapped a quick paint job on these). There's a lot more work to do on the textiles for many of the figures - but here's a couple of in-progress teasers!

Sabre Drill, Patten 1862

A recent discussion on Fanaticus was questioning a rather unusual Sabre grip used when delivering a thrust during a cavalry charge. The method saw the little finger looped over on the other side of the grip to the other three fingers.

A quick search came up with an excellent collection of 19th Century swordsmanship resources from the Schola Forum: http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=22

I should also mention the Schola Gladiatoria Victorian Marital Arts page as an useful resource: http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/victorian/

Among these is the Cavalry drill and sabre exercise: compiled agreeably to the latest regulations of the War Department, from standard military authority by George W Patten (1862).

Below are some of the key plates that may be of some assistance.

1. Instructions in the small sword exercise (Patten, 1861)

In his subsequent work on Sabre and Cavalry drill (1862), Patten refers back to his earlier work on infantry tactics for anything not covered in this later work. I found this description of the sword grip.

Source:
Patten, G. Washington. (1861). Patten's infantry tactics, bayonet drill ..: Comp. agreeably to the latest regulations of the War department, from standard military authority. New York: J.W. Fortune.
Reproduced at: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4236832


2. Sabre Drill, Patten 1862

See 'Present' (middle of page) for description of sabre grip. This is the only reference I found to the position of the little finger when gripping a sabre.

The following pages then go on to describe the method used to practice the thrust of a sabre.

Source:
Cavalry drill and sabre exercise: compiled agreeably to the latest regulations
of the War Department, from standard military authority ...
Patten, George Washington, 1808-1882.
Richmond : West & Johnston, 1862.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/dul1.ark:/13960/t10p1w656