The Battle of Dorking
Recommendations: 182
About the Project
Not another project. This one I fell into by accident. I knew I wanted to do a what if battle involving an invasion of victorian Britain by some dasterdly foreign force. I've had the minis for awhile but slowly started tackling the collection.
Related Game: The Men Who Would Be Kings
Related Company: Perry Miniatures
Related Genre: Historical
This Project is Active
French invasion
The aftermath of the Franco-prussian war led to the battle of Dorking invasion scares but before Prussia was the bady it was a fear of imperial French invasion. I got the plastic perry miniatures at Christmas snd osinted one unit of marines and the rest as normal infantry. At Salute I got a couple of artillery pieces that I have since painted up. I could do the Franco-prussian war but I've also had thoughts of an early world war and more what ifs.British grenadiers
I can't have an invasion of Britain without an excuse to field some big bearskin hats. Who better to defend the outskirts of London 
Prussian artillery
I realised I'd stuck the crew seats on backwards because It's hard to see on the perry miniatures site how it all goes together 
Prussian Dragoons
First cavalry unit. The dragoons have a lighter blue tunic than the infantry 
Should we form square?
The collection so far
Two perry miniatures box sets has given me three units for each side which is a good starting point. Next I need some artillery and cavalry 
Second unit complete
I did the second unit as landwehr fusiliers so I could use the shako heads and add variety. 
The enemy
The invading nation in the Battle of Dorking is never named but they speak German and have spikey helmets so or course I'm using Prussians. I have picked up the bismark mini from the giants in miniature range as a leader. I got a box of perry miniatures skirmishing prussisns to get three units of infantry. 
One perry box contents
My three 12 man units create the core of my British force ready to defend an English country lane from the invaders 
Third unit complete
To get away from the usual redcoats I've painted this unit in rifle green and removed the bayonets. I also used the injured model and made him a marksman 
Second unit complete
Two down. For the third unit I'll do something different from the usual redcoats First unit complete
The perry box set allows you get three units of 12 for TMWWBK so you can get the bulk of a force very quickly. Inspiration
The Battle of Dorking was written in the 1870s by army officer George Chesney. After the Franco Prussian war he felt Britain could fall to invasion just as easily as France. His tale was designed to be a wake up call to British complacency in relying too much on the navy. The book is written from the point of view of a militia soldier on the front lines as the unnamed enemy who speak German and wear spiky helmets stomp across the countryside. The navy are destroyed by some secret weapon that is never explained to get them out of the way. With E gland conquered its empire is lost. Shocking. I'm looking to use the men who would be kings to create two small forces from the time period with no steam punk just armies from the time. The perry box sets for the Franco prussisn war are perfect along side the home service head options on the Zulu war British 
The perries had a big dorking table at partizan this year which was good inspiration 
