Stuart Phillip Frederick McDonald & the Great Mutiny

I was looking for something else entirely when I came across these photos that I would have sworn I had never possessed, but I am delighted to find them and to thus share them here. [This is partly going to be a third part tribute to my old friend S.P.F. McDonald (see Part 1 here and Part 2 here) who gave up the ghost just over twenty years ago.]

By this time in our friendship we had gone our separate ways so I wasn't around for any of this which means these had to have been taken in 1997 or maybe even 1998. 

I don't know who the players were, what rules he used, nor who took the photos, but they are extraordinary being as old as they are. I feel like teddy bear fur only recently became popular in the last 10 years so he was definitely ahead of his time, true to form. (The internet was only barely taking off around this time, and Google was nascent.) We were always committed to the best spectacle we could put on - a standard I try to maintain to this day.

I didn't alter any of these other then to crop out the yard equipment and loungers seen in the background. It appears he just dragged the table out into the yard for this engagement and the sunlight with the accompanying harsh shadows make these really immersive.

It's clear that this task force of Brits are to retake that mutineer held village.

Sepoys advance in disorder? Something's off here, perhaps they advanced faster then they could maintain cohesion?

Note the Camel Corps at the right fore - he went a little more purple than I would have but who's quibbling?

Mutineer cavalry rolls forward at center.

Only to be met by a hastily formed, but secure square. They must have been run off as they never reappear in this game.

Belooch or Baluch infantry storm the guns. Maybe the Fresno group painted up some of these, but I've never seen them in a game until here.

Camel Corps gives rout to their immediate opposition.

Stuart loved a wide variety of forces in his armies.

Mutineers in trouble as their left folds inward.

Baluchs sandwiched but with support pressing in favorably.

I've had a framed version of this one on the mantle for decades, but thought that was it.

A small rear guard moves forward, but it's all over but the shouting.

Looks like a fine game with a British victory as they dismantle the second and final mutineer barricade. The photos themselves have numbers from the developer printed on the back so I was able to determine the narrative accordingly. There are quite a few shots missing from the sequence though which unfortunately ends with this one.

I don't really have a good picture of Stuart other than this oddball one of him and his dog Dooley. Dooley was fiercely protective and even though he knew you, he would bark at you incessantly. Weird, but I guess typical of his breed. In any event, I think I've shared everything I have now of good ol' Stu. He continues to be missed and remembered.

Thanks for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged!