The Race Across Idlib Province, 28th October, 1918. Demonstration Game, Colours, Newbury, 2018.

Some images of the intense and frustrating experience that was the demonstration game put on by "Adrian Shepherd and Friends". The British failed in their objective to capture the last remaining flyblown Ottoman/German airstrip in northern Syria (a collection point for serviceable aircraft that would then fly on to Alexandretta) in the shadow of the Krak des Berger, the superb Crusader castle made for the game by Adrian Shepherd. At the end of the game, before we cleared away, we arranged all the vehicles to represent the British forces taking posession of the area following the Ottoman surrender on 29th October, 1918.

Huzzah for Larry Lenton!

Some months ago Adrian asked me to paint up a little vignette of Gen. Larry "Light Horse" Lenton, his tabletop persona in the recent AWI campaign hosted by Alan and Michael Perry. I was asked to keep it under wraps. Now that the glorious victory of the Continentals has been posted on the the  Perry Miniatures FB page I think I can now go public. Adrian has two cats. He insisted they too be in the vignette. He even sent me photos as a reference. I think I did rather well with the tabby coats. Figures from Perry Miniatures and a Wargames Illustrated limited edition figure.

The Big Push 9. Objective Achieved.

Finished! A week to spare before the demo game at Newbury. So.... what do we have? A unit of Sharifian Regulars supported by an Irregular Arab lewis gun team (all from Brigade Games). A number of odds and sods that may be utilised as dismounted armoured car or Light Patrol car crews. These may or may not be used so I didn't spend a lot of time on these and got them done pretty quickly not really worrying about the end result as they may never make it onto the table. The exception is the Lewis team which form the first two figures of a unit of Queen's Westminster Rifles that I need to do eventually (hence they sport unit patches). Finally a small number of "Supression Markers" that are needed for the Setting The East Ablaze ruleset. These are GWM casualty figures. Done!

The one thing I have gained from this speed painting excercise over the past five or six weeks is some experience using the base coat-wash-hightlight technique. I dabbled with this about a year ago as I searched for a way to speed up painting for my own tabletop collection given that most of my time is taken up painting up commissions "properly". I am quite pleased with some of the results given the time constraints. I am less pleased with others. I have learned quite a bit using this technique. Bring on the game itself. If you are at Newbury, please pop by and say "Hello". Just look for the game being put on by "Adrian Shepherd and Friends". I wonder if Adrian has finished the Crusader Castle......?

Sharifian Regulars and Irregular Arab Lewis Team.

Odds and Sods from Empress Miniatures, 

Woodbine Designs, Great War Miniatures and Footsore Miniatures.

Great War Miniatures "Suppression Markers".

The Big Push 8.

The Sherwood Rangers dismounted unit. Figures are Footsore Miniatures Interwar BUF/Yeomanry Troopers with Woodbine headswaps. Again, a mix of khaki serge and khaki drill.

I thought that was it but a bag containing another thirteen figures can to light last night! No rest!

The Big Push 7.

The Sherwood Rangers, Syria, 1918. A mix of six Mutton Chop British Cavalry, two Great War Miniatures  early war British Cavalry Troopers and two Perry Miniatures WW2 British Yeomanry command types. All the troopers have been given Woodbine Designs head-swaps to try to get that very late war in the Middle East look. A mix of khaki drill and serge uniform here. A few painting short-cuts have been taken on some of these figures as the clock is ticking and there is still the dismounted Sherwood Rangers and a number of miscellaneous figures to do before the game at Colours.

The Big Push 6.

Captain R H M MacIntyre MC, Officer Commanding 7th Light Car Patrol, a Lieutenant as a driver and a Corporal frantically trying to signal the leading elements of the Desert Mounted Corps for the Syria 1918 demo game at Colours. The car is a Matchbox 1909 Opel.... it should really be a Model T but Adrian had this model and it needed to be used. It is, perhaps, a little large and out of scale but it is great fun. That is what it is all about as far as I am concered. The Captain, standing on the front seat for a better view, is an Empress Miniatures figure, as is the driver, and the Signals Corporal comes from GWM. All have had Woodbine headswaps.

The Big Push 5.

The 1er Regiment Mixte de Marche de Cavalerie du Levant. A very impressive title for the composite French cavalry regiment that served in Palestine. Formed from two squadrons of Spahis and two squadrons of the 4er Chasseurs d'Afrique, the pre-war colourful French Colonial uniforms have given way to mustard khaki and Adrian helmets. Again, painted, based and varnished speedily over four days for the Syria 1918 demo game at Colours 2018.

These are Crusader Miniatures early WW2 French cavalry with a GWM French Dragoon Officer to lead them. Only three Crusader figures have their original horses. The other horses are of unknown origin as this unit was scratched together from some figures that Adrian and I had in our respective lead piles. Some of the Crusader horses had been used elsewhere. Some purists may complain that the equipment is not correct but I don't care. What was important was that we have some mounted troops, clearly identified as French, wearing adrian helmets. I don't have time to carve off and resculpt the canvas ANP 31 bag. Paint it khaki and it is just a bag! These chaps appear briefly in this piece of footage from the Imperial War Museum entitled "Armageddon" (4 mins 44 seconds in). Here they are in a screenshot from the film.

Next.... a command base featuring Captain R H M MacIntyre MC, Officer Commanding 7th Light Car Patrol, his driver and a bloke frantically trying to signal the leading elements of the Desert Mounted Corps.... and a car, of course.

The Big Push 4.

A British Mounted Machine Gun Squadron for the Syria 1918 demo game at Colours 2018. As time is short a few time saving painting shortcuts have been made on these figures. They still pass muster to my eyes. The deployed piece is the Britsh Cavalry Vickers Team from Great War Miniatures with a Woodbine headswap. The transport is a very satisfying composite made from odds and sods in the bits box. The horses and drivers come from the Wargames Foundry WW1 British Limber set (the drivers have a Woodbine headswap to give them tin helmets with neck flaps), the limber with stowage is from Tiger Miniatures and the Limbered GS wagon is what remains from the Great War Miniatures Machine Gun Wagon set (horses, drivers and wheels were long since canibalised for other projects). The wheels were in the bits box and were the same size as those on the Tiger Miniatures limber. The tarp over the contents of the wagon is a simple a piece of masking tape. I opted to paint the personel wearing khaki serge as while watching film of the 1918 campaign through Syria it was clear that a lot of serge was being worn rather than khaki drill.