Artizan Designs WW1 Arab Irregulars 3

Two more figures. The remaining six figures are duplicates of the figures carrying rifles seen in this and the previous post on this topic. Only the colour schemes will vary so one post left to come on this project and that will be when all ten are complete. It will be a while as painting on this unit is slow at the moment thanks to current work commitments and related energy levels at the end of the day.... that and being distracted by guns, limbers and teams.....

Playing with Pigment Powder and an Ambulance

Recent research leads me to conclude that WW1 British Artillery equipments in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Palestine were painted in the standard khaki-green rather than in a desert scheme. So, when I was asked to take on a rather large project of four 18pdr guns, ammunition wagons and horse teams from that theatre, the challenge was on. How to make a gun look as if it had been dragged through dry desert sand and dust..... on dark green paint? Drybrushing sprang to mind but I might have done that on a desert paint scheme but it simply wouldn't work on khaki-green. So I bought some pigment powders (more than I really need but one day they will come in handy) and pigment fixer and I began to play.....

... it was a steep learning curve. The next one will be better!

Last weekend saw the local Wargames club here put on their annual show. It has been a few years since I last attended, but I needed a few bits and pieces for the painting table and popped in. Not much for me there, I'm afraid, but Warbases were in attendance and I stocked up on some MDF bases and purchased one of their new 28mm MDF WW1 vehicle kits just for fun. The lady who served me said that there was a PDF file of instructions on their website. I couldn't find it so it became a problem solving exercise. It was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I slapped some paint on it very, very quickly (in less than an hour, in fact, and lots of details NOT painted) just to get an idea of what it would be like with some colour. So here is the MDF Model "T" Ambulance.

Obviously a MDF kit can not provide the same level of detail and realism that a resin or plastic kit can reproduce but these models (Dennis and Albion trucks, a Crossley Tender and the Ambulance) don’t look half bad and would add some interesting detail to dress the gaming table at quite a reasonable price.  The Dennis truck is quite a monster! Less successful is the MDF kit for a Mark I tank. You need rivets on a tank and MDF does not give you that! Go and have a look. 

Artizan Designs WW1 Arab Irregulars 2.

I've done another one! This is one of the two camel mounted variants in pack ARB021. I'll do the other chap, post him and then give a final posting when all ten figures are complete.

Perry Miniatures Brunswick Mounted Infantry Officers.

From left to right: Leib Battalion, 2nd Light Battalion and 3rd Line Battalion.

Artizan Designs WW1 Arab Irregulars 1.

Real "Sons of the Desert"! The obsession with camels reaches new heights.
Another nine will follow in due course. 

Okay, okay... my arabic calligraphy is not that good. This banner contains the Shahada, the Islamic proclamation of faith. The calligraphy was found on the interweb, copied, recoloured, shrunk to size, printed out and then overpainted by hand.
God is Greatest!

Perry Miniatures Duke of Brunswick and Staff.

An opportunity to paint something with a little more colour.... even if it is mostly black.

Perry Miniatures WW2 Italian "Elefantino" anti-tank gun.

 

Maintaining the dusty and desert theme, but this time in the 1940s.

The League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers' "Assault Across Suez, 1915" Demonstration Game, Vapnartak 2015.

I wish I could have been there to see the League of Extraordinary Kreigspielers' "Suez 1915" demonstration game at Vapnartak, York, yesterday.

A couple of photos have been hastily developed and sent via carrier pigeon to Over Open Sights HQ.
The first shows a vast number of British Imperial mounted troops and artillery support en-route to reinforce the troops resisting the Ottoman raid. In the image you can see the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, the South Nottinghamshire Hussars, Imperial Camel Corps, New Zealand Mounted Rifles, Australian Light Horse and the Deccan Horse. It came a quite a surprise to see units I have painted concentrated together. These figures reside in the collections of Steve "Ignatieff" Langan and Adrian "The Beast of Bukhara" Shepherd.

The second is a great photo of a Royal Naval Monitor (based on M33 at Portsmouth) built for the game by Cameron Thomson and turning her 6 inch guns on the encroaching Turks. She is beautiful. In the distance I think I can see Indian troops that were once on my painting table.

Darrell Hindley has posted a large number of photos of the game on his blog Just Add Water. Here are a few.

Ottoman Arabs on camels force the crossing.

By Jove!  A blast from the past... Copplestone Gurkha's done a while back.

Fantastic. Deccan Horse, Bikaner Camel Corps and Imperial Camel Corps. 

Three of my all time favourite projects. The RHA teams are a collaboration with "The Beast".

Latest pigeon brings in a couple more official photographs:

9.2 inch Howitzer.

The Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Co.'s resin and metal British 9.2 inch static seige howitzer.

Seeing the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner for the first time at the age of eight, was perhaps the moment when I first became interested in the Great War. This is an iconic piece of equipment. I am glad that it now sits in my display cabinet.