Adrian Shepherd

It is with great sadness that I learned today of the death of my friend Adrian Shepherd. Many of the projects on this blog have Adrian's stamp upon them. Were it not for Adrian's inspiration, imagination and badgering, half of the fun things I have undertaken over the past ten years would never have happened. I shall miss him greatly.

Adrian (centre, in the white shirt) at our Second Battle of Gaza game at Newbury in 2017.

I spoke to Adrian on the telephone a few days before he left us. In that conversation he described to me what turned out to be his last painting instruction. I told him I would begin work on it over the weekend. I finished it at midnight last night and photographed it just minutes before receiving news of his passing. 

Thanks, Adrian, for all the fun, the mystery parcels on the doorstep and the reinroduction to the world of tabletop mayhem. 

WW1 Obsolete Ottoman Artillery.

The 88mm Krupp K73 (produced by Victorious Miniatures in their 28mm Boxer Rebellion range) being crewed by figures from Woodbine Designs and Perry Mniatures. The Perry figures are Egyptian gunners from their 28mm Sudan range with headswaps. Guns like this, captured from the Turks, can be seen in the film "The Occupation of Es Salt" in the Imperial War Musuem online collection. I attach a screenshot from that film.

Riverine Project 4.

The Turkish stern-wheeler and crew and now complete. The final model is quite large and so is somewhat difficult to photograph as it does not fit into my photography set-up, so please forgive the dodgy photos. The crew are sailors from the Oshiro Models Boxer Rebellion range, sculpted by Andy "Soapy" Dormer and a couple of American Sailors from Pulp Figures. I found three different references for Ottoman sailors' uniforms from WW1, one of which was the white rig, so I decided to paint the crew up in all three varients. The only conversion work was removing the visor from the officer's peaked cap.

Jakob Wolff

Jakob Wolff of the Imperial German Army Air Service was forty-six years of age at the start of the Great War. He was, I believe, the oldest fighter pilot to see combat. This splendid miniature of Wolff came to me from Aly Morrison (the sculptor) and I believe it was a special miniature from Hamburger Tactica 2019.

Artillery Spotters for "Setting the East Ablaze".

A group of Artillery Spotters for various nationalities. Copplestones, Great War Miniatures and Woodbine Designs figures. Also a couple of Woodbine Designs WW1 German Officers in tropical uniform.

One appears to have been published.

Please to purchase copies of my new WW1 Middle Eastern Painting guide, published by Partizan Press, available on the Caliver Books website.

In this first of a series of painting guides for wargamers published by Partizan Press, Mark
Hargreaves takes us through a series of step by step photographic tutorials that cover the painting of flesh tones, khaki drill uniform, khaki serge uniform, horses, camels, guns and vehicles for the British, Dominion and Indian Army troops that served in the Middle Eastern theatres of World War I.
The painting guide will also suit the same troops up until the late 1920s and so will be of interest to those who game the Back of beyond and Interwar periods.

The guide also contains advice on simple conversions involving swapping heads and
the basic use of greenstuff to add details to your miniatures.

Perry Miniatures Sudan Gordon Highlanders

Rumbling on in the background since January have been these Perry Miniatures Sudan Gordon Highlanders. Fixed to temporary MDF bases for photographic purposes, they will be based when they reach their new home.

Riverine Project 3.

WW1 Turkish Stern-wheeler and British Launch with gun barges now fully equipped with armaments, observation platforms and bits and pieces for the deck. The crews will follow shortly. I will be using British sailors from Pulp Figures and utilising the Oshiro Models Japanese Boxer Rebellion sailors as generic naval crew for the Turks.

Riverine project 2.

A few more images of the British Tigris Motor Launch (now named M34) and the two barges  carrying 4.7 inch guns and ammunition lockers. Just need the white ensign, deck clutter, a observation platform and a crew. This is based on a watercolour illustration to be found in "Sailor in the Desert", the memoir of Philip Gunn published by Pen and Sword.