East Coast armoured train - 1914-1918

A feature on an interesting armoured train that protected my part of the world during the Great War. It could be useful for a what if scenario in the Great War, a AVBCW game, or even a Second World War game.

It's been a while...

A busy life and dealing with long Covid suppressed any desire I had to game over the summer months. Now the cooler weather's here I'm thinking of starting up again, perhaps with a new 10mm project, perhaps by expanding an old one. 

As a nod to the potential new project I recently bought Allenby's Gunners...

The blurb...

The book tells the story of artillery in the highly successful World War I Sinai and Palestine campaigns. Following Gallipoli and the reconstitution of the AIF, a shortage of Australian gunners saw British Territorial artillery allotted to the Australian Light Horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifle brigades. It was a relationship that would prove highly successful and Allenby's Gunners provides a detailed and colorful description of the artillery war, cavalry and infantry operations from the first battles of Romani and Rafa, through the tough actions of Gaza, the Palestine desert, Jordan Valley and Amman to the capture of Jerusalem. The story concludes with the superb victory of Megiddo and the taking of Damascus until the theater armistice of 1918.

Smith Covers the trials and triumphs of the gunners as they honed their art in one of the most difficult battlefield environments of the war. The desert proved hostile and unrelenting, testing the gunners, their weapons and their animals in the harsh conditions. The gunners' adversary, the wily and skillful Ottoman artillerymen, endured the same horrendous conditions and proved a tough and courageous foe.

* * *

I've yet to start in on the book, but it sounds promising. There are a number of blogs out in the blogosphere which are inspirational, such as:-

Grid based Wargaming

Michael Scott's WW1 Blog

Although Michael hasn't posted anything on this project for a while, it's still inspiring stuff. He bases his gaming on the Too Fat Lardies If the Lord Spares Us rules set, which I plan to use as they lend themselves to solo play.

So, I might begin a new period in this interesting theatre of the Great War, with its eclectic mix of units types and terrain - plus Lawrence of Arabia! Or, I might continue with my ECW collection, expanding from the handful of foote and horse to something approaching a worthwhile army for both Parliament and Royalists. Decisions decisions...

Another book ~ Wings over the Desert

This arrived today...

It's the story of the author's father, Eric Seward, a RFC pilot in Palestine during the Great War. I looked for this for some time after seeing it mentioned on Michael Scott's blog where he writes about his own interest in the theatre. Michael was collecting Pendraken Miniatures 10mm for WW1 Middle East, but it seems he's let the project lapse? My own interest is kind of on again/off again, although I'll almost certainly go ahead with a Pendraken order when funds permit.

The book turned up on Alibris, which is an excellent source for reference books on all kinds of subjects. Their service is good, hampered only by the USPS's tardiness in delivering.

Urban development

It's been a while since I posted. The gardening has kept me busy, plus a tooth infection followed by dental surgery really did a number on me these past few weeks. Ho hum. At least I'm able to press on with Sudan developments.

I made a couple of buildings for the urban area in the upcoming game set in and around Abu Hamad on the Nile. The spackle work is done, just need to paint in the windows and doors.

The taller building at the back will be shops and apartments. The lower ones with the courtyards are apparently typical of Abu Hamad. I'm tempted to put some greenery in the courtyards, and perhaps a palm tree. 

I also finished the Bengal Lancers, so they're ready to take their place in the Imperial army. The photo is a bit blurry, but it shows what's what.

In the Ooh shiny! category, we have yet another area of wargaming temptation, to whit the Great War Middle East, Palestine and Mesopotamia. For this I place the blame on David Fromkin's book "A Peace to end all peace" - that and Pendraken Miniatures excellent Middle East range. Fromkin's work gives a general view on the background to the theatre and the aftermath that rumbled on into 1922, all of which offer plenty of 'what if...' scenarios. Too Fat Lardies have their If the Lord Spares Us rules for the Middle East, and from the game reports I've read seem to give a good feel for the period.

We'll see.

Assorted musings

This Labor Day weekend has put a temporary halt to our (so far) fruitless search for a new home. We've seen and discounted several places for various reasons (A "Crazy cat lady's" former abode stinks - er, sticks - in the mind). It's not entirely beyond the bounds of possibility that we may look to return to the UK, or possibly head for Ireland. International moving's a whole different set of complications, but we'll see.

In the meantime I'm catching up with my reading and musing on different wargaming periods. Our excellent local library has a copy of Nick Lloyd's book Passchendaele: The Lost Victory of WW1.

This is the centenary year of the terrible months-long battle, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, which lasted from July to November 1917. It's a battle I've heard about often but have never really studied until now. I've reached the point where planning for the offensive has begun under the command of General Gough, GOC Fifth Army. Apparently this army had a reputation within the BEF for being lax in pre-battle planning, so even at this stage of the narrative things aren't looking good. Lloyd's book is a good read. It's enough to tempt me into contemplating WW1 gaming, perhaps using Pendraken Miniatures 10mm range. For those interested in seeing how a master does it, take a look at the incomparable Sidney Roundwood's blog.

Another little gem came up unexpectedly on the AVBCW Facebook page. A gamer is asking about suitable 28mm vehicles to use in this delightfully daft conflict, and another member posted this suggestion...

It's a First Corps (Curteys Miniatures) resin/white metal four-wheel speedster from their 20th Century Follies range, and it looks lovely! Some time ago I searched for a similar vehicle for a Pulp game idea I had, but didn't find anything suitable. I did see an example of the speedster painted up on the Lead Adventure forum, but couldn't pinpoint the manufacturer. Now, when I'm not looking, it pops up. Go figure.

Once I'm in a position to do so, my gaming priority really is to complete the collections I already have. The Dux Britanniarum set up needs the Saxons to oppose the Romano-British. I have a handful of foot regiments, a cavalry regiment, dragoons and perhaps another gun apiece to complete the 10mm ECW forces.

Apart from the temptation to start a Great War collection (early or late? That is the question) I've also been tempted to start an Indian Mutiny collection. Dixon's Miniatures produce a nice-looking range in 15mm. Their 'personnel carrier' elephant is just darlin'. But - Pendraken has an Indian Mutiny range on the drawing board, and I believe the figures may make an appearance next year.

I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens. 

It's Been Quiet...

Too quiet. No, I'm not up to something, just trying to get over a willful and persistent cough, make a start on book edits for my publisher, and wrestle the garden under control between times. Meanwhile, a visit to our local library turned up this classic...

...which is a go-to reference for all things related to the Great War and its causes, and Margaret MacMillan's Paris 1919 about its aftermath.

I'm on something of an early 20th Century kick at the moment, doing research for a murder-mystery set in 1923. The books listed above are great references for the war and the Back o' Beyond campaigns that spluttered on around the world, particularly in Asia and the Middle East.

Gaming-wise, sometime in the next couple of weeks I hope to play out an encounter between the Barsetshire Regiment and a nefarious band of slavers, and perhaps (who knows?) even play the last game of my VBCW Thetford-Bury St. Edmunds campaign. Watch this space.

The Crater Mess Experiment - 3

The final result...

...and two more craters finished as dry versions.

The next project will be a couple of craters suitable for Pulp and VSF/SF gaming. Watch this space...

The Crater Mess Experiment - 2

More progress on my pie-dish craters...

Lewis gunner Jack Dillon recalled years later how ‘the mud there [at Passchendaele] wasn’t liquid, it wasn’t porridge, it was a curious kind of sucking kind of mud ... a real monster that sucked at you’. Rain and artillery fire joined forces to turn the trenches into cesspools where the men floundered and even drowned; or, killed by shell-fire, their bodies dissolved into the slime - See more at: http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/sensuous-life-in-the-trenches#sthash.beR9cXt4.dpuf

The one on the left shows the crater with splats and splodges of spackle and watered Aleene's glue, sprinkled with dried coffee grounds and sand. It breaks up the regular appearance of the plaster cast. The one on the right has been painted using ordinary craft acrylic paint. Descriptions of shell craters from the Great War speak of strange streaks of colour in the horrible mixture of mud and slime, presumably from the chemicals used in the explosive content of shells, so I added some areas of yellow and terracotta here and there.

 

Next I stirred green acrylic ink into more watered Aleene's glue until I got an algae-like shade and poured it into the crater. When the glue dried it gave the above result. Now, I could leave it like this. Algae was prevalent in Great War shell craters, feeding happily off the nitrogen component of the explosives literally fired into the soil. However, I wanted something that looks like recent shell craters, so I mixed another batch of glue with sepia and India ink.

This will dry like the first version, leaving a greenish-brown stain with a brighter green rim. It'll look like either a shell blasted a crater where an existing crater with a patch of algae had been, or a crater where algae is beginning to establish itself. The next stage will be to pour some Pledge polish with a light mix of green and sepia ink into the crater to look like brackish water separating out of the mud. Pictures of the final result to follow, once everything's dried.

 

Lewis gunner Jack Dillon recalled years later how ‘the mud there [at Passchendaele] wasn’t liquid, it wasn’t porridge, it was a curious kind of sucking kind of mud ... a real monster that sucked at you’. - See more at: http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/sensuous-life-in-the-trenches#sthash.DKaUW5kn.dpuf

Lewis gunner Jack Dillon recalled years later how ‘the mud there [at Passchendaele] wasn’t liquid, it wasn’t porridge, it was a curious kind of sucking kind of mud ... a real monster that sucked at you’. - See more at: http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/sensuous-life-in-the-trenches#sthash.DKaUW5kn.dpuf

Lewis gunner Jack Dillon recalled years later how ‘the mud there [at Passchendaele] wasn’t liquid, it wasn’t porridge, it was a curious kind of sucking kind of mud ... a real monster that sucked at you’. - See more at: http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/sensuous-life-in-the-trenches#sthash.DKaUW5kn.dpuf