Thursday 18 June 2020

28mm WW1 Mesopotamia Cavalry - British Unit Done



I've been detailing my search for suitable figures for my WW1 Mesopotamia collection and Cavalry have proved to be a particular challenge. Well there has actually been some progress and I've (shock) finished a unit !


These figures are Great War Miniatures with head swaps from Gripping Beast. The head swaps were done by my gaming chum Harry (cheers !) as my modelling skills are not the best. I have left some figures with the general service cap just to mix the look up a bit.


The unit is 24 figures strong which will operate as 4 squadrons of 6 figures each.


The unit is painted up to represent the Cheshire Yeomanry who fought in the later 1917 Palestine Campaign. The flags are hand painted copies of the mid war Yeomanry Standard, I have no evidence of these being carried in action but it adds something visually to the unit.


In the days when most people do Cavalry units in 12s, it's easy to forget how big 28mm Cavalry units are in line.


Currently on the paint table are some Arab Spearmen for the Crusades, next up will be my Kingdom of Jerusalem Knights before I go back to another WW1 unit.

18 comments:

  1. Stunning work Ken. I jealous that you have a chum who will perform head swaps for you, that’s beyond my skill level too.
    No Yorkshire Yeomen in the Middle East? The 24 man unit is huge, good thing that you appear to have a table the size of ballroom!

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    1. Thanks Peter, Harry was very kind sorting them out for me, Yarkshire Regiments may well be appearing soon.
      I always think of 24 figure Cavalry units as small 😁 the big Napoleonic players in my yoof always had 36 figure units, now those did look good.

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  2. Lovely unit Ken, and, wow! massive line!!!

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    1. Thanks Mike, as I said to Peter above, 36 used to be the standard size when I was a lad 😁

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  3. Lovely job! I've just finished reading Anthony Bruce's The Last Crusade about the Palestine campaign. I'm surprised by how effective the cavalry arm was.

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    1. Thanks AJ, that's a book very much on my too read list. Great open spaces to manoeuvre definitely gave Cavalry a role they would never have on the Western Front. Finding water for the horses would have been a full on challenge though

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  4. Very Impressive, I have some Brigade Games Yeomanry to paint, but only 12. Re Head Swaps I've followed Mark Hargreaves "How To" in his Caliver Painting Books, and it was surprisingly straightforward.

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    1. Cheers, As in the report above my friend Harry did these, quite a few years ago too, I can't believe how much stuff I have lying around waiting to be painted.

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  5. beautiful painting and nice subject!

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  6. Well done, beautiful cavalry...and good luck to them!

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  7. Sterling work! Another awesome addition to an already epic collection.
    Cheers

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  8. Fantastic work on these Ken, I think you did the right thing adding the standards as they give a great splash of colour.

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  9. I'd like to echo the opinion of others...stunning work mate. These are wonderful figures.

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