Setting Jhamjarhistan Ablaze!

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

This could have gone on the Pulp board (and if you feel it should, please move it) but it was inspired by all the superb projects on the BoB board and in particular, the League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers who must shoulder a large portion of the blame for setting me off on this wild ride! 

Re-reading the intro in Setting the East Ablaze 2nd Edition, this sentence got me inspired to start painting stuff. I hope you don't mind me quoting here?

'You therefore get to play with all the toys of the first quarter of the twentieth century', what more could I want? I am happy to be corrected on obvious errors as I am still reading through quite a few books to try and get an overview of this complex subject. ...and so without further ado, I present...

SETTING JHAMJARHISTAN ABLAZE

“There is a dry wind blowing through the East and the parched grasses await the spark. And the wind is blowing towards the Indian frontier . . .  I have reports from agents everywhere”.

Sir Walter Bullivant to Richard Hannay, Greenmantle.

THE JHAMJARHISTAN CAMPAIGN

GHQ, WAFFLE Corps, Peshawar, January 192?

“It’s all kicked off in Jhamjarhistan, Darling” ejaculated Major-General Kenwood-Chef. A British officer on shooting leave by the name of ‘Chippy’ Minton has been imprisoned in Djelibad. That roguish rapscallion, Faqir Al Djelibeybi, the Emir of Jhamjarhistan will be behind it all!”, he continued, in a bellicose voice that had bought many a tribal leader, quivering to their respective knees. Captain Kevin Darling, the General’s ADC was already aware of the dangerous situation in Jhamjarhistan, it was he who had laid the TOP SECRET/URGENT/EYES ONLY telegram on the General’s desk that morning.

'Chippy' Minton and Major-General Kenwood-Chef

Lakshmibai Al Djelibeybi, Emira of Jhamjarh, Faqir Al Djelibeybi, the Emir of Jhamjarh and Gunga Al Djelibeybi, the Emirzade of Jhamjarh

Major-General Kenwood-Chef was Wazirstan Amalgamated Field Force Leader ‘E’ Corps and as OIC WAFFLE Corps, Jhamjarhistan came under his jurisdiction. Jhamjarhistan being a small autonomous province to the east of Bokhara in the Pamirs.

“Darling, get me that fool Snapcase. You’ll probably find him drinking chota pegs at Madame Kharrsi’s Home for Distressed Gentlewomen”. Madame Kharrsi’s was in fact a cover for a Peshawar brothel catering exclusively for officers of field rank and above. Very hush, hush you know.

Snapcase was duly extracted by an agitated Darling from Madame Kharrsi’s establishment and hurried back to Peshawar Barracks. Ushered into Kenwood-Chef’s office, he saluted the General and accepted the offer of a mid-morning bracer, a very welcome G&T.

Snappers and Kenners

“Now then Snappers, we need you to get to Kashgar with a mixed force by yesterday!” “Stap me, Kenners, that’s a rather tall order!” riposted Snapcase. “Now look here, I’ve spoken to that transport johnny of yours, Agnew is that his name?” growled Kenwood-Chef. “Aggers, yes that’s right sir”. “Well, he and that QM chappie Johnston reckon they can cobble together enough motorised transport to get your advance column to Kashgar in a week or so. The heavy baggage and follow-up column can damn well use Shank’s pony and a mule train”. “If that’s the case then I’ll get my adjutant, Major Bovril onto the detailed planning straight away, General”, Snapcase came to the salute, about faced and marched off to cantonments to look for Bovvers, Aggers and Johnners.

Bovvers, Aggers and Johnners

When questioned, Bovvers and Aggers were adamant that they would need a team of expert mechanics to keep the motorised section running all the way to Kashgar. Aggers felt that if they could get a chap called Tuffnell from the Royal Engineers on board, then he could bring a choice selection of oily rags with him on the beano. Aggers went off to see if he could sweeten the deal with Tuffers with an all-expenses paid visit to Madame Kharrsi’s.

Meanwhile, the Political Department at Peshawar had heard of Snapcase’s imminent departure for the back of beyond. Monty Bottomley-Throppet (who some suspected was the local SIS man) dropped by to chat with Snapcase. Monty’s daughter Ophelia was on an archaeological dig with her college in Jhamjarhistan and Monty was worried about her.

The archaeological dig in Jhamjarh was being sponsored by Lord Creosote. His Lordship is a keen amateur archaeologist and when his daughter approached him for some readies to travel with her university’s archaeological club, he decided to accompany them and sponsor the dig. Lord Creosote is very jealous of his rival Howard Carter’s success in the Valley of the Kings. Lord Creosote is accompanied by his valet, Biscuit-Barrel. Creosote is known for being as rich as Croesus. His daughter is Araminta Creosote, studying archaeology at Hilda Rumpole College, Oxford. The College’s archaeological club, known as the Rumpole Scholars are working on a very ancient site near Djelibad, Jhamjarh’s main town. Passing adventurers and archaeologists in their own right, Cecil de Leominster and Baron Dietrich von Strepsil have decided to help the Rumpole Scholars in their dig.

Biscuit-Barrel, Lord Creosote and Araminta Creosote

Over drinks in the mess, it was agreed that Monty’s top two agents, one Henry Blofeld (an Old Etonian) and the other known only as Vaggers (a taciturn Yorkshireman), would accompany the advance column, first to Kashgar and then on to Djelibad to check that all was well with Ophelia and the dig. Snapcase had known Blowers at Eton and was happy to allow him on the mission.

Whilst much was known of Blowers locally, the arrival of the SIS agent Vaggers was shrouded in mystery. Rumour had it that he was an old seadog, a salty veteran of the Royal Navy. He certainly had the weather beaten appearance of an old matelot. Indeed, some said, even a colleague of Vice-Admiral Roger Keyes at the Admiralty. At the Consulate, ‘Windy’ Miller who knew about these things, opined that said Vaggers had landed from HMS Vindictive at Zeebrugge in ’18 and had suffered a rather nasty wound as a result. Whatever the truth of it, this gruff Yorkshireman was now indisputably SIS and along with his colleague Blowers, was all agog for the Jhamjarhistan mission. Unbeknownst to all but himself, Vaggers had an ulterior motive in visiting Lord Creosote’s dig. An old flame of his, the Honourable Bunty Hamster-Crust was taking part in the dig as one of the Rumpole Scholars.

Blowers, Vaggers and the Honourable Bunty Hamster-Crust

To be continued...

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Just then, a commotion arose outside the pleasant surroundings of the Officer’s Mess. “What the devil?” muttered Snapcase as he rushed outside to find the source of the unwanted interruption. In a huge cloud of dust, a battered 1912 Rolls Royce, festooned with canisters of water, petrol and assorted spare tyres pulled up with a screech of tortured brakes. From the driving seat arose a tall, thin racing snake of a man. Pushing his grime-smeared goggles up onto a dusty forehead, he advanced on Snappers, hand thrust forward in greeting. “My dear old thing, how d’ye do, D’Emfore’s the name, D. M. D’Emfore, lately of Wiltshire. Just popped over from blighty in the Roller. Only took two months to drive here. Any cricket on?” Snappers, not to be outdone by this sudden unexpected arrival uttered in a welcoming tone, “Dear boy, you must be parched after that drive? Allow me to sign you into the mess as my guest. A stiffening libation or two would be in order, would it not?”. “Throat like an Arabian desert, my dear old thing” replied the intrepid traveller, “everything now oojah-cum-spiff, push on, push on”.

D'Emfore's Rolls Royce

Over the aforementioned liquid refreshment, various facts about D. M. D’Emfore came to light. Whilst D’Emfore was making use of the Mess facilities, Snapcase hurriedly consulted the Mess copy of Wisden, concealed under a pile of ancient copies of Country Life and Punch. It transpired that D. M. D'Emfore was quite a hand in his day. A tricky left-arm leg spinner and a more than handy number five, he played for the Old Flatulents against Combined Services at Lords and emerged with a creditable 3 for 45 in the second innings and a bravura knock of 37 on a sticky dog to see the Flatulents home.

Summoning the Mess waiter for more of the alcoholic elixir Snapcase engaged D’Emfore in more conversation, revealing more of his journey. Apparently, his motor trip to India originally had two objects in view. He was planning to meet up with fellow Flatulent, the Nawab of Patuadi (no mean twirler himself) for the Nawab's annual round of rather excessive social gatherings, described by a decidedly sniffy lady missionary as "orgies to shame a Roman". Asked what he thought of the lady's comments, the Nawab replied that "he’d never been an adherent of the missionary position".

The second reason for the trip was as cricket correspondent of The Times with a brief to report on the state of the game in the Raj. “You’re in luck old stick, as regards the cricket and the Nawab. I myself am on a jolly to Djelibad via Kashgar. We pass through Patuadi en route. The Emir of Jhamjarhistan, Faqir Al Djelibeybi fields his own XI, the Djeli Gentlemen, having learnt to love the game when he attended Eton College. You must come along with us, we could field quite a creditable team from our motorised column. My adjutant, Bovvers is the devil with his full toss. Have you brought your pads?” and with that, the deal was sealed. D. M. D’Emfore slightly the worse for wear after a long drive and a bottle of gin was on his way to Djelibad.

D. M. D'Emfore

Meanwhile, at Madame Kharrsi’s Home for Distressed Gentlewomen, Captain Agnew was buttering up Captain Tufnell of the Royal Engineers. Aggers was paying for the drinks and Tuffers was quaffing as much champagne as he could, whilst the going was good. “Now look here, old man”, began Aggers “we are right in the how's your father here. Snappers has been ordered to proceed to Kashgar tout de suite using whatever bally motorised transport he can lay his hands on, with me so far, Tuffers?”. “Top hole, all received and logged in the old napper, Snappers is on a beano right up the Ranygazoo using the old bangers”. “That’s it in a nutshell, Tuffers”, replied Agnew, “and the thing is, engines are tricky blighters on the best of days. We need a performing troop of your oily-rag mechanics led by your good self to see us in clover, as it were”. “Ah, I see old horse, you may be in luck there, it just so happens that I have some drivers and mechanical types on loan from the crabs, just arrived off the old banana boat and raring to go, just need some more of the old throat oil to seal the deal, as it were”, offered Tufnell. “Take them with you and everything in the garden will be oojah-cum-spiff”.

Tuffers

Well, the Engineers Captain wasn’t wrong. He did indeed have some highly qualified bods in mind. The bods in question had arrived in Peshawar, somewhat bemused after their long journey. They were all members of the Women’s Royal Air Force and had not been expecting to be posted abroad, let alone to the dangerous environs of the North West Frontier. Upon their arrival, Tuffers had telegraphed back to blighty to see what the devil was going on. It transpired that some loathsome oik in the clerk’s office had made a typing error after a night on the tiles. The WRAF types were required at RAF Peshawar, an aerodrome in the vicinity of Walthamstow. The dozy oik had typed in Peshawar as the destination and here they were in British India. Tuffers had no idea what to do with them until Aggers had turned up out of the blue, looking for oily rags. Serendipity or what, he had thought.

The WRAF contingent arrive in Peshawar

To be continued...

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Der Zeppelin Korps

In the Zeppelin base at Cologne, matters seemed to be moving at a very rapid rate, indeed. LZ36 was making ready to take to the air. It was announced as a record-breaking flight to Persia for the general public. In actual fact LZ36 was to undertake a top secret mission to central Asia. The Gräfin von Zeppelin was one of the few people who knew the real purpose of the mission and she was currently engaged in embarking her clandestine corps of soldiers onto LZ36. This corps were known as Der Zeppelin Korps, formed in 1915 in secret by Helene (Hella) Amalie Gräfin von Brandenstein-Zeppelin (Gräfin von Zeppelin), daughter of the Zeppelin inventor, Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin.

Gräfin von Zeppelin

Troopers of Der Zeppelin Korps

Originally part of Die Fliegertruppen des Deutschen Kaiserreiches (Imperial German Flying Corps), abbreviated to Die Fliegertruppe. In 1916 the Kaiser gave permission for the Zeppelin Korps to break away from the Fliegertruppe and become a secret autonomous arm of the German military. Only the elite were selected for service in the Korps after a rigorous selection process. Details of their missions during World War I are scarce, as the Allies suppressed details of their raids behind Allied lines to avoid panic. It is thought that the Korps took part in the raid on Britain by LZ 36. This raid was intended to destroy British historical documents, including the copy of Magna Carta held in Balcoven Castle in Scotland. This raid was only defeated at the last minute by a British spy, Lieutenant Geoffrey Richter-Douglas.

Gräfin von Zeppelin and Lieutenant Geoffrey Richter-Douglas

LZ36 flies over Cologne Cathedral

Part of the troops embarking on LZ36 are the Geier Geschwader. Unknown to all outside Der Zeppelin Korps is an elite within the elite of the Korps. Known as the Geier Geschwader (Vulture Squadron), these daredevils are experimenting with parachutes as a means of attack rather than the traditional exit from a burning plane or balloon. Led by Rittmeister Rikard D’Astardly, the Vultures are all volunteers from the Korps. Consequently, they only number three members at present. In addition to the Rittmeister, there is the eccentric inventor, Hauptmann Herman von Klunk, the Squadron’s technical expert and Oberleutnant Albrecht Zilly who is somewhat of an enigma.

Zilly, D'Astardly and Klunk

To be continued...

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

I had these vehicles primed and ready to go, inspired by the Light Car Patrol before Empress brought out their extremely lovely inter-war Model T Fords (which I will be adding to this lot). I did manage to add some of the Empress crew to my vehicles.

Aggers, Johnners and Tuffers are putting together the motorised column for the arduous trip to Kashgar. Two drivers from the WRAF (Leading Aircraftwoman Honeysuckle Weeks and Aircraftwoman Perdita Weeks, sisters from Cardiff) contingent have already been allocated vehicles. D. M. D'Emfore's Rolls Royce has also been commandeered for the ride.

[Poiter50]

OK, who makes the figure of the Honourable Bunty Hamster-Cross?

Looks like this will be a cracker. Following.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

OK, who makes the figure of the Honourable Bunty Hamster-Cross?

Looks like this will be a cracker. Following.

Thanks, Bunty Hamster-Crust is from Pulp Figures.

[Poiter50]

Thank you, I'm glad you pointed her out, I hadn't noticed her before.

[Captain Blood]

Absolutely brilliant, you complete madman 
Wonderful storytelling and scene setting, and equally wonderful, cunning and creative curation of a quite amazing collection of different miniatures and models for your cast. Superb selections.
The Light Car Patrol as a sort of proto-LRDG is inspired. What a lovely set of vehicles and figures.

I think the French general with Lady Godiva is my favourite. Hilarious

[Poiter50]

French general with Lady Godiva? What, I missed her?!

quote author=Captain Blood link=topic=130009.msg1647642#msg1647642 date=1615021399]
I think the French general with Lady Godiva is my favourite. Hilarious
[/quote]

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Absolutely brilliant, you complete madman 
Wonderful storytelling and scene setting, and equally wonderful, cunning and creative curation of a quite amazing collection of different miniatures and models for your cast. Superb selections.
The Light Car Patrol as a sort of proto-LRDG is inspired. What a lovely set of vehicles and figures.

I think the French general with Lady Godiva is my favourite. Hilarious

Dear old thing, you are too kind. But many thanks for the comments, I'll stand you a Pink Gin in the Mess sometime!

Général de brigade Marcel le Coqsure and Lady Godiva are not fixed in the vehicle you'll be glad to hear. They do add a nice bit of colour and a certain je ne sais quoi though.

Plenty more to come...

[Mike Blake]

Excellent- love the approach. Keep posting please

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Excellent- love the approach. Keep posting please

Thanks, Mike, will do.

One thing I completely forgot to mention. Some of you are aware that I am the Official Curator of the SI Museum of Antiquities. Amongst the prized items in the museum are the Arid/Desert boards which will be used to represent Jhamjarhistan. Also the Afghans that came with it, painted by SI will be used as Basmachi.

[Mike Blake]

WOW! Fabulous, what a terrain to play on! SI?

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

WOW! Fabulous, what a terrain to play on! SI?

SI = Silent Invader, as he is known on this forum and a genius terrain maker!

Snapforce will be a mixed force of troops available to Kenwood-Chef at the time. This allows me to have all sorts of figures. Here are my Jats. I hasten to add that these are not my work but I cannot remember who I bought them from. Lovely painting, though.

2nd Bn/9th Jat Regiment, Mooltan Battalion

Some more of the dramatis personae.

Henry Calthorpe Blofeld, Frederick Marshman Bailey, James Bigglesworth, Lord Flashheart, Mikhail Markovich Gruzenberg aka Borodin, Bartholomew Wolfe Bandy, Monty Bottomley-Throppet and Ismail Enver Pasha

[Dr Bogo]

Absolutely astonishingly good write up, figures, vehicles and terrain!  I'm going to enjoy re-reading all of that!