First Foray into Back of Beyond - 1/4 Hampshires, 1918

[guitarheroandy]

This is my first time on this board, having been persuaded by a good gaming buddy of mine that we need to do a Back of Beyond project. He lent me the Peter Hopkirk 'Setting the East Ablaze' book, which, given I'd been fighting against the urge to paint a WW1 British force for Mesopotamia/Palestine for a while, finally pushed me over the edge! What a read!!

So, here are the 1/4 Hampshires. I'm loosely basing the Anglo-Indian portion of my force (for Setting the East Ablaze and/or Triumph & Tragedy rules) on the troops available to the Malleson Mission and there was one company of this regiment within that force.

These Copplestone miniatures are superb to paint (even though the molds are showing signs of wear and tear - nasty chunky flash deposits on some models) and I did them using my usual 'dip and highlight' technique which, for the uninitiated, involves  a mid-tone shade base-coat, Army Painter dip (brushed on), a matte-down with Testor's Dullcote, then highlighting with the original base coat colours plus a final lighter highlight. I've gotten this technique pretty much nailed now and it's perfect for this theatre of conflict given the preponderance of khakis, browns, greens, etc amongst the main protagonists. The only issue is that Copplestone's range is incomplete so sourcing Indian light machine guns, Indian cavalry and British artillery means dipping into other ranges, which are always smaller than the chunky Copplestones.

Anyway, I hope you like them. I'm pleased with the overall look, especially the shirts, the shade/colour of which is always tough (not too blue...) I also decided to add a final white highlight to the helmets even though that's probably totally 'wrong' - it makes them 'pop' a bit more for the table amongst the sea of khaki that the rest of the force will have, and that'll do for me!















Next on the painting table is a Muslim company of the 19th Punjabis...

[joekano]

Very well done!  BoB is a lot of fun (I play mostly Chinese) and I don't think you'll regret the decision to dive in.

[Mike Blake]

Very nice indeed. I have yet to add Brits - these will provide wonderful inspiration.

[marianas_gamer]

Nice start and welcome to the madness  It becomes an obsession.
Lon

[trev]

Those are really nice Andy.  I'm looking forward to see where this goes.

Maybe we need to do some BoB game days like we used to do for WAB.  That could be fun when we can all travel again. 

[Nogbad]

 Very nicely painted. Funny you should mention the flash on the figures. I bought some more of this range not long ago after a long break and some of them were awful in terms of casting. Hopefully they'll get the message and make some new moulds.

[SJWi]

Lovely figures.  If you liked "Setting the East Ablaze" I suggest you read Hopkirk's other books as well. "On Secret Service East of Constantinople" is also set in WW1 and is a cracking read. When I built my forces over 20 years ago I used Brigade Miniatures Indian cavalry , plus some from a now defunct range. I would look at Gripping Beast's "Woodbine Design" range of Gallipoli figures plus the superb Empress "Jazz Age Imperialism" for other models.

What rules do you plan to use for your gaming?

Regards   

[guitarheroandy]

Lovely figures.  If you liked "Setting the East Ablaze" I suggest you read Hopkirk's other books as well. "On Secret Service East of Constantinople" is also set in WW1 and is a cracking read. When I built my forces over 20 years ago I used Brigade Miniatures Indian cavalry , plus some from a now defunct range. I would look at Gripping Beast's "Woodbine Design" range of Gallipoli figures plus the superb Empress "Jazz Age Imperialism" for other models.

What rules do you plan to use for your gaming?

Regards

Setting the East Ablaze and/or Triumph & Tragedy. I've got some Woodbine Lewis gunners in my Indian companies (sourced from Woodbine British bodies with Indian heads) but they are so much smaller than the Copplestones - they look like malnourished peasants within the ranks! But it seems you do need those in there for StEA rules to give the Anglo-Indians the right level of firepower, so...

I'm going to source my British artillery from Empress...

@Trev: Yes! Brilliant idea! My mate Andy at our club is busy painting Bolsheviks as we speak and he'd be well up for that. We could even use our club venue as we've done a few WAB days there.  Andy and I have done a few participation colonial games at local(ish) shows and are planning a BoB one for 2022...hence getting started on the forces right now. 

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Lovely painting, they look superb.      

Great to see the Hampshire Tigers on here, my grandfather joined the 1/9th Bn. in 1916 and served with them until disbandment in 1919. I have a postcard he brought back from Ekaterinburg showing the Ipatiev House.

The 1/9th Hampshires were originally a Cyclists Battalion of the Territorial Army having recruited from Southampton; however soon after mobilisation they had got rid of their bicycles.

By the end of 1918, having spent most of the war in India, comprising of 32 officers and 945 other ranks, with the commanding officer Lt Col Robert Johnson, they were sent as reinforcements for the British in Russia. They arrived in Vladivostok on the 28th November in order to be equipped with the clothing necessary for a Russian winter.

They then left for Omsk in the middle of Siberia, to relieve the 25th Middlesex. The journey of over 4,000 miles in cattle trucks which had been roofed in and given a stove, took 23 days to reach Omsk, arriving on the 7th January 1919.

The Battalion stayed in Omsk all winter, with temperatures reaching -50º centigrade at times. During this 5 month stay, the War Office refused to allow Colonel Johnson to take his Battalion into action, hence one of Johnson’s main problems was keeping his men occupied. He introduced ice-hockey, held 3 dances a week for his men, and got them into amateur theatricals.

The Battalion was ordered to move to Ekaterinburg in the Urals, where it was essential in the formation of the Anglo-Russian Brigade, commanded by British officers but made up of Russian peasants.

Finally, the 1/9th were withdrawn from Ekaterinburg early in August 1919. Orders were received that they were to go to Vladivostok and from there would be transported home. The Battalion arrived back in Southampton December 5th 1919, with only 3 men having been wounded and one killed while in Russia.

My grandfather played the clarinet in the band. This photo shows the 1/9th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment leaving Vladivostok for Omsk, December 1918. Imperial War Museum image Q58344.

[trev]

@Trev: Yes! Brilliant idea! My mate Andy at our club is busy painting Bolsheviks as we speak and he'd be well up for that. We could even use our club venue as we've done a few WAB days there.  Andy and I have done a few participation colonial games at local(ish) shows and are planning a BoB one for 2022...hence getting started on the forces right now.

It should be easy enough to set up something once we can safely do so.  We have more space in our new site now.  I'm glad someone else is doing Bolos too.  I'm surrounded by reactionary counter-revolutionaries in Southend and that's just my in-laws. 

[SJWi]

All this talk of Late WW1 "Interventionism" and SCW ( on another thread) has inspired my to dig my Copplestone/other British, Bolshevik, Warlord Chinese and SCW Nationalist stuff out of "deep store" and dust-off "Triumph and Tragedy" and "A World Aflame". 

Do you recommend "Setting the East Ablaze"? I have v1 of the rules but there were some things I didn't like. Have never been inspired enough to buy v2 .     

[guitarheroandy]

Do you recommend "Setting the East Ablaze"? I have v1 of the rules but there were some things I didn't like. Have never been inspired enough to buy v2 .   

I've not played V2 yet and I never played V1. It looks good on a first read through, although in my experience that doesn't necessarily mean a lot when you actually start playing. It seems quite popular, which to me is a good sign.

[Ignatieff]

Those are superb! Well done fella.  Sorry to hear that the moulds on the Copplestones are beginning to go.  Hopefully they will renew them, for these are classic figures

[vodkafan]

Great work!  Got to love these Copplestone Brits, I have the same figures and Sikhs too.

[juergen c. olk]

Beautiful work.