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Author Topic: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign  (Read 95927 times)

Offline Umra Khan

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #615 on: May 23, 2022, 01:18:07 PM »
Postcards from The Frontier


Offline Umra Khan

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  • Posts: 305
Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #616 on: May 26, 2022, 11:48:40 AM »
The Haji

I'm back from my  Haji ,



it was a special pilgrimage.... I've been in a windy city on a  coast in front of an huge sweet  sea .



Was a challenging journey in the Sacred Lands where everything was born!
On this journey I have purified myself from the impurities of a changing world.
I drank from the Sacred Fountain of Truth




 and I heard the poet sing:

“Walk wide o' the Widow at Windsor,
For 'alf o' Creation she owns:
We 'ave bought 'er the same with the sword an' the flame,
An' we've salted it down with our bones.”




In my trip I met 3 dancers ..ooops pilgrims and I thought of bringing them here to Mogala and hosting them in my palace.

In my purifying rite I put on the garments of Heaven…and now I am here my soldiers ready to lead you against the heretical enemy,

So be it written ,  So be done!




Note : Umra Khan foot and mounted and the 3 dancing girls painted by Sergio Franchi !
« Last Edit: May 26, 2022, 12:17:52 PM by Umra Khan »

Offline giorgio

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  • Posts: 356
Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #617 on: May 27, 2022, 05:03:55 PM »
POEMS FROM THE FRONTIER
On June 4th this topic will have its first birthday and I declare officially open the celebration week. Furthermore, for celebrating the first anniversary, which in one year has surpassed 600 posts and 37k views, Peshawar Tribune has released a new book of poems collecting all the masterpieces released during this long and bloody year: Poems from the Frontier, hereafter some examples of the included works.
But before let me thanks the group of great friends  who allowed all this, in order of joining the topic: Umra khan, Mad Guru, JBaumal, Cpt Shanks, Rhingyll and, last but not least, all the viewers that gave some encouraging posts in the topic or…simply thought about doing it.
Let me close with the words taken from an old Punjabi poem I always teach to my Waziris “working” on the Frontier:
Har Yaar Ko Raaz Mat Batao,
Yaaro Ke Bhi Yaar Hote Hain

That is:
Don't tell every friend a secret,
Friends also have friends…
in other words: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier"


THE CARAVANSERAI
who dismays doughed horses who kneeling camels,
who loads and unloads bales and bassokes,
who draws water for the evening meal,
who pays for camels and who hires new servants,
who screams, discusses, sells and bargains....
and in the midst of all this confusion prowls the poor desperate Wazir, telling everyone that he was a powerful khan and asking for his stories
in exchange for little food and a sip of water. "

reinterpretation of a RK poem in a sad story , enclosed in the book " The Wazir and his missed Mules" available in every decent bookstore in Wana and Miranshah.



Battle of Bannu Miran shah rd
In the rattle of the battle
In the fog of fusillade
There are Gurkhas’ kukris,
Ready for Afridis to kiss
And stalwart fiercely stand,
Rifle on shoulder and kukri in hand
And when the battles over
No fear if ther’s no cover
You forget those bloody miles
And those gentle Gurkha smiles.
You can thank your Gods, even Kali
And shout 'Ayo Gurkhali! '
Death to Khans Bahadur and Wali
Jai Mahakali, Ayo Gurkhali'

'Johnny Gurkha' Poem by R.Winkle (which inspired Res John Burman’s one)

The old Havildar
Beneath an ancient bodhi-tree,
Fast by the Kabul's tide,
In silent thought sat Paramjit Singh,
A Khalsa havildar of the Queen;
He mused on things now done and past,
For he had reached his home at last,
His empty sleeve his pride.
Ten years before a  Ludhiana lout,
beneath the self same tree,
He met an officer on a horse with creamy mare,
who’d come with honeyed words
and the intriguing beat of drum,
Cajoling all who glory sought,
and telling how the regiments fought
The Waziri and the Afridi clans
With shouts of victory.
WaheGuru Ji ! Rang in his ears,
(https://i.postimg.cc/LXz8DV1s/Officer.jpg)
The famous battlecry  of war
And since those day Paramjit, getting higher rank
On Punjabi plains, from Peshawar
To fierce Bannu and mighty Tank
‘Mid festering bogs and scenery of hell
Now I’m havildar he said and I learnt
How Khalsa soldiers died and fell.
And a sorrow grim fades his sight
But all they witness how Khalsa can fight
And he knows his village brothers have seen
He got a medal with the name of the Queen!
And now he rides a creamy mare horse
And cajols in the villages with honeyed words “of course
No one got more glory than Khalsa force!”

The famous Winkie’s poem inspired the work by General Sir James Wilcox


You’re A Better Man Than I Am, Dirka Grimm
“Pack up your money pull up your tent Sgt Crood,
Dirka Grim's bugle call goes over rocks and wood,
Truly he is a better man that we had understood!”

From “Peshawar barracks ballads” by Reginald Winkie
 



the Guides Squadron charge
half a league, half a league, half a league onward rode Fully leading his Guides....
Pathans to right of them, Pathans to left of them, Pathans in front of them, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell. Rode Fully’s Guides
Flashed all their sabres bare, Flashed as they turned in air,
Sabring the pathans there, Charging many tribes, while All the world wondered.
Plunged in the dusty-smoke, Right through the line they broke;
Afridis and Orakzai, Reeled from the sabre stroke, Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not. Not the Fully’s Guides!
When can their glory fade? Oh the wild charge they made! All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made! Honour the Fully’s Guides, Noble Squadron!

 

JAI HO SINGH’S RIDE

by Reginald Winkie

(with apologies to Henry Wodsworth Longfellow)

LISTEN, my children, as to you I sing
Of the three day ride of Jai Ho Singh,
On the fifth of August in eighteen-nine-oh:
Hardly a man is still on the go
Who remembers that event occurring.
 
He said to his sister, Maryam,
“If the Iron Amir has conveyed
Breechloaders to the Yusufzais, as you say
Then I must ride to the sahibs and spread the alarm,
Before the Tribesmen strike with those modern arms!”
 
Then he climbed on his horse and said farewell
To his beloved Habibi, with whom he did dwell.
His comrade-in-arms wished him Godspeed,
He hoped & prayed Jai Ho would succeed,
And return home alive, a living monument to Khalsa pride.
 
For three days on rode Jai Ho Singh,
While Jezails and Sniders took shots at him,
A wound he sustained, yet he stayed on his game--
Then from one jagged cliff a Ghazi charged,
Attempting from his saddle Jai Ho to dislodge,
“Allah Akbar!” the Ghazi cried as he raised his Tulwar over his head,
But Jai Ho thrust his saber up and his own eyes saw red,
And before the Tulwar could strike, that Ghazi fell dead.
 
Jai Ho Singh rode on, under cliff and over hill,
Still bleeding from the Jezail bullet wound, until--
A kindly Mussulmaan took pity on him,
And gave Singh thirst-quenching water to regain his trim,
And on August the 8th, at long last,
Jai Ho Singh reached the Malakand Pass!
 
Then thanks to that same uniform which drew so many foes,
The picquets of 9th Gurkhas waved for him onwards to go,
To the Dargai Cantonments of Peshawar Field Force,
Where with little ado he made his report,
Concerning news from the Iron Amir's court,
Of trading rifles for a prisoner he could use to extort,
To which Brigadier Stewart Ruff-Husband did retort:
“Jemadar Jai Ho Singh, 2nd Punjab Cavalry, Piffers, Retired…
I salute you—truly you are the Khalsa’s pride!”
A report that shall echo on into time!
For borne on the hot-wind of the Past,
From the dawn of the Raj, until the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
Sepoys and sowars, both active and retire-eed,
Shall accomplish their mission, on foot or by steed,
No matter the odds, no matter how slim,
They will get the job done--like Jai Ho Singh.

THE UNPALPABLE JEZAILS
(https://i.postimg.cc/V6bWWtQ9/SS-Tower.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/NFcm8PxY/TT-mullahs.jpg)
When I wasn’t in the need of jezails I had arsenals.
When I need jezails they were converted to unpalpables.
Punjab Your eyes are beautiful and
You have also beautiful hair…
Beneath the blanket of the stars
In the company of the moon
On the riverbank two mullahs
By the side of water’s boon
In a pavilion covered by flowers
Sat immersed in Rule consultation
They speak about Khans powers
And the outcome of their divination

From “Peshawar barracks ballads” by Reginald Winkie

The deaf mule ballad
During the march of the column 
you can hear the sounds of water bottles
and mess tins slamming ...and persevering song
of the Gordon highlanders bagpipes playing  their Cock of the North…
"Auntie Mary had a canary
Up the leg of her drawers;
She was sleeping, it was creeping,
Up the leg of her drawers"
With its best foot first
And the road a-sliding past,
An' every bloomin' campin'-ground exactly like the last;
While the Big Drum says,
With 'is "rowdy-dowdy-dow!" --
"Kiko kissywarsti don't you hamsher argy jow?
(Why don't you get on?)”...

Poems from "the deaf  Mule Ballad " by Reginald Winkie
The spied column from Bannu
Stump stump
The cadenced steps of the Northumberlands
Donk donk
The slow hoofs of the mules in the lands
Ding ding
The tin of the canteens
Scrubble scrubble
The rifles straps over the shoulders
Hiss hiss
the silence of the stool pigeon
gogogo soldiers of the Queen’s
behind the hills
an hidden enemy ‘ve seen
and soon you learn
Pashtun’s aiming skills
for your concern.
Last night you had some meat,
and a pint of beer as well
Which you enjoyed as a great feat,
as many a man could tell.
And then you to your tents went,
and taking off your boots,
Each of you the drinks repent
and thinks to tomorrow shoots
But today it will be a different story
And for many of you the last glory
Snip snip
The bullets for an end so gory!.

From “Peshawar barracks ballads” by Reginald Winkie


the North and the South


They have ridden the low moon out of the sky, their hoofs drum up the spines,
The dun they went like wounded bulls, but the lances like new-roused porcupines.
But there is neither civilized nor savage, frontier, breed, weapon, birth,   
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth,
A life is lost, a common language spoke; only your honor between famine and dearth,
Only your value when the bitter alternative should be worse than your death!

by R.Winkie in the “Peshwar barrack ballad”


Major Rawson’s quest ballad
(https://i.postimg.cc/hjLX7HB7/Lancers-2.jpg)
Run Run All brigades are already busy, who will go?
Run Run “I shall be the man” said Major Rowson
Run Run “and my squadron will say so:
We are the Hodson’s Horse
And success will come of course!”
Run run blue jackets still wet of paint
Run run  no trick  no faint”
 


“Major Rowson in your hands I put the RAJ destiny”
“And I won’t fail for the Queen and the Hodson’s honor!”
Run run towards Khyber pass…
 


Run Run …and far away!
 
(https://i.postimg.cc/gcqnNF6M/Lancers-5.jpg)
Run run towards the Mohmands lands!
Will Major Rowson succeed intercepting Zibbib before he meets the Tsarists?
 



Over the hill and far away to Queen Victoria we all obey



From R.Winkie “Ballads from Peshawar Barracks”

O'er the hills and  the Yusufzais,
Through Wazirs, Afridis and Orazkais,
Queen Victoria commands and we obey,
Over the hills and far away.
 
If I should fall to rise no more,
As many comrades did before,
This Indian song you have to play,
Over the hills and far away.


Mullah Powinda “the goat”

Beneath vague voices and the feeble din,
Strangely as if through a shield,
Through the khattak dancers in a row
One sees the towering old mullah.

A welcoming voice, a direct look,
With eyebrows, grizzled and curved,
Of nothing in particular he spoke
And to you said no more than he should.

Among the tribesmen and the khans
Amid the day’s whirlwind,
It seems that they’d forgotten
His past dramatic legend.

They forgot the day of anguish,
The night of cries: “To arms.”
The disheartening salt-marshes,
The camels’ measured tread;

Forgot the margins of shifting sand
Where a bad-luck company dragged;
Forgot Maiwand and Jandola carnage,
Tochi Valley fallen to the Ferenghee’s flag.

Forgotten? — No! Each time it occurs
That some attention-grabbing incident
Dims the spark of his peaceful eyes,
Refreshing them with old events.

“What is with you?” — “My foot aches.” —
“Gout?” — “No, an old jezail wound.”
Suddenly provoked, he awakes
And breaks the tedium of the Punjabi sun.

And he told me that none of those
Among all of the veterans,
In lines with up raised tulwars
Or in rows of resting on the ground,

Could force him out of the shabby bed,
Clever, foxy and corpulent,
As his heart repeatedly agonized
Over memories of mishaps past.

But a new Rule is moving his world,
And he wakes up from his deserved rest,
Grabs his jezail and embraces the jihad,
‘Cause the True Ruler claims his life.

Among the rocks
Jumping and landing
He forgets the pain in the foot
No gout he told…just goat!!!

R.Winkie from “Peshawar barracks ballads” which inspired Gumilev’s famous poem

Colonel Fullerton in Spinwam

All hearts break, that it’s raining death
Today in Thal, heroes’ blood is being shed
The khaki uniform will be our coffin
Soldiers, come home – the fresh wildflowers have wilted and died
Pasthun have become wolves, humanity no longer exists
Murder’s a common occurrence and no one hear your noise
The flower has turned into ashes, every sound means a shot
Look at that Colonel over there; he’ll yearn eternally for his boys
Mighty Fully, we crave Your mercy, here You’re Rahim and you’re Rahman,
Today you’re Alfa and you’re Omega, we crave your Mercy or a pint of beer.
But we never see rain of mercy here, only rain of death by any Afghan
Whether in Thal or Spinwam, or Ali Mirali Mir
They are content with discord, They are content with blood,
They will never be content with a ferenghee khan.
Angel of death’s veil is coated over lives all around
Freedom from the Forbidden, a ray of light
Help one another, soldiers, else life doesn’t sound;
Help one another and follow your Colonel to the fight!




The ballad of Gurjas “stonesangar” Khan  and Captain Marmaduke “Tiffin” Gonnester

Gurjas Khan was a warrior bold:
His tulwar and his rifle were bossed with gold,
He shot at Gurkhas and he scared Mackenzies
From ground behind rocks they shouted like frenzies:
While over the Punjab the warriors cried,
"The hero fights for his countryside!"
But little they cared for their own stress,
The worn white soldiers in rifle green dress
They cursed their luck, as the Gurkhas will,
But gave him credit for cunning and skill!)



« Last Edit: May 27, 2022, 05:57:14 PM by giorgio »

Offline giorgio

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #618 on: May 28, 2022, 06:23:55 AM »
1st Bombay mountain artillery ballad

The second day of celebration week is dedicated to the mountain artillery heroes, and from the new Winkie’s book we have chosen few lines dedicated to the heroes of Ghuam Khan Kalay (for the battle details see following link in this topic: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=131610.450:

“… An happy, melodic, rhythming tune is song in the valley by the bold artillerymen of the 1st Bombay mountain artillery:
 For you all love the screw-guns — the screw-guns they all love you!
So when we call round with a few guns, o’ course you will know what to do.
Jest send in Powanda an’ surrender — it’s worse if you fights or you runs:
You can go where you please, you can skid up the trees, but you don’t get away from the guns.

“Tenant tenant” the halvidar shouted running “Sir many pathans are behind those hills aiming at our mules”

“Well they will enjoy the knowledge of our lead, Havildar be ready to repulse the attack and let us gain time to be rescued” answer the Tenant while his nerves started to collapse after fighting with his mind generously helped by a robust liquor to pass the hours of this interminable journey. But he feels a presence, an oppression on his breast cutting the breath, as an evil curse, a prophecy of dead…

“The mountain gunners’ boast is that we can go anywhere, where a man and a mule could put a foot.we have  kept  up a steady clip of up to four and a half mile per hour, mile after mile and day after day and now we are here unexpected to keep this area under strict control.”
For Lt Wootsy it was a remarkable sight to see a good mountain battery coming into ‘crash’ action. What would appear to the uninitiated eye to be a disorderly assembly of mules and soldiers would suddenly stream into position, there would be a brief pause with much exertion and the heaving of lumps of metal and in a minute or two, the animals would be led off at a run leaving six or four sturdy guns with their detachments kneeling smartly round them... ”

« Last Edit: May 28, 2022, 08:35:02 AM by giorgio »

Offline giorgio

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #619 on: May 29, 2022, 06:40:37 AM »
Punjabi Bonny Dundee Ballad




Today it is the third day of celebration week and if yesterday was the mountain artillery day, today it is dedicated to noble horses of Raj in a poem who inspired R.Kypling himself and that allow us to deploy all 6 cavalry units defending Bannu, plus some well-known mounted friends!
The regiments represented in this post and that appeared in the topic in past year are:
Guides (including col. Fullerton) at Mir Ali, Hodson Horse 9th at Ghuam Khan Kalay under heroic Lt Wootsy, Poona Horse with Maj Stockfish after Fullerton triumphal charges at Mir Ali, 22nd Punjabi Sam Browne’s with Maj Vousden galloping towards Gumatti, Hodson Horse 10th at Masri Khel with Capt Marmaduke Stonewash, and the last unit just painted: 1st Skinners, the terrible yellow boys (or yellow devils according which side of the charge you stand) leaded by cpt Rootsy under the supervision by political officer Col Nicholson.



By the brand on my withers, the tune of neighbor   
It is played by the Raj Lancer, Guide, and Saber,   
And it’s sweeter than “Hay Bale” or “Water” to me,   
The Cavalry Canter of “Bonnie Dundee!”
   
 
   
Then advance and charge and handle and groom,           15
And give us good riders and plenty of room,   
And launch us in column of squadron and see   
The way of war-horses to “Bonnie Dundee!



I’ll open the Gates, and let you go free,
Bring you over the pass, over that tower,
Over the river, release all your power
And show us the way to Bonnie Dundee.



   



And all 6 units together in the final Parade, the rainbow parade, blue the 9th, khaki the 10th, green the Poona, yellow the skinners, red the 22nd, khaki the guides!



« Last Edit: May 29, 2022, 07:44:13 AM by giorgio »

Offline giorgio

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #620 on: May 29, 2022, 07:43:36 AM »
The Great Cavalry Parade

Pesh Trib Sunday illustrated insert:












« Last Edit: May 29, 2022, 07:50:55 AM by giorgio »

Offline Belgian

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #621 on: May 29, 2022, 06:35:56 PM »
Most excellent, quite a magnificient cavalry parade.

Great work although some better pictures might even better show them off.
Wargame News and Terrain Blog, daily updated with the latest wargame news

Interested click https://wargameterrain.blogspot.com/

Offline giorgio

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #622 on: May 30, 2022, 06:43:40 AM »
Thank you Belgian (Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae, all of these the strongest are Belgians :o)  thanks for encouraging. Pictures, I know, are my problem (well, one of my problems... ;)) and in the second year of the topic (yes it is confirmed you will suffer it another year) I will work to improve pictures quality. No opportunities lacking: two great battles are going to be fought: Powinda's waziri ambush to Col Nicholson column and in Gumatti Vousden's Sikhs will try to break Afridi's resistance. Hope you will enjoy them both!

But today the Pesh Trib Parade issue is dedicated to my five Gurkha (2) and Sikhs (3) units and the poem from Winkie’s manuscript is “the flashes of the khukri” which later inspired the poem by Satis Shroff).
My army includes 2 Ghurka units (3rd and 5th regiments)

 


And two famous characters: Cpt Tiffin and Havildar Fish


and 3 Sikh units (14th Ferezepore, 15th Ludhiana, 34th Pioneer)
15th Sikh Ludhiana


14th Sikh Ferozepore


 34th Sikh Pioneers

 

THE FLASHES OF THE KHUKRI


The bonfire throws shadows on the bushes,
In a clearing below the Peshawar hills.
The sun has gone down, stars are flashes,
The campfires are prepared with skills
And Jhonny Ghurka unsheaths his khukri.
He walks warily around the fires,
Dances as though the Devil
Has taken possession and expires;
As he slashes unseen evil,
With his trusted khukri.
The silvery metal flashes
Above his turban,
In fierce imaginary clashes.
Moving in circles like a shaman,
Slicing the thin air with his khukri.
He lets out a blood-curdling cries:
Like generations of Johnny Gurkha
Have done before he tries.
The Gurkha seems to work a
secret spell 'Ayo Gurkhali!' with his khukri.
The rhythm slows its influence
And the soldier hears
To his inner silence.
And he shows no fears
Rising uo and down his khukri.

As he cuts himself purposely, as a glorious wreath
To still his khukri and Mahakali’s blood thirst,
And slips the blade in the sheath
And offers to Kali his blood at first
Among the flashes of the khukri

 

Offline Belgian

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #623 on: May 30, 2022, 05:33:19 PM »
Very cool, quite a collection you have there!

Offline giorgio

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #624 on: May 31, 2022, 06:46:19 AM »
Highlanders

The celebration week goes on and today the Pesh Trib Parade issue is dedicated to my two Highlander units: Seaforth and Gordon, but listen, while you read the issue it seems you are listening a well known tune.
Sure, “Cock o’ the North” is resounding in the valleys, what else? And hear, they come crying the Gordon motto “Bydand!”!







Old Fully had a canary
Whistled the Cock o’ the North
It whistled for oors
And frightened the Pathans
And won the Victoria Cross.


And few pictures of 2nd battalion Seaforth Highlanders, with LT Richard Mac Burnes,  the …idiot Afridi’s hero of Surani (see the battle prologue at following link:  https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=131610.480 and battle AAR at https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=131610.495)





Cuidich 'n Righ, Help the king!

Offline giorgio

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #625 on: June 01, 2022, 06:24:37 AM »
Indian troops

The celebration today involves Indian troops parade: 4 units covering different area of the subcontinent: 26th Baluchi, Khyber Rifles, the famous Guides and Bombay Grenadiers.
This time no links because you can find their heroic fights at each and every page of the topic:

 







Mr Winkie has written another masterpiece dedicated to RAJ heroes, perhaps not enough patriotic for the Empire, but that is the personal interpretation of our poet, Pesh Trib doesn’t take any endorsement for it and takes no responsibilities. The poem will inspire artists like Jigyarth Joshi and others and is published in “Poems from the Frontier” available with a little extra payment for subscribers.

If I die
If I die in a Pashtun zone,
box me up and send my Home,
Put my medals on my chest,
And Tell my village I did my best,
If I return late this time,
Please Havildar forgive this time...
If I don't win any fight,
still Subedar forgive this time...
Don't tell my friends to wait there,
 I may not come along this time...
Oh friends don't cry so loud, I may not help much this time...
Let Jai Hind be my last Quote, long live Empire every time...
And tell my love not to cry,
Because I'm a soldier, born to die!
I don’t get enough sleep most nights.
I don’t know the next time i will see my family.
And I have no more family waiting for me.
I don’t know when i will go home.
And I have no more home to return to.
I don’t know much really, but one thing..
I have hundreds brothers out there,
And they make it all worth it.



Offline Umra Khan

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #626 on: June 01, 2022, 07:05:31 AM »
Beautiful poem oh great evil King

Offline Umra Khan

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Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #627 on: June 01, 2022, 09:24:34 AM »
A man from the novel

Mahbub Ali is a famous horse trader known very well on the Frontier, all people in the caravanserais narrate his deeds and the beauty of his horses.

But Mahbub Ali has always hidden his secret, he is an agent of the British Government;
after protecting the young Kim and rejecting an attempt of  Russian infiltration on the Dolo pass,
his traces had been lost for some years, and stories were circulating about him... who claimed to have seen him  in the markets of Samarkand, who at the head of a caravan walking the passes  of the Hindu Kush…who saw him in Kandia killed by Kohistani’s brigands..

But where is the truth ?  remember…Never trust anyone on the Frontier !

Mahbub Ali abandoned its horse trade and beautiful women and he  is actually searching for a mighty cache ….the treasure of Sikander Khan!  he’s actually in the north of India …in the Kanjuts river area, wandering among passes, ravines, and rushing rivers…







His story soon on LAF

Note: miniature assembled and painted by Sergio Franchi , based on an idea of Neill aka Dining Room Battles.

Offline giorgio

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  • Posts: 356
Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #628 on: June 02, 2022, 09:02:03 AM »
English Units


The celebration week goes on with 4 solid stunning British units, the core of my army, all in khaki:
‘Khaki’ may derive from a Persian word for dust, and dust was the inspiration for its first use. In the hills of Afghanistan the British found that their traditional scarlet uniforms made them easy targets for their tribal opponents. Bright scarlet had worked in earlier centuries when armies were meant to impress and intimidate, but the 19th century was witnessing a fundamental shift in warfare.
Afridi legends say that originally I had painted all my units in red-scarlet but after painting I mistakenly dyed their uniforms with tea, which is by the way a great mistake given the expense of tea, so, for my friends who know me, very unlikely indeed…
I didn’t repeat the process for my cavalry and that is why you could enjoye the rainbow parade few days ago.

2nd Northumberland  Cpt Arnold Cultoop at Masri Khel



Thal siege  Lt Hatton
67th South Hampshire

The last stand of LT Hatton KIA
 
What a pity, he had all the virtues for a shining career, included the right friendships and protections.
 
This picture is the artist’s fantasy interpretation, on specific input by Reginald Winkie, to have a more dramatic picture to include in his article on Peshawar Tribune. Actually, LT Hatton fell at the head of his men repulsing the attack by Jamas Zsada’s Zhaka Khel Afridis. As was written in another poem by our Winkie: “many thousand pounds education frustrated by few sharp cheap tulwars”.

60th KRRC



14th East Yorkshire   LT Dawes at Mir Ali



The British infantry parade is welcomed with a Kipling’s masterpiece of his. Probably inspired by some Winkle’s poems, but this time even the Evil King refuses to pollute the deep feelings that this poem can still generate, with any change: lest we forget!

Rudyard Kipling, ‘Recessional’.

God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle-line,
Beneath whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Offline Umra Khan

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 305
Re: "Never trust anyone on the Frontier" an ...epic NWF Campaign
« Reply #629 on: June 03, 2022, 11:16:06 AM »
Postcards from the Frontier



 

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