WW1 in Palestine

[valleyboy]

Afternoon ladies and gents
Newbie here chasing some advice & currently looking to avoid pitfalls.
I'm a megalomanic 15mm Napoleonic gamer at heart but have started something of a new journey or venture here. I'm slowly trying to work my way through the huge amount of stuff on the board that you've all put together.

It sorted of started with "oh look shiny" when I bought some BH Australian Light Horse a few years back, I'm ashamed to say they aren't painted yet. Next impulse was the Gripping Beast or Woodbine Design figures that I bought at Salute 2009 and lugged back to NZ - I bought starter armies for British and Turks. I'm about to start on the Turks this afternoon.

I also  bought some Artizan Arab Irregular Cavalry recently after seeing pics on TMP and have finished them. Problem is that I don't really know where its going yet - I just have visions of Lawrence, some Arabs and Brits dealing to the pesky Turks and Germans in the long run with a few planes and the odd armoured car appearing here or there in the background. I know I'll have to sort some desert terrain and buildings, a railway etc (its all there somewhere in my imagination) but it will have to expand slowly

This week the $NZ is looking good against the GBP and so I'm a happy man and am going to start accumulating more figs. Where should I go from here? - a Turkish Expansion set from GB? and a few more Brits along with a handful or Arabs from Artizan? at what stage should I start getting artilllery?

Rules? not sure yet (I've got Mud and Blood by TFL) because its just a bit of a journey at the moment, I'm sort of dazzled I suppose  What would you experienced WW1 gamers suggest please - I'd be grateful for your thoughts

(oh and I should probably confess that I've got "oh look shinyitis" quite badly because at the same time I'm trying to do the same with medieval arabs and crusades! though that's a little more advanced
http://wdlovesme.19.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=5411&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=25 )

Many thanks
VB

[Dan]

Good to hear from another local  I have a Brigade and Copplestone Turk Army with some Artizan Arabs (converted) plus some Foundry Arabs. I have been thinking of getting an Anzac Army to oppose them.
We used to play Comtemptable Little Armies but my mates have either sold their figures or moved away.
I have not tried the GW rules yet but there seems to be a decent following for them here.

[harmonkeys]

Hope this might help:

For Palestine it's like this:
Brits:
1916-1918: ALH, British Yeomanry(Wartime Miniatures, Battle Honours, Brigade Games); British Regulars (Battle Honours, Brigade Games, Copplestone); in 1918 all Indian Army types would be okay (Copplestone, Battle Honours, Brigade Games, soon Woodbine Designs). NO ANZACs. Rolls Royce ACs & Ford Light Cars
Ottoman:
All Turkish miniatures currently available work for all Fronts; 1916: you can add Asienkorps MGs & Artillery (Battle Honours, Brigade Games), Arabs (Battle Honours, Artizan/ Brigade Games); 1917-1918 All Asienkorps are available (Battle Honours, Brigade Games)

For Arab revolt I would just stick with the Artizan/BG range adding maybe some Copplestone Gurkhas and some Indian Machine Guns (Battle Honours, Brigade Games, Copplestone). No British Regulars, no Indian troops,

Yours
Scott Pasha

[Hammers]

(oh and I should probably confess that I've got "oh look shinyitis" quite badly because at the same time I'm trying to do the same with medieval arabs and crusades! though that's a little more advanced
http://wdlovesme.19.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=5411&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=25 )

Glad to hear this I was recently bitten by this to, in particularly the Hospitallers. I saw your Saracens, which look very, very good, and I shall follow your work.

[Etranger]

VB! What are you doing here!!! 

Looks like you've got some good advice already.

[Grimnir]

NO ANZACs.

No Anzacs?
Who performed the last successful cavalry charge of the British Empire, if not the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade at Beersheva? 

The ANZAC Mounted Division and Australian Mounted Division were actually the core of the Desert Mounted Corps.

[Plynkes]

I think he meant no infantry, as the Light Horse were mentioned in the same paragraph. The point wasn't exactly clear, mind.

[harmonkeys]

I have no home internet so all posts are written and sent quickly on "coffee breaks" or "lunch breaks" thus the often nonsensical nature of their content.

Yes, I meant no Infantry; the ALH would be the perfect core force for Palestine from 1916 all the way through victory. Frankly, all my "favorite" battles in Palestine involved the ALH. As for me have tried to build a force that work equally well in Mesopotamia as Palestine, thus the absence of ALH.

The irony in all this is that my first purchases (and the first units painted) were ANZACs and Asienkorps which never ever faced each other. Thus my desire to help another avoid a similar mis-step. But you will see "ANZACs" in my Palestinian games! (I just don't call them that).

Well... break's over...
yours
Scott Pasha
http://scottpasha.blogspot.com/

[Dan]

I've been biting my tongue for a bit as I remember admiring the display in Aucklands Museum showing a NZ mounted horsemen in Eygypt.

The Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division was formed in Egypt in March 1916 from the four Australian and New Zealand mounted brigades assigned to ANZAC.

Just a quick google found this if its of any interest. http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/ww1/lt-horse/a_and_nz-mount.htm

I also remember reading a libraray book about the NZ campaign but darned if I can remember its title now.

[Plynkes]

This is quite a good site on the NZMR that has cropped up before, Dan...

http://www.nzmr.org/

[harmonkeys]

Just to defend myself a bit...
Of course I know about the ALH, NZMR etc. in the Mounted Division. What I had always thought (until now that is) is that when the ANZAC corps (what's the plural of Corps?) went to France in 1916 that the Mounted Division was attached to another command and thus, in my mind anyway, I have never thought of them as ANZAC nor have I ever seen them casually referred to as "ANZACs" in various Battle reports (unlike the infantry that went to France.) Not an expert, obviously, but the point was that figures that are sold as ANZACs are not appropriate for Palestine 1916+, no matter how attractive. Unless you just want to use them and then have at it...
yours
Scott "defensive" Pasha

[Plynkes]

The plural of corps is corps. They are like sheep in this regard. 

[Grimnir]

No need to defend yourself, Scott.
In fact the abbreviation ALH slipped pass my attention (Andorran Light Halberdiers? What are THEY doing here?). The tricky thing about "ANZAC" is that it turned from an abbreviation of a military formation into term of its own, that refers Australian & New Zealand soldiers in general (although its usually written as "Anzac" then).

Since mounted infantry usually fought dismounted (well, except for Beersheva) some infantry figures can be usable, too. However, that depends on the actual ruleset.

Almost off-topic: Does anybody know what the marker pennants of the NZMR looked like. I have found information for the ALH (http://www.lancers.org.au/site/light_horse.asp) but nothing for the NZMR.   

[Dan]

This is quite a good site on the NZMR that has cropped up before, Dan...

http://www.nzmr.org/

Thanks thats a useful little site .
Looks like I'm going the Palestine route now rather than Gallipoli that I had planned for.
Dont worry Scott , we are just teasing.

[valleyboy]

VB! What are you doing here!!! 

Looks like you've got some good advice already.

It was a post by your goodself that led me here
I thought you might prefer to pretend you didn't know me though ET