Trouble in Waziristan

[Hammers]

I am sure you've heard of it. Perhaps not the current insurrection but one of the many, many, many previous occasions. Some of you know that I have a NWF project set in 192? Waziristan. The thing is that I am the sort of historical gamer who dislike gaming wars in which people are still dying. Don't ask me why, I just do. This latest set of images of refugee camps and civilians blown to bits certainly punctures some of the oomph of the project (hope that doesn't come across as crass)

[commissarmoody]

so do you have any pics or info on your current project then?

[Hammers]

A few scattered all over the LAF. Rope Bridge WIP, Wazir chieftains, basic board material tests, a lot of the India army punitive expedition was entered in LPL2. I have no thread or external web page, I am afraid. Time hasn't allowed.

[commissarmoody]

its kool, we all have to start some were right, at lest you have stuff posted 

[Plynkes]

I have a NWF project set in 192? Waziristan.

No you don't. Technically Waziristan lies outside of North West Frontier Province.
Sorry, Peder, I'm just dicking with you for the fun of it.   


I had a look at the LPL Season Two page but couldn't find any of your work. I don't suppose you could post them again at some point if you get the time, could you? I must confess I don't recall them, and I would really like to see 'em.

[Will Bailie]

Part of my daily briefing here includes a summary of conflict-related casualties from the past 24 hours (both wounded and dead), the majority of whom are civilians.  While I'm quite happy to play around with toy soldiers from 1880 or so, I could not bring myself to game the current conflict.  It would be just too depressing to paint all the civilian casualty markers needed.

Yes, I know that there were civilian casualties back then, too, but one of the most depressing things about warfare during the twentieth century is the trend where civilian victims of conflict went from about a tenth of all casualties to nine-tenths of the casualties (numbers vary from conflict to conflict - here in Afghanistan for example, there are only about two civilians killed for every soldier/policeman/talib or whoever).

So, I am with Hammers on this one. 

[Hammers]

No you don't. Technically Waziristan lies outside of North West Frontier Province.
Sorry, Peder, I'm just dicking with you for the fun of it.   


I had a look at the LPL Season Two page but couldn't find any of your work. I don't suppose you could post them again at some point if you get the time, could you? I must confess I don't recall them, and I would really like to see 'em.

Perhaps we should, between ourselves redraw the Durant line? We could start our own little private war about what the NWF vs. NWFP etc. is. I fear, however, that the market for further NWF conflicts is quite saturated.^{Hammers BanterTM} Anyway, plenty of Wazirs in NWF, or so my referense literature says. Right bastards, according to both British and Pashtun sources.

As for the 13th Gurkha regiment (Duke of Nutherland's Own), well you got me there to. They were posted #10, S1...



Unfortunately I took no closeups. I should. It is rather crowded and the camera is too far of to see the paint job. I am quite happy with a few of them, like the Gurkha scouts, for example (upper right, on ledge).

[Captain Blood]

Everyone from Alexander the Great onwards has had trouble in South Waziristan. It's that kind of place.

I'm with you on not wargaming conflicts in which people are still dying - personally, I find games set in current-day Iraq or Afghanistan bordering on the distasteful, although I appreciate not everyone shares these scruples. It's personal choice.

But I don't think you should worry about wargaming the NW Frontier in the late 19th or early 20th Century on the basis of what's happening on the same ground right now. Your gaming, painting and modelling represents a semi-mythic and romanticised world of 'adventure' - like almost all the genres here on LAF. That - to my mind anyway - is very different from trying to recreate in miniature what's actually happening for real right now, in which our contemporaries are dying on an almost daily basis.

[Hammers]

Part of my daily briefing here includes a summary of conflict-related casualties from the past 24 hours (both wounded and dead), the majority of whom are civilians.  While I'm quite happy to play around with toy soldiers from 1880 or so, I could not bring myself to game the current conflict.  It would be just too depressing to paint all the civilian casualty markers needed.

Yes, I know that there were civilian casualties back then, too, but one of the most depressing things about warfare during the twentieth century is the trend where civilian victims of conflict went from about a tenth of all casualties to nine-tenths of the casualties (numbers vary from conflict to conflict - here in Afghanistan for example, there are only about two civilians killed for every soldier/policeman/talib or whoever).

So, I am with Hammers on this one. 

I hope you get some kind of relief from that kind of job, Will. It sounds rather depressing. It is exactly this kind of thing which makes me need the padding of decades before I can stamp them as adventure.

[Will Bailie]

Thanks for the kind words, Hammershield, but don't worry about me.  My job is great - I love working with the Pashtuns, they are lovely, generous people, friendly and outgoing.  I can't walk anywhere without getting a dozen invitations to drink chai (which is a glass of sugar with a bit of green tea added, not some milky, spiced concoction from Starbucks). Paradoxically, the nicest, friendliest and hardest working guys are the ones with the smallest paychecks.  I get to see the results of my work every day - I am helping to upgrade a hospital, and I can see definite improvements over my time here.

I re-read Kim after arriving here.  Kipling's portrayal of Mahbub Ali is right on the money!  And as for relief, I have taken R&R breaks in Delhi and Nepal so far, and am hopeful to see Herat, Samarkand and Bokhara before my mission is over.  I promise to take lots of photos if I get there!

W

[Captain Blood]

Paradoxically, the nicest, friendliest and hardest working guys are the ones with the smallest paychecks. 

Hey - that's the same where I work 

Good on you Will. I spent a few days in Delhi last year... It's quite an experience, so goodness knows what Afghanistan must be like...

[oxiana]

Will - I hope you get to Herat - my favourite city in Afghanistan. The old city, the gorgeous Friday Mosque, and the Citadel, which stands on foundations dating back to Alexander's the Great's day - even better since it opened to visitors a couple of years ago, so you can actually climb the ramparts for the views. It's also very Persian feeling compared to where you are.

Enjoy pomegranate season in Kandahar - the best in the world!

[Overlord]

I spent a few days in Delhi last year... It's quite an experience

Outsourcing painting Cap'n?   

[Captain Blood]

Outsourcing painting Cap'n?   

Heh Heh... Now that's an idea...

[commissarmoody]

I agree Hammer and Will Bailie, i do 1880s NWF but find it wrong to game the current conflect mostly becase I have buddies who are still over there. North of the border that is .
It is vary pretty country out there. nice pic by the way