Bhistis

I had thought to title this post 'Bhisti Boys', playing on the name of the Beastie Boys band, but then realised that calling these bhistis 'boys' might be taken out of context.  Anyway, bhistis or water carriers are and have been for generations very important figures in South Asia.  These figures come from Empress Miniatures' (Iron Duke) Indian Mutiny collection, but in my games might end up supporting my Indian Army in Afghanistan in 1880, or with the Jhamjar army in 1920.

We're putting the band back together

There's a scene in the 2008 Russian Civil War movie "Admiral", about White Russian leader Admiral Kolchak, when the White Army charges into battle led by their band.  (the movie was released in 2008, the Russian Civil War was from 1917-1922)  It's scene that's stuck in my mind, so when Empress Miniatures released a Russian band as part of the 1905 Russo-Japanese War line, I knew that I wanted one of these sets for myself.

I did a bit of creative interpretation for their uniforms.  I decided that the 1905 uniform was a bit too bland, so I went for a look that was inspired by the uniforms of the Russian Guard in 1877.  That's where I got the green gymanstyorka shirts with white trousers and caps. With the 1877 colours, they could almost join my current 1880-ish Russian Army for Central Asian adventures. Almost...

Here's a scene from "Admiral" that inspired this purchase!

A Mediterranean Church

Here is one last building for my Sicilian village - a church.  Every Sicilian village has at least one church, and there are multiple churches in most towns, so I'd be remiss to omit a church from my village!

I carefully studied Sicily guidebooks, and even Google street view for several communities in Sicily to get an idea what a Sicilian church looks like.  The biggest and most prominent churches are mostly quite Baroque in appearance.  However, I found outside of the town centres, and especially out of the towns themselves, simpler churches could be found.

This church is from Empress Miniatures. I was very impressed with the service from Empress, I received the church just 7 days after I ordered it.  I don't think I've ever received a package that quickly from the UK.

The tower is completely separate.  This provides some flexibility in setting up the terrain.  The tower can be attached to the church or set somewhere else altogether.  

I used a sepia wash to try to match some of the colouring I saw on streetview.  I didn't get an exact match, and I was not very uniform applying the wash!

The tower has a few floors and a lift-off roof, so it provides a good place to put a sniper, or a FOO (forward observation officer, or artillery spotter).

Doors are a bit small, carrying on the tradition of wargaming terrain being slightly smaller scale than the miniatures.

The set includes a small statue of a saint and a crucifix to fit into the sconces on either side of the church doors.  

While browsing the shelves at Imperial Hobbies, I made an impulse purchase of some 4Ground church furniture, including an altar, a pulpit and a couple of pews.

I agonised over whether two pews would be enough, until I realised that I could barely fit even these 4 items into the church!

I also picked up a set of corners to match a set of straight wall sections I already had in my collection.

Canadian Army Mule Cart

The photo above was taken by Frank Royal, and shows soldiers of the 1st Canadian Division marching near Modica, Sicily in July 1943.  Much of the Division's transport was lost when the ship carrying it was torpedoed en route to Sicily, so the soldiers had to make do as best they could.  As you can see in this photo, they made use of local mule carts to carry supplies.

Now, apparently Sicily is famous for brightly decorated mule carts.  I was tempted to follow suit, but decided that it wouldn't be very army-like to have a bright orange and red cart following my khaki-clad soldiers.  So I went with a more subdued colour scheme for my cart.

Intrigued by this, and with no particular game application in mind, I determined to procure a mule cart to support my own soldiers!  The mule cart is from Empress Miniatures, driver from Perry Miniatures Desert Rats (plastics so great for all these 'specials'!) and the stowage from various pieces I had around, including Perry, Die Waffenkammer and Warlord Games.

Driver and stowage are removable.  The stowage is glued to a base of plastic sheet, and could potentially be used as a jump off point for Chain of Command.  I drilled a hole in the cart and inserted a magnet so that the driver can be easily removed.  Too bad I messed up the otherwise neat lines of the cart!

Finally, I tried to duplicate Frank Royal's photo. Didn't quite get it, but I think the flavour of the photo is there! 8^)

Taliban cavalry!

Well, not actual cavalry, and not even all Taliban at that! 

These are from Empress Miniatures.  The two on the left are built as intended (well, mostly, I think I mixed the passengers up, should have been two beardies and two masked blokes sharing each bike). The two on the right have been civilianized.  I had to rather messily chop off the AK rifles that were cast on to these figures, and then cover up my hatchet job as best I could with paint.

Two civilian motorbikes.  I modelled some simple saddlebags for one of the bikes.  Afghans will modify or personalize pretty much anything, so this was my effort to pick up this habit.  I resisted the temptation to add a Mickey Mouse blanket. 

And two Taliban motorbikes!

My next challenge is to find one of these in 28mm!