Above is a pic of Lt. Colonel James Galbraith, Regimental Colour in hand, alongside Bobbie the regimental dog and some of the other "Last Eleven" survivors of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment, making their last stand in one of the walled gardens just South of Khig village, a few miles West of the Afghan town of Maiwand.

Monday, April 25, 2011

CONVERSIONS X - General Sam Browne w/ Bengal Cav Orderly

April is nearly over and I have yet to put up a post on this blog, so without further ado, here are my efforts at converting the Empress miniatures 28mm Colonel Anthony Durnford into General Samuel Browne (inventor of the Sam Browne belt). Both men lost their left arms in battle, Browne during the Indian Mutiny, Durnford in South Africa in 1872. I used the fully bearded spare head from the Empress ANglo-Zulu War accessories set, and I also cut the right arm off another empress British officer to use as a replacement for Durnford's, which months earlier was donated to my converted Colonel Galbraith of the 66th Infantry. I also cut the sword-hilt off a Wargames Foundry British mounted staff officer to glue to the top of his empty scabbard.

But up first is General Browne's Bengal Cavalry orderly, who began life as a Wargames Foundry Afghan regular artillery crewman's body, with an Indian spearman's head and a pair of hands from a Franco-Prussian War French hussar, grasping the hilt of his sword with his left hand as he passes a dispatch up to a mounted courier with his right...