July 27th is Maiwand Day, the anniversary of the Second Afghan War Battle at which a small Anglo-Indian army was defeated and forced to route in the face of a far larger Afghan army. This blog began in connection with me putting on a refight game on the battle's 130th Anniversary, five years ago today, and is a very humble namesake of the event. The British and Indian units sustained a very high percentage of casualties and the battle was one of the most severe defeats ever suffered by British arms "East of Suez" as the phrase used to go.
For a long time now most all my hobby time has been spent working on terrain and scenario design for an upcoming refight of the 1879 Battle of Charasiab. I've made some more progress on that front, and I'm probably all done with the rivers and swamp.
For a long time now I've also wanted to post pictures of what is IMHO an incredible diorama showing the Last Stand of the "Last Eleven" of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot, built and painted by the incredibly talented Spanish painter who calls himself ONIRIA.
He completed this diorama in late 2011 and advertised it as being up for sale, perhaps on Lead Adventure Forum or The Miniatures Page, or maybe both -- I can't remember for sure -- and I was lucky enough to get in touch with him before anyone else.
Here's a LINK to the page on Oniria's own website where he posted some photos and briefly discussed its construction:
Oniria presents his Maiwand diorama
And here's some pics I took just a little earlier tonight:
That's it for now. Hopefully I'll be back to post some pics of the finished swamp and river boards before too many more days pass, but for now I'm just happy I managed to get this up on the web while it's still July 27th, before midnight hit.
What a stunning piece of work and a fitting tribute.
ReplyDeleteExtraordinarily good work there. I'll raise a glass today in memory of the fallen of Maiwand.
ReplyDeleteA very nice diorama and thank yo for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to make contact with you regarding the Battle of Maiwand, and in particular your wonderful diorama of the last stand. I can’t seem to sign in with my google account so I’m afraid this comment is Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you have ever seen any photographs of any of the Officers who took part in the famous last stand. I’m aware of only one photograph of Lieutenant Thomas Rice Henn
and two line drawings of Henn and Lieutenant Charles William Hinde 1st Grenadiers (Bombay Infantry).
If you’re interested in seeing what Hinde looked liked, l have uncovered a photography of him, dating from circa 1871-1875. He is in uniform but I’m not sure which uniform, so can’t date the photograph more accurately.
I have also written a biography for him, which covers in some detail, how and why he ended up making the last stand depicted in your diorama.
If you’re interested and could let me have an email, I’ll send you over a copy of the image and biography.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to make contact with you regarding the Battle of Maiwand, and in particular your wonderful diorama of the last stand.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you have ever seen any photographs of any of the Officers who took part in the famous last stand. I’m aware of only one photograph of Lieutenant Thomas Rice Henn
and two line drawings of Henn and Lieutenant Charles William Hinde 1st Grenadiers (Bombay Infantry).
If you’re interested in seeing what Hinde looked liked, l have uncovered a photography of him, dating from circa 1871-1875. He is in uniform but I’m not sure which uniform, so can’t date the photograph more accurately.
I have also written a biography for him, which covers in some detail, how and why he ended up making the last stand depicted in your diorama.
If you’re interested and could let me have an email, I’ll send you over a copy of the image and biography.