Anzac Day 2019- Simpson and his Donkey

After landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick of the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance helped evacuate wounded soldiers using donkeys. He was shot and killed in May, aged twenty-two.

After his death, the legend of 'Simpson and his donkey' grew, and he has become an iconic figure in modern Australian history. Modern historical work has toned done the legend somewhat.

'The Man with the Donkey' Horace Moore-Jones, 1917

This figure is from The Woodbine Design Company:

It is a nice figure to paint, although my donkeys need practice. I added the rope and a 32mm wooden base. I decided not to add any gore, and gave the casualty a pale shocked skin tone. Although a delightful sculpt, neither the medic nor the donkey are showing any sense of urgency!

Plot twist- the Moore-Jones watercolour above is not actually of Simpson! Moore-Jones mistakenly thought that the photo he based his work on was of Simpson, but it is actually New Zealand Medical Corps Private Dick Henderson. 

Dick Henderson Source

For more about Simpson (and the posthumous controversies), see the Australian War Memorial page and this Sydney Morning Herald article.

Statue at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Source

Lest we forget.

Genestealer Cult Aberrants and Abominant

What's got fifteen feet, nine heads, lots of arms and an attitude?

I painted some Aberrants for my Genestealer Cult to go with the four I painted in 2016 from Deathwatch: Overkill. They're real brutes!

Genestealer Cult Aberrants

Aberrants with Power Pick

Aberrants with Power Hammer

These Aberrants come with a Hypermorph with an Improvised Weapon. I'm very happy with how he came out! If I had more time, I would like to model one with a stop sign, or a kangaroo sign for Aussie flavour. Other ideas gladly accepted! He's got a more pronounced Quasimodo hunch, and a tail.

Aberrant Hypermorph with Improvised Weapon

This big chap is an Abominant, a real hulking tank on a 40mm base. He's wearing overalls for that inbred look and has a bag of bones because reasons. He's teamed up with a Familiar, who is clearly the brains.

Abominant and Familiar

I also pushed out some Infestation Markers in the dying moments of the Analogue Challenge IX, which are handy scatter terrain.

Genestealer Infestation

WW1 15mm specialists

I painted some WW1 'specialist' troops for PSC's Great War. These are a soft plastic and came with the French Army expansion. I've rebased them on 15mm washers.

British

Lewis Gunners, Elites, and Marksmen

Officers and Spotters

Ammo bearers and Engineer

German 

MG08/15, Marksmen, and Elites

Officers and Spotters

Ammo bearers and Engineer

Flamethrowers!

I made the flamethrowers the same as my French one- with some clump foliage soaked in black paint and glue, and heavily drybrushed white/ yellow/ orange/ red.

The German helmet camouflage was painted over black in a green, a reddish brown, and sand, leaving the black showing between the gaps.

Commands and Colors: Red Alert

C&C Red Alert* is a space fleet combat game based on Richard Borg's Commands and Colors game mechanic. It has just come out after being crowdfunded, with fleets of spaceships made by Plastic Soldier Company. Through a strange miracle, antipodean backers got their games first!

I painted them up quickly, with a spray primer/ wash/ drybrush, and a splash of contrasting colour. The game comes with a giant 4" hex mat. Each ship base is 50x25mm, and the fighters are on 25mm stands.

Commonwealth

Destroyers

Destroyers

Cruisers

Cruisers

Battleships

Carrier

Flagship

Dreadnought

Fighters

Fighters

Confederates

Destroyers

Destroyers

Cruisers

Cruisers

Battleships

Battleships

Carrier

Flagship

Dreadnought

Fighters

Fighters

Neutrals

Transports

Transports

Orbital Station

For the effort taken, I think they look great. I'm keen to give the game a go.

Red Alert

*not to be confused with Command and Conquer: Red Alert, obvs.