From KenR : 28mm WW1 Turkish Cavalry (122 points)

After building up some pretty big Infantry forces for both sides in the WW1 Mesopotamia Campaign (10 Turkish and 12 Empire Battalions) it's time I built up some horse borne troops.

The main problem however I lack of suitable figures. Sadly Woodbine Design Company have just never got round to doing any Cavalry despite their pretty comprehensive range of foot sloggers.

I have used some Great War Miniatures Cavalry with head swaps for the Brits (sadly it doesn't look like they will be done before Challenge End however keep an eye on Yarkshire Gamer). For the Turkish Cavalry I used the same Setting the East Ablaze range from Minifigs that the Highlanders came from.

http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Catalogue.aspx?ScaleID=15&CategoryID=51&SubCategoryID=253

There is ony three figure types, an Officer, a Bugler and a Cavalryman so sadly not much variation in poses, I have added the lances and pennants myself to make up this 12 figure half unit, I will look to get a 2 Fig HQ with 4 x 6 Fig companies to represent a full unit. So at 10 pts a piece thats a nice 120 points to add to my total.

There are very few pictures of Turkish Cavalry from the period, the one above is from near Jerusalem. It does show however that the Turks did a like a BIG lance pennant !

The Cavalry in Mesopotamia spent most of the war trying to flank each other and the trench works of each side. I certainly hope to build up a few units over the next couple of years so that we can explore these actions on the tabletop.

Sadly work is conspiring against me in these final days of the Challenge, I should get a few WW2 Desert vehicles in before the end but a planned ANZAC entry is looking unlikely.

That just leaves me to Thank Jamie, Team Thursdays Minion, for all the hard work put in over the Challenge , cheers !


What a cracking entry Ken!  It's always been one of the weird things that cavalry were used in WW1, which I'd consider to be a modern war and just shows how thinking hadn't moved on in some ways to match the new weapons being deployed.  It sounds like they were used in this theatre for longer than the more famous Western Front, so looks like you'll get plenty of use out of them!  I wouldn't worry about the lack of variety of the figures as these chaps have turned out a treat, there's something quite menacing about them trotting like this.  And who doesn't like a nice large pennant on a lance?  I know I make sure I have one attached when I'm out and about in town!


Thanks for the raft of brilliant and informative posts on one of the lesser known theatres of WW1 and a massive pat on the back for such a huge points total - nipping in and out of the top ten all challenge is an achievement to be rightly proud of!  I've chucked another 2 points your way for all the pennants, so 122 points all in.