I just read the post on the official blog for the project detailing the opening of the diorama today in Wellington. Wow. It is even more visually stunning than I when I last saw it – when it was 99% complete but in a room that resembled a construction site with no lighting in place and you were practically tripping over buckets of flock, paint, spackle and of course, hundreds of miniatures. I am incredibly proud of all the effort that went into this. New Zealand wargamers, painters and modellers can be justifiably proud.

Given the incredibly short time frame  – mid December 2014 to now – I think it is nothing short of a miracle that this was done. Sir Peter Jackson copped a lot of flak on modelling and wargame sites around the world and even here in New Zealand. People saw a rich guy getting plebs to do his painting for him. I hope that they have seen that while Sir Peter could have got all the models painted in Sri Lanka or some place – and probably to a much more uniform standard, they would not have been painted with the love and dedication that was put into it by the New Zealand gaming community who did get involved.  Every miniature that came back – even the ones that were not painted that well and had to be redone – were done by dedicated people who wanted to be involved. The way I look at it those redo’s just got some extra love.  I have only met Sir Peter in passing at Weta and the museum when I was volunteering there and I never got the opportunity to personally thank him for coming up with the idea in the first place and then fronting the wedge to pay for it.

This project brought a lot of people together and I imagine more than a few old acquaintances were rekindled and new friendships made. On a personal note I met up with Roy Martin at Weta on the first weekend we volunteered there. It took a day for us to realise that we once worked in the same office for eight years (it was a while since we had seen each other) and more amazingly, neither of us knew we were wargamers with basically the same hobby interests.

While my father was a WWII veteran, I couldn’t but think of him while I was working on this WWI project. Reality is that when the 100th Anniversary of WWII rolls around and the great battles fought by New Zealand in that conflict are commemorated I will either be dead or past being able to paint or participate in anything like this so I dedicated my time and effort on this to his memory.  It was kind of nice that the Prime Minister noticed the photo I had of Dad in my painting box when he and the Governor General had their visit after they opened the War memorial garden outside the museum.

These photos are from my poor eight year old 2mp phone camera.  Compare these work in progress shots with how the diorama looks now. One of the Turkish platoons that I inserted into the diorama. It was, as Roly said on the official blog, tough work. Bent over, trying not to step on anything you shouldn’t – not easy on middle-aged backs.  Then you had to poke a hole with an awl through the terrain – and bear in mind this could support the weight of overweight wargamers – and then position the figure.

These are a few photos from Mustering The Troops Blog – please go there and see more.

The Turkish wave cresting and crashing on the New Zealand line. Stunning photo and a dramatic moment in the battle.

Continue reading Gallipoli Diorama Opens →

This was the last figure I painted for the Anzac Diorama  – a piece of luck as it happens.  Good luck for me and terrible luck for McBeth who painted the original who got lost.  For the full story check this post on the official blog out. Johnston is an interesting character. He was a New Zealand born British Army officer seconded back to the New Zealand forces. He had some successes but his judgement at Chunuk Bair has been questioned – whether he was drunk or just out of his depth is open to conjecture in my opinion.  He commanded the New Zealand Infantry Brigade (later the 1st NZ (Inf) Brig) throughout the Gallipoli campaign.

He was killed by sniper fire on the Western Front on the 7th of August 1917 while visiting front line trenches of his 3rd New Zealand (Rifle) Brigade.  Three New Zealand Brigadier Generals were killed in action in WWI. Not so safe for the generals after all.

Remember that Alan Perry made that figure of Brig-Gen Johnston in about half an hour in poor light. He really looks “ill” and completely out of his depth.

I am really happy with how the maps on the table turned out. They are all actual period maps of the battlefield that I reduced and printed. I didn’t reduce them to the size shown, but to a larger size and cut out pieces of them otherwise any detail would have just disappeared into a few pixels.

For more information on Brig-Gen Johnston check this wikipedia entry.

For you offshore chaps  – a chance to see some of the the terrain and figures in place.