New (Old Style) Trophy Dervish Reinforcements Arrive

Old first edition Trophy of Wales Dervish and Beja plus some Sudanese Regulars deploy on a first edition of "Thiers' History of the First Consulate." (CLICK PIX TO ENLARGE)

I received a shipment of Trophy of Wales toy soldiers Dervish figures today from one of the members of the AMG (A Military Gentleman) Forum in the UK and you can see the pictures here on today's blog. I staged them for a photo shoot atop a copper reading table and created a sort of riser with some old leather bound books that I have in my library. The books are two volumes from Thiers' History of the First Consulate and they lend a certain bit of style and panache to the tableau.

Sudanese Regulars for the 1898 Omdurman Campaign (5 firing on the left), 4 Beja warriors charging (center) and 8 Dervish ansar in jibbahs (right)

In a few more days, I will post some comparative pictures of the original Len Taylor Trophy Dervish figures and the second edition Dervish.

Attention: if you have any Trophy of Wales toy soldiers that you are willing to part with (cash or even some trade for Minden/Fife & Drum figures will be considered) then please contact me via my blog or at (altefritz1740@yahoo.com) so that we can make a deal. I assure you that your figures are going to a good home and that they will have the opportunity to exercise themselves on the tabletop Field of Mars once in awhile.

I would love to find some Trophy Dervish riding camels. I have only seen pictures of them, so I know that they exist.  A general expansion of the Trophy Dervish is also hoped for.

While all of this has been going on, I've also started to accumulate some of the 24th Foot in red coats from the Zulu War period that preceded  all of the troubles in the Sudan from 1884 to 1898. I don't know if I will acquire any Zulus at this time, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few made their way to Hesse Seewald.

Trophy of Wales - 24th Foot from the Zulu War era.

My 24th Foot will serve as stand-ins for some of the regiments that still wore the red coat during the first Sudan Campaign or the Gordon Relief Expedition. I currenlty have 29 foot and 2 mounted officers on hand, with another 12 infantry en route, a set of artillery and crew in blue coats, and some mounted generals (in blue coats) and a few vignette figures. I'm sure that there will be more to add to the collection, but for the time being, this seems like a good start on the project.

Same figures, viewed from the side.

hh