In 1917, the Imperial Camel Corps (ICC) was organised into a brigade consisting of four battalions (1st–4th), totalling roughly 4,000 men and camels, mainly deployed in Sinai and Palestine. Each battalion comprised four companies (184 men each), with companies acting as independent units that rode camels but dismounted to fight as infantry.
The Imperial Camel Corps was part of the ANZAC Mounted Division, featuring 4 battalions, divided into 18 companies. These included 10 Australian, 6 British, and 2 New Zealand companies.
The first and third Battalions were entirely Australian, the 2nd Battalion was British Yeomanry, and the fourth Battalion was a mixed Australian and New Zealand Battalion.
Each company included four sections, with each section composed of seven groups of four men.Each company was equipped with three Lewis guns (after August 1916) and Lee-Enfield rifles, with one in four men holding the camels while the others fought.The ICC included its own machine gun unit and a battery of light artillery manned by troops from Hong Kong and Singapore.The Brigade operated under the command of Brigadier General Clement Wilson-Taylor.
Turkish Infantry Brigade:
In 1916 a Turkish (Ottoman) infantry brigade in Palestine typically consisted of three regiments, with a standard division (comprising brigades) having 3 regiments, an artillery regiment, and a machine-gun company. Regiments often had three battalions
What if an ancient king could outsmart Rome? Adrienne Mayor dives into the life of Mithradates VI, a figure half-forgotten yet feared in his time. Her book, The Poison King, feels less like history, more like a chase across empires. Far from dusty archives, it pulses with betrayal, war, and cunning escapes. This was no ordinary ruler – he spoke countless languages, studied poisons, fought wars on multiple fronts. From the edges of the known world, he rose. His defiance lasted generation after generation. Not myth, but meticulously traced fact shapes this portrait. Each chapter unfolds how one man stretched Rome’s limits, again and again.
Curious about poisons, the king turned his life into an experiment. Because someone killed his father with venom, he started testing chemicals on himself. Instead of trusting others, he mixed herbs, roots, and strange substances to create something called Mithridatium. Over time, small amounts of poison became part of his daily routine – slow exposure kept him alive when enemies tried to harm him. This habit, later named after him, shows both fear and cleverness. What sticks isn’t just survival, but how far one man would go to stay ahead of death.
Yet Mayor gives depth to someone ancient Roman writers brushed off as a savage Eastern tyrant. Instead, he emerges as a sharp thinker fluent in twenty-two tongues, framing his cause as freedom for the eastern lands. Clashing worlds come alive, the elegant Greek-influenced realms up against Rome’s relentless march, driven by towering names such as Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey. Seen through her eyes, Mithradates becomes less a foe, more a doomed leader clinging to resistance amid overwhelming force.
Vivid descriptions pull you into scenes of war, sharp and unrelenting. Instead of smoothing over harsh truths, the writing leans into them, especially amid battlefields and rugged terrain near the Black Sea. Through fragments of old ruins paired with long-told stories, myths about Mithradates begin to make sense – not as fantasy, yet shaped by belief and power. Tales of him riding nonstop for days, or standing taller than any warrior, gain weight when set beside real artifacts. Even moments of cold violence are shown plainly, never hidden. Because behind every ruthless act lies a world where survival demanded hardness. Context turns what seems extreme into something almost expected.
Still, The Poison King stands out for those drawn to the Roman Republic or early biology. A life unfolds here – unbent, even when facing the end. Through Adrienne Mayor’s work, a once-sidelined figure gains weight, his story tipped back into view with quiet urgency.
My mates at Axes and Ales have started a Stargrave campaign and I thought I should put something together to “muscle in”. First I needed a storyline so here goes:
The Ashfall Syndicate doesn’t really seem to be chasing treasure in the usual sense.They go into places where other teams have already failed,stations that have been ripped up, vaults that might collapse at any time, and whatever caused the disaster could still be out there and still active. Their work isn’t really about tidy success stories or profits wrapped up in a neat little package. It’s about taking something worth keeping out of the ashes while you still can—before the fire dies down, or before it suddenly starts up again. Out on the edges, their name still seems to carry some weight. If the Syndicate is the one handling this job, it probably means the threat is real.
At the heart of everything is Kade Varr, who some people call the Half-Man. He used to be a corporate retrieval officer, which meant he’d go into facilities that had been compromised and lock down anything valuable before a rival company or the authorities got there. That career ended on Ilyx-9, when a relic vault suddenly burst open, tore through his team, and left him broken on the deck. The company rebuilt him, replacing bones with metal and organs with machines, and then turned around and billed him for it. Kade disappeared before anyone had a chance to collect what he owed. Now he works for himself, and he seems quiet and steady, with a fake eye that looks like it picks up more than you’d think.He doesn’t really trust relics, but he still can’t seem to keep himself away from them. Something he picked up on Ilyx-9 has stuck with him, and it seems to kick in whenever certain artifacts are nearby.
Lira Voss, the Syndicate’s first mate, didn’t come aboard in the usual way. In the end, she found Kade. She says she could hear him even before they ever met, almost like a signal traveling from far away that somehow led her right to him. Lira calls it “resonance” rather than magic, but it still feels like it works the same way. When she’s around, things tend to act up: systems glitch, doors open on their own, and people often lose track of what they were about to do. She keeps her cool, talks clearly and to the point, and somehow comes across as confidently sure about things she really has no business knowing. Kade keeps her close, not because he trusts her, but because whatever changed him also seems to know who she is.
The rest of the crew are specialists who came together because circumstances pushed them into it, not because they have any real loyalty to one another. Jesgrik, no one knows his family name, is a burner guy, who mainly uses flamer weapons. He now carries a heavy, flamethrower weapon, and he uses it not only to take down enemies but also to shape and control the space around him. Rook is a gunner who holds his heavy bolter like an old friend, and he looks most at ease when the hallways are raining with gunfire. Silas Kreel, the sniper, comes across as distant, almost like a ghost. He got on board after he took out a rival captain from a long distance away, and then he simply asked if he could be hired. He usually hangs back, keeps quiet, and works from a spot where he can watch everything, and most of the time the crew doesn’t even notice he’s done something until the danger is already taken care of.
Kamsin Vale, a safecracker, works with a different kind of precision. He was trained in the same corporate setup Kade used to be part of, but after he used it to her advantage, they forced him out. He looks at locks, vaults, and relic interfaces as puzzles he’s supposed to solve, not just obstacles blocking his path. Whether it’s a physical lock, an encrypted system, or even something totally unfamiliar, it rarely stays locked for long once he starts working on it. He’s really into old relic technology, and sometimes it comes off as a little obsessive, especially when those devices respond in ways that make them seem like they might not be totally dormant
Under them are the runners, a rotating crew of replaceable hands who carry the gear, help secure targets, and are usually the first to get hit when things turn dangerous. They tend to move quickly, keep things light, and usually don’t stay in one place for very long. Kade usually doesn’t bother to learn their actual names until they’ve been on more than a few missions. “Most of them don’t.” The people who make it start to understand how the Syndicate really operates: move fast, take only what you truly need, and get out before whatever’s hiding beneath the surface fully comes to life.
The Greywake, their ship, seems to mirror the crew who sail her. It’s a salvage cutter that’s been kept going with mismatched panels and whatever practical repairs do the job, not something that’s supposed to look polished. It’s not particularly fast, but it runs quietly, and out in the dead zones between systems, that kind of quiet often makes the difference between making it through and disappearing. The Syndicate has a reputation that follows them around: they’re known as the crew that takes the jobs everyone else avoids, they’ve made it out of encounters with active relic phenomena, and they usually leave a place with one particular item gone rather than wiping the whole site out.
People have been quietly saying that Kade’s former employers are still trying to track him down, not just for the money he owes them, but also for whatever it is he’s carrying. Some people say Lira can somehow picture what the inside of a vault looks like before anyone even opens it, almost like she’s been there already. With the Ashfall Syndicate, the truth is usually slippery and hard to nail down, and this time is no different. What seems pretty is that whenever they turn up, something already feels a little wrong, and by the time they leave, something you’d want to hold on to is missing.
Next some figures. I have enough figures ( I can’t believe I just wrote that) that will fit in without painting any more. Here is a first cut just picked quickly from the shelves.
Kade Varr – cyborg and captain
Lira Voss – First “mate” and
Rook, the gunner
Rook, at times, doubles up as the team heavy.
Silas Kreel, the sniper
Kamsin Vale, the picker!
Four runners
The old battered Greywake.
As you can see they are a mixture of “old school” metal Necromunda Orlocks Imperial guards etc.
The look might chnage as I spend some time playing and get a feel for the characters or just plain find figures I like more.
Another period that I am extremely interested in is “The Great War in Africa”. There is a huge opportunity for some great scenario specific games but also for more standard Men Who Would Be Kings games.
After reading Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck’s My Reminiscences of East Africa and watching Hepburn and Boghart in African Queen I was hooked on the period.
Other campaigns that provide some interesting, almost pulp style gaming are the Persian Expedition with the British river boats, Dunsterforce, Arkangel and its Invasion of Russia, and the war in the Far East Colonies.
Here are some men Who Would Be Kings lists fort the East Africa Campaign.
With me now working on my WW1 28mm figures I thought MWWBK’s would be a great set of rules for the period and also meant I didn’t need to paint as many figures!
Some of these are not quite historically accurate but are designed to create different flavour for each army.
The Camel Corps and Australian Light Horse are basically the same in game terms but the fierce v elite characteristics provided a point of difference and one could argue did reflect how they fought.
Faisal’s and Lawrence’s armies were very similar but the revolt did get more British equipment support hence the machine gun.
You could argue for adding Ottoman irregulars to represent the Arab troops they used.
The French did not have any significant forces in Palestine, but the Armee D’Afrique was added just for variety as could have been the Legion D’Armenia.
The British list could be used for the Indian army which had significant numbers on the Persian front.
I am also toying with the idea of using Xenos Rampant categories and introducing some tanks and armoured cars!
Another game of men Who Would Be Kings, this time with Wayne.
Scenario D in The Men Who Would Be Kings is not a straightforward attack and defend fight. While one force is designated as the attacker, the defender cannot simply sit in a strong position. Instead, they must patrol a number of important locations across the table such as villages, wells, or crossroads. This creates immediate pressure, as the defender has to keep units moving and spread out in order to meet these obligations.
The defender’s challenge is one of balance and timing rather than raw strength. They need to move between objectives, maintain a presence across several points, and still be ready to react to the enemy. Every choice carries risk. If they concentrate too much force in one place, another location may be left exposed. If they follow the patrol too rigidly, units can become isolated and easy targets. The defender is constantly managing gaps, and those gaps are where the real danger lies.
The attacker is not simply advancing in a straight line. Their aim is to exploit the defender’s movement. They look for units caught between patrol points, objectives that are thinly held, or moments when hesitation or failed activation leaves a position weak. By applying pressure in different areas, the attacker can disrupt the defender’s ability to maintain control, breaking the system piece by piece rather than through a single decisive clash.
Victory depends on control over time rather than a single moment. The defender wins by continuing to patrol and hold the required locations. The attacker wins by disrupting that effort, either by taking key points or preventing them from being properly maintained. The scenario feels less like a set battle and more like a security operation under strain, where movement, timing, and decision making matter more than firepower alone.
The game started predictably for my Egyptian irregular horse after a failing a pin test I tried to rally rolled “snakes eyes” and ran of the board!
I quickly started to patrol one objective (stay touching for a turn)
But not for long as I was promptly thrown back by the River Arabs tribal infantry.
I repeated the patrolling on the left. Was promptly charged by tribal cavalry who frankly just “didn’t like it up em”
It was then my turn to unleash my irregular cavalry in a glorious charge and over a short period of charges and follow ups wiped out the River Arab tribal troops who had the audacity to stop my patrolling!
More tribal troops advancing only to feel the hot lead from my Regular Sudanese troops.
Back in their rightful place patrolling the first objective!
Things were quite tight for a while until the Egyptian massed fire power gradually caused the River Arabs to melt away. When we decided the bar was more inviting it was a close run event with the Egyptians in front 16 to 12.
The “Wayneinator” turned out to be no Arnie! Long live “Skynet”! Oops I mean Guru!
During the Nine Armies War of 1785, Monkey Cave transformed from a secluded religious sanctuary into a vital strategic bastion for the Siamese defense in the southern provinces. As King Bodawpaya’s massive invasion forces swept down the Malay Peninsula, the natural limestone fortress of the cave offered a rare geographical advantage. Its deep, interconnected chambers served as a secure storehouse for gunpowder, rice, and traditional weaponry, protecting these essential supplies from the scorched-earth tactics commonly employed by the advancing Burmese columns.
The cave also functioned as a critical humanitarian refuge for thousands of villagers fleeing the path of the conflict. In an era where the capture of labor was a primary goal of warfare, the easily defensible bottlenecks of the cave system allowed small groups of Siamese soldiers to shield non-combatants from being abducted into forced servitude. This protection maintained the social fabric of the region, ensuring that local resistance did not collapse under the weight of civilian displacement.
Tactically, the high karst ridges surrounding the cave provided an unparalleled vantage point for Siamese scouts. From these hidden heights, observers could monitor the movement of Burmese naval flotillas and land units as they maneuvered toward the strategic target of Thalang. The intelligence gathered at this site was funneled back to the legendary sisters Thao Thep Krasattri and Thao Sri Sunthon, providing them with the early warnings necessary to organize their famous defense of Phuket.
Beyond its physical utility, the site provided a necessary psychological anchor for the outnumbered defending forces. The presence of the reclining Buddha and the ancient belief in the cave’s guardian spirits turned the location into a spiritual headquarters. Warriors often performed traditional rites within the cool, shaded interior before launching hit-and-run ambushes, drawing on the perceived “sacred protection” of the mountain to bolster their morale against a numerically superior enemy.
Ultimately, the role of Monkey Cave during the Nine Armies War highlights the importance of local geography in shifting the tide of national history. By serving as a cache, a lookout, and a sanctuary, the cave allowed the Siamese to maintain a persistent presence in the south that the Burmese simply could not flush out. This localized resilience played a significant part in the broader failure of the Burmese invasion, helping to secure the sovereignty of the newly established Rattanakosin Kingdom.
