Back to the Harbiye Military Museum and Istanbul Wargaming

 I stopped off in Istanbul for a couple of nights on my way back from Moldova. I have been there several times, but you just cannot visit Istanbul without going to the Harbiye Military Museum. This is THE place in the world for everything Ottoman and Turkish Republic. There have been a few changes inside, but most of the outside exhibits are not on display, while a redevelopment takes place.

You can't miss the museum as you walk up from Taksim Square, as the Dardanelles gun outside is a massive structure. I gave my old pal a hand loading it. 😂

As last year marked the 50th anniversary of the Cyprus intervention, that is the subject of a special exhibition. Needless to say, that was of particular interest to me, although there is nothing new.

The huge diorama paintings are a feature of the museum.

They have several model dioramas, including this massive one of the Gallipoli landings.

The Scots are not forgotten, with this Claymore. The story of how it arrived in Turkey would be an interesting one. There were Scottish mercenaries in Transylvania during the Turkish wars of the relevant period.

I spent some time on the 18th-century weapons for my current project. There are lots.

The museum also has some of the strangest weapons I have seen.

Sadly, World War II is almost entirely forgotten, although this waxwork and uniform are new. I ruminated over uniform colours for the illustrations in my book on Turkey and World War II, although this officer is in a tailored uniform, and a clean one at that.

The Korean War is a project I need to revisit. The Turkish Brigade was one of the larger contingents and was rotated three times to give the army battlefield experience. They started with the British battledress and changed to the more practical US ones. They preferred the American helmet, but not the boots.

That was the morning. After lunch, my friend Onur took me on a tour of wargaming in Istanbul. That included his wargames club Karargâh (Headquarters in Turkish). They have an interesting model for a club. They rent a shop in a shopping centre, with room for five tables, and an overflow outside. They have a good collection of terrain and lockers for members to store their armies (it used to be a Yoga venue, hence the mirrors). Housing is expensive in Istanbul, so most people have limited space at home. We played a game of Trench Crusade, which I had not seen before. It is a skirmish-level fantasy game set in 1914, sort of. Simple mechanics and a fascinating lore. I threw an embarrassing number of sixes, but we still lost.

Most of the games played were fantasy, but they also play Bolt Action and Flames of War. Postage and import costs/paperwork mean they can only import small numbers of figures at a time. 

We took a look at a couple of gaming venues elsewhere in the city. Goblin Games is primarily a board game venue, and Pegasus has tables mostly for Games Workshop, which they also sell.

Dinner in Kadikoy and then back across the Bosphorus for a beer in Besiktas. Crossing two continents after dinner is cool in both senses of the word. Istanbul rates as one of my favourite cities. It has everything: history, good food, friendly people and incredible views.