Ships of the Desert

For thousands of years the camel has been the way to trave the deserts of Asia and Africa.

It didn't take long for warriors to begin to use these "ships of the desert" to assist in battles in dry lands/

From Ancient Egypt to the colonial wars of the 19th century, camel mounted troops have fought for control of the esert lands of the World.

While these warriors are armes with spear and bow, the US Cavalry even used a camel corps to patrol the Southwest in the decade before the American Civil War (stationed at Fort Tejon California, the experiment was not a success and the cavalry returened to the use of horses).

I painted these 25mm metal pieces in the 1980's for colonial battles even though they warriors are more correct for battles more than 1500 years earlier (proper castings were hard to come by in '80's).