For years I’ve been a fan of the Anglo-Afghan-War.info website, which brims with information and enthusiasm for the history of the Second Afghan War, from battlefield maps to an exhaustive bibliography to first-hand accounts of various participants. Though I’ve been interested in the Second Afghan War since I was a boy, the site is the first place I ever heard of Malalai of Maiwand, as well as some other lesser-known aspects of the campaign. So I was very pleasantly surprised this past march, when Garen Ewing — creator, owner and operator of the site — left a comment here on my humble blog. It turned out he was interested in posting an interview with me concerning my “Maiwand Day” project, where it came from, how it got built, and how the refights of the battle turned out. It took a while for me to answer all his questions (including a couple about the miniature wargaming hobby in general) but I finally managed to get it done, and he just posted the finished article on his site. The timing is rather perfect as today is July 27, 2011, the 131st anniversary of the battle of Maiwand.
Though some information contained in the article will already be known to regular visitors to this blog, I heartily encourage anyone who enjoys stopping by here to visit Garen’s site and check it out.
Here’s a direct link to my Maiwand Day interview —
http://www.garenewing.co.uk/angloafghanwar/articles/reiffinterview.php
— and here’s a link to the site’s main page:
THANK YOU, Garen, for seeing the value of adding an article about miniature wargaming to your un-hobby-related website!