An alternative Middle-East GB ? - Now the 'Sons of the Desert' GB

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

OK, I admit it, this is entirely selfish on my part !

I love doing stuff - OK, aircraft - in desert style camouflage schemes, there's just something very satisfying about painting all those multi-hued browns, sands, tans and olive greens in various combinations  

Now I also hold-my-hand-up as a confirmed 'paint it differently' modeller and I'm proud to be one, but equally I'm aware that What If'ing is a very broad church, I'd really like to encorage profiler's, alternative historian's, scratchbuilder's and converter's into this also - converter's could have a field-day especially with armour builds....

This really could be as wide as Moritz's Africa GB in history, types and styles. Geographically I'd broadly limit it (north to south) to modern day: Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt (although strictly, Egypt is in Africa it would be ridiculous to exclude it given real world history). In terms of timeline, anything goes..... If you want to build a Fokker D.VII and a MkIV tank from the 1919 fifth crusade or a Babylonian Tie Fighter, that's fine by me.

Personally I've got a thing for alternative Israeli stuff - that may or may not involve a Leo 1A2 and/or a Chieftain and/or a Hunter and/or Thunderjet/Thunderstreak...... well you get the general idea.

So that's my proposal, as broad as it can be and as encompassing as it can be to all the What If disciplines.

Over to you all.

Ian

oh yes, should've mentioned, I'm happy to moderate it, and could even provide a prize or two !

[Fulcrum]

I might try to do a Ottoman Imperial Air Force(OIAF) Su-27 Flanker profile if this gets off the ground.

[ysi_maniac]

What about a Crusades subject? 

[pyro-manic]

This could be equally as interesting as the Africa! GB, so I'm all for it. Maybe a "regional" GB should be something of a fixture? So we've got Africa and now the Middle East, so we need Europe/Eurasia, Far East, Americas, and Polar as well.

[Spey_Phantom]

i mthinking of an Iraqi MIG-37 or a Persian Tomcat,.....oh wait, make that a Persian F-15E 

[Old Wombat]

Geographically I'd broadly limit it (north to south) to modern day: Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt (although strictly, Egypt is in Africa it would be ridiculous to exclude it given real world history). In terms of timeline, anything goes.....

Um, don't forget Iran... They might get ticked off if you do!

Plus there was that little spat between them & the Iraqi's in the 1980's that could give some scope for builds.

[NARSES2]

I wouldn't really say Iran was in the Middle East but that would be me being pedantic. Before anyone asks I'd say it was S W Asia along with Pakistan etc

[Taiidantomcat]

just a Thought: If its desert schemes you want you could simple go with a desert theme, just like the "let is snow" GB Geography doesn't have to play a part if you don't want it too.

Having said that I would love to be a part of this GB. 

[GTX]

Perhaps the Democratic People's Republic of Israel....

Regards,

Greg

[NARSES2]

Perhaps the Democratic People's Republic of Israel....

Regards,

Greg

Now there is a very interesting and plausable alternative take on history 

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Before anyone asks I'd say it was S W Asia along with Pakistan etc

As would I 

Ian

[pyro-manic]

What about Saudi Arabia and the UAE etc?

[Gondor]

Perhaps the Democratic People's Republic of Israel....

Regards,

Greg

So that would be a RED star of David on a Blue circle then ?

Gondor

[Nick]

I've always thought the Middle East countries were the dark green countries on this map,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Greater_Middle_East_(orthographic_projection).svg
They are:

Bahrain
Cyprus
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Yemen (East and West!)

I admit that Cyprus surprised me but that's geography for you! The West Bank and Gaza Strip are long argued over...

[NARSES2]

Right interestingly - not for many - Cyprus has a UN Geo code of 600 whilst Turkey's is 052. Geo codes are the means by which countries are identified in international trade and customs documentation. 6**'s are "Asia" 0**'s are Europe. Turkey gets into Europe purely because of it's Western extremity.

So agree with Cyprus but not strictly Turkey. This is all from memory (4 years old) so I can't remember what Iran was - didn't do much trade there