Coming soon...The Masai

I've managed to resist these, somehow, for a decade (yes the Foundry Darkest Africa range is that old and more) but the recent 20% off Bank Holiday deal saw me give in at last. I plan to use them as opponents to my Arabs and Baluchis, early Colonial DOAG Germans and in WW1 skirmishes.

Foundry are a funny old company. I'm not one of those people who habitually knock them as I like (most of) their figures and find their mail order service exceptionally good. It's almost instant gratification with Foundry. You put your order in one day and quite often they arrive the next. I don't even have a problem with price as I'm very lucky and don't really have to budget. However, some of the things they have done baffle me. In order to prevent price rises a few years ago they took most of their packs from eight to six figures a pack. This meant that some figures effectively disappeared or turned up in odds and ends packs. Secondly, and much more annoyingly, they stopped including weapons in some packs. I recently bought some of their (excellent) gladiators but the retiarii didn't have tridents included! I was lucky in that I found some on eBay, but how annoying! I have had a similar problem with the Masai. the Masai had quite distinctive looking spears which Foundry included in their packs. No longer! The usual note that you have to provide your own wire spears is apparent. So when my packs arrived; no spears. But blow me down you still buy the individual cast spears as seperate packs on their website (they work out at 24p each). This really is a bit much. If you are making the spears and the figures need them you really should include them. My annoyance was tempered somewhat by the fact that all the supposedly six figure packs had seven figures in them. Even so...

As usual I have started one figure to see how it goes and once my Sudan game is over I shall be working on Masai and Zulus at the same time for a bit.

Death in the Dark Continent by Chris Peers

I just picked up the new Chris Peers African rules. I have had his In the Heart of Africa rules for some time and even, shock, played two or three games with them! However, as he says in his introduction to the new set they were, firstly: designed to go with the Mark Copplestone Foundry figures and so included a restricted set of armies and secondly, were really a large scale skirmish set.

The rules cover the period 1870-1899 and end at the latter date quite deliberately as he believes that the Second Boer War was a different sort of campaign. What it does mean is that these rules will work for the Zulu War and the Sudan as well as other colonial conflicts. Some new lists are included over and above those in the original rules: such as Mahdists and much better coverage of Colonial armies in different theatres.

My only slight concern was the need to have multiple based troops but given he suggests a 60x30mm base for 3 troops and mine are based on 20x20mm then making small trays will deal with this quite easily (if time consumingly!) It will be interesting to try them out and compare them with The Sword in the Flame which also uses larger units, rather than being a skirmish game; although in the latter figures are individually based which can make moving large numbers very time consuming.

The rules are available from North Star (although I bought mine in Orc's Nest in London, which is only about 400 yards from my office in trendy North Soho!). North Star also have some extra lists available for free download.

http://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=194

Time to paint some more Ruga Ruga, I think!

Ngoni standard bearer and witchdoctor

In Chris Peers' Darkest Africa rules the leader in an Ngoni army has to be one of the warriors. The figure on the left, therefore, represents a standard bearer who can cancel out a compulsory morale test.

The witchdoctor can force an opposing unit to take a morale test but is really only effective against other tribal opponents, not white men or Arabs (the latter is not clear from the rules but can be inferred).

Female Tuta archers

The Tuta or Watuta people lived in Northern Tanganyika and were the northernmost of the Ngoni sub groups to have migrated from Southern Africa. They were feared raiders and provided Mirambo with large contingents of warriors. They also fought the Arabs in Tabora but later the Arabs themselves used them as mercenaries. At the end of the nineteenth century they were pacified by the Germans, peacefully, but that doesn't mean we couldn't do a what if scenario.

Both Sir Richard Burton and Grant say that Tuta women fought alongside their men, with Grant specifically mentioning they fought as archers. Whilst there were many examples of West African warrior women it is all a bit more debatable in the East. Both Grant and Burton's accounts were third hand from Arab sources. Nevertheless, I like the idea of a small unit of women archers as a bodyguard so this will make up half of the force of ten I am going to paint. There is only one odd thing about these figures: they have no quivers, so I am not quite sure where they keep their arrows!

Three more figures

I finished three more Darkest Africa figures this weekend. From left to right District Officer Hedley, Lord Greystoke and another Ngoni.

District Officer Hedley is actually a Copplestone Back of Beyond figure but I think he makes a very good fellow to look after a district up the Zambezi somewhere during the later colonial period. You'll find him living in his bungalow overlooking the steamer jetty, listening to Gilbert and Sullivan, hunting anything that moves, drinking gin and being "looked after" by a couple of native girls.

The original Daktari jeep.

District Officer Hedley is, of course a character from the 1960's TV show Daktari which I watched when I was little. It was mostly famous for its character of Clarence the cross-eyed lion and it's zebra striped jeeps, since copied by safari parks all over the world.

Hedley Mattingly.

District Officer Hedley was a minor character who popped up occasionally and was played by a British-born actor called Hedley Mattingly. This was all a source of great amusement in our house as my father's name was Hedley (as indeed is my second name) and it was the only other time that we came across the name (other than in the famous tort court case Hedley Byrne v Heller!).

He is wearing a Brasenose tie, of course.

The Lord of the Jungle figure is another Foundry Darkest Africa figure. I have never been a fan of Tarzan, my Edgar Rice Burroughs phase (when I was about ten) concentrating more on his Mars and Venus series, but in a Pulp Africa, rather than a purely historical one (and my universe contemplates both) then he should appear and, anyway, I have already painted Jane.

More Ruga-Ruga

At last I have managed to finish some figures. A trip to Turkey took out most of my week but over the Bank Holiday I finished these Ruga Ruga, bringing the total to fifteen.

I'm still working on some more Ngoni and a couple of Darkets Africa characters, including Tarzan.

I ordered some more Zanzibaris from Foundry and they arrived whilst I was away. I also got a copy of the Foundry book Armies of East Africa by Chris Peers. Haven't had a proper look at it yet but it looks good.

More Wildlife from Foundry

Foundry have just released some more African wildlife which is very good news. I have some of their lions but it is nice to have some lionesses as well.


http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/GPR/6/index.asp

They are a bit Lion King looking but match the lions, I suppose.

Foundry Rhino

The rhino is not as nice as the Copplestone ones (which are still the best wildlife out there) but the baby rhino is a must buy for my daughter!

Copplestone Rhinos

Five more Ruga-ruga

I haven't posted or painted much as I have been ..in Africa! Admittedly not Darkest Africa but North Africa. It was Africa nonetheless!

I started these before I left and finished them today. I attempted to paint a cheetah skin for the first time. It looks OK.

Five more Ngoni

I finished another five Ngoni today. Two of the Ngoni (on the left) have the Zebra mane headresses popular in Southern Tanganyika.

Some of the Ngoni dyed their cocks feather headresses red and the character with the club and red feather headress will be my tribal chief.

I worked on bending the shields with some pliers and they look better than the flat ones I painted last week.

The Ngoni shields were very similar to Zulu ones and so here are some pictures of Zulu shields to show the construction and colouring. The shield is made from cow-hide with its natural colouring.

On the back you can see how the carrying pole was attached. This is an original pole from a Zulu War period shield. Finding these now is quite unusual as those brought back to Britain as souvenirs were usually rolled up and the pole discarded.

The fur decoration seen at the top of Zulu and Ngoni shield poles was usually made from Antelope or Springbok fur and so would have been a light, sandy tan colour.

First Ngoni

I have painted the first of my Copplestone Castings Ngoni. They took longer to paint than Azande warriors but that is becuase their costume is more elaborate. They look very splendid, though, and I have got another five on the go. The shields, in particular took ages!

The shields are the only things I would take issue with as regards accuracy. The figures themselves are very accurate but the shields are modelled as flat. The Ngoni's Zulu-style shields were made from animal hide with a pole threaded into the back to give them rigidity.

Most of the pictures I have seen of them show them as slightly convex with the edge turned up slightly. The Copplestone shields are too thick to bend but I guess it doesn't matter too much as the size and profile is spot on.