Zambezi Campaign 25: Heavily armed askaris

These are the 12 heavily armed askaris which I need for my Arab army.  I finished them today, so that gives me all four of the units of firearm-equipped Zanzibari troops I need for the Gary Chalk scenarios.  Wargames Foundry figures, of course.

The Arab force so far: perilously close to an army!

Now all I have to do are complete the sword armed Baluchis, another cannon, plus the leader of the force, and the Arab force will be complete.  Then I will have to move on to the three tribal forces I need which will total 140 figures.  I'm not sure if these are all armed with spears which means painting cursed shields so I will have to check back in the relevant issue of Wargames Illustrated.  A little bit of research has shown that tribesmen in this area would have had Zulu style shields so I will probably have to order them from somewhere.  Empress miniatures do them separately I know.

I'll probably take on the second cannon next.

Zambezi Campaign 24: Third unit of Wangwana

In a burst of activity last week I completed my third unit of 14 Wangwana freedmen for my Arab army.  The final unit of these Zanzibari soldiers will be 12 heavily armed askaris with more modern rifles (Winchesters and such like).  I have already started these.  After these I only have another cannon and crew to do (also started) and the Baluchis with swords which I have also started but which are going to take ages.  

I probably have enough figures now to do an initial skirmish which is not part of the Gary Chalk scenarios.  I'm thinking of sending the Sikhs into the bush to see if they can discover what the Arab slavers are up to.  A nasty discovery would mean the dispatch of the gunboat up river.

Other good news is that I managed to get another Copplestone elephant on eBay as these are far superior to the ones they used in the Gary Chalk article.  Now I can paint them both together.

I'm also contemplating two more forces: German and French.  I already have some of the Foundry Germans although they will need repainting and as for the French I am very tempted by some of Artizan's new French Foreign Legion (especially the ones in sun helmets) and some tirailleurs.  Hmm...