Wargaming the Exploration and Colonisation of Tropical Africa by European powers from 1850 until 1918.


Saturday 30 March 2013

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.

6 comments:

Michael Awdry said...

Looking good and I love the shot of the unit altogether - really taking shape. Not a fan of shields myself as I seem to end up with them sticking at all sorts of jaunty angles!

A J said...

Nice result, there. From my own experience it helps to have a mass of slaver/Arab types if going up against British disciplined firepower. As for the natives, I bought plastic Wargames Factory figures. They're a little fiddly to put together, but don't look too bad en-masse. I was also pleased to find they paint up nicely with cheap hobby store acrylics instead of more expensive hobby paints.

Phil said...

Very nice work on those figures!
Phil.

legatus hedlius said...

Thank you, everyone. I think having done these two units recently has given me the impetus to take on the dreaded Baluchis next!

johny hop said...

I notice that Lugard in British Central Africa gave his on sides natives a piece of coloured cloth to tie round their heads much like the Natal Native Contingent in the Zulu War. So I recently bought a box of Natal Native Contingent by Warlord Games which gives you 32 hard plastic figures and two European figures for about £20. Ideal for my lot. Lugard did not say what colour so I assumed red.

legatus hedlius said...

Interesting. I have got that box somewhere. Does it provide any spare heads?