Saturday 8 October 2011

Darkest Africa Nkonde [1]

My gaming nemesis Jon has decide to revive his long lost Darkest Africa project, with a fledgling but no doubt potent Arab Slaver force for Nyasaland. I've always wanted to paint up an army for In the Heart of Africa but haven't taken the plunge despite collecting at least half a ton of figures. However, now that I have a potential opponent, it would be a great idea to crack ahead!

I'd been thinking about starting an army this autumn once the AK47 stuff was out of the way but had originally intended to build a French colonial force for West Africa. I don't have enough figures for this yet, although Artizan will be bringing some more out soon, so the switch to Nyasaland is no great problem. I have plenty of suitable figures for a number of armies that might fit the region but I've decided to opt for the Nkonde.

From Armies of the Nineteenth Century: Africa - Central Africa by Chris Peers (p112)

The who?

The Nkonde are covered by List 21: The Generic Villagers, so don't seem to be particularly exciting compared to more exotic or powerful options like the Ngoni, Masai or Hehe. However, they have a number of positive features that make them perfect as a painting project. They're also ideal as an opponent for Jon's Arab slavers, being the target of slave raiding expeditions for many years.

1. They are easy to paint, having virtually no clothes except a loincloth and no fancy headgear or
    weapons (but see 7. below)

2. I have plenty of figures for an army including spearmen, archers, musketeers and baggage.

3. They can have a chief's bodyguard with feathered head-dresses, for which I have some figures.

4. They can have a witchdoctor. Cool!

5. They can be allied to a British force, should I decide to go off in a colonial direction.

6. They can have colourful war costume of red, yellow, grey and white faces, backs and legs (if I want to add a bit of colour to the army)

7. They have distinctive narrow rectangular shields, which I'd have to make but which would make them stand out the  from the usual and give them a bit of identity.

8. They fought against the Matabele, which I have in the leadpile.

9. They fought with Lugard against the Arabs.

10. They were not 'great warriors' but were 'brave and warlike' which is good enough for me!

I'm planning to take a pile of figures with me on holiday to Cornwall in a couple of weeks time so that I can clean them up and base them ready for the start of the In the Heart of Africa winter project 2011. If I can get them painted up by the end of the year, I'll have cracked it!

1 comment:

  1. It looks like you've made an excellent choice of army to fit your collection. Very versatile.

    ReplyDelete

Labels

Bag The Hun (747) AK47 (488) Books (481) Ironclads (476) Wings at War (392) Back of Beyond (236) Pre-Dreadnoughts (229) Coastal Warfare (226) Britain's Small Wars (199) Bolt Action (175) What a Tanker (170) Target Locked On (162) Victory at Sea (155) MiG Alley (150) Knights of the Sky (149) Napoleonic Naval (146) Old West (146) Chain of Command (145) Find Fix and Strike (137) Sandbox Skirmish (119) Naval Command (118) Bag The MiG (117) Naval Thunder (117) Pirates (116) Indo China / Vietnam (114) Air War Over Khalkhin Gol (108) Fistful of Lead (108) 15mm Sci-Fi / Near Future (95) Darkest Africa (91) VBCW (89) Strength and Honour (84) Shows (79) Ancients (78) ACW (77) The Football War (75) France's Small Wars (67) Boardgames (66) Corsairs and Cavaliers (66) Shipwreck! (66) BKC (65) Rapid Fire (63) Saurian Safari (62) Cruel Seas (60) Saga (60) Air War C21 (58) Journals (57) The Men Who Would Be Kings (57) Nimitz (55) Flashpoint Alto Cenepa (53) IABSM (53) Flashpoint Taiwan (50) Finest Hour (49) Gladiators (48) International Naval Wargaming Day (47) Red Actions! (46) Scramble for Britain (44) Flashpoint Baltic (42) Fortifications (41) Cold War (39) Duel of Aces (36) SCW (36) Thud Ridge (36) Desert Spitfires (34) Flames above the Falklands (34) RCW (34) War of the Pacific (34) Death in the Dark Continent (32) Atlantic Wall (31) Post Apocalypse (31) Iron Cow (30) Lion Rampant (30) Bag the Springbok (29) English Civil War / Anglo Dutch War Naval (29) Algernon Pulls It Off (28) Mexican Revolution (28) Normandy Firefight (28) Full Thrust (27) It Rolls For Ivan (26) Bulldogs Away! (24) One Hour Wargames (24) Samurai (24) Jet Knights of the Sky (23) 28mm English Civil War (22) Imaginations (22) Achtung Kommando! (21) Flashpoint PVO (21) PITS (20) Galactic Heroes (19) Steamer Wars (19) Strontium Dog (19) Ancient Naval (18) Iron Cross (18) Winter War (16) Aeronef (15) Aircraft (15) Imperial Commander (15) Rate of Fire (15) 2mm English Civil War (14) Aliens (14) Dragon Rampant (14) Mad for War (14) Arctic Eagles (13) Black Ops (13) CY6 Jet Age (13) Congo (13) Impetus (12) Wars of Insurgency (12) Zulus! (12) Flashpoint Fleet Air Arm (11) Gaslands (11) 633 Squadron (10) Franco Thai Air War (10) Jungle Green (10) Sharp Practice (10) 28mm Future Wars (9) Bohica (9) Dux Britanniarum (9) Merry Xmas Mr Sankara (9) Adventures in Jimland (8) Cry Havoc (8) Dreadnoughts (8) French Indian Wars (8) HYW (8) Renaissance Naval (8) Star Wars Legion (8) Sword and Spear (8) Through The Mud and Blood (8) Frostgrave (7) Target for Tonight (7) Five Parsecs From Home (6) French Resistance (6) A Mighty Fortress (5) Air War Angola (5) AirWar:1918 (5) Bombers over Germany (5) Check Your Six! (5) Five Men at Kursk (5) Fivecore Skirmish (5) Maurice (5) Seven Days to the River Rhine (5) Three Musketeers (5) Arab Revolt (4) Continuation War (4) Corvette Command (4) In Her Majesty's Name (4) Infamy Infamy (4) Medieval Naval (4) Never Mind The Billhooks (4) What a Cowboy (4) Battletech (3) Gangsters (3) HOTT (3) Hind Commander (3) Lord of the Sea (3) Luft 46 (3) Mourir Pour l'Indochine (3) Sturmovik Commander (3) Wings Over Suez (3) Blood Red Skies (2) Chincha Islands War (2) Crom (2) Disposable Heroes (2) Fire and Steel (2) Fivecore Company Command (2) Iron Stars (2) Judge Dredd (2) Lethal Skies (2) NUTS! (2) No Go Zone (2) Pulp! (2) Starfighters! (2) War in El Dorado (2) Whispering Death (2) A Billion Suns (1) Air War 1940 (1) Battlegroup (1) Black Powder (1) Dropzone Commander (1) Falklands War (1) Harpoon (1) Load and Return (1) Missile Threat (1) Missiles at Sea (1) Naval Wargames Society (1) Norway 1940 (1) Spanish American War (1) Sunray is Down (1) Ultracombat Normandy (1) Xenos Rampant (1)