Diablo Jon does Darkest Africa - now with my first Swahili buildings

[Mike1879]

Superb work !! Love the waves effect lapping up to the beach. What Teddy Bear fur did you use ??

[gamer Mac]

Stunning 
So green with envy

[Diablo Jon]

thanks for the nice comments guys

Superb work !! Love the waves effect lapping up to the beach. What Teddy Bear fur did you use ??

Mike this time around I used a fur bought of eBay described as "Standard Short Pile Faux Fur Fabric" which you could buy in a variety of lengths but always a 150cm wide hopefully that helps?

[Golgotha]

Did not think it would get better and it just did - simply stunning - certainly a great endorsement to try teddy bear fur. Do not think I will be able to look at a teddy in the same way again... Keep 'em coming...

[Mike1879]

Cheers Jon much appreciated !!!

[Diablo Jon]

Did not think it would get better and it just did - simply stunning - certainly a great endorsement to try teddy bear fur. Do not think I will be able to look at a teddy in the same way again... Keep 'em coming...

thanks Golgotha

[Mad Guru]

Wow.  Positively fantastic.  Simple materials turned into a masterpiece of terrain, versatile and useful for near endless theaters of waterfront war and/or adventure.  But of course if you only use it for African lakefront, coastal, and riverine settings, it's still fantastic!

[Diablo Jon]

The Nkonde(or Ngonde)  where a branch of the Nyakyusa people living south of  the Songwe river in what would become the northern border of British central Africa. The Karonga war was essentially fought in their territory and they where active participants as allies of the African Lakes Company against the Arabs.

In To the Central African Lakes and Back (1881) the explorer Joseph Thomson describes the Nyakyusa lands “It seemed a perfect Arcadia Imagine a perfectly level plain, from which all weeds, garbage, and things unsightly are carefully cleared away. Dotted here and there are a number of immense shady sycamores with branches almost as large as a separate tree. Every few spaces are charmingly neat circular huts, with conical roofs, and walls hanging out all round with the clay worked prettily into rounded bricks, and daubed symmetrically with spots. The grass thatching is also very neat. The ‘tout ensemble’ renders these huts a place in any nobleman’s garden.”

Militarily the Nkonde/ Nyakyusa don’t seem to have been particularly formidable. Apparently when they first encountered the Ngoni (sometime in the 1840S?) they were still using fire hardened wooden spears not surprisingly they where duffed up quite badly. This event saw the Nyakyusa form a relationship with the Kinga people, who had a reputation as iron workers, to make spears for them. During the Karonga war the Nkonde suffered several defeats early on, in the conflict, to the Arab slavers and their Henga allies. Later on, fighting alongside Europeans, they put up a better show against the Arab slavers even being instrumental to victory in the final attack on Mlozi’s stockade. Fredrick Moir, of the African Lakes Company, described them as “Brave and warlike” but reckoned those further north where better fighters than those living around the company’s Karonga station. The Nkonde’s northern cousins, along with their Kinga allies rebelled against German rule in 1897.  The Climax of the revolt saw a column of 45 German Askari ambushed “HeHe style” by 2000 warriors. Inexplicable the Nyakyusa decided they wanted to capture not kill their enemies and attacked the column unarmed…it didn’t end well for the Nyakyusa.

Appearance wise the Nkonde wore very little their main item of clothing were belts, made from wire, the more important the man the more belts he wore. Chiefs also wore anklets with bells attached. Those Nkonde who came under missionary influence took to wearing small lion cloths to cover the bits Victorian missionaries found uncomfortable to look at. Chris Peers in his book on Central Africa says that explorer Helen Chadwick, in 1898, reported Nyakyusa dancers wearing feathered headdresses of black or brown feathers and covered in red, yellow and white body paint which he tentatively suggests may have been a war costume.



In war the Nkonde used spears, for throwing and stabbing, as well as wooden clubs. Their shields were an unusual design made from cow hide and canes they weere long, thin and slightly convex the British Museum has several in their collection and they generally seem to be around 4 feet in length but no two shields seem to be the same in design or size.









I certainly wanted some Nkonde allies for my African Lakes Company army but no one made any miniatures that really seemed to fit the part so it was conversion time. Copplestone Dinka formed the basis of my miniatures with some head swaps using spare Perry plastic Zulu heads. I gave one miniature a feathered head dress to act as a leader in games of TMWWBKs. The shields where built from thin cardboard and wire stiffened with thin superglue and sealed with PVA glue. I added some extra wire belts from thin wire and added a few lion clothes made from tissue paper and super glue. Painting was pretty easy as they where mostly skin I was tempted to add war paint as suggested by Chris Peers but I couldn’t find any evidence for Nkonde war paint and the only photo I could find of Nkonde (see above) doesn’t show any. The shields where painted in a mixture of hide and patterns like the examples in the British museum. So here they are. 













And here are a couple of in action shots on my new gaming mat.

[gamer Mac]

Cracking job

[Plynkes]

Oh yes! Keep it coming, Jon. It's always a good day when we get an update on this project.


One of my favourite things to do in the Darkest Africa realm is trying to figure out how to bring some of the less well-known peoples to the table using what is commercially available out there. Seems like you may have that bug too.

[Diablo Jon]

Oh yes! Keep it coming, Jon. It's always a good day when we get an update on this project.


One of my favourite things to do in the Darkest Africa realm is trying to figure out how to bring some of the less well-known peoples to the table using what is commercially available out there. Seems like you may have that bug too.

Thanks. Yeah I have got rather obsessed with British central Africa and the Karonga War of late. The easy thing to do would be to just use Foundry natives for everyone but I just felt like I wanted to try and capture the differences of the various native warriors of the area. I find researching the natives peoples interesting and frustrating all at once. Every time I uncover a little bit of info its like a little win (like finding the Nkonde shield examples online at the British museum) other times though I can spend an age on the net and find practically nothing new or useful. All the different names for the same peoples can be flippin confusing as well. Of course once you found out enough info on the natives you want you are, as you pointed out, left trying to figure out how to create them from what's out there (funnily enough when ever I do go looking for darkest Africa conversions of natives your miniatures are normally the ones the pop up). I've got some Nguru Lomwe on the workbench to be allies of my Yao utilising Northstar Ila the fact that they are wearing skirts rather than lion clothes makes them really useful.
 

Cracking job

Thank you

[Atheling]

I echo Plynkes sentiments.

This is superb stuff 

Very imaginative and creative- it's always great to see someone "go deep" on a project. I can always find something I can take away which inspires from such an enterprise.

[Golgotha]

Those are certainly a lovely addition, do like the unusual shields.

[Diablo Jon]

Those are certainly a lovely addition, do like the unusual shields.

thanks Golgotha

I echo Plynkes sentiments.

This is superb stuff 

Very imaginative and creative- it's always great to see someone "go deep" on a project. I can always find something I can take away which inspires from such an enterprise.

Thanks Atheling I think the hole might go a lot deeper yet I still have my Arab/Zanzibar/Swahili army to paint up and my Yao to finish off  and I still want to have armies of AwBemba, Central African Rifles, Mokolo/Bartose, Ila, Matbele and some Northern Rhodesian police under Bobo Young, more scenery oh and steam boats and Dhows....probably never get it all done but it will be fun trying 

[Atheling]

Thanks Atheling I think the hole might go a lot deeper yet I still have my Arab/Zanzibar/Swahili army to paint up and my Yao to finish off  and I still want to have armies of AwBemba, Central African Rifles, Mokolo/Bartose, Ila, Matbele and some Northern Rhodesian police under Bobo Young, more scenery oh and steam boats and Dhows....probably never get it all done but it will be fun trying 

So, you've got a couple of projects on the go then 

Keep posting up the results of your research and conversion/brushwork; it's a real pleasure to see it and as I said in my earlier post- it really is inspiring