Painting Beja/Hadendowa tribesmen - advice needed!

[Sparrow]

For many years I’ve been accumulating figures to wargame the 1st Sudan campaign in a bid to try and save poor old Gordon in Khartoum (I’m a sucker for a nice range of minis and I reckon this is one of the Perry twins’ best!). At long last these figures are nearly at the top of the lead mountain and I’m planning how to paint them. I’m starting with the Suakin campaign and the battles of  El Teb and the army of Osman Digna.

The problem I’m hitting is what shade of skin tone to apply to my Beja tribesmen (aka “fuzzy wuzzies”). I’ve looked at as many contemporary pictures as I can (trying to exclude some the more jingoistic offerings of the time!), particularly photos of the later Kitchener campaign, and I’m confused . Do I want (and forgive my crass descriptions here):

a) a very dark skin appearance , almost Nubisn, or
b) something slightly lighter, perhaps not too far from a Zulu style tone, or
c) someting slighly lighter still, almost “dark Middle Eastern”.

I’ve looked at countless photos of other people’s work (there are some brilliant snapshots of figures out there) and they all seem to fall into one of these three camps.

What do you think/can anyone offer any guidance? Indeed, should I be looking at a combination of all of the above (and, if so, should they be mixed within units or kept as separate tribal groupings?).

Any advice appreciated and thanks  in advance!

[Mad Guru]

Just one photo titled "beja-tribe-warriors-with-their-swords-red-sea-state-port-sudan-sudan" but in this case I think a picture may be worth a thousand words:

[Atheling]

Just one photo titled "beja-tribe-warriors-with-their-swords-red-sea-state-port-sudan-sudan" but in this case I think a picture may be worth a thousand words:

That's a great picture and Mad Guru is certainly right, a picture does speak a thousand words.

I think the Peter Dennis artwork on the front of the plastics box is also a qualitative study..... (apologies for not finding a larger example)



For myself, I went with two different skin tones, actually quite by accident as I painted two bases as I would normally and they took a long time to complete:



Here's the recipe I used:

Matt Spray on Primer (Edited)
Andrea Black Undercoat (very matt)
VMC Black mixed with equal amount of VMC Medium German Cam Brown
Citadel Agrax Earthshade Wash (Straight of out the tin and applied liberally)
Foundry Dark African Skin B
Foundry Dark African Skin B and a small amount of Foundry Dark African Skin highlighted to taste with Foundry Light African Skin C(might be called North African Skin C?)

I also tried out a Speed Painted version that resulted in these, which if I'm honest, I actually prefer:


The recipe for the above was:

ii/ Undercoat with Andrea Black- this is a very flat matte.
iii/ Mix 35%-65% Vallejo model Colour Black (70950) and German Cam. Medium Brown (70826) and paint making sure you get good coverage. If another coat is needed them apply.
iv/ Straight from the pot wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade Wash.
v/ Highlight with Foundry Dark African Flesh (121B)
vi/ Mix in a small amount of Vallejo Model Colour Ivory with the Foundry Dark African Flesh and highlight the bits of the model that would catch the sun from above.

I hope that this is of some use to you.

The key, experiment

[Plynkes]

Just based on my own observations, I can't claim any expertise here...

I wouldn't go with the super-dark Nuba type of skin tone. I've only ever seen that in Victorian paintings, probably painted by someone who hasn't been within 4000 miles of a Beja.

THOUGHHHHH... Having said that, this one was painted by Charles Edwin Frippp, a special war artist, who as far as I can tell, was actually present on the Suakin expedition depicted here...



Though they don't look like "Fuzzy Wuzzies" the rather bellicose gentlemen in the centre-left are indeed Hadendowa. By this point in the war Osman Digna's men had adopted the early version of the Ansar uniform (yet another reason why "Fuzzy Wuzzy" figures aren't as useful as we'd like to think they are - there really aren't that many battles where that look is the historically correct one).


Blown up a bit so you can get a better look...



Pretty dark, I'd say. However, in photos of people from the Red Sea Littoral (Beja, Beni Amir, etc), they never seem to look this dark. I don't know whether to trust Fripp's eyes or my own.

Personally, if I was painting some I would use my normal Sub-Saharan Africa formula, mostly because I'm lazy. If I was feeling energetic I might go a tiny bit lighter. But I don't think I'd go all-out "Middle Eastern" as you put it.



Hey, wait a minute, I did paint one once, for the LPL. And that's exactly what I did. Here's a blow-up of him:


I'm quite happy with him. As far as I remember I did him the same way I do most Africans from a bit further south. Not much help, I suppose, but hopefully I've at the least given you some food for thought.

[Diablo Jon]

I'm pretty lazy and paint all my Africans a darkish brown I'm aware their are plenty of variations on a dark skin tone but I paint all more pale flesh with the same piant to for ease.

I love the Perry Beja they are cool minatures  but they seem of such limited use I've held off getting some. Actually I did get a box of the plastics to mix with Perry Zulu parts for my central Africa project.

 I have wondered if it would be a stretch to pit them against Copplestone Somalis or Empress Abyssinians?

[Plynkes]

I have wondered if it would be a stretch to pit them against Copplestone Somalis or Empress Abyssinians?

Not if you don't mind using them as something other than Hadendowa.  The Beni-Amer people, who are related to and live further south than the Hadendowa (they are considered a branch of the Beja by some, but not always), during our period bore such a resemblance to the Beja in costume and equipment as to be indistinguishable in a tabletop setting.  I believe they are the most numerous grouping in Eritrea, and being largely Muslim have never got on particularly well with the Christian Ethiopians. They seem to have been used as "Friendlies" by the Italians in their operations in the region, and no doubt there were times when they skirmished with their neighbours on their own initiative.

I don't have any evidence of them fighting with Somalis, but the proximity is there with the Afar (or Danakils), who for my money look pretty much like Copplestone Somalis.

[Sparrow]

Thanks all, hugely appreciated!

[italwars]

Not if you don't mind using them as something other than Hadendowa.  The Beni-Amer people, who are related to and live further south than the Hadendowa (they are considered a branch of the Beja by some, but not always), during our period bore such a resemblance to the Beja in costume and equipment as to be indistinguishable in a tabletop setting.  I believe they are the most numerous grouping in Eritrea, and being largely Muslim have never got on particularly well with the Christian Ethiopians. They seem to have been used as "Friendlies" by the Italians in their operations in the region, and no doubt there were times when they skirmished with their neighbours on their own initiative.

I don't have any evidence of them fighting with Somalis, but the proximity is there with the Afar (or Danakils), who for my money look pretty much like Copplestone Somalis.

The Beni Amer was used as something similar to "bande" or in a cetain way "friendly"...well being mercenaires they certainly posed as "friendly"...certainly they did'nt like the Amara Ethiopians..not only for religion issues but also because outside Adis Abeba the far lands of the Negussite Empire was ruled by sort of unreliable landlords "Ras" which fidelity to Addis Abeba was maintaned also by allowing them all sort of Razias Vs unlucky minorities or dominated people....Those Beni Amer saw quite a few of fights above all Vs the Madhist, even if being muslims,  when they tried to invade the colony...as our moderator underlined those Madhi's followers weren't the best neigbour to deal with....as concern minis i had the same thoughts...bought a lot beja , discovered , also thanks to this forum, that they did'nt fought in all famous Sudan's battles..so, to don't make them  unemployed, i'll field them Vs Egyptians, acting as Somalis Vs Italians in early 1900 and as Beni Amer or Abab as "Bande" supporting Italian Askaris vs Dervishes

[Diablo Jon]

Not if you don't mind using them as something other than Hadendowa.  The Beni-Amer people, who are related to and live further south than the Hadendowa (they are considered a branch of the Beja by some, but not always), during our period bore such a resemblance to the Beja in costume and equipment as to be indistinguishable in a tabletop setting.  I believe they are the most numerous grouping in Eritrea, and being largely Muslim have never got on particularly well with the Christian Ethiopians. They seem to have been used as "Friendlies" by the Italians in their operations in the region, and no doubt there were times when they skirmished with their neighbours on their own initiative.

I don't have any evidence of them fighting with Somalis, but the proximity is there with the Afar (or Danakils), who for my money look pretty much like Copplestone Somalis.

Thanks for the reply. I guess it wouldn't be a stretch to pit them against earlier Egyptians either so at least that would give you three other opponents to pit those Beja miniatures against if you get tired of attacking British squares.

[Plynkes]

Yeah, though there are only two battles I can think of where they fought the Brits in their original get-up and hairstyle (El Teb and Tamai), if you want to pit them against the Egyptians you have much more choice (that's of course assuming you want to do historical or semi-historical engagements, if you are going hypothetical the world's already your oyster). There were several battles in the Eastern Rebellion before the British arrived, including two battles of El Teb (the one involving the British was actually the third, even though it is usually called the Second Battle of El Teb).

Fred Burnaby was present at both Valentine Baker's defeat at El Teb and Graham's victory there (as was Val Baker himself), so if you have one of those two Fred Burnaby figures that were doing the rounds a few years ago you can get him out and dust him off (no idea how he was dressed the first time around, though, not that it really matters).

The Egyptians make a colourful  (if not all that competent) force, with some of those interesting troops types the Perry twins do, including Sudanese regulars and irregulars, Bazingers and mounted police. Also Abyssinian scouts (which I think the Brits used too).

Interestingly, I was just perusing Mike Snook's book on the subject to refresh my memory, and he reckons that Osman Digna's force wasn't solely made up of Hadendowa. Seems there were a sizeable body of the very Beni-Amer we were talking about earlier present, too. So you can actually use your Beja as Beni-Amer and field them against the British at the same time. Cool! He also mentions bands of "local cut-throats" flocking to his banner, not sure what the best figures for them would be, but they sound like fun.

[Arundel]

I  don't have much to add to the skin discussion, but have to say that that Fripp painting (all his work, actually) and the Giles paintings of Tamai are probably my favourite military paintings ever. Incredibly dramatic works!

[Jack Jones]

Hi All

I am addressing this very topic just now.

I think this is quite well known, but not mentioned here (so far):

http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1310-ethnic-skintones

… scroll down to ‘African‘.

Have a look and let me know what you think.

Cheers

JJ

[FierceKitty]

The Mahdists invaded Abyssinia. Makes a good game.