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Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: Plynkes on 18 June 2017, 04:18:46 PM
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Hello there! A mite early perhaps, but I thought I'd start off my attempt by laying out some plans. I know it doesn't all really get going until August, but glacially slow painter that I am, I need all the head-start I can get. :)
My idea is to create a force for The Men Who Would be Kings representing the army of Mnywasele (also known as Manwa Sera or Manua Sera), one-time ntemi (or king) of Unyanyembe. Unyamyembe was one of the three major royal districts of Unyamwezi - the Land of the Moon, the great plateau that lies east of Lake Tanganyika and west of the coastal lowlands. Avid Darkest Africa aficionados will recognize Unyamwezi as birthplace of the dreaded Ruga-Ruga, those lovable hooliganish land-pirates of East Africa.
Mnywasele became ruler at a time the Swahili Arabs were expanding their business interests in the region, having founded the town of Kazeh (modern Tabora) slap bang in the middle of his territory. His predecessors had let them be, but seeing them making money hand-over-fist through the slave and ivory trades, he figured they should pay taxes like everybody else in the district.
Unsurprisingly the Arabs weren't exactly enamored of this idea, and so promptly sponsored a coup by his rival for the throne, Mkasiwa. After some fighting, Mnywasele was forced to flee and take to the bush. For the next five years he lived on the move, with a small band of loyal followers and did everything he could to regain his throne by attacking Arab caravans and bringing their trade to a standstill. He also forged alliances with neighboring tribes who also had grudges against the Arabs and they provided him with troops. Such a composite force is what I intend to build, as I think it will be quite interesting to have a wide range of different tribes in one force.
Units
The core of the force will be Mnywasele's loyal bodyguard of Nyamwezi musketeers. I haven't been able to find a picture of him, and John Speke's description of him isn't particularly useful.
"Manua Sera, I must say, was as fine a young man as ever I looked upon (Oh Jack, you devil!). He was very handsome, and looked as I now saw him the very picture of a captain of the banditti of the romances."
Sounds like quite the buccaneering fellow, so in the absence of other evidence, I think I'm justified as representing him and his bodyguard as Ruga-Ruga. They are after all, the prototypes for the ones that came later, such as Mirambo and his boys. For the man himself, I am going to use this fellow from North Star, as he does have something of the air of a pantomime pirate about him...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/28/163_18_06_17_5_02_14.jpg)
Interestingly, the image this figure was inspired by has come to represent the archetypal Ruga-Ruga, and yet the picture wasn't of a Nyamwezi Ruga-Ruga at all, but of a Nyasaland slaver. Thompson called him a Ruga-Ruga because he reminded him of the Nyamwezi ones, but then it went and stuck. Oh well, Ruga-Ruga is one of those words whose meaning changed over the century anyway. From rootless juvenile bandit to the gun-armed soldiers of the Nyamwezi warlords up until the colonial period when it had become a byword for any irregular native forces armed with firearms. But I digress...
The rest of the unit will be made up of Foundry and North Star Ruga Ruga, plus a few conversions of my own devising. I might have two units of these guys. Might.
Allies
1 unit of 16 Wagogo Allies (spear, shield and bow-armed tribal infantry)
1 Unit of 16 Wasakuma Allies (spear, shield, and bow-armed tribal infantry)
1 unit of 16 Warori Allies (spear, shield and musket-armed tribal infantry)
And if needed, for games with higher points values:
1 unit of 16 Watuta Allies (spear and shield-armed elite tribal infantry)
And/or
1 unit of 16 Masai Allies (spear and shield-armed elite tribal infantry)
The latter two are already taken care of painting-wise, so aren't actually part of the Army Painter thingummy.
We can have quite a bit of fun doing interesting conversions to make the Wasakuma, Wagogo and Warori. This is the part I am looking forward to the most, but we'll get more into that when the time comes. The Warori are similar enough in appearance to Wahehe that I am going to begin their unit with the Hehe I painted just for fun a couple of years ago. They aren't quite right, but they are close enough, and I think they deserve a chance at glory on the tabletop. The finished unit will then be one I can use as a proxy for both Warori and Wahehe, even though it won't be quite perfect for either.
So here we are, the first few boys of the army are already done (three years ago). A bit cheaty, but there you go. Another ten like this and the first unit will be done...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/18/163_14_06_14_5_54_58_0.jpg)
So we're off! Wish me luck. :)
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Really looking forward to this one! The new Ruga-Ruga are very nice.
Having some units done isn't cheaty :) I'm very sure I had one unit painted years ahead of each of my Army Painter projects. The hard part was matching the painting!
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Good show with the early start. Those are magnificent, if the rest are anywhere near this'll be a spectacle to watch. 8) 8) 8)
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They are true beauties Poly :-* looking forward to seeing the army develop
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I am very much looking forward to this! It is great to see you taking up brush and continuing your African explorations. I have no doubt that this will prove a treat and will be all the more enjoyable for being stretched out over several months.
Lon
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Exciting news, Plynkes is going to paint something! That needs to be celebrated :D
Seriously, really happy to hear you're back at the painting table, Dylan, please stay there for a while :)
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Exciting news, Plynkes is going to paint something! That needs to be celebrated :D
Seriously, really happy to hear you're back at the painting table, Dylan, please stay there for a while :)
What he says! :)
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Exciting news, Plynkes is going to paint something! That needs to be celebrated :D
Seriously, really happy to hear you're back at the painting table, Dylan, please stay there for a while :)
Not to be a ditto, but .... ditto. Your colonial projects are a big part of what drew me to LAF in the first place! :)
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Yes, have to agree with the others, great to see you back at the brushes. :)
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Let's not get carried away until I've actually done something, eh? lol
Been so flipping hot here the last few days I have done precisely nothing so far, beyond contemplating my options from the comfort of the pool in my garden.* But that is a legitimate excuse. I swear it is.
*The heat is however rather good for conjuring up an East African atmosphere. You could almost mistake the Herefordshire plains for the Savannah on a day like this. Almost.
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Go for it man. :D
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Looking forward to seeing this :)
cheers
James
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Damn, it's July already! Haven't started yet, I'm still working on the Arab army they're gonna be fighting. Yikes!
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Damn, it's July already! Haven't started yet, I'm still working on the Arab army they're gonna be fighting. Yikes!
No worries, I'm just now getting around to sorting what I need to paint :)
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Well, I'd like to say this whole "getting back into painting" deal was going well, but it has once again been an intense struggle, and I don't have much to show for it. I am finding it horribly difficult, and occasionally a little dispiriting, which has led to a rather paltry output. Painting has never come easy to me, but right now it just feels fucking hard, and I sometimes can't escape the feeling that I have no idea what I'm doing. lol Seem to have forgotten most of what I knew, and it hasn't helped that I've had to come up with an entirely new method for painting African skin tones, as the paints I previously used have now run out or dried up, and most of them are no longer available. Sometimes it has felt like the old days, but it has mostly been some sort of torment.
But anyway that's all the feeble excuses out of the way, let's try and be positive from now on, hopefully it will get easier the more I do.
Happily, I have managed to finish off my Watuta unit. One of the allies/mercenaries of our hero. I thought I had already got enough of these but I was mistaken, and so needed to do five more.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/29/163_15_08_17_11_41_00_2.jpg)
There are a few odd colour effects in these pictures, little splashes of red that aren't there in real life. Something awry with the camera settings there.
Maybe something to do with the long exposures to get more light in due to taking these photos at night. Sorry about that. Try and ignore them. :)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/29/163_15_08_17_11_41_00_3.jpg)
I do love these Copplestone sculpts, despite the wrestling matches they and I have had trying to get them to look good. I think they are some of his finest work.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/29/163_15_08_17_11_41_00_4.jpg)
A couple of spots here and there on their chests where the matt varnish is not being so matt and is catching the light on the photos.
You don't really notice it with the naked eye, but the perfectionist in me might go back with the brush-on matt and just fix that up. Might.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/29/163_15_08_17_11_41_23.jpg)
The finished 16-man unit for The Men Who Would Be Kings. I think the new guys blend in quite well with the old, despite the new African painting regimen. I don't think you can see the join. Thought I would be done with these guys but since planning this army I have tried out TSATF, which is making me think I should just do four more of these guys, so they can be a 20-man TSATF unit as well.
It's only four more...
Just to finish off, a couple more fellows. An Arab and a Baluchi. They aren't part of this army, but they are part of the same project. They will be the enemy. These were the first figures that I painted when I came back to the desk. Just a couple of guys to get back into the swing of things. Might as well show them here. Good a place as any...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/29/163_15_08_17_11_41_00_0.jpg) (http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/29/163_15_08_17_11_41_00_1.jpg)
Not really super-pleased with them, but they aren't bad for a first effort. They'll do.
Well, that's things under way. Hopefully I can get fully into gear and get things rolling a bit faster soon. Ta-ta!
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Don't get dispirited Plynkes - these are amazing!!
Here's to many more mate! :)
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Seem to have forgotten most of what I knew, and it hasn't helped that I've had to come up with an entirely new method for painting African skin tones, as the paints I previously used have now run out or dried up, and most of them are no longer available.
They look damn good to me!
I know what you mean about taking a break and coming back to it. Seeing a pot of a favorite paint dried up can be a big hurdle.
Keep it up, it will feel great at the end ;)
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Don't get dispirited Plynkes - these are amazing!!
They look damn good to me!
Thanks, guys. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out, it's just that I'm finding the process of getting there slow, laborious, not particularly enjoyable and most pointedly - mistake and fuck-up ridden, something that saps the enthusiasm. But nobody likes to hear grousing and whining so I shall speak no more on the topic. :)
Or maybe I shall indulge myself in playing the struggling, tortured artist! Oh woe is me! lol
Anyway, on the painting table right now is Manua Sera himself and a few of his bodyguards. Hopefully they'll be up next. After that we'll start looking at doing some conversions for the various other allied tribes. Doing little bits of conversion work is something I'm rather enjoying (two of the bodyguards are conversion-jobs), more so than the actual painting. So I'm quite looking forward to that.
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So pleased that this thread is a thing! :)
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You're too hard on yourself. Your painting is really very good, certainly up there with some of the best. Nice buildings as well as some great photography.
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Very food work mate, especially the flesh :-*
The fact that you struggled to do them gives you twice the satisfaction of having done the models. Well done!:D
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Wow, nice painting on these!
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I hate people who say they are struggling with painting and then produce stunning paint jobs like these :-* :-* :-*
I only wish I could be so bad at painting but I am just a poor human not a god of the paint table like you ;D ;D ;D
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For the man himself, I am going to use this fellow from North Star, as he does have something of the air of a pantomime pirate about him...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/28/163_18_06_17_5_02_14.jpg)
Interestingly, the image this figure was inspired by has come to represent the archetypal Ruga-Ruga, and yet the picture wasn't of a Nyamwezi Ruga-Ruga at all, but of a Nyasaland slaver.
Very cool. He has Zeze of Lion King fame nesting on his head.
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You're too hard on yourself. Your painting is really very good, certainly up there with some of the best. Nice buildings as well as some great photography.
I second that :)
Excellent work, keep it up, it will be worth it in the long run. :)
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It's more about not enjoying the process so much any more than being unhappy with the outcome, really. I'm not going to moan any more. Sorry, guys. lol But actually, being perpetually dissatisfied with my work is how I have got better at it over the years. So I reckon in a way it can be a good thing.
Not got much to report at the moment. Haven't felt much like painting (it's been really humid and sticky around here lately - and air-con isn't really a thing here - which kills the urge a little) so have been mucking around with conversions for the allies. Lopping off heads, hair-styling, making tiny penises out of the greenstuff. You know, the usual. Will post pics as soon as I have anything worth showing.
Speaking of Greenstuff, I've tried out the brush-on kind that GW sells and I'm loving it. Wish I'd known about this ages ago, it's really handy for certain things.
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Speaking of Greenstuff, I've tried out the brush-on kind that GW sells and I'm loving it. Wish I'd known about this ages ago, it's really handy for certain things.
Is this what they sell as "Liquid Greenstuff"? What is it handy for?
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Yeah, that's the stuff. I'm finding it much easier to use for certain jobs than the regular kind of Greenstuff or Milliput. For example, I was trying my hand at some Wagogo crazy hairstyles and wanted to add a row of spiky braid-type things to a figure. I drilled holes in his head and inserted wire, then painted a couple of layers of the Greenstuff over the wire until I had nice soild-looking spikes of hair coming out of his head. It would have been just too fiddly for me to achieve this effect with regular putty, but applying it with a brush to the wire was absolutely easy.
You can also run it into cracks to fill gaps where you have joined pieces, and again it is much easier to control than normal putty. I also used it to apply, er... pubic hair to a naked figure who previously was a baldy. Just paint it on and then texture it a bit. I'm finding new uses for it as I go.
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Your Watuta unit looks great, Plynkes! Did you scratch build those shields or are they supplied with the Copplestone figures? I'm working on a Hehe army, and have been totally inspired by your Hehe mods and scratch built shields, but find the prospect of scratch building an armies worth of shields a bit daunting. If those are Copplestone, I may be able to use some of those and scratch build fewer. Any advice appreciated!
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Thanks, Nightgaunt!
The Watuta shields come with the figures. Those same shields come with all three of the Copplestone Ngoni warrior packs. You get a random mix of big and smaller ones (mine are all using the bigger ones). One of the packs (AFU5 Elite Ngoni Warriors) has a random mix of figures in feather headdresses and zebra mane ones. The zebra mane headdresses were used by the Hehe, so those particular figures are a pretty good starting point for Hehe conversions or head-swaps. Unfortunately I don't think you can get just the zebra mane guys, they come in a random mix.
The very large Hehe shields in the picture in the first post are scratch-built from plastic card. :)
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Cool! Thanks very much! I'll really enjoy seeing the progression of your army here. Your conversions and painting are always splendid!
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Well, for various reasons I have not been able to get much done in the last couple of months, and while I'm not sure how long this Army Painter 2017 thing runs for, it's safe to say that we're running out of 2017 to have it in. So I think this is where I admit to dismal failure and bow out.
But the project itself isn't dead, I aim to continue it in my Unyamwezi - The Land of the Moon (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=105447.0) thread over on the Colonial Adventures board.
But by way of saying goodbye, I thought I'd post some WIP shots of my attempts at converting some figures into those allies I was talking about earlier. They are for the most part pretty "light" conversions. Not very difficult. I'm hoping to get some paint on them over the weekend, if I can find a bit of peace.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/30/163_08_12_17_2_44_09_0.jpg)
These guys are Wagogo. Two with traditional Gogo shields, two have decided that looking like Masai is the future and have adopted their style of shield. All of them sport a trademark Gogo ridiculous hair-do. When painted they will be in ochre or red loin-cloths/togas, and sport some natty red war paint like the Masai do.
The two figures in togas are converted Copplestone Somalis, while the other two are Foundry Darkest Africa tribesmen given the hair treatment and their loin-cloths adjusted to look more like the Gogo style.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/30/163_08_12_17_2_44_09_1.jpg)
These ones are Wasukuma. Two from North Star and two from Foundry. The Sukuma were a branch of the Nyamwezi, who for most of the century competed with the Gogo for the coveted All-East African Silly Hairdo Champions League trophy. The last time it was held, before the Germans came along and spoiled everything by making them play football, the Gogo won it 6-5 on penalties.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/30/163_08_12_17_2_44_09_2.jpg)
The Sukuma were quite conservative in their dress, which sounds like a daft thing to say when you look at these fools, but by that I mean they resisted outside influences on their fashions. While most of the rest of the country were dressing up like either Swahili Arabs or Masai, these guys liked to stick with their old home-grown styles. So most wore traditional animal fur loin cloths. Well, it's a bit of stretch to call them "loin" cloths, because as Speke pointed out, they very rarely actually covered any of their loins, which they left hanging in the warm breeze generally.
But the fellow in the above picture is a little different. He's obviously quite well-to-do, and has got himself a nice piece of trade cloth to make a kilt out of. He thinks he's a real Carnaby Street trend-setter, no doubt, but those other three are calling him a right ponce behind his back. He's wielding the traditional Nyamwezi "bill-hook" weapon, described and illustrated by, er.. Stanley, I think it was. Can't remember and those guys are standing on the book, so I can't look it up.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/30/163_08_12_17_2_44_09_3.jpg)
This guy will be used as a leader figure. He's wearing both the animal skin/feather headdress of a caravan guide, and also the red baize cloak of a chief. He really thinks he's something, this one.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/30/163_08_12_17_2_44_09_4.jpg)
Rear view showing an experimental attempt to fashion the baize cloak from some tin foil.
Ta-ra, then, Army Painter 2017! It was fun, but I was useless. See you all in the other thread!
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Great conversions, I love the funky hair styles ;D
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Interesting variety to those guys, they look the part. Well done!