French troops in the African Theatres

[former user]

the pictures for the BG belgian Askari are not very clear, but they are clearly bolt-action
this picture might serve (courtesy of whoever)

although not a conversion, the Albini-Braendlin resemble the french Tabatiere system in appearance. I am surprised though to hear about that old rifles in 1914 and not M1870 Belgian Comblain






Edit: Picture was a dead link, fixed it.

[pacofeanor]

thank you pinkes! very nice riffle!

for brigade games, it could suit well for french tirailleurs, with a color work on lebel!

best regards
paco

[axabrax]

Wow – very specialized information here. It looks like the end result is there are actually 12 figures suitable for World War I French Askari in the African theater available (4 Artizan and 8 Brigade) all by the same sculptor! In addition, the formerly specified Artizan Foreign Legion officers pack will work as will any of the officer packs from the Foundry Darkest Africa Belgian range. Not a bad selection after all is it? And all pretty compatible too.

[former user]

the Eureke Askari have shoes (do they?), but let's not forget the few from Castaway

[carlos marighela]

You are going to find the Castaway Arts version a poor fit with Brigade or Artizan. Gerry produces some unique ranges and the newer sculpts are very nice but they are substantially smaller than the other two. If that's not an issue for you, then you might want to look at his Sudanese regulars

IiRC the Eureka Senegalese are wearing sandals for some odd reason but it's been a while since I looked at them. I butchered mine as a source of heads in the end.

[former user]

yup, I thought so - whatever the other range, Mike Owen sculpts have reached the large size of 28mm. I have two FFL officers that are very similar in style and outfit, but the newer one is very.... Charles de Gaulle

any idea how all these compare to Woodbine?

[Bryanbowdell]

Did the dark blue uniform get issued to the Senegalese prior to switching to khaki, and would horizon blue uniforms ever have been used in Africa or middle east?

[former user]

dark blue - winter cloth, khaki - summer cloth, parallel until 1915
the 1915 horizon blue - only Western Front and only for a short time for colonials

[Plynkes]

IiRC the Eureka Senegalese are wearing sandals for some odd reason...

I've seen photos and illustrations of pre-war Tirailleurs in Africa showing them both barefoot and in sandals.

any idea how all these compare to Woodbine?

I have both Woodbine and Artizan Tirailleurs, and some Brigade Force Publique (unpainted). I'll try and rustle up a comparison shot at some point in the near future. My initial impression holding all in my hands is that the Woodbine and Brigade ones are similar in size, while the newer Artizan figures are noticeably taller than either. Perhaps not by enough to make them incompatible, though and it varies with the pose, too. But as ever, this is a very personal call. Everyone has different ideas about the nature of figure compatibility.

[former user]

I'll try and rustle up a comparison shot at some point in the near future.

very kind of You, THX

[Bryanbowdell]

I have some woodbine Sengelese and a couple of Brigade German Askari. 

The Brigade figures are slightly bigger, but not by a great deal and if the base is filed down the difference would be very small.

[former user]

here is a bit more input, something I almost forgot about:
the voiture lefebvre
250kg full steel floatable and sealed transport, that together with a mule could transport another 500kg


used in Dahomey and Madagascar (and maybe somewhere else too?)

[Bryanbowdell]

Excellent photo, when was this in use?

[former user]

dahomey 1890
madagascar 1896
maybe later?
couldn't find out more