Questions about Kimbu and Hehe

[Clearco]

Hi!
In the Hehe army list for DitC Kimbu warriors are mentioned, together with Gogo. About the Wagogo I have enough information from the Foundry book about East Africa but...any idea how the Kimbu could have looked like??

Regarding the Wahehe, I'm looking for advice for planing my army regarding the miniatures I can use...In the list seems like their only true warriors are these of the Wajinga regiments, the rest being subjects from other tribes. The thing is, when converting/sculpting Wahehe warriors I intended to make the normal warriors with the zebra headdress and/or the visby in maasai style,  to distinguish them from the elite warriors, with pom poms and plumes...Now, as there is only one kind of Wahehe warriors in the army I suppose there is no point anymore in making that distinction, right?

[Plynkes]

The Kimbu are a branch of the Nyamwezi, who are covered in Chris Peers' book. In the absence of any other info about their appearance, I would style them after the Nyamwezi pictures in that book.


The Wahehe were a union of many tribes, each with their own fashions, and we have wildly differing reports of their appearance, probably for that reason. Having the 'elites' look one particular way would only ever have been a wargaming convenience anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter that much that your army list only gives you one type of Hehe warrior. But you can still have different units sporting different looks if you fancy some variety. They seem to have donned most of the Ngoni styles, plus a few of their own.

[Clearco]

Thank you a lot for the helpfull answer, Plynkes 
Nyamwezi look for the Kimbu, then. I've always wanted to sculpt their eight-shaped shields anyway 

As for the Hehe, I think I tend to imagine things way to organised in my squarish mind. I'll probably mix styles in each unit then

[Plynkes]

Well you could have each unit having its own look if you want, and say they are from different Hehe tribes. We don't know for sure that they didn't do that. I don't think we really have enough information to know whether they had a uniform look or were higgledy-piggledy in their units' appearance, so you can probably do it how it best pleases you. If you prefer them looking more organised nobody can really say you are wrong.

[Clearco]

Hmmm, that's a point 
Maybe I'll make a pair of mixed units and one of them only with the pom-poms, as intended, even if they don't make any difference in the rules 

[Plynkes]

I was just browsing through my Chris Peers book looking for ideas for Ruga Ruga styles, and I noticed there is actually an illustration of a Kimbu shield. It is different to the standard Nyamwezi figure-of-eight design. It is small and the shape of an heraldic escutcheon, only upside-down. Made from hide stretched on a frame, and said to be painted white.

Page 86, figure 50b.

Can't believe I never noticed that before.

[Clearco]

Oh, excellent, Plynkes!!  Now that you mention it, I remember having seen the shield besides the hairstyles and never having paid much attention to it  I´ll see it in a different way now, hehehe. I´ll check it as soon as I get home!
Thanks!! 

[Conquistador]

Polynkes,

I bow before your ability to remember all that detail and/or what book it is in.

All I can say is, "Wow."