Medieval Africa

[Christopher]

I’m feeling all inspired by Dom Sore’s article on the Mali Empire in the new Wargames Illustrated.

Is anyone able to give any pointers to what figures may be available or usable for medieval Africa, or where I could find suitable rules and army lists.

There’s a few fairly old postings on TMP, but that’s about it so far as I can see.

Thanks in advance

[MGH]

Khurusan has a range of west African grasslands empires forces, Songhai, etc.

http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/west-sudanese.html

Plenty of painted samples in the lists.

[von Lucky]

Are you looking for the Mali Empire or Africa more broadly? If you're thinking 15mm to go with the Khurasan Miniatures' range of Sudanese, there's also Eureka Miniatures' Abyssinians range: http://www.eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_102_692&sort=3a

More broadly there's a few options (scroll down to see available suppliers):
https://www.madaxeman.com/adlg/tiki-index.php?page=Christian+Nubian

List wise I know that Field of Glory, DBA and Art de la Guerre have lists for African lists, but you might need to be a little more specific (I haven't read Dom Sore’s article). There is this Wikipedia page that may add more inspiration:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Mali_Empire

As an example ADLG has a list for the Sahelian Empire (850 - 1591 CE) that also includes the Mali Empire (1235 - 1400 CE), Songhai Empire (1460 - 1591 CE) and the Kanem-Bornu Empire and Hausa City-states.

[Ogrob]

Just stopping by to say super interesting project. I find Mali and Songhai super interesting, and have tried to read up a bit on them but nothing on their military I'm afraid.

I did remember this article from North Star, but of course it's much later. Khurasan seems to have gone with this aesthetic for their mounted general, so of course it could serve as some inspiration.

A few years ago I saw an exhibition of copper castings from the city and area of Ife, which could probably also give some clues as to appearances. I don't remember if there were any soldiers in the collection, but could be worth looking into. The people of Ife were incredibly skilled craftsmen already in the 1300s if I remember correctly.

[AdamPHayes]

Irregular Miniatures have some figures that might be suitable in 28mm

[von Lucky]

Thanks AdamPHayes, the only other 28mm African knights I've found are some that were briefly available from Northstar Miniatures' 'Nickstarter' for Death in the Dark Continent last year, and are in the private range of Kev Dallimore:
http://wargameterrain.blogspot.com/2017/02/northstar-miniatures-death-in-dark.html

I'm also suprised Wargames Foundry doesn't have any, when they sell a beautiful looking book on the subject:
https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/products/african-knights

[Firescale Whack]

Castaway arts do a 28mm Western Sudan/Sub Sahara African range including knights. They also have some Abyssinians.

https://secure.iig.com.au/castawayarts/index.php?cmd=store

They are also based in Australia Von Lucky 

[Christopher]

Hey, thanks for al the pointers guys.  I was thinking 28mm, but I’m more concerned about them being decent sculpts than I am about historical perfection. Is that heresy?

[Captain Blood]

Hey, thanks for al the pointers guys.  I was thinking 28mm, but I’m more concerned about them being decent sculpts than I am about historical perfection. Is that heresy?

No, it’s the approach taken by people that like their wargames to look nice whilst retaining an appropriate flavour of the setting portrayed 

[Ogrob]

Fully agree. I'd rather have good looking and reasonably accurate over bad sculpts with the correct amount of buttons.

[Cyrus the Great]

Any of the ranges mentioned here are more than suitable and I have all of the ranges mentioned for 28mm.  If you want to do 15mm then Khurasan is the way to go.