The Road to Stanleyville

[bazookajoe]

The recent re-release of Mongrel's Congo mercenaries by Badger Games (thanks by the way!) inspired a new project.  Here are some pictures.  The jeeps are Warlord with a few very minor adjustments.  The Congo mercs are, as stated above, from Badger.  The Congolese National Army are Crooked Dice (stock) and an experiment of using Eureka Brits in Aden with Perry Zulu heads and Warlord helmets.

[traveller]

Great job! 

I have a similar project on the backburner and will follow your work with interest. Thanks for sharing!

[v_lazy_dragon]

Great work - I never thought of the CD figures as Congolese.. they work very well. As an alternative to the Perry Zulu heads, I believe Empress do African heads in M1 helmets in their 'modern generic' range, which might work?

[bazookajoe]

Thanks.  I thought about getting those Empress African heads but I have a bunch of Perry Zulu heads around so decided to use them for the initial experiment.  I might still get those Empress ones though.  I suspect they are closer in size to the Eureka Brits in Aden figures which turned out to be smaller than I anticipated. The Perry heads are a little too big for the Eureka bodies but it does not look too bad from about 18 inches away and if all those figures are together in the same unit without others.  The Perry heads would look better on the Crooked Dice guys or the Congo mercs but I wanted some variety.

[Ash]

Great project, I had to hunt for those Mongrel minis when they where OOP. The Empress Indochina French also look the part for mercenary troops.

[has.been]

Nice stuff, keep posting. I too have a back burner project like this.
Took advantage of the very generous offer by Eureka for Salute.
I plan to use them pretty much as is . Brits (Aden) as Brits etc.
Vodkafan is doing a great job on my second hand Dinky toys,
to provide the vehicles.

[bazookajoe]

Thanks.  For vehicles, besides the jeeps, I have a Greyhound armoured car which comes right out of my WW2 collection.  I will eventually get a Ferret from Sloppy Jalopy.   I also have a couple of un-assembled WW2 era British and US trucks (Warlord) for transport on the way to Stanleyville.

Another issue is some Belgian para-commandos.  I got some Crooked Dice soldiers (the ones with berets and FNs) but they turned out to be very big when compared to the CD Governor General's army guys I have posing as Congolese National Army and much larger than the Mongrel Congo mercs. 

Here is an interesting video of the ANC taking Kamanyola bridge.

[Inkpaduta]

Good stuff,

If you are looking for more I know Redoubt did a Congo line that were really nice.

[bazookajoe]

Thanks, I think you mean the Britannia miniatures Congo range.  I have only seen pictures of them but I think they are on the large side and a very different style to Mongrel, Eureka, Crooked Dice.

[v_lazy_dragon]

Thanks, I think you mean the Britannia miniatures Congo range.  I have only seen pictures of them but I think they are on the large side and a very different style to Mongrel, Eureka, Crooked Dice.

Yes, sadly - slightly 'cartoony' in styling. Whilst I didn't mind mixing them, I'm sure others wouldn't have done

[has.been]

If you want the Britannia figures they are available from Grubby Tanks.
If you want an African despot & family look at our own Makatishi.

[Ash]

Thanks, I think you mean the Britannia miniatures Congo range.  I have only seen pictures of them but I think they are on the large side and a very different style to Mongrel, Eureka, Crooked Dice.

This might be of use:

L-R:    Under Fire              Eureka                Eureka           Black Cat Bases          Britannia             Mongrel              Empress

[Earther]

Superb work there, bazookajoe! 

[juergen c. olk]

Lovely work...all my stuff is 20mm,but I love the 28mm;s...glad to see Mongrel back..May I post your photos on my Modern African Bushwars Facebook page?/

[bazookajoe]

Thanks.  Juergen, feel free to post the pics on your Facebook page.  Also, thanks for that picture which I have not seen before.  Judging by the hats, it looks like it was taken during the Katanga secession.

That figure comparison picture is very useful.  I like the "Under Fire" Rhodesians but they seem large next to the Eureka ZANLA insurgents they would be fighting.

As a suggestion for Badger, it would be fantastic to see a few Congo Merc characters to complement the existing Mongrel range. There would be no shortage of inspiration - Mike Hoare, Siegfried Muller, etc.