Diablo Jon does Darkest Africa - now with my first Swahili buildings

[Hu Rhu]

Great set of buildings. 

[Marine0846]

Well done.
Great set of buildings.

[richardpate]

the whole 9 pages were great.  Your table and all of the scenery are fantastic and the figures very good.  Great Job!

[Smokeyrone]

I figured I already woulda commented, but if not, that is fantastic work, man!

[Umpapa]

Whole thread is awesome. Very informative.

[JBaumal]

Great usage of everyday materials combined with some commercially available items transformed into a great outpost!
Cheers, very well done.

[Diablo Jon]

Thanks everyone its always nice to receive some feed back.

A very small update today. After finishing off my Trading post buildings I had some left over resin crates and barrels so I decided to build some barricades that could be used in the defence of the trading post (or an explorer's camp). So here they are.

[JBaumal]

Great addition to the scenery, very useful indeed. I love multipurpose items.
What mfgr or did you scratch build them? I know there are quite a few mfgrs making such items.

Keep Calm and Keep Posting, ....

[FifteensAway]

Nice trading post and nice 'clutter'.  Really like the piles of ivory - an idea I will have to steal but no doubt have to create myself in 15 mm.  I am reminded I have commercial buildings to create my own trading posts and other stations - science based perhaps or 'spreading the word' stations.

Which raises a thought: what were the way-stations like in the slave trade when moving from the interior to the coastal collection points?  I am doing later 19th century East Africa which will include some of that activity - though mostly to allow the noble cause of suppressing the trade as a game scenario option.

[Diablo Jon]

Great addition to the scenery, very useful indeed. I love multipurpose items.
What mfgr or did you scratch build them? I know there are quite a few mfgrs making such items.

Keep Calm and Keep Posting, ....

I have scratch built crates before but this time I got them of eBay from these guys lots of interesting little bits and bobs

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28mm-wargames-scenery-Crates-ammo-boxes-1-56-scale-16pc-ANYSCALE-MODELS-065/322915713929?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
 

[Diablo Jon]

Nice trading post and nice 'clutter'.  Really like the piles of ivory - an idea I will have to steal but no doubt have to create myself in 15 mm.  I am reminded I have commercial buildings to create my own trading posts and other stations - science based perhaps or 'spreading the word' stations.

Which raises a thought: what were the way-stations like in the slave trade when moving from the interior to the coastal collection points?  I am doing later 19th century East Africa which will include some of that activity - though mostly to allow the noble cause of suppressing the trade as a game scenario option.

I imagine Arab slaver outposts would be a stockade. Chris Peers in his Foundry books on East and Central Africa has some good descriptions of Arab stockades being made of several earth and wood ramparts with loop holes and then what he calls "bomb" proof huts which are  half buried in the ground and have the excavated soil placed over the top. Of course native Slavers, like the Yao, probably just lived in their normal villages.

[dberna67]

I have scratch built crates before but this time I got them of eBay from these guys lots of interesting little bits and bobs

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28mm-wargames-scenery-Crates-ammo-boxes-1-56-scale-16pc-ANYSCALE-MODELS-065/322915713929?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
 

It's cheaper if you buy directly from their site:
https://anyscalemodels.com/shop/scale-1-56-for-28mm.html?start=180

[Diablo Jon]

It's cheaper if you buy directly from their site:
https://anyscalemodels.com/shop/scale-1-56-for-28mm.html?start=180

Cheers for that I just typed 28mm crates into the eBay search engine and found them never occurred to me they'd have their own site 

[Smokeyrone]

Really nice addition.  Love the whole look

[Diablo Jon]

The Burning Desire for Revenge – An AAR – Part 1

Fayyaad el-Khalifa watched the little army march past and congratulated himself on his cunning. For the first time since he was forced to leave Zanzibar, fleeing some rather angry money lenders, things finally seemed to be going his way. When he first arrived in this little corner of Africa, seeking slaves and ivory to pay off his debtors, it seemed like the ideal spot. The local tribes where weak and lacked guns, perfect victims but Fayyad hadn’t known about the Ngoni.

Like Fayyaad the Ngoni where relative new comers and like Fayyaad they liked to prey on the local tribes. So much so that the King of the Ngoni, Mpasa, claimed the tribes as his property and so had followed eighteen months of brinkmanship, skirmishes and threats between the Ngoni and Fayyaad’s followers.

Two weeks ago things finally spilled over into open conflict. As Fayyaad was leading a caravan back to his stockade, after a very  successful slave raid, he was ambushed by Mpasa’s Ngoni warriors. It was as Fayyaad, with a few survivors, fled to the safety of his stockade that they stumbled across the aftermath of a battle near a local watering hole. slightly further on he came across the camp of the white men. Despite their small numbers they had beaten the Ngoni thanks to their modern guns.

 Fayyaad noted that the leader of  the white men, one Captain Phil Lander, burned with the desire to avenge his fallen comrades. Ever the opportunist Fayyaad offered Captain Lander just that. Now their combined forces marched on Mpasa’s Royal Kraal, to burn it to the ground, and kill King Mpasa.

Of course Fayyaad planned to let the white men bear the brunt of the fighting.  Revenge was a fine thing but profit was even better. While the white men killed his enemy Fayyaad planned to make slaves of his enemies people. “Yes” Fayyaad thought to himself ” I really am quite cunning”

So this is a second, solo, game of “The Men Who Would be Kings” as I continue the adventures of Captain Phil Lander and Mr Biff Wellington. Carrying on after the first battle against the Ngoni our heroes have joined forces with a dastardly local Arab slaver Fayyaad el- Khalifa. They plan to exact revenge on the Ngoni, for the deaths of their comrades, by marching on King Mpasa’s Kraal,  killing the king and burning his Kraal to the ground. Little do they know that their new ally, while happy to see the king dead, is really after Slaves and the king’s cattle.



So here is the table laid out in the bottom left corner we have the Ngoni Kraal full of civilians and bravely defended by king Mpasa and his bodyguards. Normally the natives don’t start the game on the table in a solo battle but if felt wrong to have the King arrive randomly. Instead I decided this unit would remain inactive until the enemy came with 12″ of the Kraal then they would follow normal native rules. The remaining seven Ngoni native infantry units would start off table and appear randomly as reinforcements arrived from the surrounding area to help their king.

King Mpasa



The Arab/British army enter from the top right (by the maize field) and would have to attack the kraal. The British contingent would get 2 victory points for each hut they burned ( I decided a hut could be burned by spending one action phase “standing to in base contact with the hut) and five victory points for killing Mpasa. The Arabs would get 1 pts for each civilian or cattle miniature they captured (again by spending one turn in base contact “standing to”). So the allied army where competing against each other as well as the Ngoni. Both could collect a potential 11 Victory points and who ever got the highest  would be the winner… assuming the Ngoni didn’t wipe them out.

The Arab slavers consisted of four units of irregular infantry with obsolete muskets. Fayyaad aside they turned out to be a rather motely crew of poor leadership and bad traits which somehow seemed fitting for nasty slaver types.

Fayyaad el- Khalifa. Leadership 5 and Nephew of the sultan (unit upgraded to sharpshooters)



Kamel “The knife” Leadership and “up and at em” (must always attempt charge)



Hakim the Lame Leadership 7 and Weakling (never rolls any dice in melee)



Faisal of Fashoda Leadership 8  and yellow bellied (must always choose firing over charging)



For the British, after the first battle, they had been reduced to two units of irregular infantry. Captain Landers Askari unit where upgraded to veteran, sharpshooters with modern breach loading rifles. while Mr wellingtons armed porters where bog standard irregular infantry with no upgrades or downgrades.

Captain Phil Lander – Leadership 6 and Brutal (-2 discipline)



Mr Biff Wellington leadership 7 inexperienced (no free action except “stand to”)



Part 2 the opening rounds coming soon....