Diablo Jon does Darkest Africa - Zanzibar Regular Artillery Added

[Digits]

They are really cool.

[Marine0846]

Very well painted unit, love them.
Really interesting background story.
I went to your blog, had a look around, it is outstanding.
Love your whole setup.
It's been a number of years since I have played a game
with my Darkest Africa stuff.
After seeing your figures and terrain,
I will try to get my guys on the table.

[FifteensAway]

The mounted guard is cool and fun.  But it is the Zanzibari foot I'm jazzed about.  I have my own Zanzibari force to paint and - while maybe not perfect - my spare Egyptian infantry will make a great stand in for Zanzibari.  Your figures have solved a challenge for me.  So, thank you.  And great painting all around.

My figures - or as I like to call them, my 'fezkari' - will be painted in varied colors and with varied colored fez for ease of telling units aport on the table.  Not an issue since my set-up is very much a non-historical zone - not fantasy or sci-fi, more 'made-up' history.

[Diablo Jon]

The mounted guard is cool and fun.  But it is the Zanzibari foot I'm jazzed about.  I have my own Zanzibari force to paint and - while maybe not perfect - my spare Egyptian infantry will make a great stand in for Zanzibari.  Your figures have solved a challenge for me.  So, thank you.  And great painting all around.

My figures - or as I like to call them, my 'fezkari' - will be painted in varied colors and with varied colored fez for ease of telling units aport on the table.  Not an issue since my set-up is very much a non-historical zone - not fantasy or sci-fi, more 'made-up' history.

Thanks. I've been doing quite a bit of research on the Zanzibari "new army" and by extension the Palace guard and different uniforms aren't that fantastical. During its short history the Zanzabari regulars started out, in 1877, with a dark blue jacket with white trousers and red fez, then moved to an all white uniform with red fez, latter they received a red dress jacket and towards the end of there service 1890s they campaigned in an all Khaki uniform. Harry Johnston mentions them in 1884 has having red and yellow fez but I don't know if he meant both colours on one fez or separate red and yellow fez on different soldiers. The palace guard infantry seem to have worn red Jackets and red fez but changed the trousers out for a skirt. Through out the officers seem to have worn Dark blue uniforms based on Royal Navy uniforms of the late 19th century with a red fez or a pillbox cap. this colourised postcard below is quite interesting taken circa 1900 it shows a lot of variation on the soldiers khaki or maybe just dirty uniforms.

[CapnJim]

Those Lancers look great - well done!

[Diablo Jon]

The British trained Zanzibari Regular army had a limited number of modern artillery pieces supplied by the British. I decided that my Zanzibari field force needed an artillery piece to accompany the infantry. Not long after its foundation in 1877 the British gifted the Zanzibari’s 500 Snider rifles and 7 Whitworth guns. Joseph Whitworth had invented, in 1853, an unusual Polygonal rifling system which he combined with a breach loading system to create a 12pdr and 3pdr cannon. His guns were considered by the British board of ordnance but in the end they went with William Armstrong’s design. Whitworth’s guns, especially the 12pdrs, did see service in the American civil war and the War of Triple Alliance.

The problem I found with the Zanzibari guns was working out which type of gun they had received. Peter Abbot in his book on Colonial Armies in Africa just states “Whitworth guns” . Chris Peers in his book on East African armies goes further and describes “Light Whitworth guns”. I haven’t managed to track down any primary source detailing the nature of the guns. The 12pdr Whitworth guns seem like a heavy piece of ordnance for an army operating on mainland Africa in the 19th century when everything had to be transported by porters. The 3pdr would fit Chris Peers description of light better (see the video below of reenactors firing a 3pdr Whitworth gun). While I was researching the two latter guns I discovered a possible third option the Whitworth muzzle loading mountain gun. In 1867 a 2pdr Whitworth gun had been on display at the Paris Universal Exhibition, where it was described as “designed to meet the want of a light field piece adapted for easy and rapid transit across mountainous or broken country, or for accompanying the evolutions of detached bodies of troops”. It seems this gun saw some limited service in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877 and six of them ended up in Bulgarian service where they are described as 45mm muzzle loaders. This gun would seem ideal for an army operating in Africa especially as the 2pdr seems to have been able to be broken down into loads to be transported (see pictures below)





https://youtu.be/WZslLq-wCho

Miniatures wise a couple of manufacturers make a 12pdr Whitworth but 3pdrs and mountain guns are sadly non existent in 28mm. In the end I had a spare Wargames Foundry Askari gun which seems to a be a generic small mountain gun so I decided to use that for lack of anything better. I didn’t have any crew so I converted a couple of metal Copplestone Regular Zanzibari miniatures (guys with the rammer and bucket) and a couple of Plastic Perry ACW artillery crew with Plastic Perry Mahdist fez heads to crew the gun. I painted the gun barrel brass in hindsight black would have been better as all Whitworth guns were steel construction. In the end the miniature works though its maybe not historically correct as I would like.

[FifteensAway]

Very nice and animated gun scene.   . But, uh oh!  Will the gun fire with the broken lanyard!?  . 

(Maybe I'm showing my ignorance but I thought the lanyard would be attached.  I've only ever fired a 3# Russian cannon used at Sutter's Fort as acquired (replica I believe) from Ft. Ross, the Russian fort on California's coast sold to John Sutter.  It was a muzzle loader with a match firing the powder rather than a lanyard.)

[Diablo Jon]

Very nice and animated gun scene.   . But, uh oh!  Will the gun fire with the broken lanyard!?  . 

(Maybe I'm showing my ignorance but I thought the lanyard would be attached.  I've only ever fired a 3# Russian cannon used at Sutter's Fort as acquired (replica I believe) from Ft. Ross, the Russian fort on California's coast sold to John Sutter.  It was a muzzle loader with a match firing the powder rather than a lanyard.)

lanyards aren't attached to the cannon but to the friction primer that was inserted in the cannons touch hole  every time you fired the gun you would need a new friction primer. Good little video here that explains the process

 https://youtu.be/jEN2axsxx28

[FifteensAway]

Thanks for the video and information on the lanyard.  I can tuck at least some of my ignorance away now!