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Author Topic: Golgotha's Colonial  (Read 5865 times)

Offline Diablo Jon

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #15 on: August 25, 2020, 08:31:28 PM »
Thank you Has Been and Diablo Jon - I am hoping to get the steamer completed soon...

I think there is more than sufficient available in 1/72 20mm for my purposes. I have always wanted to do more colonial gaming, having also lived in South Africa and South West Africa, now based in the UK, but are not sufficiently committed to the space, time and expense of 28mm for this period. I am looking at doing the following within colonial, specifically all set in Africa:

French Foreign Legion
Zulu Wars
Boer War
WW I 
Congo/Darkest Africa type games

As for the colour of the Ruga-Ruga I personally feel the toned down rustic look is more realistic, indeed I even thought some of mine were too colourful - as I have some reds and blues in there - lol. Whilst the example you have shown look good they are too bright for my liking and I see insufficient evidence for this "uniform".


They're your miniatures and I would never presume to tell anyone they can't paint their miniatures anyway they want. I would disagree with your last statement though. Goodness knows I have had some fruitless searches trying to find evidence of the appearance of various native peoples in colonial Africa however the Ruga-Ruga are pretty well documented. It helps that Henry Morton Stanley had several interactions with Mirambo (one of the main warlords to use Ruga-Ruga) so we know they liked to dress individually and flamboyantly. Stanley mention red, blue and white clothing. Red was particularly important to the Ruga-ruga featuring as a piece of cloth called a ngazia which was blood red and used to taunt their enemies "This is your blood! This is your blood!". They also liked to decorate themselves with their enemies flayed skin, entrails and nether regions. Hair styles and headdresses where pretty mad to my favourite being the use of an entire hornbill bird in a turban.




Offline Golgotha

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #16 on: September 01, 2020, 07:27:44 PM »
Thank you Diablo Jon. Love LAF for these sorts of debates. Agreed that the lack of easily accessible information on these early African armies is often scant at best, but then research is also half the fun and there is joy in digging up obscure references, indeed it is an aspect of the hobby perhaps not given enough exposure. I loved the description of the head dress you mentioned.

My thinking when painting these was that I am using them largely as Ruga-Ruga supporting German Schutztruppe during WWI and therefore wanted them looking worn from long campaign. I was also influenced by this photograph and these look rather rustic and toned down. Though impossible to tell given it is a black and white photograph.  lol



No doubt a chief or important persona would likely be more colourful than what I have presented here. I also feel that the world we live in today is very colourful and that clothing of the past was generally more drab. I did for instance find this description "The Ruga-Ruga adopted cultural practices from a wide range of origins. Their clothing was shaped by local as well as coastal patterns. They usually wore the Kanzu, the long cotton shirt of the coast, and long red capes. Moreover they decorated their heads with colourful feathers or with turbans." - see: https://www.academia.edu/1521133/Ruga_ruga_The_history_of_an_East_African_profession_1820_1919?auto=download - but most of these descriptions better match the Foundry miniatures perhaps than those by HaT.

On a side note and different Colonial engagement - some Zulus by Esci, these are also produced by Italeri. These look like married Zulus. Insufficient shields are provided so I scratch built some additional shields. Oddly I did this by photocopying the plastic shields and then the print out was mounted on cardboard and cut out with a rod placed at the rear. See: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=407

I will be adding sets of Zulus by HaT and A Call to Arms. See: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/PeriodList.aspx?period=32

See this list of Anglo Zulu War battles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Battles_of_the_Anglo-Zulu_War

See this list of South African battles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battles_in_South_Africa

For more pictures see: https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/2020/08/golgothas-colonial-esci-italeri-zulus.html







« Last Edit: September 01, 2020, 07:30:12 PM by Golgotha »

Offline Atheling

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #17 on: September 01, 2020, 09:29:15 PM »
Nice  8)

Offline Diablo Jon

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #18 on: September 02, 2020, 05:17:53 AM »
Ahh the old Esci Zulus I had hours of fun with those as a kid. I never got why all their shields had a hole in the middle of them though I guess it was something to do with moulding process? You've done a nice job on them and thanks to the Ngoni they could, at a pinch, stand in for several east African peoples who took to using Zulu style shields and Iklwa.

Offline Plynkes

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #19 on: September 02, 2020, 08:06:09 AM »
I agree with Gollgotha about ruga ruga in the Great  War. In the few pictures I have seen of them they look a lot less flash than the 'classic' ruga ruga of the C19th described by the explorers. It makes me wonder what if any conection they had to the flamboyant troops of the Nyamwezi warlords of pre-Colonial Tanganyika. It may be that ruga ruga had by that time become a term used to describe any gun-armed native irregulars.

With Cat-Like Tread
Upon our prey we steal...

Offline Diablo Jon

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #20 on: September 02, 2020, 08:31:25 AM »
I agree with Gollgotha about ruga ruga in the Great  War. In the few pictures I have seen of them they look a lot less flash than the 'classic' ruga ruga of the C19th described by the explorers. It makes me wonder what if any conection they had to the flamboyant troops of the Nyamwezi warlords of pre-Colonial Tanganyika. It may be that ruga ruga had by that time become a term used to describe any gun-armed native irregulars.

It's a fair point Mirambo had been dead 30 years by 1914. I suspect the increasing use of machine guns, artillery and magazine rifles might have made the wearing of bright colours and flashy extras a lot less appealing than in Mirambo's heyday when your opponent's where mostly carrying muskets. You get the feeling a lot of the Ruga rugs look was for psyching out their victims it probably wasn't to effective when facing a MG equipped well trained Askari.

Offline Golgotha

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #21 on: September 05, 2020, 08:03:20 PM »
Thank you Diablo Jon, Plynkes and Atheling.

Great points about chronology and also love the point on machine guns and well trained Askari, I will be adding Askari soon. The attachment of these Esci Zulu shields does leave a little square hole in the front, I had hoped it would not show so badly, I had no putty suitable to fill these gaps but will remedy that, which is why I think the scratch built shields look better. But yes fond childhood memories - so it is great to finally have a set painted up...

Herewith, some Boers, by Strelets, see: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=951

See: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=126461.15

These are the original set by Strelets. Strelets have been busy, having added a number of new Boer sets, I will be adding these to my collection, see:

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/PeriodList.aspx?period=37.

Also http://www.strelets-r.com/Pages/Index.aspx

For the inspiration I used for the flag - see the "Unity" Steyn flag here:

https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/za%5Eboer.html#:~:text=The%20Combined%20Republican%20Flag%20of,vyfkleur%22%20%2D%205%20colours).&text=This%20flag%20was%20probably%20displayed,Used%20around%201899%2D1901.

For the windmill seen in some of these pictures see:

https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/2020/05/golgothas-terrain-wind-mill.html

See Majuba: Heuwel van Duiwe (1968) movie, with potential inspiration for First Anglo Boer War battles including Majuba Hill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCDJSVmxHkg

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0345613/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bronkhorstspruit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Majuba_Hill

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_South_Africa

My eldest son is related to Petrus Jacobus Joubert (20 January 1831 - 28 March 1900), better known as Piet Joubert, was Commandant-General of the South African Republic from 1880 to 1900. He also served as Vice-President to Paul Kruger from 1881 - 1883. He served in First Boer War, Second Boer War, and the Malaboch War. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Joubert#:~:text=Petrus%20Jacobus%20Joubert%20(20%20January,War%2C%20and%20the%20Malaboch%20War

Consequently, for most games my eldest will be playing the Boers and as my Great Grandfather fought in Second Anglo Boer War on the side of the British, I will be playing the British. We already had one game using some of the Boers against Zulus using Osprey’s The Men Who Would Be Kings, which provided a surprisingly enjoyable game. I lost as the Zulus as the Boers managed in the nick of time to laager their wagons into a defensive position. This was my first game using these rules and will certainly be using them again. I am often surprised and disappointed that one does not see more Boer War gaming. The Guerrilla phase of the war in particular offers a number of suitable skirmish scenarios which could be played out. See:

https://ospreypublishing.com/store/osprey-games/osprey-wargames/the-men-who-would-be-kings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Boer_War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War#Third_phase:_Guerrilla_war_(September_1900_%E2%80%93_May_1902)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_fort

One Russian volunteer, Yevgeny Augustus, wrote that the Transvaal had become "a paradise for adventurers and rogues of all kinds" as thousands of men from all over the world, many of them disreputable, arrived in the Transvaal to fight in the war. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer_foreign_volunteers















More pictures available here: https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/2020/09/golgothas-colonial-boers.html
« Last Edit: September 05, 2020, 08:19:46 PM by Golgotha »

Offline Diablo Jon

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #22 on: September 05, 2020, 09:04:28 PM »
Nicely done they look a motely bunch. When I was a lad if I wanted Boers to take on my Esci Zulus and Brits I had to use my my Airfix confederate infantry to do double duty how times have moved on.

Offline FierceKitty

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #23 on: September 05, 2020, 11:58:16 PM »
lol. When I gave up on Boers, the force became the 23rd Maryland for my WNA armies. It goes both ways.
The laws of probability do not apply to my dice in wargames or to my finesses in bridge.

Offline Golgotha

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #24 on: September 06, 2020, 01:24:48 PM »
Thank you Fierce Kitty and Diablo Jon.

Certainly, remember doing similar using old Airfix cowboys and confederates as Boers.

Herewith, a real blast from the past the old Airfix Tarzan miniatures. Also included some toy animals.

See: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=38

My chief now has a family - wife and two children as well as some warriors. The new hut has obviously paid off for him.











More pictures available here: https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-real-blast-from-past-old-airfix.html
« Last Edit: September 06, 2020, 01:28:37 PM by Golgotha »

Offline Atheling

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #25 on: September 06, 2020, 03:27:33 PM »
Goodly work sir!  8)

Offline Golgotha

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #26 on: February 17, 2023, 03:00:52 PM »
Thank you Atheling.

Added some more Zulus now have 96 as well as British infantry for Anglo Zulu War and First Boer War and then also Second Boer War.

More pictures are available here: https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/2023/02/golgothas-colonial-more-zulus-and.html







I am particularly with the long grass for which I used sweet chestnut.








Offline Golgotha

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Offline DivisMal

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #28 on: February 24, 2023, 04:58:54 AM »
Those pictures look great! I :o
I like the relatively spacious basing and the realistic colors. Gives a pretty realistic look.

Offline has.been

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Re: Golgotha's Colonial
« Reply #29 on: February 24, 2023, 10:44:10 AM »
Nice show.

 

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