15mm Boers, British and other fine chaps for DitDC, HotE and other rulesets...

[Barry S]

I thought I'd share some photos of some of the projects I have been working through. I was going to add them to my 15mm Zulu War thread, but decided to just start a new one.

I finally managed to finish some of my Boers for Hordes of the Empire (HotE) and the Death in the Dark Continent ruleset. I still have more elements that I will be adding including some Lurker style elements with Boer in trenches.

I have also added a few fantasy based elements for games such as HotT and In Her Majesty's Name along with some other pieces that I just felt like painting up for no particular reason other than for the enjoyment of it.

The Boer Army

Mounted Infantry - mainly for HotE

Riders

The Generals

Lurkers - mainly for HotE

Artillery

The Camps and Baggage




These are few elements for HotT. I doubt Iwill ever use them, but they were fun to paint up and convert.
Below is a Hero, Angel of Protection, a Grootslang (elephant looking critter), Boers - Bittereinders and scouts with bicycles. I also have a Cleric that I plan to add.

The Grootslang or Grote Slang (Afrikaans and Dutch for "big snake") is a legendary cryptid that is reputed to dwell in a deep cave in or around the Orange River in the Richtersveld, South Africa. Tales state that gods, new to the crafting of things, made a terrible mistake in the Grootslang's creation, and gave it tremendous strength, cunning, and intellect. Realizing their mistake, the gods split the Grootslang into separate creatures and thus created the first elephants and the first snakes. But one of the original Grootslangs escaped, and from this first sire all other Grootslangs were born. It is claimed to devour elephants by luring them into its cave.

[Barry S]

I also managed to finish some of my British and Imperial troops of the Second Anglo Boer War. This is mainly for my Hordes of the Empire collection. There are a few elements I want to add such as a naval gun and armoured train...

All troops except the bicyclist are from the Essex Miniatures Sudan range with a few head swaps. The bicyclist are from the Eureka Miniatures 15mm WW2 Japanese range with Essex Miniatures heads.

The British Army

The Infantry including an element of the Naval Brigade.

The Artillery

The Cavalry. This includes an rider element utilising Bicyclist. 

The bicycle element is inspired by the following article; https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/capture-boer-soliders-cyclists which displays the illustration, ‘Capture of Boers by cyclists near Eerste Fabrieken’.

"This somewhat romantic illustration appeared in After Pretoria: the guerilla war, which was published in London in 1902. The author, Herbert Wilson, claimed that this was the only time in the South African War that cyclists chased and captured Boer soldiers.

The cyclists were led by Lieutenant Alexander Wynyard-Joss, ‘Auckland’s favourite mandolinist’, who had moved to Australia before going to South Africa in charge of the 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen’s cycle section. He described the incident in a letter that was published in a Brisbane newspaper, The Queenslander, on 22 June 1901: I am pleased to say that I have been personally congratulated by General Plumer for the smart capture of a small Boer convoy, consisting of nine Boers, four wagons, and 160 head of cattle. I took them completely by surprise with eight of the Cycle Company, and had the pleasure of smashing up their rifles and burning all their ammunition, securlng for myself a lovely Mauser carbine and Boer bandoleer full of cartridges."

Mounted Infantry/Rider elements

The General, Scout and some extras. One miniature is based around the image of 'A Gentleman in Khaki' and the other a Boer War personality a Young Winston Churchill.

The Camp and Baggage

A close up of the camp element. I am really pleased with how this element worked out. The chap with the rifle is having a cuppa which conveniently used a spare figure from the ammunition mule pack. There is a teapot on the fire which I made from sculpey. Unfortunately it doesn't show up all that well in the photo. 

[Barry S]

Another army I finally got around to photographing is my HotE African Congo Tribesman army. This kind of an extension of my Tarzan HotT army. Eventually there will be a Belgian with Leon Rom army to oppose these fellows. Most miniatures are from Essex Miniatures.

The Army

The Tribesmen - Warband

Skirmishers, Bows and Lurkers

The General, Magician and Hero (Magician and accessory from Irregular Miniatures)

Another Hero - Black Panther's Grandfather (Miniature converted from the Crom's Anvil Range)

Other beasties, water lurker and sneaker...

Beast include:
Mokele-mbembe - Mokele-mbembe is said to reside in the north of the Republic of Congo.

Numerous sightings have been recorded over the years although there is little in the way of hard evidence to confirm the existence of such a beast. A French missionary did write of a giant footstep he found while in the area in the late 16th century. But all expeditions since to find Mokele-mbembe have ended without concrete proof. Some traditions of the local populations, meanwhile, describe Mokele-mbembe as a spirit rather than a corporeal animal. (Mokele-Mbembe is plastic Dinosaur toy)

Kongamato - A flying monster called Kongamato in Zambia, Angola, and Congo is described as a flying reptile we may recognize as a pterosaur. It was first described in English by explorer Frank Welland in 1932, although local legend goes back much further. This cryptid lives in rivers and swamps and has a huge wingspan, but no feathers. A similar creature goes by other names in other parts of Africa. Theories on Kongomato sightings range from bad lighting to the possibility that an unknown species may exist in inaccessible places. (Kongamato miniatures are by Arcance Scenery)


J'ba FoFi - The J’ba FoFi is also known as the Congolese Giant Spider. It is possible that this cryptid is a new species of Arachnid.
The J’ba FoFi sets traps for its prey much the same way as a trap-door spider. The eggs of the creature are a pale yellow or white and peanut shaped. Hatchlings are a bright yellow with a purple stomach. As they get older they become a dark brown. The spider is so frightening because of its size. It has a leg span of nearly five feet and preys on birds and other small game. It is thought to be highly venomous. (J'ba FoFi miniature by Parthfinder Miniatures... I think...)

Giant Apes - I have several models of a Giant Ape, a couple still need to be assembled and painted with plans to build a Skull Island/King Kong themed army for my collection.

Camp


Thanks for looking!

[jeffreythancock]

Wonderful!  Thank you for sharing the images. 

[robh]

Lovely set of armies you have put together there.

[FifteensAway]

Lovely and very close to my "alley" for the Scramble for Africa era.  It may take a month before I am there but I'll have to post a complimentary thread to show off my own 'interpretation'.  Still some stuff to get painted though some almost finished and some more started just this morning.

A few questions:  Where did you source the steam traction?  The ape in the 2nd to last photo, the one on the left, source for that?  And last question, source for the hut in the last photo?

Cool stuff.

[BillK]

Fantastic work.
Thanks for posting.

[Helen]

Shiver my Timbers Barry! Excellent work on your collections. Love the Congo tribesmen in particular.

[Golgotha]

Loving your project - I particularly like the Boers.

[Barry S]

Thanks for all the kind words.

Lovely and very close to my "alley" for the Scramble for Africa era.  It may take a month before I am there but I'll have to post a complimentary thread to show off my own 'interpretation'.  Still some stuff to get painted though some almost finished and some more started just this morning.

A few questions:  Where did you source the steam traction?  The ape in the 2nd to last photo, the one on the left, source for that?  And last question, source for the hut in the last photo?

Cool stuff.

Thanks. I look forward to seeing your collection.

The Steam Traction Engine is 'Trevor - the Traction Engine' from the old Thomas the Tank Ertl Die-cast range from the late 1990's. His face has been filed off with a small disc glued in it's place. I believe another company *Shining Time* also make models from the range which may be easier to find.

The ape on the left is from Impact Miniatures and is part of the 'Elfball - the Apes of Wrath' range.
There are so many excellent ape miniatures on the market. I currently have Lucid Eye's Gargimensa and Khurasan model from his Pulp range waiting in the to do pile and have considered adding the Crooked Dice model to it.

The hut is scratchbuilt.

[Captain Darling]

Jolly spiffing Stuff Barry! Just the sorts of fellows Captain Darling would happily gird up his loins and fight alongside or against!

The bases make me think straight away of the Veld, well done, BTW where did you get the tufts 😉😂😉?

[Leigh Metford]

What species are the two plants on the Boer camp base, Barry? They look remarkably like our own endemic Xanthorrhoea (grass tree).

[Barry S]

Jolly spiffing Stuff Barry! Just the sorts of fellows Captain Darling would happily gird up his loins and fight alongside or against!

The bases make me think straight away of the Veld, well done, BTW where did you get the tufts 😉😂😉?

Thanks Captain! I got the tufts from some tosser I know 

What species are the two plants on the Boer camp base, Barry? They look remarkably like our own endemic Xanthorrhoea (grass tree).

They're based on aloes I've seen in photos
I have some versions with red flowers I use in my Zulu War games. These are in the photo on the left I have some grass trees that I have made in the photo on the right.

[CapnJim]

Great looking figures all around.  For some reason, I especially like the steam tractor....