The Simbas!

[Harry Faversham]

Who makes 28mm figures of African/Congo soldiers, dressed similar to the dreaded Simbas in the film 'Wild Geese', please?

 

[CapnJim]

Hey 'arry!

Britannia Miniatures/Grubby Tanks makes a line for them.  Here's a link:  https://www.grubbytanks.com/product-category/britannia-miniatures/28mm-ranges/28mm-the-congo-1960-1967/

Mongrel Miniatures makes some period-correct mercenaries, too.  You can get them from Badger Games, although they are here in the states... https://shop.badgergames.com/category.sc?categoryId=527

Hope this helps...

[v_lazy_dragon]

Mongrel used to make actual Congo Simbas... but now don't

Mike Bravo Miniatures used to make Move Simbas... but now don't

TAG do assorted wild young Africans with crappy guns and machetes... bjut they aren't like the ones in the movie

Think your best bet would be Rhodesian or Portuguese troops from Eureka, Under Fire Miniatures or Cibo's little dudes (flavor to taste) in an appropriate paint scheme

[Belgian]

Mongrel used to make actual Congo Simbas... but now don't

Mike Bravo Miniatures used to make Move Simbas... but now don't

TAG do assorted wild young Africans with crappy guns and machetes... bjut they aren't like the ones in the movie

Think your best bet would be Rhodesian or Portuguese troops from Eureka, Under Fire Miniatures or Cibo's little dudes (flavor to taste) in an appropriate paint scheme

All of the above, seems a bit strange that there a no Simba's more widely available. Have been looking for some standard african soldiers with fal rifles but can't find them anywhere and if they can be found they are rather expensive. Would happily buy a bunch of them as with a headswap they would also become western mercenaries. I have seen conversions on this forum that use Vietcong, US Marines etc with a headswap to become african rebels and they looked quite good!

[Harry Faversham]

Thanks chaps, imput muchly appreciated. I have a pile of the Brittania demented looking Simbas. It's the riff-raff in those distinctive looking field caps, I'm after. If I knew wot the hats were actually called I could narrow it down a bit.
 

[Belgian]

Thanks chaps, imput muchly appreciated. I have a pile of the Brittania demented looking Simbas. It's the riff-raff in those distinctive looking field caps, I'm after. If I knew wot the hats were actually called I could narrow it down a bit.
 

Do you have pictures of the field caps, we might be able to further help you then.

[carlos marighela]

The cap is called the quico in Portuguese. It's a local variant of the Bigeard cap. The only 28mm figures I can think of wearing them are, unsurprsingly, the Eureka Portuguese. They are, for the most part, carrying G-3s so if you want absolute movie fidelity, you'll need to swap them out for FALs.

If it were me I'd live with the G-3s, as that's just as likely in the non-Hollywood/Pinewood universe. There are photos of the FFL at Kolwezi in 1978 where the paras have picked up G-3 rifles.

[Harry Faversham]

Di' Simbas!!!



 

[Earther]

Empress sell separate Bigeard cap heads.
https://www.empressminiatures.com/dbp29-french-bigeard-cap-heads-309-p.asp

Might look good on these from Crooked Dice?
https://crooked-dice.co.uk/product/governor-generals-army-2/

[trev]

Hi Harry,

As already mentioned, the Eureka RAR are probably your best bet now Mike Bravo are gone.  Empress do Bigeard cap heads in their French Indo-China range (Earther beat me to it) but the faces are quite caricature Caucasian.  They also do African M1 Helmet heads in their Modern range that might serve as an alternative for regular government troops.  They are similarly caricatured but I have used some for my, sadly not yet painted, ANC. 

For my c.1964 Simba conversions I used Perry Natal Native Contingent head swaps onto WW2 US marines or Viet Cong from TAG. The Perry heads are a little bit nicer but both are useful.  I think the Perrys do heads for ACW black soldiers in Kepis too that might serve for conversions.  My Simbas look alright fighting 5 Cdo on the road to Stanleyville but are not very much like the Simbas in the Wild Geese movie.

I've just done a post on the historical Simbas with lots of photos, if you're open to being tempted that way instead. 

Mongrel used to make actual Congo Simbas... but now don't

Did they really make them?  I know there are rumours some masters were sculpted but I have never seen pictures of actual figures.  Then again they haven't re-released the Rar 'lion people' from Regiment games and there are photos of those.

seems a bit strange that there a no Simba's more widely available. Have been looking for some standard african soldiers with fal rifles but can't find them anywhere

I looked for suitable 3d print files but no joy.  The Wargames Atlantic WW2 Commandos are possibly a good base for kit bashing if you can get heads and FAL rifles.

PS I've just remembered Rubicon teased some ANZACS a while back.  They might be useful for the FN FAL arms for kit bashing.

[v_lazy_dragon]

Did they really make them?  I know there are rumours some masters were sculpted but I have never seen pictures of actual figures.  Then again they haven't re-released the Rar 'lion people' from Regiment games and there are photos of those.

I saw pictures waaay back (early 2000s) of washed bare-metal Africans with AKs from Mongrel. I think 2 or 3 packs. Now, if they were ever available to buy is a different question. Around the same time (shortly after badger purchased the range) there was also a bucket list floating around with 'planned' mercenary packs (I think including things like BARs and Thompson SMGs), as well as more simbas, but I never saw any metal for those.

For what it's worth, Badger are fairly poor at releasing all their ranges. Things like Regiment Games had a much wider selection that haven't been rereleased yet (looking at you  Kold Wars figures), and they have stuff like the moulds for the first edition Northstar Muskets and Tomahawks figures tucked away. I swapped emails with them a month or two ago, and they did say that they were planning to re-release lots of stuff this year... but no clue if that'll happen!

[trev]

I saw pictures waaay back (early 2000s) of washed bare-metal Africans with AKs from Mongrel. ... but no clue if that'll happen!

Interesting.  I have written to ask if they are coming out.  I'll report back if/when I get an answer. 

In other news 1st Corps will be making their Para jeep crews available separately, which is useful for crewing the Mercenary jeeps.

[v_lazy_dragon]

Just incase they deny all knowledge!

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=190284
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=188648
 -> Someone else who saw the Simbas 'back in the day'

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=26445.0
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=104945.msg1327066;topicseen#msg1327066
-> Other reference to the Congolese/simbas  existing

http://www.theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=264179
 -> this one makes it sound like the mercenary command/characters were sculpted/not released

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=119669.msg1500791#msg1500791
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=28755.msg347426;topicseen#msg347426
-> Me, from a while ago, where I seem to remember more merc pack concepts than I did earlier!

[Harry Faversham]

'Wild Geese' sorted!
Gripping Beast Falklands lads, you can glean 'em in Para, Bootneck, Guards and Ghurka berets. Still towing over the film Simbas though!

 

[trev]

Just incase they deny all knowledge!

Cheers for the links, that was interesting reading.  I've not had a reply from Badger yet but we live in hope.  Thanks. Maybe, not-so-lazy after all.