I had a farm in Africa...

[Plynkes]

I was thinking about doing that, but the only lions I have are in way too aggressive poses to suit the scene. It would have looked like they were about to dig him up and eat him.

[Blackwolf]

 

[Gluteus Maximus]

I was thinking about doing that, but the only lions I have are in way too aggressive poses to suit the scene. It would have looked like they were about to dig him up and eat him.

There are some nice docile-looking lions in the old HLBS pack. I have it somewhere, but no idea where. I suppose they are out of production now, which would be a shame 

[Plynkes]

North Star sell the HLBSC animals now (though I know not if it is the entire range as HLBSC sold it, my memory is hazy). They do a lion, though I do not know if it is the same as the one you are thinking of.


I went on a spree when I heard HLBSC were ceasing production of them, buying quite a few (including the giraffes and baboons on this thread), only for them to re-emerge under the North Star banner. Oh well, never mind, eh? Didn't get any lions though, as I already had a Foundry and a Steve Barber one.

[mweaver]

Beautiful paintjob, crisp photography, and effective presentation. Well done, Mr. Plynkes!

And, to top it off, a fun thread to read through, except some of the posts about cutting very important bits off of innocent miniatures (I'm probably going to walk around cross-legged and hunched over all day).

[Frank]

OK, back from holidays and than this...what a brilliant and beautiful contribution. The painted miniatures are stunning and your conversions inspirational…a masterpiece!!!!

[Funghy-Fipps]

When it comes to Africa, Plynkes is the Argentina to my England 

Or even, one might say in light of certain, recent events, the Germany to your England...

Pretty bloody nifty stuff, as per the u.  Don't really know what else to add given the prior effusion of praise, so I'll just shut the hell up.

[Gluteus Maximus]

Or even, one might say in light of certain, recent events, the Germany to your England...

Pretty bloody nifty stuff, as per the u.  Don't really know what else to add given the prior effusion of praise, so I'll just shut the hell up.

Well, so far he hasn't come round and made a complete fool of me in front of the whole world, but I take your point. Actually, in colonial WW1 terms, you could well be spot-on 

[Plynkes]

While idly wasting the afternoon surfing on the Great War Forum I found a bit more on Cole's Scouts:

Cole's Scouts

Amongst the new units formed in British East Africa after the start of the War was a mounted unit raised by a well-known settler named Berkeley Cole, a younger son of the Earl of Enniskillen & a brother-in law of Lord Delamere.

The initiative for the unit came from Somali residents of BEA who met on the outskirts of Nairobi at Muthaiga & marched down to Nairobi House to offer their services to the Governor.
Berkeley Cole, formerly of the 9th Lancers, was tasked to organise a company of Somalis into mounted scouts. He did this with the assistance of other settlers who joined him as officers, one of them being Denys Finch Hatton, son of the Earl of Winchelsea, whose later death in an aviation accident was depicted in "Out of Africa".

Initially the company was formed as a Mounted Infantry company of 3 KAR & was known as the Somali Scouts. The company was used in the area southwest of Kiu Station to protect the Uganda Railway by patrolling the ground towards the GEA border.

On 05 January 1915 37 of the 58 Somalis refused to go out on an operation with Captain Cole but they changed their minds the next day & then went out.
Trouble persisted in the unit until late February when the situation was regarded as a mutiny.

The reasons for the trouble are not clear & even Lord Cranworth whose "Kenya Chronicles" describe these times could not understand why Cole & his officers did not contain this situation. (Somali troops were never the easiest to command but KAR officers did the job satisfactorily, & soon Lord Cranworth would be doing it also.)
Anyway the officers of the Somali Scouts needed assistance & so on 22 February 1915 100 men of No 4 Company of the 2nd Bn The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment left Nairobi by train for Kiu, south of the junction point of the Magadi line with the Uganda Railway. There they built a boma (an enclosure surrounded by thorn branches) & awaited the arrival of the Somali Scouts.
Three nights later the Somali Scouts arrived at Kiu, & when the Somalis were sat around their fire the Loyal North Lancashires surrounded & surprised them. The Somalis then laid down their weapons on the orders of their own officers & the mutineers were placed in the boma.

Nairobi HQ planned to disband the Somali Scouts & place Cole in command of a company of Loyal North Lancashires Mounted Infantry, but Lord Cranworth (who was in BEA accompanying Colonel Kitchener, the Field Marshall's brother, on a fact-finding mission) made a suggestion. He offered to command 25 loyal Somalis in a mounted troop containing the unit Machine Gun, alongside the Loyal North Lancashire mounted infantrymen, all to be under Cole's command & known as Cole's Scouts. The suggestion was adopted & CO 2LNL was told to train 50 men for mounted infantry (MI) work.

Three weeks later the mutinous Somalis were still in their Boma & it was raining hard, so tarpaulins were obtained for them from the Railway. By 06 April the mutineers had been discharged, No 4 Company returned to Nairobi & a 2LNL detachment moved to Kiu to be trained in MI duties riding Somali ponies & using donkeys for transporting stores. The ponies were striped like zebras with iodene, which created an effective camouflage in the bush.

2LNL War Diary for 07 May lists Cole's Scouts as on an operation with a strength of 5 officers, 98 other ranks & 1 Machine Gun. One of the officers & over 70 of the men were Loyal North Lancashires.
A new unit had been formed & trained.

[huevans]

But it turned out okay in the end. I think he is happy with things, as the new one I made for him out of Green Stuff is quite a bit larger than the one Mark Copplestone originally gave him. 

Oh my goodness! Perhaps you could do the same for me?! ;-)

[Plynkes]

So I'm some sort of Cynthia Plaster Caster now, am I? 

[Hammers]

*turns green*