HeHe Tribesmen

[Christian]

I am looking for some reference material on the HeHe. I have Chris Peers' The African Wars which provides a good illustration, and some pictures from Wikipedia. Not much else though!

Aside from perousing Peers' bibliography, are there any other resources I can have a look at?

I have been considering arming 'generic' Foundry tribesmen with assegai and Zulu shields (possibly cutting off the top 'pom-pom') to represent that large HeHe shield (which I believe is derived from the Zulu design).

Aside from spiky hair (which I have no interest in sculpting on to every warrior) are there any other distinguishing features? The illustration in Peers shows their characteristic white war-paint with a single black eye...

I have seen one photo of a HeHe tribesman with a Masai-like, circular headress on Google but can't locate it right now.

Here's a good pic from Wiki:

[Dr Mathias]

I've not come across many pictures of HeHe, and most of what I have seen tends to be a rehash of the facepainted guy on the right on the cover of the Osprey Warrior Peoples of East Africa.



The book has a color plate that shows three Hehe along with the usual brief description of them.

I'd love to do some with those gigantic shields, the striking graphic look of the black and white is really cool.

[Christian]

That's actually really helpful! I'll have to pick up a copy of that, but even the blok on the cover is a good reference... geez that's a big shield. Bigger than the Zulu shields, perhaps?

Being a confederation of tribes I assume there would be variations to their attire. On the tabletop I think the best way to bring them together is using the white facepaint.

I wonder how that would look! Quite creepy I imagine.

[Dr Mathias]

I found it to be a really good book, I refer to it regularly and I recommend it for anyone interested in African warfare.

I think I read somewhere that the white facepaint/black eye might not have been that common (out of that whole group in the photo I think only one has it, one other guy might have facepaint), but it would be hard to resist doing. I think it would look amazing on the table.

The Foundry '19th Century East Africa' book might have Hehe in it- I'll have to check.

[Plynkes]

Here's a better shot of those guys in your picture, this time mugging for the camera:



As with many tribes, their look changed as the century moved on. When first encountered many seem to have fought naked or with a small loincloth. Ngoni-style zebra-mane headdresses seem to have been popular, and also a ring of coloured pom-poms around the head and a single feather sticking up. Dressing in robes of cloth marked you out as a person of import, or a brave warrior who had been rewarded with cloth by their chief. The above photo was obviously taken in colonial times and cloth has become so commonplace that they all seem to have it (unless the guys in this photo are all toffs).


I'm working on some Hehe conversions right now. I'm doing a mix of all the fashion styles. A bit unrealistic maybe, but fun. Some of mine have small shields and some massive, as there was apparently much variety in shield size. For the bigger shields I have scratch-built my own from plastic card. The big ones were way bigger than anything commercially available. If you look at that photo they are as tall, or almost as tall as the guys carrying them. I'll share my fellas with you as soon as some paint is on them.

[Plynkes]

The Foundry '19th Century East Africa' book might have Hehe in it- I'll have to check.

It does. Page 75. Five pages of text and three line drawings of types. Same types as in the Osprey, though.

[Christian]

Ah, that's fabulous Plynkes, thanks! I'll be keen to see what you get up to.

Dr. Mathias, I'll have to nab a copy of the Osprey, I think.

I would assume there was some transition period between styles? Or as other tribes were added to the fold, some of their customs may have been shared?

Those shields are quite massive. Now that I look at them I'm not sure the Zulu ones will be big enough, or have quite the same shape.

As for the cloth... I think conversions, as well as the face-paint, will make the generic tribesmen I have planned for this a lot more versatile! So that's a great help.

[Paul]

I like the look of that lot...I´ll have to get them into my colonial games as mercenaries!!!

[Prof.Witchheimer]

I'm working on some Hehe conversions right now

Just to be sure everyone has noticed this

Can't wait to see newest Plynkes' Africa creations.

[Plynkes]

Let's not get carried away. My mojo has been missing for six months, and those conversions have been half-done for about the same amount of time.

I still haven't found it yet, but at least I am looking for it now, which I wasn't doing until a couple of weeks ago. "What I painted in January" currently consists of two Tuta warriors. But that beats all of December, November, October, September, August and July put together. So it is a start.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

My mojo has been missing for six months

I feel with you. That is the very worst thing that could happen to people like us. As soon as you find your mojo again, please keep an eye on it 

[Remington]

What is that "mojo" you speak of? I can hardly remember.

[Plynkes]

Until I decided I wanted to paint again, it wasn't a problem at all. I was quite happy not painting for most of that time. Didn't feel like doing it, but was fine with that (I actually thought maybe I was done with the hobby). But now I find I want to again it has become... difficult.


But anyway, enough of this. Back to the Wahehe. 

[Clearco]

I missed this thread! I´m also planning doing  Wahehe for my darkest Africa 
I though on Warlod´s zulus as a base and then I´d sculpt several zebra-mane headdresses for the common warriors (I´d let also several barehead) and the silly pom-poms and masai-style headdresses for the wajinga. I guess that´s an oversimplification but it could look good. Of course I wanted also to paint the faces white, like in the Osprey, it´s too cool to let it be