German East african Allies

[Jonboy]

Just reading "Tip and Run" as a fantastic introduction the East African theatre of ww1, it mentions German tribal allies as the Ngoni, and as Ruga Ruga, as well as "arab" allies, are these all one and the same?. Looking at the various ruga ruga figures available from the likes of Foundry these indeed have an arab feel to them, however were the Ngoni tribes simarly dressed?. Copplestone castings look somewhat different. Whilst the Foundry Ruga Ruga figures depict the late 1890's, would their appearance have changed dramatically by WW1?

Reason i'm asking is I was hoping to get way with using Warlord games Married regt Zulu plastics and Natal Native contingent for German tribal allies, the natal native contingent with a sprinkling of hats, rifles and distinguishing arm and headbands intermingled with the zulu warriors hopefully giving the impression of a more "modern" post 1900 allied tribal grouping.

http://store.warlordgames.com/ekmps/shops/warlord/images/married-zulu-regiment-plastic-boxed-set-7698-p.jpg

http://store.warlordgames.com/pre-order---natal-native-contingent-7899-p.asp

Also hoping to use the two NNC European figures as the start of a unit of armed german settlers.

Am i going along the right tracks or am I completely off course, any help appreciated.

[Dr Mathias]

The Ngoni certainly had a Zulu-like appearance, with distinct headress. Copplestone did a great job on the Ngoni IMO.

The RugaRuga that Foundry makes are colorful and varied but I don't think I'd use them as allies for anyone after 1900. The large groups of classic RugaRuga that tore up the place in the 1870's were pretty much gone by then, although I'm sure the term was still used for any hooligans and bandits that tried to swagger around.

Arab allies would most likely be in white or white-ish tunics. To be honest I don't think there's a lot of choice for generic 1900s 'Arabized' Africans, the Foundry Zanzibaris are a little antiquated. The guys in the background of this pic are kind of what I picture, but I may be wrong there.



I personally think the Natal Contingent box that is soon to be released will make good native auxiliaries. I'd like to see some sprue shots though. My hope is that it has some large Zulu shields, so I can swap those into my Married and Unmarried boxes.

Of course you'll want to wait for Plynykes to answer, it's likely I got some details incorrect

[Plynkes]

Ruga-Ruga in German service from the Great War period:



As Dr Mathias said, their appearance is somewhat different to the Nyamwezi warbands of the 1860s and 70s represented by the Foundry figures. They seem to share the passion for decorating themselves with diverse bits and bobs that their predecessors had, though.


A unit of bodyguards/police belonging to the Sultan of Bukoba that were drafted into German service when war broke out:


These guys were referred to as Ruga-Ruga too. It seems by 1914 it was a catch-all term in German East for any kind of native auxiliaries.


I have no info or images of Ngoni in German service, but this photo:

...Shows Ngoni in Nyasaland celebrating the coronation of George V in 1911. So it is plausible their cousins in German East would have taken to the field in tradtional garb. It's only three years later. Mind you, these chaps are dressed for a party. Dressing like this to get shot at may well have fallen out of fashion by this time.


I've not been able to find images of Lettow-Vorbeck's Arabische Korps, so I wouldn't like to speculate about their appearance, whether they had uniforms or not, etc. They were described as "totally useless for military purposes," ran for the hills the first time they were shot at, and were disbanded soon after.

[Dr Mathias]

You always turn up with amazing photos I've never encountered! The photo of the semi-uniformed RugaRuga festooned with all the feathers is great.

[Jonboy]

Many thanks guys, Warlord Games it is then, evidently the NNC plastic set is coming out in February so the wallet has a few weeks to recover, but a box of both the Married regiment and the NNC will be the basis for Von Lettow's tribal allies. I'll be waiting for the next Foundry sale before splashing out on some Masai for the Brits.

[Drunkendwarf]

Ruga-Ruga in German service from the Great War period:

I was also planning to use the DA ruga-ruga as german allies. In an Osprey I have there is a drawing of a ruga-ruga which resembles the DA ones (I know Osprey isn't always trustworthy....). According to the picture the DA british askari's are more appropriate with some conversionwork.

http://wargamesfoundry.com/historical_ranges/single_packs/darkest_africa/british/brave_british_askaris_da096/?sector_id=12

DJ

[Jonboy]

Further browsing through the Brigade Games ranges at Northstar threw this up, a new one for me, so apologies if this is old news, but found these Matabele rebels in their Africa range, reckon they will mix in extremely well and seem to fit in with the appearance of the brilliant photos above.



You have to love the dude with the bowler hat, Acka Bilk with a Martini Henry!

[Plynkes]

If you look carefully at that photo they aren't all in European jackets/shirts. A couple of them do resemble the Ruga-Ruga from the Osprey book.

The drawing in the Osprey seems to be based on this kneeling fella here:

Note how his pal has a hat a bit like the chaps in the first photo. The terrain in the background looks very similar, these guys may well be from the same group as the ones in the other photo (though I admit that is a bit of a leap). So I reckon you can mix things up a bit, use some of the Foundry Ruga-Ruga and maybe even armed tribesman.


If I want Ruga-Ruga in my Great War games I do tend to just use my Foundry ones, because I already have some done. I may do some with more items of modern clothing and those hats at some point, though.



Jonboy, when you do your Masai, this thread may be of interest to you...

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=21284.0

They are fun conversions and not difficult (the only tricky part was the bandoleers, because I'm a bit ham-fisted when it comes to putty). You can of course use ordinary unconverted Masai, too.

[Jonboy]

Inspiring stuff  sir and may well have a crack at something similar myself using your work as a guide if that's ok, brilliant work with the green-stuff. Any suggestions on where to get hold of suitable plastic vegetation for making terrain, any brands or sources you can recommend?

[Plynkes]

Your pics aren't showing up for me (edit: ah, you deleted the post ), but I know the ones you mean. Give us a while and I can do you a size-comp of those North Star figs and Warlord plastics to see how they go with each other.


As for the vegetation, I usually get aquarium plants from eBay. But I'm not a great terraineer, there are others on the LAF far better qualified to give advice on that type of thing.

[Plynkes]

Here we are:



Warlord plastic Zulu flanked by a couple of North Star Ndebele.

[Jonboy]

Thanks for going to so much trouble, i reckon they will do just fine, sadly the NNC photo's from Warlord Games didn't come through clearly as links, hence the problem. Really looking forward to having a go at these, from what you can see of the painted samples of the NNC they look every bit as good as the earlier figures. I'm hoping to create a tribal levy of ruga ruga of around 40 figs, backed up by 3 ten men sections of Askari for my german forces for starters.