28mm Civilians for The Bush wars and after

[Johnny Boy]

I was wondering could anyone out there point me in the right direction for some Civilian figures, some armed to represent Farmers etc from the 1960's onward to be rescued by the Fireforce Sticks that are part of my current project.
Thanks JB

[v_lazy_dragon]

Thats a tricky one - I use an eclectic mix of figures. The tracker from the eureka RLI pack makes a good start, and there are some boers with good potential if you update their weapons. The TAG range has a couple of White Mercs in Africa which will work if you want figures with captured AKs.

Here are a couple of the figures I've used for farmers:






Rainy Season farmer! Just set to go outside the security fence to check why the generator has gone off, on those dark rainy season nights... (He's got cammo trousers & the boots are *supposed* to look like wellies, but I may need to repaint them as I don't like how they dried back)

Here's the aresenal that a 'typical' farmer had in his possession during the Rhodesian bush war, in the order which he'd planned to use them in case of attack. All weapons were loaded up each evening and laid out beside his bed. (Taken From 'James & the Duck by Faan Martin)
FN FAL (Army issue)
Baikal 12ga. DB shotgun (loaded with AAA buckshot)
Winchester .30-30 Rifle (Authors prefered sporting rifle, 7 round magazine)
Sten gun (Police issue)
Brno .22 'plinking' rifle (5 round magazine)
Colt .38 Special revolver
After those were all empty he was planning to reload and continue to use the FN; and had a stack of magazines loaded and ready. He also had what he termed 'the cannon' which was a home made, electrically fired, 'claymore' type device, comprised of a thick steel pipe packed with explosives and cut up pieces of quarter inch steel rod. This had been set into a flower bed, pointing towards the most likely point of attack, with the firing mechanism positioned on Faan's bedside table.

For some photo references/ideas for figures:
Farmers and kids:





(Armoured landrover)



Farm hand Mercs/private security:

(Note mine proof landrover)



Towards the end of the bush war, the Rhodesian goverment started handing out home-made SMGs (Based on a cezh design) to its citizens:

[Johnny Boy]

That's excellent!! Many thanks V for your time and trouble, it's a great help. Got to ask tho, where did you source the replacement weapons?
I've read James and the Duck and Croukamp's Bush War in Rhodesia tho it was a while ago and am now waiting for some Birthday present Literature in the same vein. I've had the Eureka Figures  for some while now waiting to come off the Back Burner and this is the shove I needed, I'll try and post some pics when they're done.
Many thanks again  JB

[Col.Stone]

Maybe some of the north star africa figures would work, they have a few with a armed farmer/cowboy look

[Johnny Boy]

Thanks Colonel, we've conversed before, The Nam is still a WIP

[v_lazy_dragon]

If I'm honest, most of that was just cut aad pasted from a 'micro-article' I wrote on the subject on another forum a while ago
For replacement weapons, I'd recommend TAG - they do SlRs, Stens, Shotguns (Remington 870's & browning auto 5's) AKs, etc
The other possible source of unarmed retro figures is the Killer Bee Geezers range; although most of those are distinctly urban and a bit too wrapped up for the Soutern African climate!

[Johnny Boy]

Thanks again V, I'm not adverse to the odd bit of conversion work here and there

[NickNascati]

Johnny,
           I've done minor conversions, mostly head swaps on Colonial figures for my "embattled farmers".  Basically a base of replacing pith helmets.  Women and kids are hard to do though, I've pressed a couple WWII French resistance females into service.

                                                                           Nick