First footsteps, Darkness etc. etc.

[Christian]

Hi everyone,

After a few fits and starts, I'm finally taking the plunge into T&T with some Colonial action in Africa alongside fellow LAFfer Furt. Hopefully this thread will develop into a bit of a diary (which will certainly keep me motivated).

So, the unpainted force looks like this (with a few stragglers joining the ranks soon):


And this is what they will look like on paper:

1 x Witchdoctor (Hero)
10 x Headhunters (Trained) + Leader (spears/shields)
10 x Tribesmen (Raw) + Leader (spears/throwingspears/shields)
10 x Tribesmen (Raw) + Leader (spears/throwingspears/shields)
10 x Tribesmen (Raw) (muskets)
12 x Pygmies (Trained) (bows)
3 x Pygmies (Trained) Scouts (spears/blowpipes)

They will be portrayed as a fictional tribe borrowing mainly from the Wahehe in their style, but with a few masked eccentrics in the ranks and, of course, some Pygmies pressed into service. Geographically this series of games will be taking place across the Congo and Tanganyika against Germans, Arab Slave traders, and hopefully some other forces being introduced along the way. Hopefully this will be turning into a multiplayer event with some other friends, so we'll need enough troops to split amongst 5 players (phew!).

I was considering making the Headhunter unit Veteran... they're in the bottom right of the photo. They will be kitted differently to the rest, and all have the same hairstyle, as a way to show their higher status amongst the other tribesmen.

Any thoughts?

[Driscoles]

Wow, this is good news. Enjoy the game. I already seen that you posted in the DA small units action thread. I think there can be found some useful things soon.
Curious to see how your project develops.
Cheers
Björn

[Furt]

Christian - when will you learn to keep our hair brained schemes to yourself?!?!? 

You realise we will have to produce some evidence of painting now!!

Jokes aside it is a great motivator to document your plans like this and you have made a great start anyway with the prepping.

I hope to provide 9 x German Marines + Leader x2 units and a German Hero; as well as a force of Ruga Ruga. But I'm going to have to be VERY focused to fulfill my end of the bargain.

We have enough decent terrain and buildings to achieve a good game I believe, with out jumping in to that pit at the moment, we just need to concentrate on painting.

[Malamute]

Excellent stuff, can't wait to see it come together.

 I recognise that cart as well

[Christian]

Bugger, people are watching now

@Malamute: Yes! It's the lovely wagon from your shop I ended up attaching it to a couple of Foundry African cows... it will be getting a bit more attention soon!

I have found this rather useful map that, although dated 1937 (much later than our campaign), has still got some potential:



It shows the railways and produce of particular areas in East Africa, plenty of ideas there

[Poiter50]

hey, great, that shows Mwanza where my son was building a gold mine a few years ago. 

[Plynkes]

It shows the railways and produce of particular areas in East Africa, plenty of ideas there

Bear in mind that while both the British and Germans began their railways in the 1890s, they didn't really get going until the 20th Century. The Uganda railway (famous for lion attacks bravely fought off by Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas; but also attacked by Masai and Nandi tribesmen during its construction) did not begin services until 1903, and at that time the German Usambara Railway only stretched about 40 miles inland (construction started in the early 1890s but the company building it went bust). It reached Kilimanjaro in about 1910-11, I think.


The Central Line (or Tanganjikabahn: the line that goes to Lake Tanganyika) was started in 1905 and reached the lake in 1914.

[DGrove]

Looking forward to the progress on this.  I need to get back to painting my own Darkest Africa.

[Christian]

Point taken, Plynkes The establishment of stations, the clearing out of land for laying tracks, the surveying of the land will work as an objective for the Colonial powers.

Here is a picture of a painted tribesman I've done in the last couple of nights:


A bit of a test-scheme. I'm not as careful a painter as I used to be :/ I even left a couple of mould lines (cleverly covered by his shield in this photo!). All my tribesmen are Foundry, with shields and spears supplied by Wargames Factory (from the Zulu sets).

I also did this to the photo on photobucket:


Creepy!

[OSHIROmodels]

Promising looking project 

Using the map is a good idea, even if it is a bit later than you need.

cheers

James

[Furt]

Nicely done mate - he looks very frightening indeed!!

Good start to the project.

[Malamute]

I like him, especially the make up, very fearsome

[Furt]

Here's a few German Marines, with sergeant and an envoy. Most weren't painted by myself, but I have re-based them and used Army Painter in an attempt to unify them with any I do in the future.

[swordman]

nice! which paint you used for the germans?

[Furt]

On the ones that I did - the khaki is simply Army Painter Bonespray, touched up with GW Kommando Khaki and brushed with Army Painter Mid Shade.

VERY simple, but effective enough for me.