Return to Darkest Africa

I've decided that once I've completed my 1/2400th scale French pre-dreadnought project, I'll take a break from naval wargaming and focus on painting my Forest Tribe for Congo. I put this together last year using figures that I had already based for In the Heart of Africa several years ago, but then didn't get round to actually painting them. The plan is to paint them up using a simple two or three shades plus wash approach, then finish off the bases with some nice jungle foliage, before I go on to assembling a party of explorers or slavers. 

The other parallel bit of the project will be to scratch build some basic jungle terrain pieces along with a boma or fortified village, so that I have something to fight over. I've seen some amazing terrain for Darkest Africa, including the knock out work by my old mate Jon, but mine will be a little less spectacular as I'll be using an old GW grass mat as a starting point, rather than a bespoke cloth. I'm looking forward to getting this underway next month but, in the meantime, it's full steam ahead with the pre-dreadnoughts!

In the meantime have a look at what the very talented Mr J.Ward Esq. has been up to:

https://jonsotherwargamesblog.wordpress.com/category/darkest-africa/

2019 Retrospective

I've really enjoyed this project!

The time has come to look back over the last twelve months to see what I've managed to shift from the top of the lead pile. It's not been a bad year wargames wise but I have continued to move along at a snails pace, largely due to my on-going aversion to painting anything and my other commitments, although working part time has helped a bit. In retrospect a lot of my output has been only partially completed but this seems to be one of those inevitable things that I just can't seem to get away from, however hard I stick at it and despite my best intentions!

As far as actual wargaming is concerned, my old New Year resolution to play more games at the club has fallen flat on it's face but I have played a quite a few games at home. I did run a couple of games of Bag the Hun and WW1 Knights of the Sky at the club, together with a What a Tanker! introduction game which went down well with the regulars. I've also joined in with a Cruel Seas game, a Napoleonic fleet action and the recent Narvik re-play, but that's about it for club activity this year. At home, I've devised and played several Victorian ironclad scenarios for Broadside and Ram, which I've really enjoyed and will introduce at the club in 2020.

In terms of painting, I've finished some 1/72nd scale Soviet tanks for What a Tanker!, finally painted nearly all of the 1/2400th scale Tumbling Dice French and British ironclads, built and painted a Junkers J1 for Knights of the Sky, and shifted some other stuff a little further forward on the painting production line. I didn't complete the S-Boats or MTB's for Cruel Seas, the 1864 ironclads or the British AFV's for the 15mm Sandbox Skirmish project, but they have had some attention when I've been able to squeeze them in. I did manage to re-base all of my 1/3000th scale WW2 French fleet, however, which has breathed some new life into an old project for 2020.

On the production line front, I've assembled and based a 1/2400th scale French Napoleonic fleet and have glued together a load of late war British, German and American tanks for What a Tanker!, even though they are now sitting in a box waiting to be painted. I've also scratch built a whole set of pretty effective Mediterranean themed modular coastal terrain for 1/2400th scale wargaming and a load of winter terrain pieces for What a Tanker!, although there's more to do on both accounts before I'm finished. I enjoy scratch building terrain and buildings but haven't made as much this year as I have in the past so that's something else to consider for the year ahead.

The things that fell by the wayside include the Congo project, which just didn't get off the ground for various reasons, the aforementioned Cruel Seas boats, the Fokker Dr1's for Knights of the Sky and the Sandbox Skirmish project, which has just got stuck in a bit of a rut after a pretty productive start. I'll carry on with most of these in dribs and drabs but the Congo project will probably be shoved back in it's box, as 2020 is destined for more naval wargaming rather than 28mm  things. In fact, I'm thinking of selling off most of my 28mm lead and plastic pile, as it's just soaking up shelf space and will probably never see a lick of paint!

The wargaming highlight of the year, apart from my Victorian ironclad solo project, was probably the Come and Have a Go, if you think you're Lard Enough? event in March, during which I ran a couple of back to back Bag the Hun games. I really enjoyed this very well organised and friendly day out, with both of my games being well received by the players, so much so that I'm running another Bag the Hun game next year too, although it still needs some more preparation work with nearly thirty 1/285th scale aircraft to paint in the next ten weeks or so! 

Overall, I've had a low key but enjoyable year of wargaming, with a fair output of new things to play with and some old favourites revisited. I'm looking forward to 2020, as I have already got at least three projects on the workbench that have time limited deadlines to be met otherwise I'll be in a bit of trouble before I've even started! I'll set out my plans for the next twelve months soon, but as previously mentioned the overall theme will definitely have a nautical flavour once again, as I've found this to be a most rewarding and productive approach over the previous couple of years. I just hope I get more games under my belt than I have done in 2019?

Congo Campaign Supplement

I've been bogged down with work over the last few days, so the Congo painting project has temporarily stalled despite my best intentions to get it started at the weekend. To give myself a bit of a kick up the bum, I've bought the campaign supplement, Munga Mah Lobeh, which has a specific campaign scenario but also general rules for linking games together in a narrative style. I thought this sounded really interesting so decided it would be worth a closer look. 

Congo Terrain

One of the things that I like about the Congo project is the opportunity to make some more scratch built terrain. I already have a shedload of plastic aquarium plants and foliage that I've acquired over the years in various places, so have a good starting point for some dense jungle terrain templates.

I've also found a Sarrissa Precision jungle hut kit, left over from a WW2 Far East project, which would be excellent as a colonial outpost or mission station. I plan to add a corrugated iron roof and some internal details like furniture and clutter, so that it really looks the part. It will have to wait until I've actually painted the figures though!

Congo Painting

I've now got back to the Congo project and have singled out the first figures to be painted, two units of warrior spearmen and a couple of masked sacred warriors that could be attached to them for moral support. In the past I've tended to paint a whole army in one go, which more often than not ends up on the shelf about half way through. This time, I'll paint up a couple of units at a go and no more than a dozen figures at once, keeping the momentum going and hopefully banging them out in a weekend each time. 

I'll also be keeping the painting process as simple as possible, with a two stage approach and some ink washing to bring out the details. The only arty farty bit will be the wicker shields and the tribal masks but I'm going to try a cunning plan for the former and a 'keep it simple stupid' option for the latter. There's only so much you can do with a loincloth and a few beads as it is. Who knows, they might even look half decent, as I'll be spending more time and effort on the basing!

Congo Figure Storage Solutions

I usually use KR Multicase foam trays and cardboard containers for my 28mm stuff but, with all the pointy spears and big shields on the Congo figures  I thought it would, be better to store them upright. As I've based them on 2p coins, the obvious solution is a RUB insert with magnets, so I've been shopping around for the best ones. I think I'm going to go for the Charlie Foxtrot version, as it looks ideal and isn't that expensive, with a tray holding up to seventy seven figures. I have forty eight figures in the Forest Tribes column, so there's plenty of space and room for an other twenty nine figures to spare, which could be enough for an Expedition or Zanzibari force. I'm a bit short of pocket money, however, so I'll have to wait until pay day to splash out on the tray and also some of the nice resin tents and baggage that Charlie Foxtrot has in his webshop thingy.

Paddling Up the Congo

Scouts

Bay Brown 

A finished pirate (actually a Darkest Africa musketeer)

With October just over the horizon, it's time to paddle off up the Congo, with my painting project for the next month or so, a Jungle Tribes column with all the whistles and bells. I'm going to start today with a basecoat of Foundry Bay Brown Shade, which I'll follow up with a highlight in Bay Brown and Bay Brown Light as the next two stages. I used this approach with a couple of my old 28mm Foundry Pirates and I think it gives a very good, not too light but not too dark skin tone. I may or may not give them a wash after the flesh tones are done but will probably move onto the loin cloths, head dresses, bangles, beads and masks before the ink wash is applied. I thought about texturing the bases before painting but I'll leave that until right at the end. 

Congo Painting Project

It's going to take me quite a while to prepare and base the Saga warband, which I've decided to stick on 25mm laser cut mdf circles for ease of handling, so in the meantime I thought I'd get some 28mm figure painting practice under my belt, having not painted anything in the scale for literally years. So, rummaging about in the unfinished business box, I uncovered the Forest Tribe figures that I based up for Congo a couple of years ago but then shelved, as no one at the club was interested in the rules.

The figures are all based on 2p coins and ready to paint, although I have had to spray undercoat some of the units yesterday in Halfords Matt Black car spray, as I didn't get round to it at the time. I have also added an additional unit of Hunters, consisting of four bow armed figures with some scary masks, and I've done a headswap to create a new Champion figure to match the style of the rest of the column. The movement trays are just for ease of handling.

Chieftain, Champion, two Sacred Warriors

Healer, Witchdoctor

Head swapped Champion

The characters consists of a chieftain, a witchdoctor, a healer, a drummer and the aforementioned champion. For auxiliaries I've got two sacred warriors, which is the maximum allowed. The main units are two five man cannibal groups, two five man warrior groups, a unit of five young warriors, a unit of five bunduki musketeers, a unit of six archers, four hunters and three scouts with javelins. I haven't got any pygmies but will see if I can get some later on.

This lot should be pretty straightforward to paint, being a little less than heavily clothed, so it shouldn't be a difficult or long winded process. I'm going to try to find some really good basing materials, foliage, grass tufts, ferns and the like, in order to make the figures look really good despite their otherwise basic appearance. I'm also planning to scratchbuild some jungle terrain templates, so that they have something to hide in and run away to!

I'll get cracking this week!

SAGA Age of Vikings

I now have the second edition Saga rules, which I bought new and the Age of Vikings supplement, which I bought second hand but 'as new' for twenty quid, which is a bargain. I'll do some reading around the rules when the the Age of Vikings book arrives later this week, as I've also unearthed a load of Gripping Beast mid-Saxon metal figures that I'd forgotten about, so could do a West Saxon ninth century warband instead of the Welsh. In the meantime, I have some other plans designed to get me up to speed with 28mm figure painting, as I definitely need a refresher course! (more about that later today).

Congo Cannibals and Characters

I finished basing and spearing the last of the figures for my Congo forest tribe this evening, apart from the basketwork shields which I will add after I've painted them separately. In a change of plan, I decided to add two units of cannibals using figures with some really cool plumed headgear and body scarring, rather than the single unit of five mask wearing figures that I originally planned to include. To compensate for the extra unit I also scaled back my archers to a single unit of six instead of two.

To complete the tribal line up I also have the chieftain, a witchdoctor, a healer, a talking drummer and two 'sacred warriors', the latter using two of the mask equipped figures left over from the abandoned cannibal plan. These are really nice figures and I'm looking forward to painting them up in suitably funky mystical colours. The whole forest tribe now stands at a not unmanageable forty five figures, which I'm hoping to tackle one or two units at a time, once I've decided how to go about it.

Congo Scouts and Warriors

I have a handful of extra figures to prepare for the Forest Tribe column that I'm putting together for Congo. Today, I based a unit of three scouts and a unit of five young warriors, the general theme being an absence of clothing and a more youthful selection of figures compared to the bog standard warriors in the tribe.

The scouts also have some rather natty feather headgear, which picks them out from the crowd, although it might be a bit of a giveaway when they are in ambush. The javelins were a good way to distinguish them from the spear armed warrior figures, for which I used some metal pins that I bought in the DIY bit of a supermarket when on holiday in France.

The packet label said they were Pointe a placage acier trompe, which even my French wife couldn't translate into English, but whatever they are they make excellent 28mm javelins or 15mm spears. I'll get the rest of the extra figures based up tomorrow so that I can start painting them at some point over the next couple of weeks, if all goes according to my best laid plans?

Umbongo Umbongo...

...all together now.

Yes, I have succumbed to the lure of Darkest Africa once again and have bought myself a copy of Congo, the colonial exploration and skirmish game by Studio Tomahawk. This wasn't cheap but is a lovely book and what looks like a really original and exciting set of rules for exploration in the deepest, darkest bits of the African hinterland. The eye candy production values are right up there too but this doesn't detract from what seems to be a very well thought out and imaginative set of rules.

The big persuader for me was that I already had a load of figures, both still in their packs and in a ready-based format, which I originally gathered together for In the Heart of Africa literally years ago. The core of these formed a tribal villagers army based upon the Nkonde of what is now Tanzania and Malawi, with several large units of spearmen, archers and muskets. However, to re-purpose this force for Congo required some lateral thinking, as it didn't really fit any of the two indigenous forces in the rules.

In the end, after a bit of head scratching and some rummaging, I've put together what I think is a pretty good Forest Tribes column for Congo, using many of my pre-based figures and a few extras. This consists of some characters including a chief, witchdoctor, healer and drummer, a unit of five cannibals, two units of five warriors, one unit of five young warriors, two units of six archers, one of five 'bundukis' and three scouts. This is a bit excessive but, as I had most the figures all ready to paint, I thought I'd bring the kitchen sink.

This lot will be kitted out with some really nice wickerwork shields, of which I have enough for four or five units. I think they'll look pretty good and I'm hoping will be relatively quick to paint, even for me with my sloth like speed and ever diminishing eyesight. I have plenty of figures left over too, so another force is a distinct possibility based around the African Kingdom army list in the rule book. It also means I can denude the garage of my stash of plastic aquarium jungle plants, which has been festering away in a corner for ages waiting for an opportunity to be released into the wild.

Now all I need is the time to sit down and get some painting done!?

Congo

This has been in the pipeline for quite a while now, so I was really interested to read a review of the rules in the latest issue of Wargames Illustrated a few days ago, which provided a lot more detail about the key features of the game. I have had a long term goal to 'do' Darkest Africa and have an extensive lead pile set aside for just such a thing so Congo has grabbed my attention, especially as it looks like a smaller sized game than In the Heart of Africa, which has been the focus of my efforts to date.

The emphasis is also more on exploration than warfare, with forces ranging in size from half a dozen figures up to about thirty or so, which would make it more manageable than ITHOA, which can involve a lot of figures if you go for the African options in the army lists. The gameplay also look really different and quite innovative, so I'm really looking forward to it's publication as an excuse to paint some more figures and scratch build some decent jungle or savannah terrain.