German Colonial Troops

At long last I have completely finished a wargaming army: a German colonial force.  I based them to be used as half-units for TSATF (so 6 mounted and 10 mounted figs per unit).  I like my troops to be varied (just for fun and for modelling/painting variety), so not all of these units would have fought in the same theater.  And I could have done some auxiliary units, like the Rehoboth Bastards or some Witbooi irregular cavalry, but these are the primary core units of German colonial armies.  Most of the paint schemes I used for these are based off of research compiled on the marvelous German Colonial Uniforms website.  First up is my camel-mounted Schutztruppen from German Southwest Africa.  (Schutztruppe company number 7 was camel-mounted, all the others being mounted on horses). 

I made these with heads from the Hat WWI Schutztruppe, bodies from the mounted figures in Hat WWII Romanian Artillery Crew, Hat Egyptian Camel Corps camels, and the rifle scabbards cut from the horses in the Hat AZW British Mounted Infantry set.  I made the distinctive equipment straps from modeling epoxy.  I am quite proud of these.  And a close-up:

Next is my naval landing party.  I converted these via simple headswaps, putting Hat AZW British Infantry heads on Hat AZW Gardner Gun sailors.  I made these a while ago, and in retrospect I think I would have been far more accurate if I had removed the cutlasses and used the sun helmets from Hat's WWI British in Tropical Dress rather than the AZW sun helmets.  But oh well, they look good enough at this scale. 

The petty officer is just a Hat WWI Schutztruppe with a naval-themed paint job.  I honestly just forgot to do a petty officer for this unit and he's really more of a stand-in.  When I get some time I'll probably convert a figure similar to what I did for my British naval landing party (which will be a subsequent blog post). 

Next up is a unit of German SWA Schutztruppe.  These guys were all technically mounted infantry, but for wargaming purposes they should be based as regular infantry.  The bulk of the figures are Hat WWI Schutztruppe, while the officer is a headswap from the Hat WWI Askari set, and the NCO is from Strelets Boers. 

Here are the askaris from German East Africa.  German SWA did not employ askaris (although they did use irregulars like the aforementioned Bastards and Witboois).  I painted the officer and NCO as Seebattalion, using the idea that such personnel might be seconded from other services to lead locally-raised troops like this.  The askaris are from Hat WWI Askari, the NCO from Hat WWI Schutztruppe, the officer an old ESCI figure.

The next unit I wasn't sure I should include, which is an askari cavalry unit from German Cameroon.  My understanding is that technically these were police forces (although so were the Natal Mounted Police and other similar units), but in the end I decided to paint and include it for two reasons: first, if my Germans are going to face off against a similar British or French force, they'll need cavalry; and secondly, I really really really wanted to paint a German tricolor lance pennon after seeing a print of these troops on a postcard from around that period.  So first the postcard, and then the figures:

You will note that I elected to make the German officer wear a German SWA sudwesterhut rather than the sun helmet depicted on the postcard.  This was actually because I figured I could use the figure as a mounted officer for my schutztruppe unit or my army's general, on top of which the sudwesterhut was a popular uniform item in the German colonies at the time, so it's not at all unreasonable for an officer of askari police in German Cameroon.

Next I have my Seebattalion, along with a Maxim gun manned by a seesoldat and a sailor.  These are from Hat's WWI Schutztruppe, along with an officer from Hat AZW Gardner Gun and an ensign from ESCI.  The assistant gunner on the Maxim (which I know is not quite right for the period) was originally an askari with a fez and long havelock.  When I headswapped him for the tropical helmet the remainder of the havelock actually looked just right for a sailor's square rig, so I ran with it.  It looks okay, not great.  Won't win any awards, but a good gaming piece.

And at long last we get to the final elements, a C96 field artillery piece with SWA crew, and a command element comprising a sword-waving officer and a flag-waving ensign (actually a Boer from Strelets' lovely set).  The model 1896 feldkanone is not right for the period, because no one makes C96aA guns, only the C96nA, which was the modification used in WWI.  But it's close enough for my purposes.  Anyway, the gun is from the Emhar WWI German Artillery set and the figures are from the Hat WWI German Artillery set.  A note on using Strelets Boers as force multipliers for my primarily Hat schutztruppen: considering how the schutztruppen willfully helped the Boers fight the Brits during their rebellions, and then how a significant number of Boers then went and helped the schutztruppe during WWI, I find it fitting and correct that the two sets have figures that complement each other so well. 

And then finally one last group shot:

So that's these fellows done.  Now I need to finish up a unit of Scots, some lancers, and some Rifles and I'll have the bally brave Brits ready to do battle with the hulking Huns! 

Some 1/72 conversions

So I like 1/72 miniatures, HO/OO scale, 20mm plastics, etc. etc. etc.  I know, it’s an odd thing.  The world seems to be jam-packed full of 28-32mm figures, a very large number of them very attractive and full of character.  But I like the small-scale plastics.  The size just feels about right to me.  It is a scale, however, that does not much go in for character figures, or really any figure that is in any way much different from the other figures.  1/72 plastic toy soldier companies seek to provide large armies at a low cost, and that means multiple copies of multiple poses.  Now, I do love my Hat Zulu War British Infantry, despite what some have said about them.  But all of the figures have the same uniform, same bayonet, same trousers tucked into same gaiters, and so on.  (Well, except one figure who seems to be some sort of auxiliary.)  There are no character figure, a figure you can devote your very best paint job to and set him at the head of your army, no matter the time period or genre.  There is no little one-inch Colonel Flashman.  So small scale plastic warriors must either do without, or do some converting.  So I figured I’d try my hand and see what I could do about getting some characters into my games.  Most of my conversions so far are nothing more than headswaps, but a couple are a little more involved. Here are a few snaps of my most recent efforts.

 First up is Dorothy Copperpot, daughter of the famous explorer and treasure hunter Chester, and a world-renowned archaeologist and explorer in her own right.  She's outfitting for an expedition now, with a coil of rope, archaeological tools, and she has just unearthed a neolithic skull.

I made Dorothy from a Caesar partisan, and cut her head down enough to accommodate a sun helmet from Hat's WWI British Infantry in tropical dress.  The coiled rope is simply a length of twine, and the tools are from the Imex settlers set.

The second, more major conversion, is a Voodoo bokor.  In Caribbean voodoo tradition, or at least in some variants of it, bokors are sorcerers who are often evil.  I made this guy out of the top half of a Strelets Mounted Boer and the bottom half of a Hat Natal Native Contingent.  The staff/ensign/whatever is from Hat's Roman Auxiliary Cavalry.  

My plan with the bokor is to have him leading a band of Tonton Macoute and zombies against a United States Marine Corps expedition in Haiti sometime around the turn of the century.  I really wish both my camera and painting skills were a bit better, but over all I'm pretty happy with how these two turned out.