Saturday, April 26, 2014

Mongrel Miniatures - Cold War British - Zikangeleze Regulars.

These Mongrel Miniatures British have been sitting in storage for a couple of years they have had various outings over the years, Cold War Europe, even zombie out breaks.
Having recently picked up some of Empress Miniatures modern Brits, I thought these could get a make over and join the ranks of the Zikangeleze military.

  
The original paint job was a little too bright and needed a couple of extra colours adding to the camo scheme and a dip wash of Army painter to give them a more lived in feel.


Within the Zikanga campaign setting L’Armee Zikangeleze army is commanded by the ambitious General Botang. General Botangi has his sights set on overthrowing the president, but must first gain International favour by crushing the Southside Boys and the Legs Akimbo, the two rebel militias gaining prominence in the country. 


Sunday, April 20, 2014

28mm African Militia - Part 2

If you thought the first batch of militia were a rag tag bunch take a look at these guys...
3 units of armed militiamen made up from various manufacturers Copplestone, Gripping Beast, The Assault Group and Bobby Jackson's Thugz.


I wanted to create a clear distinction between the factions those who were based on military lines and those of a more gang nature, the quality on all sides will be similar, but hopefully the more colourful nature of these troops should make it easier to separate the waring factions. Many will double up as each scenario is played out but I have named each lead section just for fun.... :-)



Wole Joyinka, known as “Dr J”: - Southside Boys.
A rebel leader of great charm/rabble rousing ability. Dr “J” has been experimenting extensively with hallucinogenic drugs and many of his warriors are drug fuelled boy soldiers stolen from the local villages and indoctrinated into the Southside Boys way of life.



Kwaz Nwazutha:- The Beast
A tribal leader known for his love of fast food and bling.




Gani Fawehinmi and his Regiment.
A tribal leader regarded as one of the better trained militia units in Zikanga dispite there appearance, due largely to access to UK Gold and  the show “SAS are you tough enough”

Friday, April 18, 2014

28mm African Militia.


I'd forgotten how many modern mini's I had tucked away, impulse purchases from various trade shows for projects that never took off, figures purchased after a holiday read that sounded like a great idea for a project at the time.... (I can recommend Vortex by Larry Bond). Figures purchased because they looked nice and how could i possibly leave a show with change in my pocket.

Most of the reference material for West African Militia of the early 90's are a mix of regular uniforms and civilan dress so pooling all of those odd modern mini's should give me a great opportunity to recycle some of those figures and give others a make over and a genuine use. 
Gang members for zombie games, wasteland warriors for a sci-fi project that needed more figures than I needed that had been languishing under coated but not finished in draws for several years all of these suddenly had a use and could be recruited into the new African Militia.
 

It's been a few years since the completed mini's that have did have, have seen the light of day and my painting style has certainly changed since they last saw action, so I thought they were due a make over if they are to fit in with plans for this project and give a degree of uniformity to the units.

I am more than happy with the first 50 they have a military feel to them, with the odd splash of colour to give them that irregular vibe and the mix of manufactures helps to break up the uniformity.
Copplestone, Gripping Beast's MO-FO range, The Assault Group even a couple of Bobby Jackson's Thugz's make an appearance.


Louis “Legs” Akimbo and his Militia.
Legs is a bit of a nutter but a renowned rabble-rouser. He was thought of as a harmless eccentric but now, since he’s created an armed following nobody’s quite sure.



Jan Yoruba of the Yorubist Peoples Party.
A political agitator distinctly left wing man with Stalinist/Leninist/Maoist tendencies but he seems to pick and choose sentiments that suit him best.



Samuel Lani-Oheck
A failed farmer, failed store-keeper, failed tribal-leader, and failed general and failed politician.
But he is pretty nibble with a machette.




Charity Nsithlan
A warlord who tends to do his own thing and is best left alone.
Nsithlan supporters are made up of bandits, murders and deserters bereft of any political aims or objectives.



Zikanga's Gendarmes Nationale
The personal bodyguard of President Okoye. The GN rarely venture out from the main cities (often in force) and when they do mainly stick to the main road.

Spectre Miniatures - So much for no new projects this year.....

The curses of Salute...
I had a plan and a list and these were definately not on it... :-)


Wandering through the vast array of traders at Salute I came across these guy's with a planned Kickstarter on the 1st May producing a range of modern African sculpts both militia and western special forces.

Unlike other kickstarters I have backed, they have 80+ minis sculpted and ready for casting and they had these on display.



They are comparable in size and sculpting style to Gripping Beasts MO-FO range and Eureka's latest releases and include some great mini's wearing the rather unique style of some of the militia found in Liberia and West Africa.

The free CIA SOG miniature was a nice touch but did not help my will power.


I thought I had left this gaming arena behind, but I guess you never forget your first campaign. 
Set in the fiction country of Zikanga in the mid 80's it featured several players each crafted by the umpire and each with a separate agenda.

The campaign was run by e-mail and losely based on the AK47 rules set, players received a fortnightly news letter detailing the major events, players were free to add as much detail as they liked.... the crazier the better...


It was one of the most engaging campaigns that I had taken part in over the years and a credit to Roy who umpired the map movements and added the colour to each character and encounter.

I am sorely tempted to re-imagine this campaign giving me a reason to bring the main characters out of retirement and upgrading to 28mm - Thanks Spectre.....

The main characters running around Zikanga were as follows.... something for everyone here......


Festus Okoye:- President of Zikanga.



The President for Life of Zikanga. Self appointed after the Civil War. A benevolent (sort of) dictator who originates from the Zutha Tribe.
The Gendarmes Nationale act as the personal bodyguard of President Okoye.  For decades Okoye has kept his enemies too busy fighting each other to accomplish any kind of successful coup.

The GN rarely venture out from the main cities (often in force) and when they do mainly stick to the main roads

 The Gendarmes Nationale can count several hundred in their number with a scattering of armoured vehicles, there is also a functioning helicopter although this is rarely used as they lack the fuel to power it, let alone anyone who knows how to fly the damn thing.


Objective: Defend the presidential palace against any assaults and maintain existing power base.


General Botangi:- Zikanga Military



The ambitious General Botangi has consolidated power within the Zikangeleze military to the point where President Okoye will no longer allow army units within the city limits.


General Botangi has his sights set on overthrowing the president, but first gain International favour by crushing the Southside Boys and the Legs Akimbo,  the two rebel militias gaining prominence in the country.


Objective: Defeat the rebel militia’s before seizing control of the government.


Samuel Lani-Oheck:-  Zutha tribe



A Zutha in Nana-Mambere. This man is a failed farmer, failed store-keeper, failed tribal-leader, and failed general and failed politician. (If he’s “a significant individual” then so is the average government newspaper seller.)
Lani Ocheck has little military support to speak of however he is held has a number of high level of contacts in the Naisian Government.


Objective: Encourage an armed intervention from the Naisian Government.



Charity Nsithlan:- Allied to the Zutha tribe (sort of)



A warlord in Funk who tends to do his own thing and is best left alone. Not much is known about him. Rumoured to be a powerful man best not messed with.

Nsithlan supporters are made up of bandits, murders and deserters bereft of any political aims or objectives he can count several hundred supporters with a number of stolen vehicles many from innocent travellers and UN vehicles.


Objective: Expansion of their area of control through the brutalisation of the local community no one passes through without paying the toll.



Jan Yoruba:-  Zutha Opposition



A political agitator. Whereabouts presently unknown but the whole world will probably know when he surfaces. A distinctly left wing man with Stalinist/Leninist/Maoist tendencies but he seems to pick and choose sentiments that suit him best. It’s rumoured that he wants “Yorubists” to be seen alongside the others mentioned.
Yoruba has a small number of supporters with no known armoured support.


Objective: For Zikanga to become the first Yorubist Peoples Republic.



Henri Odinga:- PetroCorp Mercenaries



PetroCorp’s man in Cuvette. He is a jumped up security man

 Odinga is responsible for security at the four main drilling sites “Overton of Bruxie”, “Howe of Bruxie”, “Affleck” and “Honeyneuk” together with the pipelines integrity throughout the country.


Odinga can call upon a small army of professional mercenaries and advanced weapon systems including a number of MBT’s and fast attack helicopters.


Objective: Defend the pipeline and ensure oil continues to flow regardless of government in power, maintain profit margins.



Wole Joyinka, known as “Dr J”: - Southside Boys.



A rebel leader of great charm/rabble rousing ability. His present whereabouts are rumoured to be in the jungle around Bandunu as the country is sparsely populated and contains many clearings able to produce the local drug relied upon by the Southside Boys.

He seems to be able to raise people against “the foe” wherever he is.

Revelling in meaningless savagery many of his units are named after their horrors exercised on the population at large, Rebel Units like Burn House Squad, Cut Hands Commando & Kill Man No Blood whose speciality was beating people to death without a drop of blood being spilt.


Dr “J” has been experimenting extensively with hallucinogenic drugs and many of his warriors are drug fuelled boy soldiers stolen from the local villages and indoctrinated into the Southside Boys way of life.


Dr “J” can call upon several hundred warriors of dubious quality.


Objective:  Capture Bandunu and expand area of control.
 

Balarabe Musa:-



A long time political opponent of Okoye. He failed to get elected because there was no election. Okoye would have been removed a long time ago if it wasn’t for his World standing and powerful retinue. Believed to be recently backed by Noore but nobody is sure. He tends to hang out around the border and although he himself has been quiet his manifesto keeps appearing in towns.


Musa can count several hundred poorly trained supporters with a scattering of Armoured vehicles,

Objective: Build sufficient forces to assault the presidential palace and over throw the Okoye Government.




Louis “Legs” Akimbo:-



Legs is a bit of a nutter but a renowned rabble-rouser. He was thought of as a harmless eccentric but now, since he’s created an armed following nobody’s quite sure.


Legs can count several hundred followers in his militia with a small number of technicals. The faithful followers will gladly give their lives for Musa.

Objective: Drive out the western forces from your homeland, stop the theft of your countries resources.