Courtesy of AHistorian on the Lead Adventure forum, a little bundle arrived yesterday - 13 'Defenders of Rorkes Drift' by AW Miniatures13 Additional British Infantry (5 in puttees) including an officer9 Highlanders (mounted on 2p pieces)3 Dragoons (Command Group)The spare British officer is going to be painted in tartan trews to accompany the Highlanders The bulk of the British infantry will be going straight onto the painting table alongside the Warlord plastic NNC and Zulus where they will become a new unit (24th Foot of course !) complete with Chard and Bromhead.I need to add some more cavalry to make a complete unit, but the whole lot was only £30 including postage, and their arrival means I won't need to buy any more plastic Brits.
Last year I had some fun with IHMN in East Africa. The relatively few number of 28mm figures required make it affordable, and gave me an area to re-awaken my painting skill in that scale.Some time ago I came across a PDF of a 'Darkest Africa' campaign here - http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/Documents/WargamesIllustrated/InDarkestAfrica.pdfbut I just filed it away as interesting - maybe for another time.Then last month it finally struck me that it could make an excellent framework for an IHMN campaign. We are using the campaign part of the rules as they are with each of 4 parties setting off into the interior. Each party will be an IHMN Company of 250 points from the first two books and any battles generated will be fought using standard IHMN rules.The natives forces for the games will be either Herdsmen or Pygmies chosen at random from pre-set companies that I have created using the HVF Zulus as a template.The first Campaign Night is scheduled for early May and I'll see if I can't post regular updates here.
It's taken a couple of weeks, but finally my latest company for IHMN is ready to be unveiled - The Pygmies of Kitara
Led by their mystically empowered Witch Doctor, these dark-skinned pygmies of the jungle have again become a significant menace to European control of the African hinterland. The threat has further increased now that they are often accompanied by a gigantic white man wielding a 2-headed axe. They raid farms and attack parties of settlers and merchants of all races indiscriminately, and have become a serious hazard in the region.
Until the 16th C the Empire of Kitara dominated a large area of Central East Africa. Archaeological discoveries made at Bigo bya Mugenyi, the capital of the empire, and Ntusi in Uganda, reveal rich deposits of an urban centre dating to around 500 B.C. The historical Kings of Kitara came from a dynasty named the Bachwezi who’s origin is shrouded in mystery and legend, so much so that many traditional gods in the successor kingdoms of Buganda, Ankole, Toro, Rwanda, Karagwe and Burundi name Bachwezi as one of their many tribal Gods.
The Kitarans were always a small people with their tallest individuals seldom exceeding 60 inches in height, and legends tell that despite having access to magical powers, they were no match for the much taller Luo Peoples from the North. Forced from their fertile grasslands, the Kitarans moved into the dense bush and from there they waged guerilla war using poison against the incomers while their Priests turned their minds to the further development of mental powers.
In 1891 Lord Dudley-Devenish, 6th Duke of Borcetshire, sent his 21 year old son (Thomas Henry Richard Ulysees) to Africa in search of a cure for his Gigantism. An hereditary family trait, many Dudley-Devenish’s died very young as they grew beyond the point that the human body can support. Already 6’11” tall at just 20 years of age, Lord Devenish was determined that his eldest son would not suffer such a fate, and scoured the world for a cure. Hearing of the Kitarans and their limited height, he decided that they might have a cure that would stop Thomas’ growth.
Making contact was difficult at first, but the sight of young Thomas with his white skin and enormous height was a revelation to the Kitarans and he was welcomed as a new God. After a few months living with the tribe, Thomas had indeed stopped growing and a combination of native drugs and a vigorous outdoor life has led him to developed amazing physical abilities and become a fearsome warrior. At the same time however, his intellect seems to have declined and under the influence of the Kitaran Witch Doctors he has developed a fanatical hatred of outsiders and the new science that failed to help him.
His status as a living, breathing God of War has encouraged the Kitarans to step up their attacks on the hated Luo and any who use modern technology in an attempt to recover the ancient Kitaran lands. While Thomas no longer shows any affinity towards his family or other Englishmen, he is often accompanied by one or more black Panthers that attack his enemies with as much ferocity as their master.
