Back to the German-Herero War Painting Table: What's on Deck in 28mm?

The last four months spend researching and developing a skirmish scenario based on the historical battle of Uitkomst have been an exciting and rewarding interlude for me, as I hope they have been for those of you who have been following along with the 12 part series that resulted from that effort.  Although I am considering tackling a second battle scenario from this period, I don't have the bandwidth to take on that project right away: certainly not while also addressing the huge backlog of figures that await my paints and brushes.

It won't surprise readers of this blog that I now possess a large number of Boer figures in 28mm scale, mounted and on foot, that I should start painting in earnest so I can begin play testing the Uitkomst skirmish.  They are a selection of mounted (Black Tree Designs, Foundry and Redoubt) and dismounted Boers (all of the above, plus North Star Africa and Empress).  The Black Tree horsemen are just slightly larger than Foundry's but usable together.  Redoubt's are both stylistically different and as a rule slightly too small for use with Black Tree.  For Uitkomst I'll be using five of Black Tree's and three of Foundry's mounted Boers, and a probably will favor North Star and Empress for the foot figures.  Redoubt's Boer horse holder is not ideal, with extremely long legs and a rough and ready sculpt, but I have not yet found a good alternative.

I've got 12 Mounted Hereros to paint (Empress Natal Native Horse with the spears removed from their quivers), and a really neat idea for one of the Herero's most effective war leaders - Assa Riarua.  Then there are the German civilians who fought at Uitkomst (represented thus far by figures from North Star, Foundry and Redoubt), and a growing number of vehicles with draft animals, drivers and figures representing native handlers (Treiber) that are needed for scenarios such as Groß-Barmen in the Jones/Alvarado Herero War Scenario and Rules Book

I may start, however, with a scenic vignette, featuring an ubiquitous sight characteristic of the terrain in central and eastern Hereroland, along with one of its associated denizens.  It provides a welcome contrast to an otherwise flat and mundane landscape of thorn and savannah, not to mention a bit of cover.  Your guesses are welcome in the comments, but you will need to wait for the big reveal...

Scenics: Herero Cattle and Herd Boy

28mm Northstar Africa! Native Cattle

 Cattle were everything to the Herero, a pastoral people for whom these animals were sources of wealth as well as subsistence.  Even with the decimation of their herds during the Rinderpest outbreak in 1897, the Herero had tens of thousands long horned African cattle (with more than 20,000 estimated to have been brought together at the Waterberg prior to the battle of Hamakari).  These herds consumed vast amounts of forage and could drink a waterhole dry.

These 28mm animal figures are by Northstar Africa!, with gaps between the cattle heads and bodies filled with epoxy before painting.  The herd boy is part of an African Women and Children pack  - DA027 in 28mm from Wargames Foundry's Darkest Africa line.  They are painted with subtle shading. I may add another layer of ground cover sand but otherwise consider them finished.  They will travel with my Herero forces as they maneuver in the field.

A few More 28mm Figures Ready to add to the Herero Forces

28mm Brigade Games Haitian (Carribean Empire) Perry Mafeking Firing

28mm Wargames Foundry, various Darkest Africa sets

Witbooi Native Auxiliaries in 25mm

Witbooi Nama Native Auxiliaries (Monday Knight Productions Haitians 25mm)

A troop of about 110 native auxiliaries from the Witbooi tribe served with the Germans in the Herero War of 1904.  Contemporary images suggest that they went to war wearing their traditional white turbans around their wide brimmed hats.  In previous campaigns they wore imperial armbands over civilian clothing to distinguish them from the enemy, and that is how I have depicted them with these figures.

The miniatures are 25mm, too small to work well with the 28mm figures that comprise the bulk of my forces on the gaming table but adequate when used as a group on their own.  They are from
Monday Knight Productions Banana Wars Haitian Figures line and have been modified with Kneadatite epoxy putty tape to add turbans to their hats.  These are simple sculpts and very affordable at $12 for a mixed squad of nine different men with rifles and one of two leader types with pistols and machetes.  Three are without hats and I have assigned them to the Herero forces to round out some smaller sized units.  They can also be purchased singly.

Instead of wheat-based cat litter I used beach sand to texture the bases.  I think it will require a second coat of white glue and additional sand to get the right amount of ground cover, but it avoids the problem of the wheat absorbing liquid and the longer associated drying time.

Just 24 figures are needed to represent the Witbooi troops in the Jones/Alvaredo Herero Wars

Scenario and Rule Book and I may decide to acquire the remainder from Monday Knight.  Alternatively, I may consider these an interesting experiment and use 28mm figures instead.

Witbooi Native Auxiliaries modified with Epoxy turbans

Scenics: Two Southern African Vultures

Vultures and carcass by Wargames Foundry (GPR63)

I'm a conservationist by trade, and did a lot of birdwatching in southern Africa in the 1990s when I lived and worked in Namibia.  It is not surprising, then, that my German-Herero War in miniature project includes scenic elements representing the indigenous fauna.  Yesterday I finished this scenic vignette of two vultures squabbling over the barest of bones.

The miniatures are from Wargames Foundry and I painted them up as two vulture species that occur in Namibia today, though they are less common than they once were.  On the left is a whiteheaded vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) and on the right is a lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotus).  They are competitors, and the lappetfaced vulture is dominant and will drive the other away from the food source: in this case the dismembered remains of a quadruped carcass, perhaps a small antelope, army mule or a calf from the Herero cattle herd.  I think this will add a nice, somewhat macabre touch to my gaming table.

Painted Honourable Lead Boilersuit Company Schutztruppe

The Honourable Lead Boilersuit Company no longer produces 28mm figures from its German Colonial line, but I have been fortunate to find several lots on eBay that have allowed me to put both mounted and dismounted Schutztruppe in the field.  I've repainted, and in some cases rebased them, and can now put four HLBS Co. officers, a senior NCO, seven riflemen and a maxim gun team on the field, along with the first of ten painted mounted figures.  A few of these have been previewed here before, but yesterday I finished the vast majority of them and a photo gallery appears below.

There are three duplicate poses, although in one case the figure has a bread bag and canteen that its twin for some reason lacks.  I painted them in different uniforms (khaki feldrock or kord waffenrock), which is particularly striking when comparing the two officers, below.

HLBS Co. German Schutztruppe painted for Southwest Africa, 1904

Major (left) in kord waffenrock uniform; Hauptmann (right) in khaki feldrock

Three figures painted in kord waffenrock uniforms

3 figures in kord waffenrock and the same three 3 in khaki feldrock

Command Group (Hauptmann, Oberleutnant Adjutant, Hauptmann, Major, Feldwebel) and mounted Ritter

Maxim Gun team and Feldwebel

Copplestone Askari Conversion to Rehoboth Baster Abteilung

Copplestone Darkest Africa Zanzibari Regulars Marching

Copplestone Askari Converted to Baster Abteilung

There were two Copplestone Zanzibari Askaris in a mixed set of German colonial miniatures that I picked up a few months ago on eBay, and this week I decided to do a test conversion of one of them to see whether it would work for the German-Herero war as a native auxiliary from the Baster Abteilung.  The Rehoboth Basters or Bastards are of mixed ethnicity, and one photograph of the unit that served with the Germans during 1904-1907 shows them in light colored German corduroy uniforms with the white litzen removed from the collar and sleeves.

I had some Kneadatite epoxy putty, the "green stuff" that modelers and sculptors use for conversions, so I left one figure alone and gave the other shoes and a peaked feld cap, complete with a small imperial cockade.  In 24 hours this had hardened and was ready to paint.  I painted ed it up and based it tonight and am very pleased with the result.

 Possibly I'll try to sculpt more ammunition pouches with a cavalry harness, but for now this is more than good enough.  I may go back and make the cap a darker brown, and I need to add a couple of silver buttons on each sleeve, but otherwise it is finished and I have decided to complete my Baster unit with similar conversions of  Copplestone's Zanzibari Askaris Marching sets. 

First Batch Painted Dismounted DSWA Schutztruppen 25mm - 30mm

Dismounted DSWA Schutztruppe Miniatures,  25mm - 28mm Figures, Various Manufacturers

In addition to the four mounted figures featured in the previous post, I have also finished painting my first batch of Schutztruppe figures on foot.  These include officers, NCOs, a musician, a two figure wounded set, and a number of private soldiers from a range of manufacturers in 25mm - 28mm scale.  Those who wargame in 25mm scale will need to rely on a large number of  Matchlock/Falcon and Askari's figures for this period, while choices are more numerous and varied  in 28mm.

Officer and men, Honourable Lead Boilersuit Company (HLBS), 28mm

These three figures are from the Honourable Lead Boilersuit Company's late, lamented German Colonial line.  I picked them up on Ebay last November, but based them and repainted everything from the neck down, mainly because they were in their gray, home uniforms rather than tropical khaki "feldrock".  I wish I had the ability to paint the eyes the way these were done by the previous owner, however, and aspire to develop that technique.  I have another, rather expensive eBay lot of HLBS that requires complete repainting and includes duplicates of these three figures, along with three other soldiers advancing, two other officers, an NCO and a two man Maxim gun section.  HLBS Co.'s Schutztruppe came properly equipped with cavalry boots and accoutrements and I wish they were still in production.  The commander figures are extremely helpful for meeting the field, line and staff officer requirements to complete the German forces in the  much anticipated Jones /Alvarado Herero War scenario and rules book.

Brigade Games, Great War in Africa, Germans in Slouch Hats

HLBS is comparable in scale to the 28mm Great War in Africa figures produced by Brigade Games.  Although they are wearing puttees and do not have the cavalry accoutrements  that were issued to the Schutztruppe in Southwest Africa, I have a few of these and they paint up well.  I also painted the German big game hunter from a set in Wargames Foundry's 28mm Darkest Africa Line, complete with monocle, as if he were an officer in the Schutztruppe.  It's not easy to find on the Foundry website, but is often

Foundry, Big Game Hunter 28mm

offered directly from the manufacturer on eBay.

Pulp Miniatures make lively and robust 28mm German colonial figures, both Schutztruppe and Seebataillon, and though they too lack the ammunition belts and harness that were issued in Southwest Africa, they are wonderfully detailed , very clean sculpts.  I painted up two in Südwester hats and one marine in a feldcap as if he were in the Schutztruppe.  I worked very hard to get all the detail painted correctly on his hat, including the blue piping around the crown of the hat and a leather chin strap above the visor.  It took me longer to finish painting these than the

Pulp Figures, Colonial Germans 28mm

others, in part because their faces were sometimes hard to get at with my brush and also because of the richness of the detail.  While they are slightly larger than the HLBS and Brigade Games figures it is not particularly noticeable when they are mixed together.

Tiger miniatures produce Schutztruppe figures that are larger than the 28mm offerings from other manufacturers, with some approaching 30mm scale.  The one I painted up, an officer in a double breasted greatcoat, shown here with a Tiger mounted Schutztruppe figure that was discussed in the previous post.  The officer on foot came with a five figure artillery crew, and when he is placed next to smaller figures such as those produced by Old Glory, Askari, or the diminutive

Tiger Miniatures, 30mm

Matchbox/Falcon lines , he is a true giant.  Tiger sculpts are rougher than the others brands discussed here, but a careful paint job can help add detail and they have figures advancing at the trail that are not available elsewhere, so I am likely to include a few of these on my table.

Old Glory makes a 4 figure German Maxim gun set that they call their Spanish Fantasy Pack (SAW-26).  It took a while for them to get my order straight but once I received the right set I painted up the officer as if he were wearing the brownish "kord waffenrock" piped in blue with blue cuffs and collar and silver

Old Glory Germans from the SAW and Boxer Ranges, 25mm

litzen (white for private solders) at the collar and cuffs.  Here he is, at left, with another Old Glory mounted officer figure that I shared earlier.  He is too small to stand in a unit with the Tiger figures but can serve with the other 28mm makes.

Askari Miniatures produced these wonderful 25mm  figures, below, as part of a four piece Schutztruppe command set released last October.  I am very pleased to have been able to paint the cord and tastle around the bugle on the musician's back in the imperial colors, and the blue and white "swallows nest" on each shoulder.  The tip of the rifle snapped off, unfortunately, but I am still delighted with how the figure turned out.  The officer with the drawn sword makes a nice change from the many others with binoculars.  Askari are closer to 26mm in scale, a bit small along side the 28mm but still usable with them.

Askari Miniatures, German Commander and Musician, 25mm

Matchlock Miniatures produces most (but not all) of the German Colonial figures originally sculpted by Falcon.  As Falcon has been unresponsive to my efforts to contact them, I have made two purchases from Matchbox, ordering single figures in each pose.  They are very small, a true 25mm, and will not look right next to those that are 28mm or larger.   Most are sculpted as if wearing the corduroy waffenrock uniform, and they include some unusual figures such as these walking wounded.  My plan is to use a small number of these dismounted figures on my table, and perhaps to paint some of them as Hereros in captured uniforms (though the scale issue will be a factor there as well).

Matchlock/Falcon Miniatures, 25mm

I painted all of these figures in a mix of Vallejo Acrylics.  The khaki is largely German Camouflage Orange Ochre 128 with lighter and darker shades created by adding either Dark Sand or Ochre Brown.  I used a range of blues and grays to get the hat and trim colors, and the leather is a base of Cavalry Brown with a touch of Light Rust and New Wood.  I also used English Uniform and Tan Yellow, as the khaki and corduroy were often mixed even in the same unit and faded to a range of shades. 

I am still working on how best to add highlights and shading to faces, as was done with the HLBS figures, above, and  how much I want to outline edges in a darker color to make things like chevrons and marksman's cords stand out.  I still have not solved the problem of how to make the shoulder straps in this scale look like they are comprised of 4 cords woven in imperial colors.  Still, I feel good about what I've managed to do thus far.  Next up,  Native Auxiliaries (Witboois)!  Meanwhile, here is the vanguard of the Schutztruppe to take its curtain call.

First Batch of Painted, Mounted Schutztruppen (25mm - 30mm)

DSWA Schutztruppen on Horseback, Various Manufacturers

Mounted Rider with Slung Rifle (Matchlock 25mm)

The German Southwest Africa Schutztruppe was mounted infantry, and during the German - Herero War of 1904 the riders fought most of their engagements on foot.  The Jones - Alvarado Herero War Scenario and Rules Book, scheduled for release next month, calls for just a single 8 man mounted section with an officer and NCO and six troopers.  Three mounted command figures are also needed. 

This still presents a challenge, as there are only a few sources for mounted Schutztruppen in 25mm or 28mm scale, and one of the best - those from the Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company - are no longer in production.

Nevertheless, I managed to find 10 HLBS mounted figures, including an officer, NCO and eight riders, in an unpainted condition on eBay.  They are 28mm scale, came from a seller in France and were a steal - not always the case.   I have painted one of the HLBS riders up in a test batch of 4 mounted figures, one from each manufacture.  The results are here before you.

The single rider, above, is from Matchlock

HLBS, left and Tiger Miniatures, right: 28mm

Miniatures, cast using molds from Falcon Miniatures USA .  I have found Falcon to be singularly unresponsive to requests for its own offerings.  Not so with Matchlock, which has many but not all of the falcon Line available.  This figutre is in true 25mm scale and looks positively hobbit like next to the largest figures from HLBS and Tiger miniatures (at right).  The Tiger trooper, closer to 30mm than 28mm, came in a set with 2 riders on camels, but I swapped out the mount for a horse that came with another set with 2 riders wearing WWI era Tropenhelms.

The last figure, below,  is a German officer from the Old Glory Boxer Rebellion range that came in the Great Powers High Command set of six mounted figures representing the various powers that fought in China in 1900.  It is a hefty 25mm scale that works with 28mm figures.  He required a little bit of putty to fill in a gap in the brim of his Südwester hat but is one of only a couple of options for mounted German commanders available that will work for this period and his horse is suitably spirited.

Old Glory German High Command Figure (Boxer range, 25mm)

Alternate View, Old Glory German Commander

I have decided to use the Tiger and HLBS figures for my gaming table.  Possibly I will paint one of each as Hereros in captured uniforms, perhaps one of them as a Herero commander.  That will still give me enough to meet my needs for mounted Germans, though I would very much like to have another Officer figure.

No manufacture of mounted Schutztruppen thus far has sculpted horses with proper tack and associated accoutrements, including the bucket holders for the rifles that were attached to the saddle in front of the rider's right leg. There is a good possibility, though, that Askari Miniatures will produce mounted Germans this year. They are closer to 26mm in size, but beggars cannot be choosers and I am sure will be as admirably detailed as their dismounted compatriots.

Tiger Mounted and Dismounted Figures (really 30mm, esp the officer)

Mounted Schutztruppen: Tiger, HLBS, Old Glory, Matchlock/Falcon

Scenics: Springbok Herd and a Lion

Antelope from Irregular Miniatures Painted as Springbok

I'm working through my first batches of German Schutztruppe, both mounted and on foot, and it's taken me longer than the first Hereros did because I've been struggling to get the paint mix right for the various shades of faded khaki and corduroy brown (not to mention the whites of their eyes).

Along the way, I've taken the opportunity to use some of that excess paint to work on some scenic elements, particularly wildlife.  That has been a welcome change, using different techniques, and I'm quite pleased with the results.

Here are some antelope figures I picked up from Irregular Miniatures and have painted as Springbok.

They work fine for 28mm scale, though they are well fed little antelope and my partner teases me about my "goats".  I am very fond of them, as they remind me of the herds I used to see in Namibia.  I used a palette of orange ocher mixed with sand yellow for their fur, and dark brown with grey highlights for the horns.   I have other antelope that I will get around to painting - gemsbok and greater kudu,- and my gaming table could start to look like Etosha Pan (which would really only be appropriate only for the attack of 500 Owambo warriors on a handful of Schutztruppe at Fort Namutoni).

The springbok seem blissfully unaware that there is danger nearby.  I picked up this lion in a Big Game Hunt set by Foundry that also had a great German figure in a Sudwester hat and a monocle, and some Africans in European clothing who have gone off to join the Herero forces.  I used various tans and sand colors for his tawny coat, dry brushing the mane and using a stone gray for his underbelly.  I am especially pleased by his eye, the same orange ocher as the Springbok with a black spot in the center which I added with the aid of a round, pointed toothpick.  I have more to do with the groundwork on this figure and will be adding tufts of grass, but he is quite splendid and I guess I'll have to get some crouching lionesses to add to his pride.