"African brush war heads?" Topic

It's all Matakishi's fault, really…

See, he's got that figure of President for Life Hasira Kiboko for sale, and it keeps gnawing at me- haunting me, really- so, I think, sometime in the next week or two, I'm going to bite the bullet and order one.

Which means, I need an excus- ahem, I need a reason to own said figure.

I currently have a 40+ plastic Zulus (unassembled), and a fair few extra heads aside, and countless (seriously, I don't even want to know anymore) assorted multipart sci-fi figs, both plastic and metal, so the idea occurred to me- why not build up a sci-fi army inspired by/themed around the African nations, perhaps the armed forces for New Guyana, or perhaps La monde d'ivoire- colony worlds, in other words.

In addition to my Zulu heads, I've got my eye on the African Heads pack from DragonForge, as well (sculpted by Tom Meier, no less!) as a definite addition.

I remember seeing another set of African brush war heads a while back, however, that included a head or two avec fez, and and one particularly memorable head that was memorable for its cheerful, leering, toothy smile, showing off a gap in those same teeth. Like the DragonForge set, this set had scads of character, and I'd really like to pick it up to supplement my cranial menagerie, perhaps to use for officers and the like- but I cannot remember who made it, and lost all my bookmarks when my HD went bellyup last year.

Anyone else know the set I'm talking about?

I remember it was aimed at historical gamers, predominantly, I believe there were 6 heads in the set (I could be mistaken, however), and they had more than one set available, but I can't remember if they were all in the same era.

Actually, I'm starting to wonder now if they might not have even been late Colonial-era heads (in intent, that is). I'm fairly certain they were pitched as more modern, but only fairly- by no means positive.

Any ideas, gang?

- Monk

Monk, I don't know if this is what you were looking for, but Micro Art Studios does this cool set of Rastafarian heads: link

I bought a few of those sets a while back with intentions similar to yours. I bought President Kiboko, his wife, and his son to use as a Planetary Governor and his family. I can add some futuristic weapons, cybernetics, and other trappings to make them more WH40K.

Then I'll add some Presidential bodyguards, customized with the Rastafarian heads. I might also add in a few Zulu- or Masai-themed bodyguards, as well as some women, with the idea that the President for Life would pick-and-choose the best troops from all of the armies under his command to serve as his elite bodyguards. And that's about as far as I'vetaken this: a few purchases and some planning.

I thought of getting some of the Foundry Urban Zulus, but to me they look more post-apocalypse than Planetary defense Force; link

Nope, those weren't the ones I was looking for, jpattern2- however, they are most definitely suitable, and I've added them to the list, as well.

The more heads, the merrier!

As far as what I've got planned, I've got some Copplestone/em4 Troopers in fatigue caps and berets that I was planning to paint appropriately and use as Kiboko's honor guard (was actually toying with the idea of painting them in a pinkish uniform, and dubbing them L'Panthere Mauve), and possibly repurpose some Void 1.1 plastics, with a few new heads, as shock/interdiction troops, since they're designed to carry riot shields.

Hrm… I seem to recall someone- Warlord, perhaps?- selling packs of Zulu-style shields. That could make a fun replacement for the stock riot shield, then maybe fab up some sort of power-assegai, and hang sidearms on their belts…

I wanna give him a personal bodyguard, as well, hulking dude in power armor- maybe Chaos Marine or Terminator armour, I'm undecided as yet.

As for rank and file, I'm still pondering that, as well, in addition to some possibilities for smallish mech walkers, some wheeled transpo and tanks (maybe graft some turrets onto my Old Crow Geckos as first strike fast recon?), and so forth.

- Monk

I was planning to kitbash some power-assegais and some sort of hi-tech Zulu shields, too.

I like the idea of a single super-bodyguard in power armor, too. Nothing Space Marine-y, though, something a little less iconic.

Cool ideas, I hope someone can ID the heads you had in mind.

Yeah, if I do go the Space Marine route, it'll require a fair bit of conversion on the armour, I'd really prefer he be iconic on his own merits, and not immediately trigger "Oh, look, 40K!" reactions, as well.

I've noticed already that sticking muscular bare arms (Catachan or Chaos Marauder plastics, or sawn from metal Servitors, or Vikings, or what have you), and then using Ork or 3rd party "flat curve" shoulderpads go a long way with the upper torso, especially if you use a breastplate without the usual Two-Headed Aquila and file down the back so you can mount a different style backpack.

Maybe swapping the legs for ones in BDU-type pants and combat boots would tip it the rest of the way over, if I can find suitably scaled ones (i.e., 7' range, in scale)?

Hmm, might just have to play around a bit with this…

- Monk

Some of the Infinity minis are pretty tall (and slender), the Haqq stuff is particularly 'cutting edge today' as opposed to 'cutting edge of 2190' like the rest of the Infinity line…

True, but most of the Infinity figs run towards unbearably anime, as well.

Hrm… there's always the Mercs line, though, and I do have a half-dozen unpainted (and a couple unassembled)…

- Monk

Well, take a look:

Djanbazan HMG

Djanbazan rifle

Janissary

I don't think those are excessively anime. Besides, the most anime part of those minis is their heads, and you'd be swapping that, right?

The Djanbazans are passable, but the Janissaries do strike me as very anime in many ways, honestly- particularly the proportions and angles of the helmets mostly, yes, but also the overall stance, and some aspects of their armour.

Just really not what I'm after, alas.

There's also the problem that the Infinity miniatures, stylistically, just don't work all that well with much outside of the line- and even if I cherrypick the handful of Infinity figures I like, it simply doesn't amount to enough figures to do what I want them to do, let alone allies, opponents, vignettes, and whatnot.

I do actually have an idea I'm going to toy with, however, regarding legs for the bodyguard-type figure, maybe crank out a test figure tonight or tomorrow, and then decide from there (since the head I have in mind, a bare CSM head with a rebreather mask, once I remove the topknot, gives me the option of doing a full-face version, as well).

- Monk