"Central Asia" Topic

I was wondering a few things about this colonial area.

First Askari makes some really nice figures for this "theater". Does anyone else? Are they 28mm or Ral Parth 25mm size?

Second: Is there a book that is a good source for wargaming this area.

Third: Do you use the main TSATF rules or one of the variants?

Thanks!

Ian Heath published a number of Armies in the 19th century for this area. There are several with one specifically covering Cenral Asia. It was invaluable when I was doing army list a decade ago.
Now it is published by Foundry. The Casemate Publishers umbrella company of several European companies has them on their website.
Some may now be out of print. Over $50 USD each but well worth the money with all of the info in each book.

Don't know about Askari size but Copplestone makes nices figures suitable for this period. For rules, I recently purchased the Colonial Adventures from THW, and Flying Lead by Ganesha.

Haven't played the THW Colonial rules yet but bought them based on a post to the Colonial Wargames Yahoo group. Looked liked fun, using 10 man units. Will give it a try.

Flying Lead is a small scale skirmish game that is good for campaigns where you build up the characters in your unit. I'm doing Banana Wars in the Caribbean US Marines vs Haitians, Domimicans Republic, etc. Units are approx 10 figures based on points. It plays best using 1 unit per player. The rules would work well for Central Asia.

TSATF has a variant for Central Asia I believe. I updated my copy of TSATF as my original rule book was literally falling apart.

Small Wars and Skirmishes, 1902-1918 by Edwin Herbert is outstanding, giving battle info, history and uniforms for many theatres including Asia.

Bottom line, lots of rules, several great fiure lines to feed your hunger.

Jeff

The Askari figures are about the same height as Copplestone, but slimmer – more "to scale" so to speak. They are also very well sculpted and a joy to paint.

Jim

In addition to Askari, Outpost Wargame Services has a line of 1877 Russo-Turkish War figures that can be recruited for Central Asia. Eureka also has a lovely set of Russian infantry that works well. I have all three and they match in size very nicely – I can freely mix them in the same unit.

I use TSATF for my Russians in Central Asia, however I'm certain you can easily use any colonial rules. I simply rate the Russians as British; you could downgrade them to Egyptian if you prefer.

The Russian expansion and ongoing presence in Central Asia of course covered a long period of time. The Askari figures are best for the 1870s. However, the fun continued through the period of the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War (when some of the Central Asian countries sought to re-establish their independence), and in more recent time with the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and current 'troubles' in Chechniya.

Outpost also have a couple of Khivans

Example

link

Painted grouping of Askari Miniatures and one Outpost Khivan

link

Very, very nice figures Shipka! My order goes in tomorrow! Thanks.

Book wise look for;

The Lion of Tashkent

Campaigning on The Oxus and The Fall of Khiva

both can be found through Amazon

Comparison shot l to r Eureka, Askari and Outpost, with Perry British infantry as a bonus.

Okay I have ordered my central asians and my europeans. Now I was thinking about adding some of the lads from China or even Tibet. I ordered Askari, Perry and Outpost figures. What comapny and line should I look at for Chinese and Tibet for the colonial period?

Two good choices are the Wargames Foundry "China" range and Copplestone Castings "Back of Beyond" range -- which though it is set in the interwar period, includes Mongols and Tibetans work for the earlier "Victorian" period as well.

Here's a link to the Copplestone range:

link

And here's one to the Wargames Foundry "Chinese Colonial" range.

Foundry has many other terrific sculpts that were once part of this range and which can now be ordered from them, if you can track down catalog numbers of exact descriptions of what you want. They say over time they will put pictures of them all back on their website making them easier to order.

How good are the Dixon Chinese /Boxer Figures?