"Cannon Fodder Miniatures Out of Production 28mm Xhosa" Topic

Recently I was able to convince the redoubtable Gregory Blake of Cannon Fodder Miniatures to cast some of his out of production Xhosa for my Cape Wars project (1st Corps Limited makes two packs of Xhosa, but I wanted more variety in my units). Greg offered these figures a few years ago on his website (along with a Jungle Wars line), but because of a lack of interest he stopped selling them, even though they have had several favorable reviews in the past. Strange, as these are very nice castings, and one would think the British colonial gamer would want to do something more than fighting in the Sudan or Zululand, and the Cape Wars offer a lot of skirmish type warfare.

As with all of the CFM miniatures I have seen, these Xhosa figures are very well done. Good detail, nice animation to the poses and faces, minimal amounts of flash, no mold lines, and the metal alloy used in the casting process is very easy to work with. The figures range in height from 27mm to 29mm, sole to eye, and are of medium girth, we'll say they are 28M on the Barrett Scale. They are taller than their 1st Corps cousins (which measure out to be 26M), but I believe they can be used within the same unit well enough.

I was able to buy five of the six original poses in this line. Greg informed me that one of the poses (CW5 - Xhosa warrior, firing musket one handed, cloak) was in a different mold and therefore not readily available. Perhaps if enough interest in the CFM Xhosa is generated (perhaps even by this review) Greg might be convinced to make all six poses available again. The only word of caution I have is that four of the five available poses do not have any pants on, and therefore are buck naked from the waist down.

In order of code, here are the figures:

CW1 Xhosa warrior, knobkerrie, musket, cloak - An excellent pose. He is advancing, knobkerrie held upright in his right hand, musket in his left. The only attire he has is the cloak draped over his left arm, a necklace, a bracelet on his right arm, anklets on both legs, and a small bit of cloth that hangs from a waist belt. He also has a small bag suspended from a leather strap that hangs from his left shoulder. He has short hair and a small goatee.

CW2 Xhosa warrior, musket - This figure is standing, holding his musket horizontal to the ground in both arms. His only accoutrement is a powder horn on his right hip. For "clothing" he has a necklace, bracelets, and anklets, and like the first figure a small piece of fabric dangling from his waist belt.

CW3 Xhosa warrior, naked, raised weapon hand - Now this is one stripped down fighting man! He is completely naked, save for a necklace, in an advancing pose. He sports a goatee and short hair. His weapon hand (the right) is cast without a weapon, allowing the gamer to add a knobkerrie, musket, or spear (which are not provided) and give some additional variety within the unit. One could also easily attach a shield to his left arm if desired (a Zulu shield would be close enough).

CW4 Xhosa warrior, throwing javelin, cloak - Another figure that is cast with an open hand (and without a weapon to put within). He is standing, right arm preparing to throw, with a cloak draped over his left shoulder and arm. His only other clothing consists of a necklace, bracelets, and a waist belt.

CW6 Xhosa warrior, wearing trousers, trade blanket, head scarf, with musket - This figure is advancing, musket held in both hands at a 45° angle. He wears a trade blanket loosely around his torso, and has short pants. He also has an ammo box on his right hip. He is an imposing figure and another excellent pose.

CFM has weapons one can purchase to equip the figures without weapons, including flintlock muskets, percussion cap rifle muskets, short and long spears, and knobkerries.

Ordering these figures was snap: Greg told me how much they would be including shipping and I sent him a payment via PayPal (which converts U.S. funds into Aussie dollars automatically). Within a few days he had cast and mailed the figures from Australia to the States.

In summary, these are excellent figures one can (and should) special order from CFM and use with the 1st Corps Limited Cape Wars range.

Details
Cannon Fodder Miniatures
P.O. Box 786
Bendigo, 3552
Victoria, Australia
canfodmins.com

For More Information on the Cape Wars
groups.yahoo.com/group/CapeWars

I was lucky enough to grab a couple of bags of 15 of them at last year's Western Suburbs (of Melbourne) Open Day, and Greg had sent me two samples a year or so before with another order as I was asking about them. I use them as generic tribesmen for Darkest Africa, and they are similar to one of the Old Glory tribes - No. 3, from memory - apart from the lack of clothing. Which is historically correct, anyway. Great figures. And I would buy some more were they available again.

I bought these figures during the time they were available, and have 'em painted up. I also like them very much. I haven't used them for Xhosa, but have used 'em twice for stand-in Australian natives with good success. The cloaks aren't quite right for Australia, but nobody complained. All of Cannon Fodder's figures are very cool.

Chick

iceaxe: You can order the Xhosa if you wanted to, just place a special order with Greg!

chick: Indeed, every CFM figure I have ever seen or owned was very well done and of the highest quality.

The new home for these figures is at Blaze Away Miniatures up in Darwin in the Northern Territory:

link

These figures are mentioned in the article in Wargames Illustrated, WI issue 268 – Feb 2010. pg 25. Article title is "The land is dead".

Although the article states that the cloak figure is not available, I can assure you that all 6 poses (and some weapons) are available from Blaze Away.

cheers
Jon.