"28 mm Belgians " Topic

Kind of a follow up to an earlier thread, I have been trying to find 28mm Belgians for the Congo, but other than officer figures I can only find Askaris in Belgian Uniform (such as it was) and not any European soldiers such as you can find for the British, Germans, Italians and French. I am considering using plastic Wargames Factory British for the Sudan as a substitute but I seem to recall the Belgian kit is different in terms of placement of the cartridge pouch and they did not have the double harness. Also I seem to recall they had a distinctive badge on the front of the Pith Helmet. Thoughts, or just go ahead and paint up those Brits as Belgians with blue coat and white pants?

The only ones I know of are Wargames Foundry
link Officers and NCO's.

Foundry. Many years ago I just painted Brits as Belgians.

Yea, I think that is what I am going to have to do. The Wargames Foundry models are quite nice and I already have a lot of the Darkest Africa range but not the Belgian line as of yet. I will get those packs but want at least one unit of "European" soldiers. So painting the Brits seems the best course. I was also looking at the Artizan Design French Foreign Legion models that are wearing Pith Helmets and they might do the trick as well.

Speaking of the Belgian uniform,from what I have researched would I be correct in white trousers and shirt with a blue coat, harness and cartridge pouch black, boots black, white haversack or water bottle? Helmet I assume would be white as well or perhaps khaki.

Did the Belgians actually have any all-racially-european units in Africa? I don't think I've ever heard of one.

Gotta go check my references.

Yep, I think the only Europeans were officers and NCOs.

I have been trying to find 28mm Belgians for the Congo, but other than officer figures I can only find Askaris in Belgian Uniform (such as it was) and not any European soldiers such as you can find for the British, Germans, Italians and French.

You may want to try another army then. The Force Publique totalled about 17,000 askaris with 178 white officers and 235 white NCOs before the outbreak of WW I.

For the Congo Adventure, you are making safari expeditions, not armies. These are called columns, which are made up of groups. The "European" column in the rules consists of 2 Characters (leaders and specialists), 4 trained askari, 3 adventurers, 5 askari, 5 natives, and 1-4 bearers. There is potential for a 4 soldier group.

There were no Belgian "soldiers" as such in the Belgian Congo during this time (Chick is right on, as usual). For these I have used Belgian NCOs (Foundry). Also, Force Publique natives could serve as such. For the "adventurers" I used just some civilian types. In the picture cited below, there are no Force Publique regulars, with all blue uniforms, just askari types. Also a group of Ruga Ruga. The 5 Europeans could be 3 adventurers or 4 soldiers.

link

This is why I come here as there is always good information. Okay, just Askaris for the Belgians with officers and NCOs. Got it. BTW Bob, the reason I was asking is for a game of The Men Who Would Be Kings I will be running at Siege of Augusta in January.

I love Congo and you are correct about the composition for the columns. However, Congo seems to only be able to accommodate 4 players and I am trying to do a larger game.

Yes, the Belgian Congo was King Leopold's "private" venture until much later when it was transformed into an official Belgian colony. I've also never read about any "regular" Belgian Army troops employed there.

Here's an older picture of a small group of Foundry Belgian askaris that I painted. link

Jim

Oh and Bob love that link (photo) of your Belgian Column for Congo. What is not to like about the Wargames Foundry Darkest Africa range. I am glad that Mark Copplestone continued to expand that range with his own company. And Jim thanks for sharing your link as well. Your Very British Civil War figures gives me some ideas to have more variety of models to represent white settlers defending their farmsteads from native attacks.

The Blue on Force Publique uniforms were more navy blue.
Mark

And Mr Copplestone has finally returned to Darkest Africa, starting with southern Sudanese tribes. The Shilluk are available to order from North Star now, and the Dinka are next off the block.

Hopefully there'll be much more to come, including gap fillers for existing armies, such as an explorer machine gun.

My CFS forced publique Had a bad batch of dye in their uniforms, and when washed sort of lightened up.