rebases some old soldiers.
We have just added some artillery to our North Star Africa! range.
North Star Africa! is a range of miniatures inspired by the Chris Peers wargame, Death in the Dark Continent.
The conflict we chose to focus on was the Matabele Wars, 1893 and 1895.
In these, the private army of Cecil Rhodes marched into modern-day Zimbabwe and destroyed the Kingdom of the Matabele, a Zulu-descended people.
One of the main reasons Rhodes' 750 strong force beat 4,000 disciplined Matabele warriors was because they used the new Maxim guns in battle for the first time. They combined the machineguns, seven-`pounder artillery and Martini Henrys from behind wagon lagers to rout the Matabele army.
When the Matabele rose again in 1895, Rhodes was faced with a different enemy who had learned skirmishing tactics, so had to fight a difficult guerrilla war in the hill country.
Up to now, we have made the Matabele army, the rebels, the British South Africa Company soldiers; and 4Ground have made the wagons in laser-cut MDF.
All that was missing was the Maxims and seven-pounders, but now they are here!
We have available a Maxim gun with two crew, a seven-pounder Mountain Gun with three crew, and a Screw Gun with three crew.
The crew are dressed as BSAC soldiers, but in truth, their 'uniform' was just stout Victorian outdoor wear, so these figures could do in any corner of the Empire.
We are not 100% sure this is the style of Maxim gun the BSAC had, and we found conflicting evidence of the seven-pounders being older Mountain Guns or newer Screw Guns, so we did both. All three pieces will have a place in other ranges, the Mountain Guns will go with the Imperial Forces for our 1st Boer War range, and the Screw Gun will join Artizan Designs forthcoming 2nd Afghan War range.
The figures are, of course, 28mm-sized and supplied unpainted. The guns are cast in resin, and the figures in metal.
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