Deutsch-Ostafrika

To start this blog, I'm going to revisit some of my earlier projects.  First up, is  my stalled WWI Deutsch-Ostafrika project in 28mm.  I  began this a few years back, but currently only have the German side painted. 



Schutztruppe Officers and Porters


 Here are some Schutztruppe officers.  The officers are a mix of Brigade Games and Copplestone Castings figures. The Copplestone German figures are slightly larger than Brigade's, but it's not too significant and the sculpting styles are very similar, so I think they can be mixed without problem.  Note that this is only for the German lines - the size difference between English figures is much more pronounced (Copplestone has a bit of size creep).  Overall, they are very nice figures and well worth the money.

Sadly, I can't say the same for the porters in the background.  These came out of Old Glory's Darkest Africa line.  The sculpting is a bit rough, and the casting quality was abysmal.  Lots of  flash and misaligned molds - the baggage took quite a bit of filing and filling to get them to look presentable.  These figures come with a separate head system, which allows you to increase the variability of the figures, but the neck fits were poor and usually required a a lot if green stuff to fill them in.  If you don't have much of a budget and can tolerate a lot of work,  they are usable.  

 

Schutztruppe Askari

 Next up are some German Askari.  Again a mix of Brigade and Copplestone figures, both well sculpted and cast.  For a painting guide, I suggest using the excellent German Colonial Uniforms site. In my case, I've opted for a ragged late war look, with many of the figures using captured or locally produced clothing. 

Kaiserliche Marines

 The navel forces presented here represent survivors of the scuttled cruiser SMS Königsberg. Another ragtag unit, wearing bits of both summer and winter uniforms.  Painting information can be found at the uniform site listed above.  These figures are predominately Brigade figures, with only the officers coming from Copplestone. 



Azande

 Last, we have some Azande warriors.  While looking for Ruga Ruga figures at a local hobby store, I came a across Foundry figures with hand weapons in a clearance bin for $2. They weren't quite what I wanted (and old enough not to include the shields), but at that price they were a steal.  Plus since they lived in some of the neighboring territories to Ostafrika, such as the Belgian Congo, I didn't think it was too much of a stretch to think my forces could have recruited them along their journeys.  These had Old Glory shields added and were further filled out with Copplestone Azande carrying muskets.   The Copplestone figures were a bit taller, but it's the same sculptor for both lines and I think they still look OK together.