Sunday, January 11, 2015

Captive of the Wa' poo poo Cannibals

 Poor Captain Hans Schroeder.  The lone survivor of the lost outpost attack, he was captured by the cannibalistic Wa' poo poo tribe as he desperately hoped to return to his beloved Hilde.

The lands of the the Wa' poo poo were deep in the jungle where few Europeans had ever traveled.

And their village was heavily fortified and defended by fierce warriors.

But his future father in law, the German governor, was unwilling to leave Hans to his terrible fate, so a rescue force was dispersed. European officers fielded two columns of askari, along with a detachment of ruga-ruga, who advanced down the left and center tracks to the village. The askari were guided by two Masai scouts.

While on the right flank, some European hunters guided more ruga-ruga and some Masai warriors along the edge of the swamp.


The movements of the rescue force did not go unnoticed, and Wa' poo poo warriors began crossing the rivers to intercept them.

Wa' poo poo spearmen wait at the intersection of the left and center tracks, ready for whichever column arrives first.

 But before they can attack the left column, careless porters disturb an annoyed silverback, bringing everyone to a halt.

Meanwhile, a Wa' poo poo witch doctor across the river places a curse on the center column, and the European commander is unable to calm the nerves of his men.

On the right, the hunter guides his men towards the swamps.  There is movement in the distance, but so far everything is quiet.

The gorilla grabs one of the askari, while his comrades move on in pursuit of the main objective.  Luckily he is able to kill the silverback and rejoin the rest of the men.

 The center column spotted a group of Wa' poo poo warriors crossing the river and manged to shoot one down. However, the witch doctor continues his evil chanting, and the entire squad runs off into the jungle in terror, never to be seen again.  It is a significant loss for the German commander.

 The right column continues their advance through the swamp.  Though infested with crocodiles, the reptiles seem to have no taste for the men passing through.

However, the same cannot be said for the lion lurking in the bushes on their left.  He comes leaping through the brush, and drags off two members of the hunter's entourage.

 The remaining askari unit encounters a group of spearmen, while a group of warriors is not far behind.  Startled, both units fire into one another, but no one is hit.

A Wa' poo poo scout leaps out to attack the German allied witch doctor, but he is gunned down by the hunter before he can cause trouble.

The askari and spearman continue to fire at one another, this time with some success, while the two scouts work to protect the flank of the askari.

 Along the right track, the ruga-ruga spot two units of Wa' poo poo.  The men in the swamp are still being ignored by the crocodiles.

 So far, the Wa' poo poo and the animal attacks have prevented the German forces from crossing the river.  Can they get to the village in time before poor Hans becomes stew?

 On the right, one unit prepares to attack the advancing warriors, while ruga-ruga and Masai begin fording the river.  However, they must be wary of the Wa' poo poo witch doctor lurking on the other side.

The battle on the left turns into a slaughter for both sides, and the survirors of the two units both flee the field.  The battle between the warriors and the scouts continue under the trees.  The Wa' poo poo chief arrives, along with a unit of German ruga-ruga.

Ruga-ruga wipe out a unit of Wa' poo poo spearmen, while the white hunter takes aim at the enemy witchdoctor, eventually bringing him down.

The warriors break off combat with the scouts (after killing one), and charge towards the ruga-ruga, who are now threatening their chief.

 The ruga-ruga allow the Masi to ford the river first, and the scout uncovers an ambush party of warriors hiding in the trees.

The ruga-ruga have gunned down the warriors, and kill the chief's entourage. He will flee into the undergrowth until he can get back across the river.

  The Masai halt their river crossing and wait for the ruga-ruga to shoot down the Wa' poo poo.

Ignoring the chief, the ruga-ruga on the left rush across the river, while the surviving troops on the right do the same.   The German command team is following behind.

Hans' face swells with tears! "Has a rescue team arrived? Am I saved?  Or will the remaining Wa' poo poo stop them and then eat me for dinner?"

 Ambushes are sprung on both sides of the village.  The remaining Masai scout chases down the fleeing chief and engages him in hand to hand combat.

The ruga-ruga gun down the attacking spearmen after being assisted by an annoyed rhino who was drinking nearby.

 The ruga-ruga, a hunter, and the German command finish off the ambushing spearmen, while the Masai warrior slays their chief.   This inglorious death shakes many of the Wa' poo poo units in the area.

German forces get in position to assault the walls.

Ruga-ruga scale the wall, but are shot down before they can attack the natives.

The German commander and his remaining troops begin an assault from the other side.

There are few survivors, but enough to drive the archers away.

The remaining Wa' poo poo warriors go after the German command, while the musketeers try to hold off the Masai onslaught.  The Wa' poo poo standard bearer does his best to keep his warriors worked up during this final battle.

The Masai kill the musketeers and standard bearer, then rush to help the German command.   But is is too late, and they are slaughtered.

The remaining hunter and the Masai finish up the last of the warriors, and poor Hans is finally set free before he can be tossed into the pot.   He will be reunited with his beloved Hilde, but at a terrible price to the local German garrison.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Flags for Chinese Warlord/Back of Beyond Games

We're going to be expanding our early 20th Century gaming from Africa to Central/East Asia, and I am currently waiting on some Chinese Warlord figures from Copplestone.  During this wait I started looking online for appropriate flags, but wasn't excited with what I found. As such, I decided to break out Photoshop and see what I could create using online flags and some textured background.   Here are the results; you are welcome to to take whatever you find useful.  Flags are approximately 1 inch tall when printed and saved at 300dpi.


Beiyang Flag (Note: since I posted this, I've looked at other references, and it looks like the blue and yellow stripes may be reversed here.  The Hebei flag below has them in the other pattern.)

First East Turkestan Republic Flag 1933-1934

Fengtian Clique Flag

Kuomintang Flag 1

Kuomintang Flag 2

Kuomintang Flag 3

Ma Clique Flag

Manchukuo Flag

Khanate of Mongolia Flag 1911-1921 (White sections to be cut away)

People's Republic of Mongolia Flag 1921-1924

People's Republic of Mongolia Flag 1924-1940

Qing Empire Flag

Tibetan Flag

Wuhan Flag 1

Wuhan Flag 2 (Add your warlord's character to the white circle)

Yuan Flag
Communist Flag 1927-1949
EDIT:  I had some more time, so have decided to also include some additional flags from the Second Sino-Japanese War.
East Hebei Autonomous Government (Japanese Puppet) Flag 1935-1938

Mongol Military Government  (Japanese Puppet) Flag 1936-1937

Mongol Autonomous Government  (Japanese Puppet) Flag 1937-1939

North Shanxi Autonomous Government  (Japanese Puppet) Flag 1937-1939

South Chahar Autonomous Government  (Japanese Puppet) Flag 1937-1939

Mengjiang Flag 1939-1945

Reformed Government  (Japanese Puppet) Flag 1937-1940

Reorganized Government Nanjing  (Japanese Puppet) Flag 1940-1945

Reorganized Government Nanjing  (Japanese Puppet) War Ensign 1940-1945

EDIT 2: Some more flags for the Communists and some of the surrounding countries.
Afghanistan Flag 1901-1919

Afghanistan Flag 1919-1926

Afghanistan Flag 1926-1928

Afghanistan Flag 1929-1931

Afghanistan Flag starting 1931

Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet Flag

Chinese Soviet Republic Flag 1931-1937

Fujian People's Government Flag

Far Eastern (Chita) Republic Flag 1920-1922

Bukharan Soviet Flag 1920-1925

Turkestan ASSR Flag 1919-1921
 
Emirate of Bukhara Flag until 1920
(White sections to be cut away)

Khanate of Khiva Flag until 1920
Khorezm People's Soviet Republic Flag 1920-1925

Karakalpak ASSR Flag 1932

Uzbek SSR Flag 1924-1936

Basmachi Flag


Part 2 of the flags can be found here.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Neu-Moschi German Boma: Kitchen

The boma construction continues with another section of wall that houses the kitchen.
This build starts with a Gamecraft wall that has been doubled up and treated with stucco texture and sanded. To this, I've added a 4ground Lean To with an added metal roof. The building itself is too small to be a kitchen for a boma of this size, so I've opted to add additional outdoor cooking space.  For the oven, I've based mine on images of 19th Century German designs I found online. The initial shapes were carved out of pink foam and glued to art board.  At this stage, I had not glued them or the base to the wall.

The oven and cupboard were textured with Liquidtex stucco, sanded and painted.  The whole assembly was then glued together.  Two gunports were drilled into the wall and framed with basswood following the same procedure I discussed in the front gate post.

Detailing on the oven and cupboard was done with art card, basswood, and manila folder.  A pot hook was built from a paperclip and rivets added with wood glue. Everything was then painted, scorch marks/soot added, and firewood made from twigs was stacked against the wall.

The final addition was the roof.  Support columns were made from basswood coated in stucco texture and sanded.  Strips of plastic were glued across the posts, and then from the posts to the back wall (providing a small gap for the kitchen smoke to exit out). This was further strengthened using O-scale porch brackets from Grant Line. On top of this was glued art card covered with sheet metal textured plastic card.   Roof painting was done according to my regular method.