The Zanzibari Regular Army

I recently discovered that Mark Copplestone has re-released two packs of Zanzibari regular infantry in his Darkest Africa range a couple of months ago. I've also dug out an article that Chris Peers wrote on the Zanzibaris which includes an army list for In the Heart of Africa, alongside a very interesting historical overview. I have far too many figures for the rules already but something about the Zanzibaris has got me hooked.

When I get back home, I'll dig out my copy of the rules and my box of figures to see what I could put together on the core of a couple of packs of the re-released regulars. The army list includes the following options:

ZANZIBARI ARMY LIST, c. 1877 - 1896 (Aggression 3)

Standard Bearer (50 points) 0 – 1

Soldiers (20 points each) 0 – 1

Heavily-armed Askaris (12 points each) 2 – 4

Swordsmen (14 points each) 0 – 1

Askaris (6 points each) 0 – 2

Artillery (50 points each) 0 – 1

I can do the Swordsmen and the Askaris from my collection of Foundry Baluchis. I also have a cannon with Askari crew in the box and a standard bearer or two. I'm sure I have some suitable figures for Zanzibari and British officers, the latter with requisite gunbearers, so everything is covered apart from the Soldiers or Heavily-armed Askaris.

 

I've been meaning to tackle In the Heart of Africa for years. It looks like this might be the time to finally get it off the ground. In fact, I might clear the decks and make this my big project for 2012, having failed to achieve very much this year to date apart from some 15mm AK47 extras, the 28mm Gladiators and the 6mm Iron Cow ONESS.

The Nkonde would be up first, perhaps using a dip approach to speed up the painting process and get them on the table, after which a second small army might well be feasible. I'd like to finish off the Bag The Hun North Africa stuff first or the SAGA Norse but I'll make a decision about what I'm going to do when I finally get home on Thursday.