Never say never

 I did say that my collection for the Kikuyu Revolt 1902 was complete. However I had a niggling doubt that 5 groups of Kikuyu warriors, even in defence, would be able to stand against the King’s African Rifles, police and Masai auxiliaries I have to range against them…

I was indeed premature saying it was complete! Up on eBay popped a lot described as ‘Unbranded Ancients Arab African Naked Fanatic Spearmen’. I could see straight off that they were figures from the Stratagem Miniatures range for this little conflict. Not sure whether they’re intended as Masai or Kikuyu, but they will find themselves bolstering the latter force. 

With a little gentle persuasion, the seller threw in 3 bonus Stratagem KAR figures! As John would testify ‘Shy bairns get nowt!’ Lol!

There were 3 different warrior poses in the eBay lot, all different from the ones I already own. Most sport a sort of Mohican hairstyle.

With 8 archers added from the Foundry sale, I have 2 more groups of Kikuyu warriors and an extra ‘big man’ leader (I’m using Sharp Practice rules). The figures were painted as before; undercoated Desert Yellow and washed with diluted Contrast Cygor Brown taking the figures to 80% complete. Quick and simple. And once again the shields are based on original Kikuyu designs.

I also found 2 more packs of Foundry African cattle grazing on Lead Pile Mountain. Gives me 8 more ‘booty’ beasts for the Imperial forces to seize in the game. I gave them a simple paint job, mostly using washes.

Nice to have a couple of ‘big men’ bases for the KAR using these lovely vintage Stratagem Miniatures. All the Stratagem Miniatures for this range were sculpted by Peter Morbey of Elite Miniatures. 

A nice addition to an already completed(?!) collection!

I’ve proposed to the nice people organising Vapnartak 2022 that I put this on as a demo game. Fingers crossed. Whenever I do get to show off this wee collection it will be dedicated to Duncan Macfarlane. Without his love of the unusual and his boundless enthusiasm, many of my fringe(?) collections wouldn’t exist - Irish rebellion 1798 being my take on Napoleonics, Adowa campaign being my take on colonial…

Now I have recently found that I can’t comment on blog posts. So enjoy reading! If I don’t see comments I expect it’s cos other folk are experiencing the same issue.

All the best for 2022!

Chris :-)