German East Africa

Nathan B Ortega and I played a 200 point game of Blood & Valor Firelock Games US vs German East African. The scenario was The Cure, basically a re-skinned version of the Demolition mission. Instead of destroying an objective, you were interrogating scientists for the formula to make quinine, the anti-malaria drug.

I took 3 large Askari squads, a single Schutztruppe squad with an LMG, a small Naval Landing party also with an LMG and one MG team and a sniper. My commander was a Hauptmann (Captain equivalent).

The Americans took 2 MG teams, one small regular squad with grenades and three large squads with LMGs and a Major for the command squad.

And here’s a few shots of everything together.

I picked up an MDF kit from Sarissa Precision from their Far East range. Looks like it should be suitable as a generic jungle dwelling. I’m honestly not sure exactly how to go about this but we’ll see what happens.

The paint schemes are relatively straight forward. For the Schutztruppe and Askari I primed them with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. The cloth folds were carefully washed with GW Seraphim Sepia. Leather gear was Army Painter Leather Brown washed in GW Seraphim Sepia. Rifle stocks and canteens were Vallejo Mahogany Brown also washed in Seraphim Sepia. Rifle barrels and canteen caps were painted black. Bread bags were Vallejo Canvas again washed in GW Seraphim Sepia.

Schutztruppe hats and leggings were Army Painter Uniform Gray and washed in Seraphim Sepia. The hats were edged in white and the cockcades were white and red. The outer ring should be black but that detail is so small I just washed them with Seraphim Sepia.

The Askari leggings were also Uniform Gray but washed in Army Painter Blue Tone. The blue trim of the Schutztruppe was Vallejo Prussian Blue.

Buttons and buckles were Army Painter Plate Mail washed in GW Nuln Oil. Caucasian flesh was Vallejo Dark Flesh washed in GW Reikland Flesh Shade. The Askari flesh was either GW  Mournfang Brown and washed in Seraphim Sepia or Mournfang Brown then layered with Skragg Brown washed with Seraphim Sepia.

The sailors were primed white and then painted white again. Shading was difficult but ultimately I wound up using GW Apothecary White in the folds and then highlighting back to white. Collars and rank insignia were Vallejo Medium Blue. Leggings were Vallejo Canvas. All other equipment was painted the same.

Naval officers uniforms were similar to the Schutztruppe minus the blue trim and keeping the helmets white.

I wanted most of my terrain to be jungle. Relatively quick and simple, here’s how I did it.

Designated LZ-104 by Zeppelin and L-59 by the German navy, this airship had one of weirdest missions of WW1.

Dubbed Das Afrikaschiff, it’s mission, dubbed the China Show, was to fly 4500 miles, one way, and deliver food, ammunition, machine guns and medical supplies. It apparently also carried a supply of Iron Crosses. The crew was then supposed to join Lettow-Vorbeck’s forces. The airship itself was to be cannibalized. The cloth exterior wasn’t doped (essentially varnished) so it could be reused as tents. The gas bags were to be cut up and used as bandages and the airframe repurposed as a radio tower.

The story of L-59 is an epic story unto itself. But essentially, the airship left Bulgaria, traveled over Crete then down through British held Sudan and got over half way to East Africa without being detected by the British Royal Flying Corps even though they knew her mission and destination.

After getting more than halfway to East Africa, the airship was recalled. The crew was in favor of continuing the mission but the captain was insistent. It reportedly took two hours to convince the crew to turn around. By the time they returned to Bulgaria, they’re been in continuous flight for over 95 hours. This was a world record that wasn’t broken by any aircraft until 1957 when a US Navy blimp upped the record to 264 hours. Fixed wing aircraft wouldn’t break L-59’s record until 2015.

The message to recall the airship is shrouded in mystery. The recall message was originally claimed to have been issued by the British as a deception operation but this version has largely been debunked. Another version is that Lettow-Vorbeck issued the recall because he wasn’t able to hold the landing site and had to retreat to more mountainous terrain where the airship couldn’t land. However even this story has issues as his army was two days away from the last radio station still in operation and it was damaged and unable to transmit messages, but could still receive them. This story requires more research.

While a 28mm scale airship would be epic, it would also be in excess of 10 feet long. I have however found a 3D printed version in a more reasonable size of about 1 foot long.

I’m working on scenarios but don’t have firm plans yet. Maybe something like securing the LZ or unloading the airship in a certain amount of time.