New arrivals - French Foreign Legion and their opposition...

 New arrivals, a 'little' project for desert games .. Redoubt Enterprises Foreign Legion and Arabs (tuaregs)..

Spotted some nice painted of 40+ foreign legion tfigures o get me started and another job lot with about 15 figures. Broken figures discarded to the melty pot and some repaired using bits of other bad pose figures. Leaving me with enough for most games I can think of...

Tuaregs.. a couple of lots of Ebay spotted at the same time... metal cast spears replaced with wire ones and a few minor conversions on some figures done ...

Some more off another Ebay lot,  nine mounted on camels

and four on horses, these all had broken off gun barrels and have been remodelled to some extent and given other weapons... 

I've got out the desert setup I use for the game table and will be making some improvements....

On the island of Eggano.... there be Dodoes ?

In the 1920's researchers had found a little known entry in the diary of a 17th century ships captain, the entries are summarised below...

"The ship had stopped at Mauritius and had taken some dodoes on board for food and having reached the island of Eggano off Sumatra had gone ashore for water - as they lay at anchor some of the remaining birds had escaped and somehow get ashore."

A couple of expeditions (one German and one British) were in the area and were sent to investigate....

---oXo---

The dodoes frolic and chase each other in the interior of the island....

while others look after their nests.... 

---oXo---

A landing party from the German submarine U-69 has gone ashore to search for dodoes....  (this section from a game played recently - hunt the dodoes)

The landing party move inland ...

they disturb a small flock of birds ...

Aha, look ! two dodoes ....

they run after them and try and restrain them... its a struggle - the large birds wriggle and flap their wings

Finally as they have the first two secured, they spot another two and manage to catch-up with one

All three secured they move the dodoes back to the shore where they landed.  One group encounters a small komodo dragon, which they managed to skirt around ...

Another group encounters a large ape, which looks at them for a bit and wanders away ...

all back safely to the bluff above the shore; before they put them on the inflatables, they will have to make some cages.

The officer in charge is concerned that they may not be able to get them into the submarine - they may have to call up their support vessel S.S.Wittenland to transfer them aboard.

Alarmed by the presence of visitors to their island the natives move out from their village to investigate ....

---oXo---

Meanwhile on the other side of the island, the British geographical expedition to the area had also been ashore ...

The landing party capture two dodo's and just push off and get moving in their launch, when some natives arrive on the beach ...

the launch reaches HMS Winscombe, the precious cargo will taken on board ...

Article in Miniature Wargames - If you go down to the temples today ...

I thought that  the game had something extra as a setup and submitted an article to Miniature Wargames. The article appeared in MW April 2023 issue 480. 

(for original blog post game report see http://carryonchaps.blogspot.com/2022/11/if-you-go-down-to-temples-today.html)

Laura Lambert ....

A follow on of sorts from the game 'Last Leg to Ngongoloo' (see this post...)

Laura Lambert-Odd had accompanied her friend Lady Penelope the expedition to the interior (Laura usually drops the second part of her double barrelled name as it is rather odd).

Laura came to ... her head throbbed, she vaguely remembered dodging a spear ... she ripped a bit of cloth of a shirt in her backpack and improvised a bandage around her head. Her gun was broken, but still useable a some sort of hand weapon. She stood up and got her bearings...

she around moved slowly checking if any of the others were alive ... no...

There was no sign of her friend Penelope (hopefully she had got to safety..) . Laura hid in a thicker part of the jungle till the late afternoon and headed up towards the village they had passed by in the morning...

she approached cautiously..

she tried out her basic swahili to ask for help - they were friendly ... and willing to assist her...

they took her to safety the next day to the mission at Nbusi....

Zanzibar force..

 Finished recently, Zanzibaries for the Sultanate of Nambuzo's forces...

The last leg to Ngongoloo...

An expedition has been up country on a research mission, mostly anthropological but also investigating the geology of the area. They had sent a runner ahead to the mission and trading post at Ngongoloo to tell them they were two days march away.

---oXo---

The expedition (with them some important artefacts and geological samples) are about half a day away from Ngongoloo. They stop when they meet Jungle Man, who warns them about a beligerent native warrior raiding party in the area....

Jungle Man guides them forward towards Ngongoloo...

A warrior watches the surrounding country side from the rocky outcrop...

Waiting at Ngongoloo for the expedition to return, some armed colonial police....

As the expedition nears the rocks what appears to be a small band of natives charges towards them ....

Jungle Man holds them back as the rest move along, however more natives appear

They try to fend them off....

but there are too many of them and soon they are fighting for their lives ...

Jungle Man holds the natives back... yet again ...

As the fighting continues, more natives appear .. however some of the bearers have found a way through the rocks away from their attackers...

Small groups of natives move into position near Ngongoloo, shooting the occasional arrow at the defenders..

The expedition fights on desperately ...

Jungle Man, keeps his attackers back dodging arrows and downing any warrior that gets too close...

The expedition is overwhelmed and most are dead, Lady Penelope is captured and Jungle Man fights on ...

Hearing the gunfire and sound of fighting, a small detachment leave Ngongoloo to disperse natives to their front and give any of the expedition who got through a chance to reach safety ...

The detachment's firepower disperses the natives to their front but more are on their way...

The detachment make it back to Ngongoloo as well as five of the expedition bearers, including the ones carrying the artefacts and geological samples...

As the natives mass to their front the defenders of Ngongoloo prepare to disembark...

The defenders and expedition survivors move off down river to safety ...

Meanwhile, Jungle Man has saved Lady Penelope from her captors....

and he leads her into the jungle to keep her safe ....

Cars and Drivers+Passengers

Firstly my Tin-Tin type characters ...using 1st Corps figures in some die-cast cars (approx 1/43)

Kit Campion, Professor Fluxions and Captain Pollock holding Ruffles the dog.

Sterling & Stirling

plus a couple of metal cars (manufacturer unknown), with 1st Corps drivers and a couple of oddment passengers.