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PART TWO: FORCES AND FIGURESThe notes below are intended as a
guide to the appearance and equipment of the various forces
involved in the campaigns in Nyasaland which I described in Part
One. The figures which I use for wargaming this period are all from
Foundry's massive 25mm Darkest Africa range, and I have included a
few comments on which of these would be most suitable. In fact
Foundry are planning some releases specifically inspired by these
campaigns in the near future. No doubt appropriate figures are also
to be found in other ranges and scales, but as I have no personal
experience of them, I hope that the manufacturers concerned will
forgive the omissions.
Lugards ExpeditionThe white men who fought under Lugard and in
the earlier actions in defence of Karonga's were all civilian
volunteers, and so were not uniformly dressed or equipped.
Illustrations show them wearing the usual costume of Europeans in
Africa at the time - basically khaki shirts and trousers, with
broad-brimmed hats. Sun helmets were worn by army officers but were
already going out of fashion among civilians, and Harry Johnston
regarded them as useless because they protected only the top of the
head. Johnston' s advice on suitable apparel for Africa is amusing
as well as instructive: "To shield the body from the sun... the
only way is to carry a white umbrella, and this should be done on
almost all occasions except when to do such a thing would be
positively ridiculous, as, for instance, in the middle of a
battle... A revolver is not, as a rule, a very useful weapon,
except for accidentally shooting oneself."
TRADERS AND SLAVERS IN NYASALAND, 1887 TO 1895:A NEGLECTED
AFRICAN CAMPAIGN
BY CHRIS PEERS
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As might be expected, the armament of the volunteers was a very
mixed bag; medium-calibre hunting rifles, elephant guns and
military Martini-Henrys are all mentioned, and spare weapons were
often used by the white men's personal servants. Alfred Sharpe was
able to supply a number of heavy-calibre elephant guns, which as
usual were extremely effective in the hands of men strong enough to
cope with their ferocious recoil. At Mlozi's first attack on
Karonga's, a single shot by Sharpe against the door of a building
in which the enemy were sheltering is said to have brought down six
men, with splinters from the wooden door no doubt doing much of the
damage. Lugard would not allow the use of explosive bullets against
human targets, however, although there were plenty of them
available for the sporting guns. The most enthusiastic allies of
the whites were the Tonga (or Atonga) from the north-western shore
of the lake, many of whom had been converted to Christianity by the
missionaries. They also provided most of the labour force for the
African Lakes Company, and by 1894 1400 of them were on the payroll
in various capacities. In Lugard's time the native auxiliaries
apparently dressed in their usual civilian fashion. A drawing in
his book of the first attack on Kopa-Kopa's stockade shows them
mostly in knee-length cloth skirts and not much else, although a
few wear shirts, and even what look like old European breeches, cut
off at mid-calf. Chequered cloth, imported from India, was very
popular. Native troops were distinguished from the
similarly-dressed enemy by bands of brightly-coloured cloth tied
around their heads.
About a third of Lugard's men were armed with breech-loading
rifles (exact type unspecified, but probably the ubiquitous
Sniders), another third with muzzle-loaders, and the rest are
described as unarmed, although they may well have carried spears.
Their drill was rudimentary, and none of them were very experienced
with firearms, as Lugard's somewhat patronising account makes
clear: "Each day a rough drill was carried out, mainly with a view
to teaching these raw savages how to hold and point a gun - aiming
was of course beyond them - and how to advance in something like
line, their usual method being to crowd into a dense mass when
advancing to charge".
The 50 or so warriors of the Mambwe contingent wore their
traditional war costume, and must have looked quite colourful.
In Lugard's words, they "were the wildest of savages, almost or
completely naked, with the most fantastic head-dresses". Some of
the latter were made from the mane of a zebra, tied around the head
so that the black and white striped hair "stood out like a halo
round the skull". The Mambwe will obviously have to be a conversion
job as far as wargames figures are concerned, but Foundry's
standard explorers, adventurers and askaris (the latter should be
mostly the bareheaded ones) will be ideal for the rest.
The Nyasaland ProtectorateEven before the official proclamation
of the Protectorate in 1891, regular troops had begun to arrive in
Nyasaland. These consisted of Indian Army units and landing parties
supplied by the Royal Navy gunboats, as well as askaris recruited
in Africa. A number of Zanzibaris were employed initially, but they
were not found to be very reliable, and restrictions imposed by the
Sultan because of manpower shortages made it difficult to get
replacements. Before the end of 1893 all the Zanzibaris had been
paid off. The men who escorted Johnson up from the coast on his
first visit to Nyasaland were Makua tribesmen from Mozambique, and
these were later drafted into the native police. At this early
stage the Zanzibaris and Makua were presumably not uniformed, and
must have resembled the askaris of Lugard's time.
Most of the police, however, were from the local Tonga people,
who had already demonstrated their loyalty to the British cause.
Their NCOs were either Africans or Sikhs, while officers were
British. The police askaris were now formally organised and issued
with uniforms, consisting of a yellowish khaki tunic and trousers,
with a black fez. There is some evidence that a blue outfit with a
red fez was in use at some stage: this was later to become the
undress uniform of the Central African rifles when these were
founded in 1896, and was said to be "based on the dress of the
first native levies" (Peter Abbott, in Unknown Armies - British
East Africa). However, neither Johnston's account nor the
photographs in his book confirm this, and the blue and red outfit
sounds like an Arab-inspired costume which may have been favoured
by some of the irregulars, perhaps as early as Lugard's day.
Contemporary photographs, in fact, show that even the regular
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askaris' appearance was not completely uniform in style. Fezzes
varied from the proper tasselled form to fairly shapeless cloth
bags; varying amounts of leather equipment were worn; and trousers
could be of any length from knee to mid-calf. The standard armament
was the Snider, which was basically the old Enfield rifled musket
converted to breechloading. This weapon had been supplied in large
numbers to African troops in British employ since the 1870s, when
regular British troops had abandoned it in favour of the
Martini-Henry. The Snider is often regarded as an unsatisfactory
stopgap, but its range and rate of fire were very nearly as good as
the Martini-Henry, and gave its users a decisive advantage over
their native African opponents. Sir Samuel Baker, for example,
describes the virtual impossibility of charging spearmen making any
impression on steady troops armed with Sniders (see my article in
WI 136).
Irregular allied tribesmen who were not uniformed probably
retained their old muzzle-loaders and were distinguished from the
enemy by a strip of white cloth tied around the upper left arm.
British officers were mainly seconded from the Indian Army, and
would wear more or less the standard khaki campaign dress. However,
white settlers and Lakes Company employees were still sometimes
placed in command of native units, and they would continue to wear
civilian clothing (see above), and no doubt to carry whatever
weapons they happened to prefer. Among the first Indian contingent
were some 20 Muslim cavalrymen from Hyderabad, but their horses
quickly died, and they proved not to be very effective at fighting
on foot. In the summer of 1893, when their initial term of service
expired, they were sent home. Thereafter Johnston came to rely on
Sikhs, of whom 71 arrived initially in 1891. Later drafts brought
their strength up to a maximum of about 200. (Johnston preferred
for some reason to recruit Jat Sikhs, rather than those from the
supposedly less warlike Mazbi community who made up most of the
first draft - like a lot of Victorians, he was obsessed by supposed
differences in fighting ability between "races" - but he admits
that there was in reality little difference between the two.)
All the Sikhs were, as always, excellent soldiers, and Johnston
came to rely on them for all the most difficult tasks. He designed
for them an exotic full dress uniform in black, yellow and white,
symbolising the co-operation of three "races" - Africans, Asians
and Europeans. On
campaign they wore their usual uniform of khaki tunic and
trousers or shorts, with turban and puttees. Their undress clothing
was rather more colourful, and was probably not standardised: a
"blush-rose" turban, white shirt, fawn waistcoat, white
pyjama-style trousers and pointed Persian slippers made of crimson
leather are mentioned.. It is of course not impossible that
elements of this - especially perhaps the turban - might have been
combined with the fighting kit as supplies ran short, and this
would provide a way of adding some variety to wargames units.
During the early 1890s Indian troops were gradually being
re-equipped with Martini-Henry rifles as the British in turn gave
these up in favour of the Lee-Metford, but the photographs in
Johnston's book - while not very clear - appear to show his Sikhs
still carrying the Snider.
Pictures of the naval gunboats in this campaign show the crews
wearing the white tropical rig, with brown leather equipment, and
straw hats or occasionally uniform caps, which was also worn on
anti-slaving patrols off the coast of East Africa. Officers,
however, retained their blue coats. Until 1890, naval uniforms were
still "regulated" rather than "standardised", which meant that
within the limits laid down by the regulations a certain amount of
individual variation would exist. Gaiters, for example, might be
black, brown or white. (With thanks to Ray Boyles of the VMS for
some of this information.)
Each ship's company would usually be re-equipped when the ship
returned home for refitting rather than on station, and so not all
sailors would receive new issues of clothing or equipment at the
same time. However, within each unit they would be fairly uniform.
The new Lee-Metford bolt-action rifle had probably been issued to
all or nearly all naval personnel by 1891. At this time they still
received training in the use of the cutlass, as well as the rifle
and bayonet. As usual, they seem to have combined the tactical
skill of regular soldiers with the reckless bravery which was
encouraged by the Royal Navy's traditions.
Figures specifically for this campaign are due to be released by
Foundry in the near future. These will include British officers,
native askaris, Sikhs and sailors. The Almost-uniformed Askaris
pack (DA 70) already available is also useful for giving a bit of
variety to the native askaris.
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The ArabsIn this part of the world, "Arab" was more of a
cultural than a racial designation. Many of those who called
themselves Arabs were in fact of African descent, although they may
have had somewhere among their ancestors one of the genuine Arab
immigrants from Oman. Lugard in his account distinguishes between
warlords like Mlozi and Salim bin Nasur, who were Arabs, and
Kopa-Kopa and Msalema, who were Swahilis, ie. Arabised Africans
from the east coast. In fact it cannot always have been easy to
tell the difference, although the "real" Arabs looked down on the
Swahilis, and resented the fact that the Sultan of Zanzibar (who
probably looked down on the whole lot of them) sent them such a man
as an envoy. Other "Arabs" were Baluchis from India, who had been
brought to Africa as mercenaries by the Zanzibaris, and had later
established themselves as independent slave-traders. To complicate
matters further, any of the above who had acquired a smattering of
"civilised" manners was liable to refer to himself as a "muzungu",
or "white man".
Not all Arabs, of course, were enemies of the Europeans. The
Sultan of Zanzibar was at least nominally an ally against the slave
trade, although the misbehaviour of the Germans in Tanganyika was
not making many friends for the European cause. The Sultan's
protege, Jumbe of Kotakota, fought alongside Johnston's forces
against the Yao with some 4000 men. Two chiefs from the eastern
shore of Lake Nyasa, Mirambo (not to be confused with his more
famous Nyamwezi namesake) and Majid, offered their assistance to
Lugard's expedition, but in the event never turned up. The dhows
which represented Arab naval power on Lake Nyasa were relatively
small and lightly-built wooden sailing vessels. Johnston describes
them as gaudily painted, with brown masts, and black and pink
hulls.
There were no Arab military units as such in Nyasaland. Men like
Jumbe and Mlozi relied on African soldiers, either recruited
locally or brought in from Tanganyika. Many of their chief officers
were also
locals - Ngoni, Yao, Bemba, Wahenga and others. Therefore actual
Arab figures will only be needed for the leaders of a slaving army
and some of their officers and richer followers who might have
adopted Arab dress, and for these the Foundry Zanzibaris will be
ideal. Armies like Mlozi's were well supplied with muskets imported
from the coast, and even possessed the occasional light cannon -
one was apparently being carried in the dhow which Lugard shot up.
However, their musketry was not very effective, as the small number
of casualties sustained even in failed assaults on their defences
suggests. Arab powder was often of poor quality, and Lugard
believed that the muskets were not always even loaded with balls,
as many of the shots fired during his assault on Kopa-Kopa's
stockade appeared to have been blanks. This may have been the
result of mistakes made in the heat of the moment, or alternatively
may reflect the fact that as in native warfare the effect of
firearms was intended to be mainly psychological, the flash and
bang were considered to be at least as important as the projectile.
Inevitably, although Arab forces were fairly effective when
defending their fortified villages, they would be no match for
British troops in the open.
The NgoniThe Ngoni (or Angoni) of Nyasaland were the descendants
of those Ngoni who had separated from the Zulus in the 1820s. Their
great chief Zwangendaba had led them north across the Zambezi,
after which they split up into several independent groups and
rampaged through eastern Africa as far as Lake Victoria. They were
cattle-herders by trade, but as often as not made their living by
conquest and pillage. Defeated men were often incorporated into the
Ngoni armies, and their cattle of course appropriated. Few tribes
could resist the Zulu-inspired Ngoni battle tactics, although some
- notably the Hehe - copied them more or less successfully.
Eventually most of the Ngoni settled down in one area or another,
and continued to terrorise their neighbours on a more limited
scale.
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In the 1890s the western shore of Lake Nyasa was still one of
their strongholds, inhabited by four separate bands, under chiefs
Mombera, Chiweri, Mpeseni and Chikusi. Contemporary pictures show
Ngoni warriors still looking very Zulu-like, armed with the
traditional patterned oval hide shield and a short stabbing assegai
with a plume attached to the butt end, as well as a bundle of
throwing spears. Johnston describes their costume thus: "The Angoni
generally tie a piece of red cloth round the waist and don a huge
kilt of animals' tails or of dressed cat skins. On the head they
will place either a circlet made of zebra mane or a huge headdress
of black cock's feathers. White frills are worn round the ankles,
made of the long white hair of the Colobus monkey or, failing that,
of goat's hair".
Ngoni tactics also clearly revealed their ancestry. Their
individual chiefs could field armies (still called "impis") of
several thousand men, organised into age-graded regiments. On the
battlefield the warriors were divided into a centre and two wings,
or "horns", whose function was to envelop the enemy's flanks. They
possessed few if any firearms, and continued to emphasise a massed
charge with assegais. Consequently they preferred if possible to
fight in the open. It seems very likely, however, that by the 1890s
the Ngoni were living very much on their reputation, and that while
they continued to prey on neighbouring tribes and massacre them
whenever they got the chance, they no longer had much stomach for a
real fight. Lugard writes of the fear which they struck into their
neighbours with their "character for invincible courage", but
according to Johnston, who met them only a few years later, the
Ngoni warriors were nowhere near as brave in a stand-up fight as
their reputation suggested. Large bands of them joined forces with
the British against their Yao enemies on occasion, but in at least
one battle they ran away, leaving their allies in the lurch.
Several sources describe the usual course of one of the
bloodthirsty Ngoni raids on less formidable enemies, which were
generally carried out in darkness. Taking advantage of the fact
that few African villagers kept a proper watch at night, even in
time of war, they would stealthily enter a village and station a
man outside the door of each hut. Then they would launch a surprise
attack, accompanied by "unearthly yells, grunts, and groans". As
the enemy warriors rushed out of their huts, the waiting Ngoni
would spear them with their assegais. The huts would then be set on
fire, and in the hellish confusion all the men and boys would be
massacred (the former policy of recruiting the defeated warriors
having apparently been abandoned by this time). The women,
livestock and other valuables were then rounded up and carried off.
Some tribes along the lakeshore tried to counter these tactics by
building their villages on piles out in the lake, but a more
widespread response to the approach of an Ngoni war party - if the
alarm could be given in time - was to pack up everything and
flee.
A range of Ngoni figures will be available shortly from Foundry.
Failing this, you could always use Zulu or Matabele figures,
perhaps with some ordinary Foundry tribal spearmen mixed in. It is
not clear whether much attempt was made to maintain a system of
regimental shield patterns and other distinctions as used by the
Zulus, but it is unlikely that many vestiges of such a system
remained by the 1890s. Impis could therefore plausibly look
somewhat more irregular than their Zulu prototypes.
The Yao The Yao were also known as the Ajawa. They had
originally lived on the plateau east of Lake Nyasa, in territory
which is now southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique. By the
middle of the 19th century they had come under strong Arab
influence, and had taken with enthusiasm to both Islam and
slave-raiding. They migrated into the Lake Nyasa region in the
1860s in search of new business, and were understandably not very
popular with the original inhabitants. The Yao warriors were well
supplied with muskets, using the long horns of the local breed of
cattle to carry their powder. They adopted many items of Arab dress
and culture, and contemporary pictures often show them in turbans
and long, white Arab-style shirts or gowns. A mixture of tribal
musketeers, lightly-equipped askaris, Zanzibaris and Ruga-Ruga
figures from the Foundry range would probably be the best way to
represent them on the tabletop.
Yao men were famous for their skill and strength as porters, and
in
Harry Johnston's opinion they excelled neighbouring tribes at
all physical activities. Being musketeers rather than spearmen,
they preferred to fight from cover, and were unhappy in the open or
when attacking a fortified position. In Johnston's words, "Having
dropped on one knee, and fired their guns, they hastily retreat and
reload whilst another rank takes their place in firing". However,
they were probably not quite as well-organised as Johnston's
reference to "ranks" might suggest; as noted above, Lugard's native
recruits are described as fighting in a formless mass, and having
no idea of how to keep in line.
The BembaThe Bemba (variously Awemba, Awabemba, etc.) were
another tribe which had been enticed into slaving by the Arabs, and
supplied by them with guns. They were a branch of a very powerful
confederation of chiefdoms which dominated the plateau of what is
now north-eastern Zambia. One group had migrated to the northern
end of Lake Nyasa, where like the Yao they made a good living by
raiding the locals. They were closely allied to Mlozi, and made up
a large proportion of his officers as well as the rank-and-file of
his armies.
The dress of the Lake Nyasa Bemba was strongly influenced by
their northern neighbours the Nyamwezi, and in many ways was
similar to the classic "Ruga-Ruga" garb associated with the
followers of warlords like Mirambo - vaguely Arab-inspired, but
always individualistic, eccentric and colourful. For a wargames
army, Ruga-Ruga and tribal musketeer figures are the obvious
choice. Popular accessories were coils of rope (intended for tying
up captives), and the entire head and beak of a large hornbill,
worn as a headdress. (For anyone wishing to paint up a conversion,
this was the silvery-cheeked hornbill, which has black plumage; a
bright blue eye; a yellowish-brown beak with a white casque running
along the top of it; and - you've guessed it - a patch of silvery
feathers on its cheeks). Despite their reliance on guns, the Bemba
are described by Johnston as preferring to fight in the open rather
than stage ambushes like the Yao. They were a "warlike race", and
even managed to beat off the Ngoni. They fought the British
independently as well as in alliance with the Arabs, and continued
to launch attacks on the road linking Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika
well into the 1890s. A stockaded fort, Fort Hill, had to be built
to deter them. Nevertheless, they quickly came to terms with the
new colonial power after the final defeat of their Arab allies.
The NkondeThe Nkonde (or Wankonde) were among the main victims
and enemies of the slavers, so naturally they were denied access to
Arab guns. They were not notably warlike, although those from the
far north end of the lake were more so than their relatives who
lived around the station at Karonga's. The latter could
nevertheless be roused to action against the slavers if supported
and led by Europeans. It was 5000 spearmen of the northern Nkonde
who played a vital role in the relief of Karonga's in 1887. Unlike
the Tonga, however, they were reluctant converts to Christianity,
and seldom took formal employment with the whites.
On several occasions hordes of Nkonde accompanied Lugard's army
into action, but he preferred to discourage them when possible,
fearing that they would accomplish little and would distract his
own native troops, who would be impossible to control if they
feared that the tribesmen would be first to get to the loot after
the battle. Their warriors went virtually naked, wearing only a
long, narrow strip of cloth hanging down in front from the waist.
They wore no headgear, though some of them artificially lengthened
their hair by weaving into it bits of black thread or animal hair.
They fought with spears, and for defensive armament carried a long,
narrow rectangular shield with a slight curve, like a section of a
cylinder. Apart from the distinctive shields, which might have to
be home-made if you insist on having specific Nkonde figures,
Foundry's bareheaded tribal spearmen will fit the bill
perfectly.
Further ReadingAlthough seldom mentioned in modern general
histories, the campaigns in Nyasaland are covered in detail in two
books written by the two leading participants:Capt. F. D. Lugard,
The Rise of Our East African Empire, Vol. 1. Blackwood and Sons,
1893.andSir H. Johnston, British Central Africa. Methuen and Co,
1897.
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Below: Tugboat #2 is a model built from a Lindberg Shrimp Boat
plastic kit and cut down to the waterline. The rear part of the
superstructure is scratch built and a section of 3/4" PVC pipe is
used to make the stack. The rope bumpers along the hull were added
from string and thread. The model was made to represent the
Confederate States Navy tug Lady Davis and used in several Brother
Against Brother games but could equally be used on Lake Nyasa and
in any other mid to late 19th century waterborne adventure! All
boat work by the inimitable Herb Gundt of H G Walls. Contact him
(in the USA) on 001 219 299 0352. Photo by Nanette Gundt.
Above left : Zanzibari gun and crew. Above R i g h t : ( A l m o
s t ) Uniformed Askaris and Askari Characters. Hut by Herb Gundt of
H G Walls. Left: Ruga-Ruga Characters. Right: Converted Baluchi!
Models 28mm Foundry Darkest Africa. Painting by Steve Dean and
Kevin Dallimore. Photos by Kevin Dallimore.