0. Guide to German Colonial Military Uniforms: Africa with 5 color plates illustrating 14 uniforms and 25+ b&w illustrations. Available from Richard Brooks for $16 or £15.

1. The Foundry, figures available in the US from Patrick Wilson, business hours are from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM, Central Time, Mondays through Friday's (barring holidays, calls of nature, doctor appointments, and F5 Tornadoes). Patrick may be faxed at 1-800-282-1802 (local calls to 405-755-8572) or phoned at 1-800-986-3060 (local calls, again, to 405-755-8863). In the UK 24-34 St, Marks Street, Nottingham, NG3 1DE, Great Britain. North American convention Rep Howard Whitehouse, 409 Wellesley St. East. Toronto, Ont. M4X 1H5. www.wargamesfoundry.com

The latest Victoriana catalogue has the following written by Mark Copplestone:

Recently I’ve heard strange rumors that the Darkest Africa range has run its course. True, I’ve spent a bit of time in the ancient world and dabbled with the Conquistadors (though they too will be cunningly woven into the great African project), but my true obsession is still bubbling away…

So what’s next? To start with a few bits and pieces: some Royal Navy landing parties, Zanzabari regulars, Force Publique mutineers and a pack of “Heroes and Villians”. After that I’ll move on to the swaggering Germans and their East African enemies, the Hehe and the Ngoni-backed up by a beautifully illustrated series of articles by Peter Rutkowski. And then? I’m spoilt for choice-the exotic pageantry of the “Knights of the Savannah”, the colourful armies of the French campaigns against Ahmadu and Samory, the Ashante Wars, Dahomey or (thanks to the indefatigable researches of Nuno Pereira) some very interesting Portuguese campaigns?

I am looking forward to these new figures and I know that well over eighty percent of Heliograph readers have Darkest Africa collections. SO I will keep you as informed as I can. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FIGURES!!!!

2. Castaway Arts, PO Box 7599, Cairns Q 4870, Australia, www.castawayarts.com.au email: castawayarts@ozemail.com.au HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

3. El Dorado, The South and Central American Military Historians Society Quarterly. Terry D. Hooker, 27 Hallgate, Cottingham, East Yorkshire, HU16 4DN, England. In the US from Paul V. Walsh, 3412 Huey Ave. Drexel Hill, PA 19026-2311. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

4. Articles of War, LTD., 3 Rodeo Road, Silver City, NM 88061-8710, (505) 534-8840. Checkout their new web site at www.articlesofwar.com , Bob is going to be primarily an internet dealer, the web site offers new features, easier browsing, and a new arrivals section. Highly recommended! email: warbooks@aol.com

5. Bob Burke, 4726 Apaloosa Court, Antioch, CA 94509. email: BURKER1@aol.com See Bob for back issues of the Heliograph and Savage and Soldier. Also They Died For Glory Rules set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

6. MWAN, Hal Thinglum, 22554 Pleasant Drive, Richton Park, IL 60471, $35.00 a year for six issues.

Issue 109:

As usual Hal Thinglum and the writer/readership of MWAN has put together another stimulating issue. After reading Hal’s editorial and the letters column I flipped through and read parts of all the articles before settling in to read the colonial stuff. There are two colonial rules scenarios this issue. “A Fanciful Colonial Scenario for WWI East Africa Mixing Role-Play & TSATF Rules” by Bob Abra and Nick Stern and “SCWaRes-Simple Colonial Wargame Rules” by Bob Cordery.

Abra and Sterns scenario call for TSATF rules, the scenario includes British Naval, KAR, Civilians Punjabis , a Train, boat and Machineguns vs German Askaris , Schutztruppen, machineguns, Ruga Rugas, plus Arab traders and Natives. What a mix and the secret instructions will give everyone involved a heart attack, I love this scenario. Maybe Bob and Nick would like to send us a report of the action.

Cordery has written a set of rules using a deck of cards and all unit strengths are pre-set as based units. Since everthing I have is individually based and I really didn’t find anything overtly objectional this is a set worth trying if your troops are already based. The deck of cards is for determining events and might well be worth trying within your own rules sets. I will. MWAN IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

7. Cannon Fodder Miniatures, P.O. Box 36604, Winnellie 0821 NT, Australia. Email: gregoryblake@bigpond.com See the Review Also check out their web site. Check out the free flags pages, these are really fine flags made just for 28mm figures. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

8. Lone Warrior, US- 1707 Ridge Road, Leavenworth, KS 66048. Lone Warrior issue 133: While there are no colonial articles there are plenty of interesting articles. “The Conquest of Mexico-1521” by Marvin Scott has some interesting ideas that can be used in Darkest Africa, particularly the boat/native canoe material can be used with canoes vs steamer launch or larger boats and these ideas can be combined with the boat ambush scenario for your table top. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

9. Victorian Military Society, Dan Allen, 20 Priory Road, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 7QN Great Britain. If you don’t belong to the Victorian Military Society you should, and tell them the Heliograph sent you.

Soldiers of the Queen Issue 103

This issue has seven articles all well worth reading. The one that really caught my attention is “The Kano-Sokoto Expedition of 1903” by Louis Ackroyd. The article has several scenarios worth attempting as well as a description of a mud fort at Kano that will make you stop and re-think African savages and walled towns, this isn’t like the kraals of Natal at all!! 30-50 foot high walls, 40 feet thick at the base, ditchs filled with thorn bushes, and much more. Also some OB info. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!

10. The Melik Society, 202 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7JW, Great Britain. The purpose of the Melik Society is to advance public awareness of British and Sudanese history, particularly the development of river gunboats and the achievements of those involved in the military campaigns between 1883 and 1899. One of the immediate objectives is to facilitate the preservation and restoration of the remaining gunboats Melik and Bordein so that they can be exhibited, maintained and demonstrated to the general public. Every dollar or pound helps. Highly recommended charity!!!!

11. Wargames Illustrated, 18 Lovers Lane, Newark, Notts. NG24 1HZ Great Britain.

Issue 160

This issue has two articles of interest Gary Chalk’s “Wooden Buildings for the Wild West” and Mark Shearwood’s “Maximillian Rules, 1861-1867”. Great ideas, easy instructions, color signs to copy and building templates to copy make Chalk’s a most useful article if you are gaming the Wild West. Shearwood has an interesting set of rules with two pages of color phoros to go with it. The rules have some good ideas well worth using for your own rules (steal them).

As to the ads, Icon Miniatures, Ltd., Dept. 11, No. 2 Beluga Building, Mount Street, New Basford, Nottingham, NG7 7HX, shows more of their new unmarried Zulus. The Foundry ad shows new figures for the Jayhawkers. Very Nice

Issue 161

“Imperius Maximus, Revised Edition, Colonial Warfare Rules” by N.F. Laird (updated from WI119). If you have 1/300 or 6mm figs these rules are for you. You can certainly undertake large scale battles with these rules. With these you can certainly get the correct odds on the table for refights. I also think that greater terrain variability, or rather the actual terrain of a battlefield is easier to represent with these rules, or should I say scale. 6mm are you kidding! That’s smaller than most of my 28mm figures bayonets. I can’t even see them. Man, five brush strokes and your done painting, this could prove interesting. Anyone know who makes 6mm colonial figs?

The Icon Ad now shows their married Zulus and the first Brits. Quite nice. www.harlequin-miniatures.com The Foundry ad shows new figures for the Quantrill’s Raiders. Very Nice and don’t meet these guys in a dark alley!!! There is no longer any mention of the continuation of the Darkest Africa line (see number 1 above). I did note that Mark Copplestone now is producing his own line of miniatures. Scheltrum Miniatures has a page ad here showing some of their Victorian SciFi line, very nice. See below. The Old Glory ad shows some of their Zulu War figs in 15mm. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

12. Osprey Military Journal, Osprey Direct, P.O. Box 140, Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 4ZA Great Britain. www.ospreypublishing.com

Volume 3 Issue 1 unfortunately nothing colonial here. An Osprey ad indicates that a large number of out of print titles are no longer out of print. Try ordering directly from Osprey Direct, PO Box 130, Sterling Heights MI 48311-0130. There are several books reviewed that are worth looking at: Red Roses on the Veldt: Lancashire Regiments in the Boer War, 1899-1902 by John Downham, Carnegie Publishing Lancaster LA1 4SL; The Philippine War 1899-1902 by Brian Linn, University of Kansas Press. Osprey Elite Number 71 Queen Victoria’s Commanders by Michael Barthorp. I just found this a couple of weeks ago in Savannah and picked it up. While not greatly detail, based on the nature of the book, it is well worth having as the commanders are given a decent analysis within the space provided. Twenty-six commanders are described with, I think, sufficient information to provide interest in your games that have those officers. The plates are pretty good too. Recommended reading.

13. Internet sites and manufacturers:
www.redoubtenterprises.com
www.brookhursthobbies.com
www.essexminiatures.co.uk
www.eliteminiatures.com.uk
www.irregularminiatures.co.uk
www.sbarber-models.clara.net
www.hlbs.co.uk
www.warrioronline.demon.co.uk
www.oldgloryminiatures.com

14. Caliver Books, 816-818 London Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, SS9 3NH, Great Britain. Check out their web site www.caliverbooks.demon.co.uk I went to their web site and was quite impressed especially with “best delivered price of any bookseller on the web” you can’t beat that. Battlefields and Age of Empires are available in the US from On Military Matters, (609) 466 2329. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

15. BY JINGO http://members.spree.com/sip/byjingo

16. Savage and Soldier Old issues with some updating at: www.dnai.com/~soongliu/SavageAndSoldier Highly Recommended! full of great information.

17. ColonialWars@onelist.com, another colonial site. You must first go to onelist.com find colonial wars and ask to subscribe, once you are accepted you start receiving all the email/chat.

18. Warrior Miniatures, 14 Tiverton Ave. Glasgow, G32 9NX Scotland. 0141 778 3426 www.warrioronline.demon.co.uk I went to Warrior Miniatures and see that they have a very nice selection of both 15 and 25 mm figures for Zulu, Sudan, Afghan Wars. Recommended Figures. While here I came across a link called England Invaded, the site Over The Wire Games and Miniatures looked pretty interesting. There are rules and figures for the invasion of England by Germany circa 1898 which looks very interesting. It is apparently a squad (10 figs) based set of rules. There is too much to go into without having the set of rules but the site has scenarios, rules additions, background info (very interesting reading), definitely not a Sudan campaign against savages, this is the realm of Victorian sci-fi, cool stuff, different uniforms but look very good. Check this out!!!

19. magweb.com http://www.magweb.com If you are reading this on magweb--how about a paper sunscription. Over 80 different magazines here, Wow.

20. Regiment, Nexus House, Azalea Dr., Swanley, Kent BR8 8HU. This is sounding like a broken record. Very good and well done Stuart!! Unfortunately Stuart sent me the following email. REGIMENT has ceased publication with immediate effect - stated reason - insufficient profit. Royal Marines Part 2 will be the last issue. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED look for past issues.

21. And That’s the Way it Was, 213 3rd St. NE, Hickory, NC 28601-5124 This is where to get your copy of The Sword and the Flame, this is a great set of rules and at 52 pages it is packed with great information and packaged very nicely. My favorite set of rules!!!! See the review of the October offering, very nice. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

23. Military Illustrated, 45 Willowhayne Ave. East Preston, West Sussex, BN16 1PL UK. Number 152 contains an article by Ian Knight “Frontier Duel: Deadly Frontier Rivalry” between the Xhosa chief Maqoma and Major-General Sir Harry Smith. What a great story with excellent artwork. Good background to the Xhosa Wars, well done Ian.

24. Miniature Wargames, reported by Stuart Asquith: Miniature Wargames No 213 No colonial articles, but perhaps of interest to American readers, there is an article entitled 'We Have A President?' This suggests gaming the US presidential election. Reviews include Redoubt Enterprises' 25mm ACW zouaves, horses and horse holder, artillery team and naval landing party.

25. Principles of War, The Magazine

26. The Journal of America’s Military Past, PO Box 1151, Fort Myer, VA 22211-0151.

27. The London War Room www.thelondonwarroom.com Check this site out, they now carry Richard Houston’s Naval Guns in 25mm. Scans of each gun are added after they are painted. Highly Recommended!!!!!

28. On Military Matters, tel: 609-466-2329. www.onmilitarymatters.com http://www.onmilitarymatters.com email: militarymatters@worldnet.att.net

29. Bicorne Miniatures www.Bicorne.co.uk Bicorne has Italian and Abyssinians in 25 mm, very nice figures too. The line is about 20 figs currently and is to expand to 100+ figs including Ansars, Egyptians NWF, Highlanders, Sudan Brits, and Sikhs. These will include the typical figure attitudes as well as stretcher bearers and are sold individually. Figures as view on the site are painted.

Bicorne also carries the Connoisseur range of colonials including three personalities: Gordon, Graham and Kitchner all on horseback. These figures look very good and I would recommend them.

30. Mammoth Miniatures www.mammoth-miniatures.co.uk This site contains Scheltrum Miniatures which has a great line of unusual figs for Victorian SciFi as well as Dyaks. There is a Dyak war Prahu, 27cm long, a Kora with outriggers 23 cm long plus three sets of Dyak warriors of ten figs each in 25 mm. The Victorian SciFi includes vehicles for Ironclad Empires: steam powered vehicles such as a French Aerial Torpedo Destroyer, Aether Marines, a tunneling machine, steam powered tank, steam powered stagecoach and a Zeppelin among other fantastic models of resin and metal all for 25 mm. Great painted vehicles to view. If you want Victorian SciFi these are some cool models to begin with. Recommended.

31. Britannia Miniatures www.Wargame.com/britannia tokyngton@aol.com Have figures for Pershing’s hunt for Villa in 1916, Sudan 1884, and the NWF, unfortunately no pictures.

32. David A. Clayton, P.O. Box 574, Kennesaw, GA 30144, carries Fantassin Miniatures of Spain. The one colonial period is the Spanish-American War in 15mm the line has 23 different packs. http://members.xoom.com/bayonette/hhfone.htm

33. Lord Al’s Expeditionary Supply, 2819 Columbine, Nashville, TN 37204-3103,carries Dixon, Foundry, Essex, FAA, 1st Corps and more. Email: GAISERCO@BELLSOUTH.NET

34. Ral Partha figures are available from Star Books and Games, 3848 Tower Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45248, (812) 637-1633 Sbgames999@Aol.com Apparently the Ral Partha line was sold to Thunderbolt Miniatures and their exclusive US dealer is Star Games. The old prices are still good.

35. Greenhill Books, Military Book News No. 104 indicates that there will be several books of interest available from them: Eyewitness in the Crimea: The Crimean War Letters of Lt. Col. George Frederick Dallas, 1854-1856 (available in March), They Fight Like Devils: Stories from Lucknow During the Great Mutiny, 1857-58 (available in May), and A Rain of Lead: The Siege and Surrender of the British at Potchefstroom, 1880-1881 (available in June). www.greenhillbooks.com

36. Chaosium Inc., you should be able to find these books where ever role playing books and figures are sold. I purchased A Call of Cthulhu 1920s Guidebook entitled The Cairo Guidebook by Marion Anderson. I thought this was a great addition to my Victorian SciFi collection. Although, if I could get a Baedecker’s guide to Egypt and Cairo from the 1920s or earlier I would us it instead. This takes you from London to Cairo and beyond, how and where to live in Cairo, the cost of getting there, characters, full of maps and drawings great stuff. This is full of interesting data useful for gaming Victorian SciFi.

37. Bantam Books. Honorable Company, A Novel of India before the Raj, by Allan Mallinson came out in November in the UK and December here. In March, I assume in the UK first, will be published A Regimental Affair. These books continue from the novel A Close Run Thing, which introduced Matthew Hervey. In this novel Honorable Company, A Novel of India before the Raj Hervey goes to Chintal and becomes involved with Muslim and Hindu intrigue. This is the same book as The Nizam’s Daughters, which actually came out in the UK last April. At first I thought it was an entirely different book from Nizam’s Daughters just continuing the story, that is until I opened the book. Sometime UK books will be published in the US under a different title. This time The Nizam’s Daughters is coming out here as a different title but it also came out in the UK as a different title, very confusing if you can follow this. Anyway, if you bought The Nizam’s Daughters you don’t need to buy Honorable Company. Which ever of these two titles you have for this book it is definitely OUTSTANDING READING, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!