From R.G. Repke

You want my opinion? You've got it. For what it's worth, feel free to print this letter, edit it, or trash it. Or maybe you think there is the gist of an article(s) here. Whatever.

1. Question: Are we just not very observant about these other colonial wars?

Response: My own personal interest is the French colonial expansion in Africa in the latter 19th-early 20th centuries (Second Empire/Third Republic). I think the basic problem is that very little information is available in English, and most hobbyist are not French linguists. There is an Anglo-American bias because there is a tremendous amount of secondary (and even primary) information out there, even in American public libraries, about the British Empire, and of course it doesn't have to be translated.

A second problem, and this is as much of a problem for the French as for everyone else: No one seems to be able to escape the Napoleonic Wars. It's as though French military history ends at Waterloo, pops up briefly in 1870, and disappears again until W.W.I. In between the semi-mythical French Foreign Legion semi-mythically trudges around N. Africa indiscriminately fighting semi-mythical Arabs/Berbers/Tuaregs (who are also Berbers, incidently) without much rhyme or reason. (The French Foreign Legion was not the only French colonial formation, folks.) Up until recently, the American scene has been similarly mired in the Civil War, also tremendously popular overseas.

A third problem is that a lot of French colonial expansion was small scale, local, and usually not even sanctioned by the French Gov't, similar in some respects to the American Indian Wars-platoon and company sized actions with captains and lieutenants the big players. A major or a light colonel was as lofty as it usually got. There were a few headline-grabbing (at least in an Anglo-American context) large-scale actions like the Zulu War or the Sudan Campaign. The largest-scale French actions South of the Sahara in the post-1870 era were the Dahomey Campaign: 3450 men (1892-93) and the occupation of Madagascar: 18,000 men (1895) and those were both jungle campaigns; lots of water but not much sand.

If it's 19th century colonial fighting you want, there was plenty north and south of the Sahara. To get some idea, one might read The Conquest of the Sahara or The Conquest of Morocco by Douglas Porch, but even he only lightly touches on the conquest of the Western Soudan [Note: If I say "Soudan", I mean the western or French part; if I say "Sudan", I mean the eastern or Anglo-Egyptian part], and SE Asia not at all. Little information is provided about the nitty-gritties so dear to the heart of the wargamer: rations, weapons, uniforms, TO&Es, unit identifications/histories, event chronologies, even such esoterica as command structure, communications and logistics.

What we need are more books (preferably in English translation) similar to the following, all of which I consider primary sources and which I've managed to collect over the years. Some of course are better (starred*) than others:

*Broadly, A. M. (1882) Tunis, Past and Present in two volumes: old rebound library discards). Covers the invasion of Tunis (1881-1882) fairly well. The ORBAT tables at least indicate the units that participated and are fairly useful altho incomplete and somewhat confusing. Broadley was a British journalist. I suspect that Preziosi's Tunisian Order-of-Battle was derived from this source.

Cornet, Capt. (1914) A La Conquete du Maroc Sud avec la Colonne Magin, 1912-1913: the other half of Reginald Rankin's account of the same campaign, In Morocco with General D'Amade. Generla D'Amade operated in the north, Colonel Mangin in the south. I believe their columns met at Marrakech.. The dust jacket for Douglas Porch's Conquest of Morocco (original hardback edition) portrays this meeting. The book has a few photos which are mildly interesting.

*Galli, H. (n.d., ca. 1895) La Guerre a Madagascar (in two volumes). Has a lot of nice colored illustrations in the form of vignettes interspersed with the text showing unif orms (fairly accurately), incidents, etc.

*Gallieni, J.S. (1891) Deux Campagnes au Soudan Francis, 1886-1888). A phase of the Soudan conquest. Gallieni was one of the famous French colonial soldiers of the stature (in a French context) of Wolseley, Kitchener, or Gordon. He served in the Soudan, Madagascar, Indo-China, and W.W.I. Nice Copperplate engravings, typical 19th century book illustrations. (This may have been translated into English at one time.)

Joffre, J.J.C., My March to Timbuctoo, translated into English by Earnest Dimnet, 1915. A kind of biography incorporating Joffre's narrative along with some other biographical material. Another phase of the conquest of the Soudan. Joffre was a noted French general in W.W.I. CBG-Mignon has made a couple of Joffre personality figures. I just have a xerox copy of the Joffree narrative (the translated part) which is not overly informative. The account was originally published in a French military journal ca. 1899. Dimnet may have edited it too much.

Ministere de la Marine et des Colonies (1884) Senegal et Niger: La France dans L'Afrique Occidetale, 1879-1883. Two volumes: text and maps/plans. The earlier Faidherbe era of the Soudan. Faidherbe was Galleini's predecessor; Archinaud his (post-1888) sucessor.

*Poirier, J. (1895) Campagne do Dahomey, 1892-1894. The original was a French paperback in poor condition. I have a xerox copy of most of the text. The tables in the back are very useful. Dahomey was the French equivalent of the British Ashanti (or Asante) Campaign in 1873-74, but 20 years later.

Rankin, R. (1912 or 1913) In Morocco with General D'Amade. Rankin was a British journalist who followed the Moroccan campaign. I don't have a copy of this book, and of the three library copies I've seen at various time, only one had the fold out map in the back intact. This has been mentioned as a possible candidate for reprinting by Articles of War, Ltd. I'm all for it, but it still doesn't have the kind of detail that you find in a book like Poirier's, or illustrations as in Gallieni's or Galli's books. Has a few interesting photos similar to those in Cornet.

I have a few others, some in French, some in English, mostly new publications. There are of course newer books out now such as The Scramble for Africa, The Strong Brown God (about the Niger River and the Western Soudan), The Race to Fashoda, etc. but once again, they just don't contain the "nitty-gritties" wargamers want. A possible exception is Clayton's France, Soldiers and Africa (1988), very good for what it does but, limited in scope. Altho I'm not much of a wargamer, that's the kind of info I want too. (Actually, I'm a 54mm H.G. Wells-type wargamer--talk about out-of-control military budgets--I know all that!)

2. Q: Don't care about them?

R: I have raised this issue, specifically with respect to the French colonial adventures in Africa, on a number of occasions in a number of different venues (in chronological order): Savage and Soldier; Articles of War, Ltd.; Osprey Books; and the Victorian Military Society; and maybe one or two others if I dig back far enough. Osprey Books actually asked me if I would write an Osprey Book about the French Colonial armies/navies myself--even offered to pay me $4000 to do it. A great idea but not very do-able unless I was a professor, a librarian, a writer, or maybe retired. Unfortunately, I'm an environmental engineer, and we don't have much time for hobbies in this day and age.

Maybe it's a defeatist attitude, but it seems to me that the research required to produce a worthwhile book would be prohibitively expensive, both time and money wise for someone other than a professional writer or researcher with connections in the right places, perhaps with access to research grants and foreign (French) scholars and institutions. A command of the French language (at least with reading and writing skills, if not speaking) would be essential if one goes to primary sources such as war correspondents (other than Anglo-American), private letter/diaries/memoirs, government reports, or other contemporary sources. Shorter pieces are perhaps more manageable. Some translation I can handle.

3. Q: Don't see figures for them so we don't care?

R: The first part of the question I would agree with; the second, maybe not. There are plenty of Foriegn Legionnaires* around and some (mostly American Civil War-type) Zouaves* (in all scales), but not so many Chasseurs d'Afrique*; Spahis* (Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian,and Senegalese); Infanterie de Marine/Colonial; Tirailleurs (native troops, in alphabetical order) Algerien* ("Turcos"), Dahomeen, Haoussa, Malgache (Madagascar), Morroccan, Senegalesais*, Soudanais, Tunisian, and maybe some others. There was also the Infanterie Legere d'Afrique (African Light Infantry, a disciplinary unit); and three SE asian Tirailleur formations: Tirailleurs Annamite, Cambodgien, and Tonkinois.

There were also French outposts elsewhere, e.g. the South Pacific, South America (Devil's Island and vicinity, and India (Pondicherry. A small native unit was raised there called the Cipahis, French for Sepoy, with a Zouave-style uniform). Realistically, of course, who cares. Even the recently on-again, off-again) French toy soldier firm of CBG-Mignot in its 100+ year history never made a complete run of its own native colonial troops (nor, for that matter, did W. Britain). Actually, from a practical standpoint there are only a few basic uniform styles, and the rest can be faked with an appropriate color scheme. The problem is, what's the appropriate color scheme for, e.g. the Tirailleurs Dahomeen? It might make a difference in 54mm, in 25mm, maybe not depending on the basic uniform type. The most important African colonial units I have indicated with a star(*).

4. Q: Figures and books are too expensive to start a new field of gaming?

R: If you are a 54mm collector, you better believe it!. And as far as books are concerned, even if price is no object, there aren't that many useful ones around, at least in English.

5. Q: What[else]?

R: If you want fighting, how about some more French colonial campaigns South of the Sahara: To name just a few:

• How about the Adrar Campaign in 1909, and the battles of Rass-Remt and the Palm Groves (28 July).
• How about the First Battle of Bousse in which the French forces under Capt. Nigotte were defeated by the army of Al-Kari in May, 1894; or the Second Battle of Bousse in July when the French returned the favor by destroying the army of Al-Kari.
• How about the conquest of Upper Volta in 1897: The Battle of Diagourou on 6 June (Capt. Minvielle vs the Tuaregs; the Battle of Douce (Dousse) on 23 June; and the Yatenga Campaign in October.

Or, maybe you prefer the climate farther north:

• The Battle of El Guemair on 19 May The Battle of Djebel Abrat on 25 May
• The Battle of the Sand Hills (Berzigue) on 26-27 May.
• All part of the Tunisian occupation in 1881 in which several Metropolitan French forces participated such as the 11th Hussars, the 13th Chasseurs a Cheval, and the 7th Chasseurs a Pied, along with several line infantry units.

Well, I'm sure you get the idea. We're agreed that there's more to African colonial warfare then the Zulu War and the Sudan Campaign, and I haven't even gotten to the Italians, the Germans, or the American-yes, I said the Americans. In that context I highly recommend the book, The Blue and the Gray on the Nile, if you can find a copy. I will leave Mexico and Latin America for another time.

From John Hollyoak

Ray Boyles has passed me the two copies of the Heliograph which you have sent as an exchange for the From the Redoubt. As usual these are interesting but I felt I had to write on a couple of points.

Firstly the Italian Colonial Book from Di Bello is, as you say, excellent, even better value than Ospreys. However, the translation is by no means full, it is only some half a dozen pages at the end and it is only a very brief synopsis. If anyone has a full translation I would be more than willing to publish it.

Secondly, as co-editor of Priciples of War I thought you might like some clarification regarding the rules. They were designed for friendly games using random army lists but we soon realized that there should be no problem using them for competitions (I have always maintained that certain players can wreck competitions whatever the rules, if you have a good bunch of players then a competition can work well even if the rules are not 'competition style'). They were not designed for solo play in that there are no random movement tables for natives but I see no reason why they should not work. The alternate move sequence lends itself to solo games and the 'unknown terrain' system is also appropriate.

The colonial army lists are already out (I believe you have a copy) and the first of our 'regular' army lists for 1840 to 1866 will be avaiable shortly. For those who want to refight actual battles is a relatively simple battle to work out army lists and we produce some laminated sheets for a large range of conflicts. The response in this country has been phenomenal and we would love to get a deal with the States (any contacts?). I also enclose a copy of the two magazines so far, perhaps you could pass these to whoever tests the rules (you will see that I have also switched to a smaller type face, I think it actually improves things).

From Christopher B. Willett

I am writing you about comments you made in issue 95. As to the figures I am not much into the Sikhs War, but I do like the British Colonial figures. [Can you be a bit more specific, there were many different manufacturers last issue, unless of course, you liked them all as I did. I would support your move to 72 pages, even if it meant a $25 price. The amount of information about various magazines and books is great. I have already used that information to great advantage, getting several books and magazines.

As to the other point you brought up of interest in other colonial wars, well my interest is military history from mid-1800 to WWI, both colonial and major wars. The one area that I have no real interest is the wild west, maybe I saw too many westerns growing up. Although the Indian wars do interest me.

From Eric Kolber

A couple of points I wanted to make:

1. I love the new format and the direction you are taking the Heliograph, keep it up.
2. I think there are many fringe colonial areas that don't strictly fit into the Victorian period that would be great to read about. The era of American gunboat diplomacy, i.e. 'Sand Pebbles' and various Marine incursions come immediately to mind.
3. I really enjoyed the "Gunga Din" [My favorite also] article.
4. I must have overlooked your plea to give away figures in the last issue. I'll be more than glad to send you the shipping, so nice of you to distribute the wealth.
5. If you find anyone that is good at scratch building ['orrible Howard Whitehouse comes to mind] that was of my favorite parts of the Old Courier. It really helps to have plans, especially for old west buildings. I have an 18 and 19 year old and they both like playing the old west but I'm having a hard time finding buildings. And I'm not real creative but I can follow plans or trace them with carbon paper onto plastic.

Thanks again for breathing new life into my second favorite (MWAN is still my favorite overall) but you are my favorite #1 period Victorian.

From Grant Sigsworth (102111.3273@compuserve.com)

Got the latest - another fine product! My feelings about the Soldier's Companion rules still stand, though. Liked the info on Gunga Din. One of my favorite scenes is when Cary Grant teaches Din how to salute.

You asked about gaming other nation's colonial wars. Part of the problem for me is painting the figures. Since I am not a prolific painter I want to make sure the ones I do paint see as much duty as possible. This is why British are the best choice, as you can use them in so many different theaters and types of battles. Sure, the Dutch may have some absolutely fabulous set-tos (I have no idea if they did) but once done, what else can you use the figures for? Sources in other languages are always a problem - about the best I can do is get the gist of a Militaria article. (French for canteen is "bidon"!)

From Jack T Budz

Colonials are just part of my collection. Other periods are medieval, fantasy, Napoleonic, wh40k, and I just started wild west. I just finished painting a number of the Guernsey townsmen for a game. How would you compare Pass of the North figures to them. I also have 15mm ACW and 30 Years. war.

I have subscribed to the Heliograph for a long time. I think when Tony Adams published it. I like the new format as it is easier to read on the train and have gotten back to the colonial period.

I wrote to your predecessor about my Northwest frontier game that I have run at conventions for the magazine. I needed to get the maps in shape. Each player has two units and certain actions are awarded points. The Judge (or dice) controls the Pathans. Everyone seems to enjoy the action and tension. I'll see if I can condense it for you.

[Please do condense it, wait how long is it now? send it to me, lets see what it's like now]

I have received several letters and email from readers (about 5) describing their armies in more or less detail. Unfortunately none of it in detail to print as an article. Although if I get a lot more I will put it together in an article describing a typical army or non typical or whatever. So send me your army descriptions so that if and when I get figures for review I can send them to you for the cost of postage. I still have some Redoubt Zulu War figures and Foundry Sikh War figures, any takers? I don't know how ya'll feel concerning Repke's letter above. I think that he's hit the nail on the head. I would still like to know how more of you think, maybe we can influence a few manufacturers.

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