The African Wars, by Chris Peers

Have been slowly but steadily working on this book, learned a lot and gained quite a bit of inspiration. It's available free through the Hoopla library app. Peers lists his original sources, too; most of these will be available on Google Books and Archive.org, as they are long out of copyright.

There is significant useful detail on the Ashanti (of Bronte fanfic fame), perhaps for an Angria campaign as Man of Tin sometimes runs. We tend to think of the colonial period as the "Scramble for Africa," but there was plenty of excitement in the period of Brown Bess.

Some pages are devoted to the Zulu, particularly their "Wild West" clashes with the Boers. I've never seen a wargame recreation of a hasty wagon fortification, but am not sure it would be all that fun for either side.

The chapter on King Kabarega of Bunyoro is interesting because it was a case in which the Egyptians (under Westerners like Emin Pasha and Chinese Gordon) fought a Ugandan tribe rather than the Arabs and Arab-influenced groups for which they are famous. Kabarega stuck around for decades like a thorn in the side of the white explorers and administrators, who I imagine traded campfire stories about him. 

Some elements of this campaign to add interest to a scenario:

• Canoes were used, and some boats were packed in pieces. 
• The fighting was in tall, stiff grass that blocked movement and line-of-sight, but provided no cover.
• Wild animals were a distinct danger, particularly crocodiles.
• Chiggers brought entire expeditions to a stop as men went lame. Wear your boots and puttees, folks!

From the chapter on the Azande comes a reversal of the normal sort of fight - the Mahdists on the defense behind a zariba from an attacking army of Belgian Askari (supported by the Azande, but still!).

Then a section on "Congo Arabs" - a slaving station in the "Heart of Africa." It sounds like the Arabs and Africans intermarried, and in fact nearly all the "Arabs" were African-born. Again, fodder for an atypical matchup. There was also significant contact and conflict between them and the Belgian Congo, with both sides plundering and slaving and neither side coming out of it looking good. Both also fought the pygmy tribes, while the other unhappy tribes were trapped between the outsiders. This is clearly the nucleus of many of the scenarios in TSIA.

The next chapter, a short one, is on the Masai and related Nandi, who have interesting similarities and differences with the Zulu and each other. Both, like the Zulu, formed military units from "age groups," but were not rigidly organized. The Nandi especially were in much smaller groups, because they were a smaller tribe and living in rougher terrain, but were more disciplined than the Masai seemingly out of small-group peer pressure. Like the Zulu, their cultures were based on cattle, which would seem to be good objectives in scenarios involving them. The Masai carried swords and throwing clubs (!) as well as the traditional stabbing spears and shields, which might make for an interesting small-scale skirmish. While more numerous and threatening, the Masai were more fragmented, making the Nandi the greatest native challenge to the British in Kenya, and the Masai seem to have never formally submitted to the British - an unusually mutual respect instead.

A chapter on the Hehe of Tanganyika also covers the foundation of the German Schutzetruppe. Peers comments that their 1871 rifles were modern when issued, unlike those given to British subjects (wary of another Indian Mutiny). The reason the 1871 weapons were still in use by WWI was that at 11mm they were more powerful than the standard 7.92mm and thus better suited to bush-fighting! Tom "von" Prince, a half-British officer who later served in 1914, is a prominent character in these early (1890s) battles.

The next part is on the the border of northern Kenya, a real smorgasbord of mixed Central African tribes, Somalis, Ethiopians, and Arabs that intermixed and fought each other as much as they fought the British. The "Mad Mullah," who I first encountered in a book on the history of air power, was encountered in this area. The British seem not to have taken the Somalis very seriously. At this point (around 1900), ex-Mahdists were allied with the British, again an unusual mix of troops for a small force. The explorer Burton, who fought the Somalis during his search for the Nile, was an expert on sword and bayonet drill!

There is a sense of tragedy in the conclusion; the fact is that the disasters that befell the natives of central Africa were external, and largely even environmental. The famous Zulu and Masai had themselves emigrated away from invaders, a first wave of catastrophe for the people who had dwelt in their new homelands. Like the American Indians, they - but more importantly the cattle on which their cultures depended - also fell prey to disease as the white man came in. By the time white explorers and soldiers arrived, it was easy to disparage and underestimate the often demoralized and shattered remnants. 

But some resisted, others fought over the spoils, and therein lies the interest for a wargamer. I have actually presented Belgian-on-German fights to players as "Do you want to play the slaving-and-cannibal-accepting colonialists, or the genocidal colonialists?" The last chapter adds a brief discussion of the Battle of Adowa, and the book ends with a series of atmospheric sketches and photographs.

It's almost as if Larry Brom read this book while preparing The Sword in Africa. It whets my appetite to try that variant of the game. An excellent read, recommended.