Wargames Foundry is offering online reprints of the classic Darkest Africa articles from Wargames Illustrated. I love seeing Foundry make a move back toward its gamer roots. The new management is to be congratulated.
The Darkest Africa articles include two rules sets and numerous background pieces.
An interesting colonial article in Smithsonian.
For the better part of 200 years, thousands of female soldiers fought and died to expand the borders of their West African kingdom. Even their conquerors, the French, acknowledged their “prodigious bravery.”
Here’s a nice collection of historic maps of Africa. I have for some time wanted to purchase a pile of those Foundry Darkest Africa figures and set forth on adventures on the Dark Continent.
The History Channel has an online, flash game about African Exploration. You roll dice (virtually), and try to accumulate miles and supplies, and avoid hazards. Its fun, and I can see a way to turn this into a neat miniatures game … I’m sure my friend Bob from Ann Arbor could pull it off.
Fans of Lost World type games may be interested in some harticles on the Cryptomundo site that sow early 20th century newspaper stories on the search for the Mokele-mbembe, a dinosaur-like creature thought by some to still be alive in Africa. You can also look at the articles in a pdf format.