Pink Map: Portuguese Scramble for Africa 1881-1914

Portugal's Pink Map - Banner

Portugal was in Africa long before the other European powers but had to struggle to maintain its place during the Scramble for Africa. Portugal’s claimed sovereignty over the land between Angola and Mozambique, now including Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi (Wikipedia: Pink Map). This claim was embodied in the ‘Pink Map’ (Portuguese: Mapa cor-de-rosa). Unfortunately the Pink Map conflicted with the British “Cape to Cairo Red Line”.

Read more

Map of Colonial Africa in 1913

I found this map of Map of Colonial Africa in 1913 (Wikipedia: Colonial Africa 1913 map). Amongst the big players it shows the Spanish possessions in the Rif War and Sahara and the Portuguese possessions in Angola and Mozabique. It also shows how the Portuguese coast-to-coast aspirations embodied in the ‘Pink Map‘ conflicted with the British “Cape to Cairo Red Line”.

Read more

Steven’s Late Imperial Romans

For the Fall of Rome and the Barbarian Kingdoms I’ve a Barbarian Horde that can act as Suevi, Vandal, Visigothic and Late Imperial Romans. I picked the Romans up from Ross Pirie before I left New Zealand. Ross painted the Romans, Huns, and some of the Barbarian Horde. I have reflocked them all using my standard flocking method.

Read more

Animal Blinds: Ghosts in the African Darkness

For the Portuguese Colonial War – set in Africa – I used Wild Animals as my Blinds. Lion, Tiger, Giraffe, Rhino, Croc, African Cow, Hippo, Ostrich, Antelope, Warthog, Hyena and Ape on a tree. This is also a nod to the movie “Ghosts in the Darkness” where some supposedly supernatural lions kills a whole bunch of people in southern Africa.

Read more

Unit IDs: How I distinguish my Portuguese Colonial War units

I’m still debating what rules to use for the Portuguese Colonial War but I am likely to start with something from Two Hour Wargames or Two Page Skirmish Rules. Both of which use individual based figures with individual characteristics. Because of that I have uniquely identified each figure with a label similar to those I use for Battalion Code in my Crossfire Unit IDs.

Read more

Crossfire Order of Battle for the Portuguese Colonial War

Portuguese Commando Combat Group 02

These are the orders of battle for Fogo Cruzado my Crossfire variant of for the Portuguese Colonial War of the 1960s and 1970s. They are based on the historical orders of battle. As Fogo Cruzado is more or less 1:1 scale the basic stand is a Fire Team rather than a Squad. Similarly heavier weapons such as Medium Machine Guns (MMG) are individual weapons rather than sections of 2 or 3.

Read more