A new dawn in Usambra!

Fellow friends, comrades, brothers-in-arms, I made a somewhat funny discovery. While watching an episode of Gilmore Girls with my girlfriend, one of the characters mentioned a flower.  So what is so special about a flower in Gilmore Girls? It was the name of the flower that caught my attention and made me rewind the episode and rewatch the scene about 5 times. The flower was called Usambaraveilchen (engl: Afircan Vilotes).

The Usambaraveilchen aka the African Violet

 Usambara? But Usambara is a work of fiction! Okay, maybe it is not a work of fiction, maybe there is a place called Usambara. A quick google search later, I found Usambara. Funny enough – Usambara is not far from my Usambara.

Before we travel to the real Usambara a quick look at my Usambara. I took the name from a Forum RPG, maybe the original creator knew about the real Usambara, I don’t know, but when I took over Usambara I relocated the Nation to the east coast, with Usambara’s territory overlying the East African Rift covering a diverse and expansive terrain. It is bordered by Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. 

My Usambara

So where is the real Usambara? The real Usambara is not a country or nation by definition, but it is a mountain region in….Tanzania! 

An old map from Southern Usambara

The mointain range is called the Usambara Mountains and is home to the Usambaraveilchen (African Vilotes) and the Pterinochilus murinus aka the Rote Usambara-Vogelspinne (Red Usambara Tarantual but it’s not called that in englisch. You people know these arachnids as Mombasa golden starburst tarantula – a pretty cool name if I might say so)  

The Rote Usambara Vogelspinne aka the Mombasa golden starburst

The Usambara Mountains

Again the Usambara Mountains...I should go there and play a campaign game

So what does that mean for ficitional Usambara? First of all it means a relocation into the Usambara Mountains, and secondly it means a more or less complete redesign of Usambaras history. Tanzania was a former German Colony and only become British territory after the Great War, so there is quite a few changes in the way Usambara developed. That also means that I can explore the history of Usambara a bit more and create new conflicts within the nation. Over the next few weeks or months I’ll rewritte the mostly unpublished history of Usambara and will post it piece by piece here on this blog. I know, not everyone is interested in this kind of content, but it is where my heart and soul are. I studied history and political science and I love to create new and unique stories. Also, with a complete and complex background, the games will become far more interesting. But fear not – we have some miniature reviews and pictures of painted models incoming.

I finally found the perfect models for my Usambara Armed Forces models, so in a couple of weeks, I should be able to present some painted models – it took me some time!

Also on the horizon are some insurgents and the story behind their fight for freedom – as well as some painted models and a short battle report from the first engagement we played a couple of weeks ago.

So I hope not all of you have already left Usambara – because Usambara is very well alive!        

Unrest in Ukuechana

News reached the goverment in Kamanjab in the early morning hours. A quick meeting was held and the Joint Generals came to the conclusion that no USAS forces or Jackal Teams could be deployed to the foreign country at this time. But since Ukuechana was planing to keep its embassy open in Kamanjab, Usambara more or less couldn't close its own embassy in Ukuechana.

To free up more Ukuechana troops for the fight at home, Usambara dispatched B-Squadron of its very own Usambara Special Air Service to protect the embassy in Kamanjab.

Two B-Squadron Operator in fron of the Ukuechana embassy

The Joint Generals contacted Colonel Ilona Koskinen of Skalli Pack and brokered a deal with Hati Pack for protection for both the Ambassador himself as well as the embassy and other key personal.

Hati Pack contracters protecting Ambassador Birol Wijnstra

Usambara Playlist

The music of Usambara

Just a selection of music I listen to when painting models, building terrain and writting stuff for Usambara. New tracks will be added to the playlist frequently. 

 

Usambara Wild Life Reserve

Usambara Wild Life Reserve

The Usambara Wild Life Reserve is a world famous national park in Usambara, well known for its gentle giants, the enormous Usambara Elephants. Due to poaching over the last few decads, most of the elephants have been hunted for there ivory. (Check out the Usambara Park Rangers in the National Forces of Usambara tab for more information.

A Usambara National Guard patrol comes across one of the last herds of Usambara elephants.

 I was in the city today and came across some of these guys. They are a little bit too big, but to be honest, were else to get elephants in 1/50? And they came for just 30€, so not too bad for 5 elephants. Will be using them in a scenario soon, so stay tuned! And yeah for painted models ;)

2016 Africa Cup

2016 AFRICA CUP

 For the very first time the Lions of Usambara, the national rugby team, is competing in the 2016 Africa Cup. In english tradition, the national sport in Usambara is by nature: Rugby! Over the next couple of weeks, we will see, if the players truly have the soul of a lion and if they can make our nation proud! The president will be watching! 



Usambara is thrown into Division 1A along side the very strong teams from Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe. 

The Lions of Usambara. Soul of a lion. Hear us roar!

The match played on 2 July will be played in the Kamanjab Grand Arena. A high precense of police and military forces is expected since the president himself will be watching the game inside the stadium.