Ngāpuhi Scouts, New Zealand Musket Wars

The following is the beginning of my next side project, a small Maori war band depicting the Ngāpuhi tribe from the New Zealand musket wars. On release of the new Empress Maori Wars miniatures being a New Zealander (Kiwi) myself I immediately fell in love with the miniatures and despite already have far too many unpainted miniatures I couldn't resist starting this side project. Ngāpuhi is a Māori iwi from my local Northland region of New Zealand, and centered in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands and Whāngārei (my home town). I have used Back to Basixs Woodland bases to depict the thick rainforest like conditions of which the Maori often loved to battle utilizing gorilla warfare style tactics and I almost went cross-eyed painting the traditional patterns on the blanket ha.

Some wikipedia history: Ngāpuhi: New Zealand Musket Wars
By the early 19th century, the Bay of Islands had become a prominent shipping port in New Zealand. Through increased trade with Europeans, initiated by Ruatara, Ngāpuhi gained greater access to European goods, including muskets. Armed with European firearms, Ngāpuhi, led by Hongi Hika, launched a series of expansionist campaigns, with resounding victories across Northland and in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

Anyway I hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment, share and follow :-)

Oh and the Empress Maori range can be found here http://www.empressminiatures.com/userimages/procart11.htm