No not Credence Clearwater Revival, but those dastardly opponents of the Ghost Who Walks (Amazon warriors in the Lost Kingdom of Avaria), and Lord Greystoke (Tarzan and the Amazons). In real life these are the Minon or Dahomey Amazons.

“These are not mythical characters. The last surviving Amazon of Dahomey died at the age of 100 in 1979, a woman named Nawi who was discovered living in a remote village. At their height, they made up around a third of the entire Dahomey army; 6,000 strong, but according to European records, they were consistently judged to be superior to the male soldiers in effectiveness and bravery.

From daughters to soldiers, from wives to weapons, they remain the only documented frontline female troops in modern warfare history. A sub-saharan band of female terminators who left their European colonisers shaking in their boots, foreign observers named them the Dahomey Amazons while they called themselves N’Nonmiton, which means “our mothers”. Protecting their king on the bloodiest of battlefields, they emerged as an elite fighting force in the Kingdom of Dahomey in, the present-day Republic of Benin. Described as untouchable, sworn in as virgins, swift decapitation was their trademark.” From Messy Nessy

Seh-Dong-Hong-Beh (meaning, “God Speaks true”) was a leader of the Dahomey Amazons. In 1851, she led an all-female army consisting of 6,000 warriors against the Egba fortress of Abeokuta, to obtain slaves from the Egba people for the Dahomey slave trade.

So there you have it truth, as always, is stranger than fiction.

Over the years I have collected a number of Female miniatures from Hinterland Miniatures who unfortunately closed up shop late last year. They had a large range of female warriors, and Askari, as well as Shutztruppe and sailors. Unfortunately I only have a smattering of each, about 50 figures in total, but a least enough to support the Pulp Figures Germans (available in Australia from War and Peace Games) as enemies of the Phantom and Tarzan in my Pulp Fiction games.

Over the next few blogs I will share these with you, but first there is a BOOBIE ALERT. If you are offended by naked depictions of the mamary glands of the female member of our species then you should read no further, if not…………….enjoy.

Next blog will include the Askari.