I’m going to preface this article by saying that Malays as a civilization has terrible record keeping. While researching for this project (Yes, I did went to an actual library and not only a library but THE National Library of Malaysia), I observed that most of our history comes from foreign records namely the British (because coincidentally, the British like to write about exotic stuff i.e. us and taught us English, the language the British use to write about us), and sometimes, the Portuguese (for the rare few Malays that bothered to learn Portuguese) which is very sparse. Anyway...
I also visited the National Museum. Look at this cool Malay Sword and Shield.
Cool-looking Malay Armor.
For those wanting to play a Malay Warrior with a two-handed Kris.
Yes, GM Ian has been researching the clothes, armor and weapons used by Malay warriors, fighters and soldiers during the 15th century until the 17th century. Main goal of this research is to have an idea of how to model a 28mm scale model of a Malay Warrior so I can play with tabletop miniature wargames with them. Malay as civilization has been a very young civilization relative to everyone else and also our wars were either very short or too small to be no more than a footnote in history books. Also, very few Malays actual wargame. So as a Malay, I wanna play Malay warriors in a tabletop miniature wargame but unfortunately, no miniature company actually makes Malay miniatures (except Eureka Miniatures’ 15mm Malays) just because Malays weren’t involved in any big or long wars.
Fortunately, I have enough information and data to build up a confirmed historical-correct list of the arsenal and equipment that would be available to Malay soldiers. Namely, metal armor, swords (of every variety), bows, blowpipes, gunpowder weapons (hand cannons and matchlock guns), shields and spears. The Kris, a prominent Malay weapon, of course, takes center stage and apparently, the more kris you have, the cooler you are. Another issue is the style of clothing during the 15th century. What is considered the stereotypical ancient Malay look is more towards the 18th century. As researched, Malays were more into knee-length pants, sarong, vest and the headgear, Tengkolok. As time moved on, Malay fashion covered more and more of the body.
Malay Fashion over the centuries. Clearly, we have become less cool and manly, and more dorky.
Someone was doing this for a certain game but I can't remember right now...
Same as above but earlier time period.
Cool-looking Malay Warrior armed to the teeth.
Now, the issue is that nobody manufactures Malay miniatures at 28mm scale. Solution? Converting i.e. using existing plastic kits or even metal miniatures to build something else with it. After having a look around, I’ve determined that Perry Miniatures’ Mahdist Ansar - Sudanese Tribesmen 1881-1885. That said, only a couple of the bodies are appropriate i.e. “sarong”-wearing bodies. Though an issue with this specific plastic kit are the bead necklace which I need to remove and models being bald but it should be fine as I can use green stuff to sculpt the hair and tengkolok. The spears, swords and shields available in the kit are okay enough to use. However, the breech-loading rifle is too advance for the time period we’re going to play so I need to find matchlock guns somewhere else. These and also Perry Miniatures’ Azerbaijani swordsmen would be okay for the more lightly-armed and armored Malay Warriors which should compromise the majority of Malay Warriors.
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