tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18651120229595516982024-02-06T21:48:39.318-08:00Wargaming the Zulu Warlegatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-1074463347022263832018-01-25T14:48:00.001-08:002018-01-25T14:48:27.845-08:00Perry Miniatures plastic Zulus: Part 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I have a lot of unpainted Zulus but none of them are really satisfactory. Empress' British metals are marvellous but their Zulus are small, anatomically crude, misshapen things, despite their historical accuracy, I have quite a few Wargames Factory packs, some of which I have painted and these are, surprisingly given their patchy reputation, rather good. The Wargames Foundry new metals are based on Mark Copplestone Darkest Africa figures and are quite nice, if on the large size. Warlord Games plastics were nearly very good but they include a non historical armband on their right arms to hide the forearm upper arm join.<br />
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So when I saw the greens of the new Perry Zulus at Salute in 2017 I thought they were just the job. Less than a year later they are on sale and my first (!) pack arrived today. Amusingly the Perries have called them Zulus! (with an exclamation mark). I can't think of another army that would justify an exclamation mark in their name on a box.</div>
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You get 38 figures in the box which is not bad at all, given the numbers in boxes of plastic figures (yes, Victrix) seem to be reducing faster than a Toblerone. Unlike Warlord Games (only 32 figures in a box), who offer separate married and unmarried boxes, the Perry box contains heads for both.</div>
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There are two different sprues in the box. You get six sprues of five warriors which come with a choice of 12 heads per sprue, including some with more ornate headdresses for leaders. Upper body and legs are in one piece but heads and arms (both of them individually) have to be added, so they might take some time to assemble.</div>
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There are two sprues designed for Zulus with muskets and also included are two casualty figures on this sprue, which are useful for rules like The Sword and the Flame, although painting casualties always seems like lost time.</div>
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There is a four page pamphlet inside giving a brief history of the Zulus by Col Mike Snook, some examples of Zulu regiment shields and a helpful guide to assembling the firing figures. Although I don't like assembling fiddly plastic figures my new magnifying device will help immensely. If I have any time at the weekend I will try and get some started. I need some more figures to complete a force for The Men Who Would be Kings, so will concentrate on getting those prepared.</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-6905557240638182442017-08-10T07:52:00.001-07:002017-09-04T06:55:43.990-07:00A Wargamer's Guide to the Anglo-Zulu War by Daniel Mersey: A brief review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dan Mersey is well known as the writer of the successful Lion Rampant, The Pikeman's Lament and The Men who Would be Kings rules, among others. He has also produced a series of wargames guides, such as this one, published this week, on the Anglo-Zulu War. Now, I am notoriously useless at looking at wargames rules and working out how they might play, however, as this is not a set of rules but a <i>guide </i>I can offer a few thoughts.</div>
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The book has seven chapters which I will consider in turn.</div>
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<b>1 The Anglo-Zulu War</b></div>
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The first nine pages are a very brief summary of the war mentioning the overall staraegy and covering each major engagement in a few sentences. Mersey has an engaging, light style as a writer and as a general introduction to the war, for those unfamiliar with it, this can't be beaten.</div>
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<b>2 Armies, Organisation and Equipment</b></div>
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This chapter starts with 15 pages on the Zulu army, its organisation, weapons, equipment and tactics. There are two tables: the first lists the Zulu regiments available in 1879 with their age ranges and numbers (if known) and the second gives a very general guide to shield colours (although the author recommends the much more thorough Michael Farnsworth guides which you can find <a href="http://www.wargamesfactory.com/_literature_46777/Farnworth_Zulus.pdf">here</a> and <a href="http://www.wargamesfactory.com/_literature_53136/Farnworth_ZuluTotorial.pdf">here</a>. There are 11 pages on the British army and five pages on allies and colonial forces, These are subdivided in the same way as the Zulu section but, again, the information is very sketchy although, as elsewhere, Mersey recommends further sources.</div>
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<b>3 The Key Battles</b></div>
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This 15 page chapter covers Nyezane, Isandlwana, Rorke's Drift, Hlobane and Khambula. It dpes not cover Intombe and, more surprisingly, Ulundi. Each battle gets a couple of pages of historical description followed by a page or so on wargaming the battle which offers up battle specific suggested rules or suggestions on particular parts of the battle to focus on. For Hlobane, for example it is suggested focussing solely on the fight for the plateau and the British getting extra victory points for collecting cattle.<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>4 Wargaming the Campaign</b></div>
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This presents some campaign specific ideas and things to consider. It is <i>not</i> a guide to fighting the war as a campaign over a series of games, it should be noted. Aspects covered here include balancing shooting and movement ranges, army ratios. terrain and concealment, hidden units and ambushes. ammunition supply, marksmanship, fortifications and laagers and recycling Zulus. Personally, I hate recycling! It brings back memories of a game I had at Guildford Wargmes Club where these cursed recycled figures just kept coming. Sorry, but if you haven't painted them you can't use them! Mersey does suggest some modifyers to prevent limitless, automatic recycling, however.</div>
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<b>5 Choosing your rules</b><br />
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Here we get a one page overview of d13 different sets of rules from Jack Scruby's 1974 African Colonial Wargames Rules to the latest incarnation of Death in the Dark Continent (he mentions the 2017 reprint). It covers general period rules such as Black Powder, colonial sets like The Sword and the Flame, as well as campaign specific rules like Dave Bickley's The Washing of the Spears, Being generally too stupid to understand wargames rules and preferring ones with pretty pictures there were quite a few sets here I hadn't heard of. Oddly, he doesn't mention his own The Men Who Would be Kings Rules and we had an e<a href="http://zuluwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/zulu-wars-at-shed-with-men-who-would-be.html">xcellent big battle game using these</a>.<br />
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<b>6 Choosing your models</b><br />
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This offers a brief paragraph on miniature ranges offered by manufactures in 30mm, 28mm, 20mm, 15mm, 10mm and 6mm sizes. Just looking at the 28mm figures, with which I am more familiar, it is less satsfactory than some of the other sections. It is not surprising that the very new Perry figures aren't mentioned but it seems odd to leave out Black Tree's large range (despite the British infantry's weird lemon squeezer helmets) and also not point out that Foundry has two very different sized figure ranges: the original (but small) Perry brothers sculpted ones and the later (now sold as Casting Room Miniatures) ones which offer some particularly nice (and big compared with the weedy Empress ones) Zulus, based on Mark Copplestone's Darkest Africa tribesmen.</div>
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<b>7 Scenarios</b><br />
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This offers some half a dozen scenarios giving an outline of each scenario, a suggested description of forces involved, how to set up the table, rules considerations and victory conditions for each. The scenarios are: Protect the convoy, Ambush on the outcrop. Death to the Prince!, Strike at dawn, Beware the horns and 'Form square!' Each scenario is covered in about two and half pages.<br />
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Finally there is a two page appendix of further reading (dominated by Ian Knight, of course).<br />
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Overall this is a very good introduction for those who haven't considered Zulu wargaming (or, perhaps, even colonial wargaming before). For those coming to it from watching Zulu there are plenty of references to, and quotes from, that film in the text. However, in trying to cover all aspects; history, battles. forces, appearance, painting, figures and rules it results in each section being rather thin. For me the interesting chapters were the Key battles, Wargaming the Campaign and the Scenarios Chapters. For the rest I have already made my decisions or figures and rules and have read many books on the campaign generally. That said, even just skimming through it, for the purposes of this review, has got me thinking about getting on with those remaining 24 Zulu figures I need for my The Men Who Would be Kings force and trying some of the scenarios.<br />
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There are eight pages of colour photographs of wargames units (all in the centre of the book) provided by a number of different sources and of varying quality as regards painting and scenery. Personally, they are too small to have any impact as eye candy and too many are of close ups of units so that no idea of the sweep of a Zulu Wars battle is captured. I would have rather seen some maps (of which there are none whatsoever in the book) for the battles or even the scenarios.<br />
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Still, I don't regret buying it and the fact it is not rule specific (like the Black Powder guide) is a bonus. Probably not for experienced Zulu Wars gamers but ideal for beginners and useful even for dabblers like me.</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-20872354564108714472017-01-30T09:48:00.000-08:002017-01-30T09:48:03.731-08:00Rorke's Drift at the Shed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i> Rorke's Drift. It's quiet. Too quiet</i></div>
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After the epic recreation of Isandlwana at the Shed on Sunday morning, the table was re-dressed for the battle of Rorke's Drift for the afternoon. The sides were reversed so that I found myself commanding part of the British force in defence of Rorke's Drift. This re-eneactment, of course, had more resonance for me than Isandlwana as this was ZULU!<br />
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<i>As in the original battle Zulu snipers sat on the hill at top right and were generally annoying</i></div>
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Eric had acquired the Warlord Rorke's Drift set and had built a raised hill for it to sit on, as it did in real life. It was the source of much annoyance to me, last year, that my best friend, Bill, was on business in South Africa and he got to visit Rorke's Drift, without really appreciating it! Even more annoying was that until last summer I owned the complete Warlord Zulu set with Rorke's Drift and all the scenery and figures but sold it because I thought I would never get around to painting all those Zulus! Oh well. I would never have managed to put any scenery together, let alone paint all the figures and teddy bear fur scares me to death in laser cut kits. I like my thatched roofs to be made from resin not have to do complicated stuff with PVA glue!.<br />
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<i>The defenders were organised into 12 units of four</i></div>
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I won't go into the detail of the game as Eric has covered it, thoroughly, <a href="http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/zulu-sunday-part-2-28mm-rorkes-drift.html">here</a>. Apart from playing the scenario itself I was interested in how a game with a small number of defenders against an overwhelming number of attackers would play out, principally because of my interest in gaming the Alamo.<br />
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What I found was that, in a very different type of game from Isandlawana in the morning, Black Powder worked very well indeed. The way Eric arranged it with attacks coming in waves and the opportunity for formalised lulls in fighting allowing the defenders to regroup and redeploy would work very well for the Alamo.<br />
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<i>The first Zulu assault descends the hill</i></div>
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Another thing these two games caused me to think about is my approach to wargames unit size. Given that the inspirations for all my battles tend to be historical actions (I don't paint figures with the intention of fighting fictional encounters (until my ACW project). I do get fixated upon comparative unit size. However rules like The Sword and the Flame TMWWBK and Black Powder (and there is some wriggle room for different sized units in broad categories in the latter) tend to work on standard sized units. Twelve figures, twenty figures etc. So, for example, when painting my own Zulu forces I look at the comparative sizes of the historical regiments. <br />
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<i>The first Zulu attack comes down from the hill</i></div>
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I suspect the reason I do this goes all the way back to my days of playing Terence Wise's Introduction to Battle Games rules when number of figures per unit had a big effect on their hitting power. A regiment of 600 should have more hitting power than a regiment of 300. They shouldn't both be represented by 24 man units. They key, of course, is to have the 600 man regiment represented by two units and if you have a 450 man historical unit decide which way you go. Black Powder does allow for this, to a certain extent.<br />
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<i>The assault splits to attack two points of the perimeter</i></div>
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This sort of thing is important as I am such a slow painter. The difference for me in painting a 12 versus a 20 man unit is huge as regards time. But in non figure removal rules the number in the unit has no bearing on their fighting ability. You could play a game (well, I couldn't) with each unit represented by five figures.<br />
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<i>A second wave attack causes the British to bolster the defences</i></div>
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However, this brings me on to the main thing I don't like about Black Powder; the use of counters on the table. Given I am more interested in the look of the game, rather than the gaming itself, I hate to see model battlefields covered in clutter. I think the solution to this has to be casualty markers of some kind. For Zulus, for example, painted shields would work perfectly. Eric uses red, black and white. what I would call Ludo counters. Although I can see that painting casualty markers for 52 units of Zulus might be a trial!<br />
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<i>Having built a mealie bag redoubt and despite both buildings being fired the British see off the Zulus...but what will happen next?</i></div>
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The game itself was more dynamic and finely balanced than Isandlwana, although we only got to play about half of the planned game. Fortunately, Eric recorded where we had got to, with the idea that we can finish it another day, which would be excellent.<br />
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So thanks to Eric for organising this. Not only was it an excellent game but it has given me food for thought for some of my other projects.<br />
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Eric played excepts from the Zulu film soundtrack during our refights, which added to the atmosphere considerably. While writing this post I played John Barry's score, which I have in two versions: Barry's original soundtrack recording and the re-recording by the City of Prague Philharmonic conducted by Nic Raine, who was Barry's orchestrator in latter years. This has some additional cues not in the soundtrack original so I have combined them in my iTunes playlist.</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-89421439072802303102017-01-26T02:33:00.000-08:002017-01-26T02:33:17.570-08:00Isandlwana at the Shed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>My 72 Zulus ready to go</i></div>
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I was very excited to hear about <a href="http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/">Eric the Shed</a>'s intention to organise two Zulu Wars games on the anniversary of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift; both of which took place on 22nd January 1879. I did volunteer to paint some Zulus to add to the forty I had already done in the past but, as ever, time was against me. Nevertheless, I did paint 32 extra figures this month, meaning I could field six units of 12. I admit that the recent 32 were not painted as well as the original 40 but given Eric had already painted over 600 Zulu figures it didn't really matter as they would be lost in the number. I had to really concentrate to finish the last 12 figures and weapons and all 32 shields on Saturday. In fact while painting them I listened to Rachmaninov's four piano concertos, three symphonies, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, the Isle of the Dead, Vocalise and the Symphonic Dances. I also had 12 movement trays to make so didn't finish until about 11.30 pm, at which point I was shattered. </div>
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<i>My 72 Zulus on the far right</i></div>
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Eric didn't really need my paltry offering but he kindly let my units take part in the Isandlwana game, where I commanded the right horn with my figures on the very far right. The Shed itself would have been too cold for the game given the sub-zero temperature. Also, Eric had set up a wider board than the Shed would have allowed. He didn't have enough of his usual scenic boards but the cloths over objects gave a good rolling look to the hills and was nicely Old School as well.</div>
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Here we have the British camp, with the donga at top right holding Durnford's horse. You can also see some of the companies of the 24th Foot spread out in front of the camp with the rocket battery in the centre. Before the game started the three Zulu players had decided to feint to the left and attack in strength on the right with the centre following up.<br />
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Here are the Zulus massed at the beginning of the game with the British in extended line far out in front of the camp. My command at the left.<br />
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Sensibly, the British retreated in the face of the Zulu attack but with their backs to the mountain and the camp they had, of course, nowhere to go. In the background Durnford led his cavalry from the safety of the donga to attack Alastair's Zulus, to their surprise!<br />
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Here you can see the British Companies facing the Zulu hoard. I don't like putting multiple figures on one base but Eric's Sabot bases are an excellent way to more large numbers of individually based figures around. I always use square bases for figures in larger armies and round bases for skirmish games but I made some movement trays for groups of six for my square-based Zulus.<br />
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The British conducted a disciplined fighting retreat and started to score hits on the Zulus. We were lucky that the artillery wasn't that effective although the rocket troops scored some early hits.<br />
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My horn of the buffalo starts to close in on the British while the chest (top centre), commanded by James, advances in an invincible looking block.<br />
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Unusually, rolling consecutive low command dice ensured my painted figures were the first to engage the 24th Foot on the right flank.<br />
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The Zulus pour forward. We lost only four warbands out of 58 on the table, although a number had taken quite hard knocks from Martini-Henry fire. Luckily I overwhelmed the artillery battery before it could do much damage.</div>
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The beginning of the end for the gallant British. At the end only the British colour party survived, in true Victorian tale of heroism style. Every Colonial wargamer wants to play Isandlwana but it is very difficult, unless you are a painting machine like Eric the Shed, to field enough Zulus. With his and my figures (I provided about 10% of the Zulus force) we had around 700 28mm Zulus and about a quarter of that number on the British side. <br />
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This is what 52 12 man units of Zulus looks like. Of course, the battle doesn't make a very balanced game and it played out almost exactly like its historical counterpart, which says something about the rules. Eric tweaked a few things, reducing movement distances and shooting ranges. Personally, for me, it meant I could field my Zulus in a huge game which I now never need to play again, so don't now feel i need to paint hundreds more Zulus. I will confine myself to small skirmishes, using <i>The Men Who Would Be Kings</i> rules. One game that springs to mind for me to do is a scenario that came to mind from a novel I read (I can't remember whether it is John Wilcox's <i>Horns of the Buffalo</i> or Saul David's <i>Zulu Hart</i>) about an attack on a Zulu village by British and Natal Native Contingent troops. Given the Old Bat gave me a Zulu beehive hut for my birthday I might try to find the relevant novel. I have some Warlord NNC figures which I started to paint, somewhere.<br />
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Thanks to Eric the Shed for a splendid game (and bacon rolls and pizza). His account is <a href="http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/zulu-sunday-28mm-isandlwana-wargame.html">here</a> and Alastair's is<a href="http://wargaminggallimaufry.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/isandlawanniversary.html"> here</a>. The anniversary of the beginning of the Zulu War in 1879 falls on my birthday so I have always been interested in it and to play such a splendid game on the anniversary of the two best known battles in it was quite special.<br />
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Next I will look at the Rorke's Drift Game we played in the afternoon.<br />
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-36448975767104594782016-10-20T14:21:00.000-07:002016-10-20T14:21:25.318-07:00Zulu Wars at the Shed with The Men who Would be Kings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's been over two years since I posted on this blog but thanks to Eric the Shed I got to play a Zulu Wars wargame this week using the new <i>The Men who Would be Kings</i> rules by Dan Mersey. I have played his Lion Rampant rules several times and enjoyed them because they are simple for someone who struggles with complex rules, like me. <br />
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I suspect that he probably didn't really contemplate them for a game of some 600 figures but with five players it worked very well. I took the right hand horn of the Zulus. I had nine units of Zulu warriors and two units of rifle armed skimishers. Facing me were a force of Boers and natal Native infantry.<br />
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Helpfully. Eric had produced cards giving the different types of units statistics and special rules. This made things a lot easier as I don't have the rules yet. More importantly I remembered my glasses, as my eyesight is getting worse.</div>
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Now as regular readers know, I don't play enough games to ever learn any rules and I can't visualise how they work by reading them either. I spend a lot of time reading papers for work and after a week reading dozens of reports and papers on the Portuguese roads programme my brain would have had little room for absorbing anything else anyway. Thinking like a Zulu, I just charged at the Boers. knowing that I have never met a nice one, anyway (apart from that woman, Elize, I met in Gaborone). <br />
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Even though I had a lot of Zulus, the rifle fire of the Boers was very effective. Basically, if you take even one casualty you are pinned and need to be reactivated the next move which means that you can't move the following move. The officer can reactivate a pinned unit for free (this might have been a house rule on the night) so the trick was to use your units behind to leapfrog forward (units can pass through friendly units. The dice on the units above simply indicate that there should be another 4 figures on each unit and they would count up until they had gone and then you would remove actual figures. <br />
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Eric the Shed has posted an excellent account of the game and his thoughts on the rules <a href="http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/encounter-in-veldt-tmwwbk-engagement.html">here</a>, so my own vague thoughts are not needed. I really enjoyed the rules and thought they gave quite a good colonial game. We didn't have time to finish but the British regular infantry had formed up and were ready to receive the charge of the massing Zulus. Whether we would have got through the rifle and artillery fire is a moot point but I think the Zulus had destroyed more units than the British at the end of play. <br />
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There were a few negative comments from more experienced gamers about certain individual actions that weren't dealt with (shooting at charging figures on the way in, cavalry counter charges, morale etc) or were different from Lion Rampant. My view on this, simplistically, is that it is best not to break down the individual elements of the game but see how it plays overall. Does it give a good, <i>balanced final result,</i> not do individual aspects make sense in isolation? No doubt the author has learned from <i>Lion Rampant</i>. The individual (and frustrating) turn by turn necessity to activate units has gone, for example. I suspect if you start to fiddle with it and add too many house rules it may destroy the way the different elements of the rules combine to give a balanced result. But then, I'm not very clever.<br />
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I don't own the rules but based on this I will certainly buy them and, perhaps, will try them out solo using some of my Sudan troops. It will also be interesting to see how they work against less 'tribal' opponents, such as Pathans. I would also like to see how big the contemplated forces are in the rules, to see if they work for skirmish gaming as well as big battles. Great fun!</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-5297404986861337182014-01-22T11:59:00.001-08:002016-06-29T11:56:17.581-07:0050th Anniversary of the premier of Zulu<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Even if I haven't painted anything Zulu Wars for a while I can't let the 50th Anniversary of the release of <i>Zulu</i> (1964) pass me by. This was, by a considerable margin, my father's favourite film and is probably one of my top three too. </div>
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There is a 12 page feature on the making of the film in the current issue of <i>Cinema Retro</i> magazine by Sheldon Hall, author of the excellent <i>Zulu: with some guts behind it - The Making of the Epic Movie</i> and news that an expanded version of this book is being released later this year.</div>
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The film received its premier, on the 85th anniversary of the battle, at the Plaza cinema in Piccadilly Circus complete with the band of the Welsh Guards, soldiers in period uniform and three VC holders.</div>
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Not coincidentally, of course, today is also the anniversary of Isandlwana and the first day of Rorke's Drift. Like many others, I will be spinning the really quite exceptional Blu-ray of the film later. </div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">"Front rank fire! Rear rank fire, reload!"</span></div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-86011945147880099322012-04-06T01:29:00.000-07:002016-06-29T11:56:38.391-07:00Some officers for the 24th Foot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I can't remember the last time I managed two posts in a week on this blog, but here are our first three officers for the 24th foot. One is wearing the blue patrol jacket that was very popular in Zululand. The central figure is a bugler. What I need to do next is arrange the figures I have painted by pose to sort out some more regular looking units then I need to identify what figures I need to finish the units. I have quite a few more figures to paint and some are even based so, provided I can find where I put them, I can start a few more.</div>
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Tonight I might also have a look at the Natal Native Contingent figures I bought the other week. I haven't even opened the box yet.</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-60153866410285732982012-03-30T06:32:00.000-07:002016-06-29T11:56:52.082-07:00Another (biggish) batch of 24th Foot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Well, as I struggle with my new <a href="http://legatuswargamesarmies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/workbench.html">ACW</a> project I decided to take advantage of the good light here at present and finish another fourteen British today. This brings my total number of British to around two dozen. This means I probably should do another Zulu unit next. However, I have just bought the box of the new Warlord Games Natal Native Contingent and so may have a crack at these instead.</div>
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For <i>The Sword and the Flame </i>you have units of 20 British but these are really just a jumble of figures at present so I need to pick the next ones out specifically so I can have tidier looking companies. I also have a bugler and two officers under way so will try to get these done soon too. It's very satisfying to finish what for me is a big batch!</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-88757185451900093752012-02-06T12:02:00.000-08:002016-06-29T11:57:38.701-07:00Warlord/Empress plastic Zulu Warrior<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I bought a box of Warlord Games new plastic Zulus last week and managed to get one painted over the weekend. I will review the contents of the box another time but now I will just give my initial impressions.</div>
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<em>Empress metal and Warlord/Empress plastic</em></div>
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Firstly, how compatible are they with my existing figures? Most of my Zulus are Empress Minatures metals sculpted by Paul Hicks. Frankly, the latter are my least favourite of the four manufacturers I own, although they are the most historically accurate as regards clothing; including, for example, the clay pipes that Zulu warriors often carried about their heads. The anatomy of the Empress metals is rather odd but my real problem with them is their size: they just aren't big enough to be Zulus (European eyewitness accounts constantly refer to the large size of the Zulus). The new plastics are much more imposing, however.</div>
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<em>Wargames Factory and Warlord/Empress plastics</em></div>
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In size they are much closer to the Wargames Factory plastics but look less ungainly as Warlord have included the top half of the arm with the legs and torso sculpt. The Wargames factory ones suffer from plastic figure zombie arms. However, in order to achive a seamless fit of the forearms (which often include moulded on weapons and shields), they have added an armband on the figures. These plain armbands do not appear on any pictures of Zulus I have ever seen and so historical accuracy has been sacrificed in favour of ease of construction.</div>
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<em>L to R: Warlord/Empress plastic, Wargames Factory plastic, Empress metal, Foundry metal</em></div>
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The Foundry Zulus are based on Mark Copplestone's Darkest Africa sculpts and are the biggest of the four manufacturers figures but I think they have the micest anatomy and easily the most natural looking poses. </div>
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The Warlord figure was easy to paint although the armband on one arm didn't line up underneath. I'm not sure about the textured shields either and I think I prefer the Wargames Factory ones which are also thinner. The Warlord shields are as thick as a metal one. I also found it difficult to position the shield in a way that the poor Zulu could actually see where he was going. Also the bases are very wide which meant I had to place this first one diagonally across my 20mm square base. Next time I will trim the base first. The weapons for the Warlord figures are much better with the binding on the spears being modelled accurately (and uniquely for any of the figures I have).</div>
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I bought the married regiment with their headrings. The unmarried figures are modelled in full dress which would have been most unusual for a group of warriors taking the field. In their leaflet inside the box Warlord claim that younger warriors were more inclined to wear full regalia in action. Frankly, this is nonsense and is typical of the GW-style marketing speak that we get from this otherwise estimable company. </div>
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I will try to get some more figures painted up and look at the full content of the box shortly. All in all though, my response if favourable without them being, as I had hoped, perfect. Surprisingly I don't see myself abandoning the Wargames Factory ones I have (as I thought I would) but I won't be buying any more Empress metals, except for leaders and characters. </div>
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Now all I have to do is decide which regiment this new figure is going to be the first of!</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-3779150463487904572011-09-16T11:37:00.000-07:002016-06-29T11:58:18.287-07:00Isandlwana at Colours<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was most impressed by the one to one Isandlwana display at Colours at Newbury last week. The figures weren't that brlliantly painted but the sheer number (around 3,000) gave an excellent idea of what a small (!) colonial engagement looked like.</div>
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It certainly gave me pause for thought as regards how many figures I needed to paint to to recreate this batttle. I have been thinking about 1/10 but this set-up offered 1/1 as regards numbers.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJae3qAV55b2panQvvfwTksN3CPX9xQECYVb8avUCRyMYFKUP-8p928_6QDrIu88F9MBbfH2QmwUTkTy7FrgeMsLklstZDgGh9nXnBIF0JNOnovDqheBQij3ivSJWBXh0TUdcwvpTYOQ/s1600/P1060366.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJae3qAV55b2panQvvfwTksN3CPX9xQECYVb8avUCRyMYFKUP-8p928_6QDrIu88F9MBbfH2QmwUTkTy7FrgeMsLklstZDgGh9nXnBIF0JNOnovDqheBQij3ivSJWBXh0TUdcwvpTYOQ/s640/P1060366.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Isandlwana, as a wargames refight, is really about recreating small segments of the battle at a company level, I think, and this vast version really gave me an overall view on how this might be broken down into individual elements.</div>
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In a way it was rather like the Gripping Beast/Grand Manner Gallipoli set up at Salute this year in that it made such a definitive statement as to be beyond the capability of the ordinary gamer to reproduce. Nevertheless I will have a good go at producing some more figures.</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-64535762999966975692011-06-20T14:47:00.000-07:002016-06-29T11:59:03.227-07:00Zulu War Meerkat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhprFAFEk_RCkNFstkvmgIq-6E-3_EBKhebFMrBUiwDZmI3OGLpQzdwke9Qj7YxRcx2bgESiOHVG_JZHp3WGI_ZStBceZONNFembK752KrNspth-OYnlDXRKKmiXhHXD-LJlozGQFM1Mw/s1600/%2521B4LY1LwEGk%257E%2524%2528KGrHqV%252C%2521jkEybNVQU-fBMo4cWVBUg%257E%257E_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" i="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhprFAFEk_RCkNFstkvmgIq-6E-3_EBKhebFMrBUiwDZmI3OGLpQzdwke9Qj7YxRcx2bgESiOHVG_JZHp3WGI_ZStBceZONNFembK752KrNspth-OYnlDXRKKmiXhHXD-LJlozGQFM1Mw/s640/%2521B4LY1LwEGk%257E%2524%2528KGrHqV%252C%2521jkEybNVQU-fBMo4cWVBUg%257E%257E_3.jpg" true="" width="298" /></a></div>
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I saw this in a local garden centre last weekend and should have bought it; although he is carrying what looks like a Lee-Enfield rather than a Martini Henry. The black facings come from the film <em>Zulu, </em>I think, where the recent digital remastering has turned what was a very dark green into black on the otherwise stunning looking blu ray.</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-16802566567086485822011-06-09T14:34:00.000-07:002016-06-29T11:59:16.893-07:00First unmarried Zulu regiment completed: the umCijo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The black shielded umCijo (the sharp pointed) regiment (also known as the oKhandempemvu) formed part of the central "chest" at Isandlwana. There were 2,500 of them at the battle and their unmarried regiment was made up of 28 year olds who were heavily involved in the central attack. Indeed, they were so keen they actually false started the attack and had to be brought back. The induna of the umCijo was Mkhosana kaMvundlana who was instrumental in getting the Zulu centre moving again after their initial attack was stalled by the volleys of the British, although he was killed in the resultant charge as the Zulus poured out of the dongas where they had been sheltering. Nevertheless, it was this action that drove the British line back to the camp.</div>
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They also formed the left horn at Khambula and formed part of the 12,000 warriors under Chief Somopho at Gingindlovu.<br />
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The Sword and the Flame units are twenty figures but the umCijo made up over 10% of the Zulu army at Isandlwana so I will probably paint another twenty figures to join them. I also need a figure to represent the inspirational Mkhosana. </div>
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Most of these figures are Empress miniatures but there are a few of the new Foundry figures in there too. The younger warriors tended to have the smaller shields so I have given them the smaller Zulu shields that Empress helpfully sell seperately.</div>
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Next I will paint a brown shield regiment but am not sure which one yet. I have two more units of twenty based and ready for undercoating. As with my Sudan force I am probably aiming at an army of around three hundred all together, which at the current rate will take about fifteen years! The problem is that Zulus just aren't quick to paint!</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-78501999538792312122011-06-02T00:44:00.000-07:002016-06-29T12:00:19.909-07:00Warlord/Empress Zulu War plastic Zulus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkpy3m4FPIofQS0MpH0oE7WtOg5u3_N8wdPqUiyzE4lEsrqHVfV1RzbgA1zkHvswT6lpLwuC35nMNrbJXSpvs5LGsSge6Eu-KOh2g1UQHMnxn-8HMRHDgIm3ECjpYYgz09Ez-fnb6Pog/s1600/Zulus-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkpy3m4FPIofQS0MpH0oE7WtOg5u3_N8wdPqUiyzE4lEsrqHVfV1RzbgA1zkHvswT6lpLwuC35nMNrbJXSpvs5LGsSge6Eu-KOh2g1UQHMnxn-8HMRHDgIm3ECjpYYgz09Ez-fnb6Pog/s640/Zulus-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3soNq0lGGaF3FrBfEe_5lcM78WAQpu5udD0Ytfffaf4i0qDypSgfSv364l4lvTyxPXrdoBGsX1E4ADvHpjsgDT4I96_slpAqsqIohTVP0MT2Jo3xuZegmfoGwoQRGZhWcSbPiQqynrw/s1600/Zulus-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3soNq0lGGaF3FrBfEe_5lcM78WAQpu5udD0Ytfffaf4i0qDypSgfSv364l4lvTyxPXrdoBGsX1E4ADvHpjsgDT4I96_slpAqsqIohTVP0MT2Jo3xuZegmfoGwoQRGZhWcSbPiQqynrw/s640/Zulus-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I wasn't impressed by the recent greens of the forthcoming Warlord/Empress Zulu War plastic British. I think Paul Hicks' sculpts for the metal Empress British are the best 28mm Colonial figures out there (and I include the Perries Sudan range in that). The Empress metal Zulus are horrible, however, with chunky, wierdly proportioned anatomy which makes them look more like pygmies than Zulus. These new plastic Zulus look tremendous, however, and look like they will become the standard for Zulus in this scale. Can't wait to see them!</div>
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<em>My isijula Zulu throwing spear, showing the binding joining the tang of the blade to the haft</em></div>
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One thing that plastics can do better than metals is good weapons and these are the first accurate representations of Zulu spears I have seen in this scale. I own a Zulu Wars period assegai (throwing spear) myself and they appear to have modelled the plaited cane binding really well.</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-71948776398467182262011-05-23T00:15:00.000-07:002016-06-29T12:00:36.400-07:00Zulu War - Military Dioramas blog<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I had a comment on my previous post by a chap called Steve Collins who has just started a <a href="http://isandlwanadiorama.blogspot.com/">blog</a> about his fabulous diorama of Isandlwana in 28mm (I must say that when I first looked at it I thought it was 54mm). </div>
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I too was a great diorama builder many years ago; both using Airfix 20mm plastics and Tamiya 1/35th for World War 2. Like many people, following an article in <em>Military Modelling</em>, I built a diorama using their Hanomag and Panzer Grenadiers. Oddly, these days I don't take advantage of the diorama opportunities of my wargames figures simply because I don't use element basing so don't have a large enough canvas.</div>
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I'm looking forward to learning more about his techniques and seeing some more photos of this amazing work.</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-90304932437081000462011-05-16T05:22:00.000-07:002016-06-29T12:00:50.052-07:00Warlord/Empress Zulu War plastic British<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyHyG-tHQuEavauq2vT3eINRG74nNBngQjbhsbzxfjVHsbsYYGlT-FQiQZJMFMX4uMvqB3yyrjmvi1feVY7hfaqaAqq2dCZmf0K8CiRSA3E_51keVfwqTnRTrLpnBbLwAkMsoQvQ7OSw/s1600/AZW-British-3-ups.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyHyG-tHQuEavauq2vT3eINRG74nNBngQjbhsbzxfjVHsbsYYGlT-FQiQZJMFMX4uMvqB3yyrjmvi1feVY7hfaqaAqq2dCZmf0K8CiRSA3E_51keVfwqTnRTrLpnBbLwAkMsoQvQ7OSw/s640/AZW-British-3-ups.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I've just come across these pictures of Warlord Games planned plastic Zulu War British which they are launching with Empress miniatures. Apparently, these were on display at Salute but I never saw them. I am not convinced I saw the whole of the Warlord stand. It just seems to have been a few packs on a wall and a table, which was empty. I was rather disappointed by it as I was looking for the new Hail, Caesar rules but never saw them. Maybe I missed a bit. Not sure.</div>
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Anyway, I am not overwhelmed by these figues as they have the usual awkward looking arms of many plastics. Empress's metal figures are so superb, and you are never going to need that many British, that I don't see the point, really. They still look like four panel helmets, though. On the metal figures I have to file them all down and paint on the panel lines in the correct places.</div>
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More interesting will be the look of the plastic Zulus. I haven't been too happy with the Empress Zulus but maybe the plastics will be better. Due out in the Autumn, it seems.</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-39102215312315548772010-12-27T11:21:00.000-08:002016-06-29T12:01:00.903-07:00Some more British<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTlEDi3fQeUfrgbsFS4nvyd27nvX_zCzPd3OoSDEoIWFtEQLoQfCvYVIT1Wuq9e2D21QFgKu3T2lV-rzrB9kmhhcPmaHDAyVjf6J2vVEMCgpRXTULIlN_Gq-5GzgjarRq-8YLk9YEOPQ/s1600/P1040932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTlEDi3fQeUfrgbsFS4nvyd27nvX_zCzPd3OoSDEoIWFtEQLoQfCvYVIT1Wuq9e2D21QFgKu3T2lV-rzrB9kmhhcPmaHDAyVjf6J2vVEMCgpRXTULIlN_Gq-5GzgjarRq-8YLk9YEOPQ/s640/P1040932.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I've managed to finish another half dozen British this month so I <em>am </em>progressing, albeit slowly and I have lost my fear of these figures. Sometimes, when figures are very complex or detailed (as is the case, often, with Perry figures) I actually put off painting them. Despite having finished a few of these I was starting to think about these like that. The real issue is often between painting the initial "test" figure, on which I usually lavish a lot more time, and the rank and file. However, in this case I am pretty happy with them and I think they look OK. My main worry has been how to do the stained helmets but I have dealt with these by actually painting them white and...well...staining them, with a Citadel wash, Gryphonne sepia. </div>
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I have another half dozen or so started now so will try to move these along a bit. I have also now started the necessary Zulus to finish my second unit and will do those in tandem with the Darkest Africa askari, as they share a lot of colours.</div>
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I'm going to have to start thinking about how to organise the British and what units they will represent.</div>
legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-48325577260428395472010-10-03T10:13:00.000-07:002017-01-08T04:20:10.374-08:00First Unit Completed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxkm511GSXxlxzYTk9_jYLiLXAM2ih4YIW4JDZ_-hNTAxUkOdQu2Ui7K_lObmGi_ImiEQXIrpC4wepx8dAif3sXVQ0nYgRt_6rddUWKmzfrCfi9gGBIcus63L-UM66bKCFDQc57WW11w/s1600/zulu1+unit+1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="208" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523869676185587842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxkm511GSXxlxzYTk9_jYLiLXAM2ih4YIW4JDZ_-hNTAxUkOdQu2Ui7K_lObmGi_ImiEQXIrpC4wepx8dAif3sXVQ0nYgRt_6rddUWKmzfrCfi9gGBIcus63L-UM66bKCFDQc57WW11w/s640/zulu1+unit+1.jpg" style="display: block; height: 130px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" width="640" /></a><em> iNdlondlo</em></div>
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It's a rather rare event for me to complete a unit of anything but here is my first unit of Zulus, for the 20 man <em>The Sword and the Flame</em> units. They are the iNdlondlo (the "adult crested mamba"), a married regiment made up of men in their mid to late thirties and originally formed in 1853. They were part of the <em>amabandla emhlope</em> "the white assembly" of married senior regiments who carried the white shield and formed part of the uThulwana (Cetshwayo's own regiment and, essentially, his guard unit). They were present at Isandlwana and also at Rorke's Drift, Ulundi and Khambula where they formed part of the chest of the army. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfOPpn6Vp1E7j3SnGWVlPpk-9e-53BVPqvI8juy3qkCuMaOnRqFFtwOP2X3uwKXDFvipjOjN1tpFVUKAF6Zkc0TygyJ0y9W0ohIkXTKZ9-nJnrNTM_4uBwbpuUx3FE26zZ9LP7RJhmKA/s1600/A001315%5B1%5D.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523890016751078594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfOPpn6Vp1E7j3SnGWVlPpk-9e-53BVPqvI8juy3qkCuMaOnRqFFtwOP2X3uwKXDFvipjOjN1tpFVUKAF6Zkc0TygyJ0y9W0ohIkXTKZ9-nJnrNTM_4uBwbpuUx3FE26zZ9LP7RJhmKA/s640/A001315%5B1%5D.jpg" style="display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 397px;" width="635" /></a><br />
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A few years before the Zulu War, in 1875, Cetshwayo gave the iNdlondlo permission to marry from the girls of the iNgcugce guild (Zulu girls were enrolled in their own amabutho from which permitted regiments could choose brides on the king's instruction). In this case, however, the girls didn't like the look of the iNdlondlo men and many ran off with their boyfriends from other regiments. Cetshawayo sent warriors to pursue the runaways and all those who were caught were killed. Estimates of the number killed run between a few dozen and hundreds. European reaction hardened against Cetshwayo as a result and as some had fled towards the Boer lands he became much tougher in his dealing with the Boers and more rigorous about enforcing his borders. All of which would contribute to the tensions in late 1878 and early 1879. Issues over women relating to these incidents also caused fighting <em>between</em> some regiments shortly before the war.</div>
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<img alt="" border="0" height="640" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523891934744919186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQFjc-aWxP0pvvBX-YD-Nu5Uih3dB-0bX3YIKVCKEkKD1QWzWUm1knOy9Fy9On0TtPobITH_1rb7i4Fjxw_KiCOnpqPYLKhoGmjLLrPvixK0n5txE3wYQpof2f1CX0MZhL8lR-xP1t5w/s640/Zulu_dance_%2528cropped%2529.jpg" style="display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 369px;" width="590" /> <br />
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<em>Zulu women cause fights</em><br />
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The figures are a mixture of Empress, Foundry and one Wargames Factory plastic. Despite slightly different sizes, grouped in a unit they all look fine, however. Usually when people paint white shields they give them black "stitching". Its not stitching at all of course but just the face of the shield cut to hold the pole (more on shields another time). I have seen some examples where these bits were scraped back to the skin giving a pale beige look (such as the re-creation in the National Army Museum) so for no other reason than variety I have painted the shields like this for this<em> ibutho.</em></div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-73133036901720773202010-09-10T12:48:00.001-07:002017-04-19T13:09:32.975-07:00More Foundry Zulu Riflemen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCE5vTzUup3rqMXKn-2Y_2_cE9zdhk4WeCQ_BFq-dVfhcEmgNTT2pmv9w_31YgSKzAP29W8twGNrXYLcF6cDNef3d3kDqLkblF4BozXvTQlYz4Z9duBOQiUvCEYezxxxZzuzyywwRVYA/s1600/P1040327.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="296" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515380879565026002" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCE5vTzUup3rqMXKn-2Y_2_cE9zdhk4WeCQ_BFq-dVfhcEmgNTT2pmv9w_31YgSKzAP29W8twGNrXYLcF6cDNef3d3kDqLkblF4BozXvTQlYz4Z9duBOQiUvCEYezxxxZzuzyywwRVYA/s640/P1040327.jpg" style="display: block; height: 185px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" width="640" /></a><br />
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I've got some more Zulus on the way but I finished these four Foundry musketmen today. I have to say that I think that they are anatomically superior to the Empress ones but then they are based on some of Mark Copplestone's Darkest Africa masters. Although they are somewhat larger than the Empress figures it isn't that noticeable and I am happy to put them in the same unit. The guns are much larger than the Empress ones, however. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_HW_SZAXehNSLA-Y6G1_dz3Fob1VojdJg4BnU_OXsGcMgX1ug_arGzveuhWu-pDYleTQWQhmnrh1O2lFMCFTYrGzJ2K5QiycFp6Ngtpt3g9gRFf_Wb4wbgaI3geIpvhzMoze9yQmPg/s1600/51sM9sbOwqL.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515380569222318802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_HW_SZAXehNSLA-Y6G1_dz3Fob1VojdJg4BnU_OXsGcMgX1ug_arGzveuhWu-pDYleTQWQhmnrh1O2lFMCFTYrGzJ2K5QiycFp6Ngtpt3g9gRFf_Wb4wbgaI3geIpvhzMoze9yQmPg/s400/51sM9sbOwqL.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 260px;" /></a><br />
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I've also just picked up Ian Knight's latest thudding great tome on the Zulu Wars. <em>Zulu Rising. </em>which, at 600 pages, I haven't had time to even glance at but it should keep me moving the next batch along.. </div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-6774516703256524802010-04-30T12:40:00.000-07:002018-02-15T09:43:59.430-08:00Royal Artillery Hale Rocket team<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKb4i6cTTyhPpB59DdYfr2YkaSHjL1Usp9zDefXy4ZcBGBG67USVLFngCjMfk_ei_s7RkhIHDJoHhjeq1i8LhXNxKaqNWOmfqAy-RsP2aG7klzW_eytb-gmBgdMLjN0DyjWmWetuNfA/s1600/P1020462.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="1024" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKb4i6cTTyhPpB59DdYfr2YkaSHjL1Usp9zDefXy4ZcBGBG67USVLFngCjMfk_ei_s7RkhIHDJoHhjeq1i8LhXNxKaqNWOmfqAy-RsP2aG7klzW_eytb-gmBgdMLjN0DyjWmWetuNfA/s640/P1020462.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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A<span style="text-align: left;">mazingly it is over a year since I started my "</span><a href="http://zuluwargames.blogspot.com/2009/03/small-zulu-wars-project.html" style="text-align: left;">small Zulu Wars project"</a><span style="text-align: left;"> to get me painting some of the Empress Miniautres British. </span><span style="text-align: left;">This is well overdue but here it is: a Royal Artillery bombardier and his assistant from the 24th Foot with their </span><em style="text-align: left;">Machine Rocket, War</em><span style="text-align: left;"> (the trough) and a 9 pounder Hale rocket.</span></div>
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The British Army had first thought about developing military rockets when they had experienced them in Mysore India being fired by the army of Tipu Sultan. William Congreve (1772-1828) adopted from the Indians the metal casing for his rockets and used a stick for stability. By 1806 the British fired an amazing 25,000 rockets against Copenhagen. I was surprised, on my first visit to Copenhagen a few years ago, to discover that some of the residents still have quite a resentful attitude towards the British for this bombardment! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVHQbcmFaG67v2qAhrHR-I1QNwbpqFNfYgT7QHeMXrEpVVTc_NQ1_OLptrroQWv0Fq2oqZUd1A3LGEZOVMgP0yVm1ZkPTfTKcLPDAtQxQfDHhce2LIioBUAtm8upj5pfrgqniHcqRM0g/s1600/hale3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="831" data-original-width="551" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVHQbcmFaG67v2qAhrHR-I1QNwbpqFNfYgT7QHeMXrEpVVTc_NQ1_OLptrroQWv0Fq2oqZUd1A3LGEZOVMgP0yVm1ZkPTfTKcLPDAtQxQfDHhce2LIioBUAtm8upj5pfrgqniHcqRM0g/s640/hale3.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
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<em>The Hale Rocket: showing details of the fins used to spin it in flight</em><br />
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Congreve's rockets were not very accurate but the accuracy was greatly improved in 1844 when Colchester-born William Hale (1797-1870) did away with the stick (which increased the range) and developed a vectored exhaust and fins which made the rocket spin in flight like a rifle bullet. Hale tried to sell his rocket to the British army but they clung to the old fashioned Congreve. Instead, he sold the rights to his rockets to the United States for the then enormous sum of $20,000. So it was the US expeditionary force to Veracruz in 1847, during the Mexican American War, who used Hale's rockets first. The Russian, Hungarian, Austrian and Italian armies all adopted the Hale rocket in the 1850s. The British army did experiment with Hale's rockets during the Crimean War but didn't officially adopt them until 1867, by which time they had seen much service in the American Civil War. Whilst other countries dropped black powder rockets by the early 1870s Britain, which was fighting a series of colonial wars, found that rockets were much more transportable than field artillery in the sort of wild places that they were fighting. The Hale rockets would remain in active service for another twenty years after the Zulu War and wouldn't officially be removed from the army's inventory until 1919.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6DhWeurFf69j00mjDNN-1uMWcLBHVOcWwRFM_IBGDnOi9aj5z6M910YnKsENNeASJhBEDJNG1QPMEesT3iAHtMsKReYNby2YofTWRLCwg7rvhPGZ4R_WwflCwPitUVH0yBP4DBywRKA/s1600/Brevet+Major+Russell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="696" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6DhWeurFf69j00mjDNN-1uMWcLBHVOcWwRFM_IBGDnOi9aj5z6M910YnKsENNeASJhBEDJNG1QPMEesT3iAHtMsKReYNby2YofTWRLCwg7rvhPGZ4R_WwflCwPitUVH0yBP4DBywRKA/s640/Brevet+Major+Russell.jpg" width="530" /></a></div>
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<em>Brevet-Major Russell</em><br />
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In the Zulu War each section of two field guns was allocated one rocket trough. At Isandlwana there were three rocket troughs under the command of Brevet-Major Russell of 11/7 battery. Under his command was a Royal Artillery bombardier, 2766 George Goff, 'N' Battery, 5th Brigade, and eight allocated soldiers from C company 1/24th foot. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr929K6M0GWdkk5Nx3GJBg4DjoEemoxuIdWBxRugNTGpddm3vSZO5xHwbTaIKSybAoX0_5WN-Q6nJmg7rr5RqK9pzBwbCEWTSnHPMumDURCmW9mYgj73I2Igo8siCOjph6O9q6VlDiAQ/s1600/Hale+rocket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="960" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr929K6M0GWdkk5Nx3GJBg4DjoEemoxuIdWBxRugNTGpddm3vSZO5xHwbTaIKSybAoX0_5WN-Q6nJmg7rr5RqK9pzBwbCEWTSnHPMumDURCmW9mYgj73I2Igo8siCOjph6O9q6VlDiAQ/s640/Hale+rocket.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<em style="text-align: left;">A 24pdr Hale rocket showing the original colour</em><br />
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The black Royal Artillery rocket troughs fired 9 pounder rockets which were painted a dark red colour. The Navy used closed tubes for their larger 24 pounder rockets. At Isandlwana the rocket section only got off one rocket before they were overwhelmed by Zulus from the iNgobamakhosi regiment who formed the tip of the left hand horn. Major Russell was killed but bombardier Goff escaped on a mule with one of several of the rocket battery soldiers to survive. <br />
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On the whole, the Zulus treated the rockets with the contempt they deserved. It took some time in flight before the spinning effect stabilised the rocket and so a wayward initial part of the flight meant that the improved stability was largely worthless as regards overall accuracy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK-dRCKRdJTo0tKixRUzz7FnJ0eCgkSLBq1aL2ZFrKLiQ3wMyiCSRuHpFATgguMnhgGEDUiyZgX1EF0EBxRXZQGACbZH3Y1K6ao-M-Got1_TJL58yfxGKHj1H42bgEBelhjUoAUr16JA/s1600/rocket+trough.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="1217" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK-dRCKRdJTo0tKixRUzz7FnJ0eCgkSLBq1aL2ZFrKLiQ3wMyiCSRuHpFATgguMnhgGEDUiyZgX1EF0EBxRXZQGACbZH3Y1K6ao-M-Got1_TJL58yfxGKHj1H42bgEBelhjUoAUr16JA/s640/rocket+trough.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<em>9 pdr rocket trough and rocket, with a 24 pdr rocket below in the Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg.</em> </div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-83110885415848223802010-03-31T10:31:00.000-07:002017-04-19T13:08:12.763-07:00Assorted Zulus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3iN6V_Nb0MknPqt9Z6QJRI9bL7XCBgYoaCm3azbxYiru7LBOffdoKqYIdrNx6PwhW0pfnuXe9SWGxbqYOqUpg2Q4H8MffzpB96tGQs_guMAVvm6lX1gzQtCvPNlkwgPj0BZfV3oSAaA/s1600/assorted+zulus.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="217" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454852691102737842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3iN6V_Nb0MknPqt9Z6QJRI9bL7XCBgYoaCm3azbxYiru7LBOffdoKqYIdrNx6PwhW0pfnuXe9SWGxbqYOqUpg2Q4H8MffzpB96tGQs_guMAVvm6lX1gzQtCvPNlkwgPj0BZfV3oSAaA/s640/assorted+zulus.jpg" style="display: block; height: 136px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" width="640" /></a> <em>Left to right: Empress Foundry, Empress, Foundry, Empress, Wargames Factory and Foundry </em><em><br /></em><br />
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I've finished half a dozen Zulus today which have been lurking around my painting table. These are from Empress Miniatures and Foundry so I have put them with the Wargames Factory plastic I finished the other week. Now I am very fussy about different sized figures from different manufacturers but, even, though there are some size variations I'd happily put these in the same unit. Indeed the five married warriors will be joining the iNdlondlo which will mean that I have 15 out of the 20 figures I need for a TSATF unit. Five more are now on the way! </div>
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I have also changed the skin colour that I use for the Zulus and am much happier with this slightly redder shade which is closer to real Zulus skin shade. More on this another time.</div>
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legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-87293584832458450112010-03-30T12:49:00.000-07:002010-03-30T13:41:25.156-07:00Two Bromheads!<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRea5tyb0FEWAsXjoFwJ-dguEKCXBwcmvm37grnMHbbSJJDnLqx-R_ZtwUZDjqbRyh3OJC45Ac-J01A_Uls8GIbrfZOHAs0AcRnCPiUOhcgALMj9iNQ16bMH0oSL37czz9kIYjO8pbEQ/s1600/1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 348px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454526630325325266" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRea5tyb0FEWAsXjoFwJ-dguEKCXBwcmvm37grnMHbbSJJDnLqx-R_ZtwUZDjqbRyh3OJC45Ac-J01A_Uls8GIbrfZOHAs0AcRnCPiUOhcgALMj9iNQ16bMH0oSL37czz9kIYjO8pbEQ/s400/1.jpg" /></a><em> Michael Caine as Lt Bromhead</em><br /><div><br /><div align="justify">I don't know. You wait ages for one <em>Zulu</em> Lt. Bromhead to come along and then two come along one after another! </div><div align="justify"><br />After Black Scorpion's version of Michael Caine, in the cape he wears at the beginning of the film, Empress Miniatures have announced an excellent set of Zulu characters based on the actors in the film. They will be doing historical versions as well! </div><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4o-1xbkztkEPI9ssUVbBIdVonQjw8npOsnglW5-4Tvy8qtAqs-txunRjH_SmsfMnpzHKqM2Ccl3TPwUnTJ6vi8Als5JQegezegWPYqU8a2eMIKFLGaVeczGrO-zdd2rGNviTYzAkIPQ/s1600/982245a.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 199px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454519803751087026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4o-1xbkztkEPI9ssUVbBIdVonQjw8npOsnglW5-4Tvy8qtAqs-txunRjH_SmsfMnpzHKqM2Ccl3TPwUnTJ6vi8Als5JQegezegWPYqU8a2eMIKFLGaVeczGrO-zdd2rGNviTYzAkIPQ/s400/982245a.jpg" /></a> </p><br /><p align="justify">Left to right we have Private Hook, Lt. Chard, Lt. Bromhead, and Colour-Sergeant Bourne. Its difficult to see how well their faces have been captured but the painted version of Hook on the Empress website looks just like the actor! </p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYtwIN5Q1OwqghpxZ06GuNwGxhQ9YVDWmwjMqCitZuOHJvlUyQXsVSQq3WX-bZX7I3Wm-jM5qqCXC2S-CUC6MNVLJWg8wl9kznrNV5lcH2K64cxI5uTogDJSCMsho-iIByXPhjEhpN1w/s1600/1802-21900.gif"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454524980227248290" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYtwIN5Q1OwqghpxZ06GuNwGxhQ9YVDWmwjMqCitZuOHJvlUyQXsVSQq3WX-bZX7I3Wm-jM5qqCXC2S-CUC6MNVLJWg8wl9kznrNV5lcH2K64cxI5uTogDJSCMsho-iIByXPhjEhpN1w/s400/1802-21900.gif" /></a><em>James Booth as Private Hook</em></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2WhMnp-_wGwCByICIP-ZywvyJfPFkUYF5dT4b6swUzcQz7D__UEmsO-CPd55LbW0o7s3YsBDbYA-1B0RQZS3WvwcaEdzvhaacAn9ekvt8H79G7MJKneVnZrvi8xJbKXmuCvRIZ1BnQ/s1600/large%2520zulu%2520blu-ray1x.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 170px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454525603703794754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2WhMnp-_wGwCByICIP-ZywvyJfPFkUYF5dT4b6swUzcQz7D__UEmsO-CPd55LbW0o7s3YsBDbYA-1B0RQZS3WvwcaEdzvhaacAn9ekvt8H79G7MJKneVnZrvi8xJbKXmuCvRIZ1BnQ/s400/large%2520zulu%2520blu-ray1x.jpg" /></a><em>Stanley Baker (Chard) and Nigel Greene (Colour-Sergeant Bourne)</em></div><br /><p align="justify">The biq question is do I wait for Salute and risk them running out or do I go ahead and order now and pay the postage? I may just wait, in that perhaps they will have the historical set ready for Salute too. In the meantime I can paint my Black Scorpion Bromhead which I received today. I am painting him as an exercise as he is much too big to go with the Empress Figures.</p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6eu09AP697j_6JpI3dOZxUgGHA99OcQzYEtn6KUyO-lwY-qPhGKo7IA4HjOro6YdGtzc9fAGLn_4l46rPmWPLkm0aDcEWAV7o5Pykubtp1z4yeiMzmfstrM78OZcIYELEzqV26Ed-uw/s1600/P1020335.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 336px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454529202745122242" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6eu09AP697j_6JpI3dOZxUgGHA99OcQzYEtn6KUyO-lwY-qPhGKo7IA4HjOro6YdGtzc9fAGLn_4l46rPmWPLkm0aDcEWAV7o5Pykubtp1z4yeiMzmfstrM78OZcIYELEzqV26Ed-uw/s400/P1020335.jpg" /></a><br /><p align="center"><em>Black Scorpion's Bromhead. Already under way!</em></p>legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-68843822449956198262010-03-23T13:31:00.000-07:002010-10-03T13:12:29.718-07:00First Wargames factory plastic Zulu<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnhzfirdX4XB28PY08ukXclXglATP8LWEXzIwj98D_ondroUXgOighXhagklalPalIHq9ObBMX6I2nozyCVq682NOlDenUdsPdmd2BLavY4Y-b4-v2NWKY6jo4IW22Aw-9wAut_Uxdw/s1600-h/IMG_2860.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 358px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451931870543229858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnhzfirdX4XB28PY08ukXclXglATP8LWEXzIwj98D_ondroUXgOighXhagklalPalIHq9ObBMX6I2nozyCVq682NOlDenUdsPdmd2BLavY4Y-b4-v2NWKY6jo4IW22Aw-9wAut_Uxdw/s400/IMG_2860.JPG" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Someone reviewed the plastic Wargames Factory Zulus on The Miniatures Page and, like me, thought they were pretty good.<br /><a href="http://theminiaturespage.com/news/talk/msg.mv?id=947518">http://theminiaturespage.com/news/talk/msg.mv?id=947518</a><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHMRJ4MSBYUKYmKPWHWO4qWCtA9s0u-GHMiLZZjk9STpbri5GMt3TTvC6hqj71Cq6m_RMHDvre55CQD0EMQA4u82EcC-JGKIJ-gdCKJNN7eIvsmv2BbcFED41JxZ6kfqp2OBijX7xLg/s1600-h/IMG_2861.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 386px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451932036108917234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHMRJ4MSBYUKYmKPWHWO4qWCtA9s0u-GHMiLZZjk9STpbri5GMt3TTvC6hqj71Cq6m_RMHDvre55CQD0EMQA4u82EcC-JGKIJ-gdCKJNN7eIvsmv2BbcFED41JxZ6kfqp2OBijX7xLg/s400/IMG_2861.JPG" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Interestingly, he had the same problem as I did in that he couldn't get the arms holding a musket in a shooting position to stay in place. Empress Miniatures don't do Zulus in a firing pose and the Wargames Factory ones don't work so I think I will have to buy the Foundry ones despite their overlarge muskets.</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLraI-FbTPKiIiIFCNZ72CrHF2esYxYcFLHDYn6Z_AA8ZGQ7qJz57t9a9FRzlSX-iz18k2Uc-_pkitCl5uDCPUhakdafsvqYtVuKd3czeMNVaOs6HWDemXglWLeo-yudB4PX_lrE3xVA/s1600-h/IMG_2862.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 334px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451932163034009906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLraI-FbTPKiIiIFCNZ72CrHF2esYxYcFLHDYn6Z_AA8ZGQ7qJz57t9a9FRzlSX-iz18k2Uc-_pkitCl5uDCPUhakdafsvqYtVuKd3czeMNVaOs6HWDemXglWLeo-yudB4PX_lrE3xVA/s400/IMG_2862.JPG" /></a><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">I finished my first Wargames Factory plastic today. I have a few Empress and Foundry figures nearly done too so hope to put a comparison shot up at the weekend.</div>legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-46966412558616034082009-11-17T14:06:00.000-08:002009-11-17T14:14:11.655-08:00Next painting target: 24th Foot<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgszU3zbF9-Osyyhcka4F-M39bpS9DpW5D_eYxPbYHxsmGgbhjdnyTHesOmvQSRbS5U_VZObgW9Tqm0b0R7LZJ4H6Z6Rk1D518uR5hQDibbAGi5S7BkytdDgkGxdht3LyfNxAEJI8zcDA/s1600/P1010924.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 202px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405199059683168594" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgszU3zbF9-Osyyhcka4F-M39bpS9DpW5D_eYxPbYHxsmGgbhjdnyTHesOmvQSRbS5U_VZObgW9Tqm0b0R7LZJ4H6Z6Rk1D518uR5hQDibbAGi5S7BkytdDgkGxdht3LyfNxAEJI8zcDA/s400/P1010924.JPG" /></a><em> 24th Foot so far</em></div><div align="center"><em></em><br /><div align="justify">Having finished over forty Force Publique figures in the last couple of weeks and being well on the way with 20 Carthaginian veterans the next mass painting project will be my Empress Miniatures 24th Foot. I've got over forty to do (and no doubt will pick up a few more at Warfare this weekend) but I am now coping with doing dozens of figures, rather than a handful, at a time.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">At the weekend I based and undercoated the figures I hadn't already started. By the end of this coming weekend I would like to have completed all the hands and faces base coat and, possibly, the jackets too.</div></div>legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-37792075235519029482009-11-17T12:47:00.000-08:002009-11-17T13:12:52.950-08:00New Zulus from Foundry<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_VNe5XjnW3RyX_2eQq6MG-kvOxYLXbX4amDhtNr2-4St4GgeIsDlHVnjTyoGnCz5jfRyfM04Gg23UTvhHrYpxnUSQBfbOUcYc8K4ywJVTo-i-fgQG-fqf-Xrgv3GitccgVqt5GxhoA/s1600/1b.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 380px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 250px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405181933463210594" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe_VNe5XjnW3RyX_2eQq6MG-kvOxYLXbX4amDhtNr2-4St4GgeIsDlHVnjTyoGnCz5jfRyfM04Gg23UTvhHrYpxnUSQBfbOUcYc8K4ywJVTo-i-fgQG-fqf-Xrgv3GitccgVqt5GxhoA/s400/1b.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Well, in something of an unexpected move Foundry have come out with eight packs of Zulu warriors sculpted by their new sculptor Ronnie Shilton (who sounds like a big band leader). I have to say that these look like excellent figures with beautifully rendered shields. At £10.75 for six, however, they are a lot more expensive than the Empress figures at £5 for four or the Wargames Factory ones at £15 for 30 figures. If you buy the deal you get 48 figures for £73.40 but for £1.60 more you could get 150 Wargames Factory figures! </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_bf3gY7YMTsqQ5Bx7gaY-Y4vnU-XbYKSQl30uQDhBTPsv_tOr58-krSGO-EralvVZ-8Woam3pgop9qRknSkkDJ6OOYghcfkUm7epOmn252-AK2Za6z_lSTKh-zwR7xL_5d8AdllbRKQ/s1600/6b.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 380px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 250px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405182074149236674" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_bf3gY7YMTsqQ5Bx7gaY-Y4vnU-XbYKSQl30uQDhBTPsv_tOr58-krSGO-EralvVZ-8Woam3pgop9qRknSkkDJ6OOYghcfkUm7epOmn252-AK2Za6z_lSTKh-zwR7xL_5d8AdllbRKQ/s400/6b.jpg" /></a>It seems a curious choice for Foundry but then curious choices are the stock in trade of this once great company. All the warrriors are spear armed and it seems a shame that they haven't taken the opportunity to do some with rifles, which are sadly short in the other ranges; particularly shooting poses rather than waving rifles in the air poses. Something like Mark Copplestones's lovely Azande musketmen poses are what are needed for Zulu armies.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEW5pQdcKrNWNqQl3-amHNQGFsqMYvjlSfSMX6419B93nPPsbf9rLT0rC68zgLYLTGkrYC1bLsVaE-88V1uWehAryUSBMDzGoB52ZUIVghsWppJYmT3hxW404Byh73wEAy7J3n-nC_Q/s1600/3b.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 380px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 250px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405182002980185826" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEW5pQdcKrNWNqQl3-amHNQGFsqMYvjlSfSMX6419B93nPPsbf9rLT0rC68zgLYLTGkrYC1bLsVaE-88V1uWehAryUSBMDzGoB52ZUIVghsWppJYmT3hxW404Byh73wEAy7J3n-nC_Q/s400/3b.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">Nevertheless, next time I send in a Foundry order (and I've just had one back, annoyingly) I will order a couple of packs to see what they are like. </div><br /></div>legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865112022959551698.post-6304854739570397232009-09-20T14:46:00.001-07:002009-09-20T14:59:51.247-07:00First British Figure: 24th Foot<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-jcYPBI8VTY_IzHhFMJ0ZTcW6D6UMGL30A6Megi6lYEq6XEPEN38gTEqph_mHJIyTXjBufXIIkZLGYPBo4lmsfZ5iYr_O0DKpcuxDMbVYqJgG-3mK7vpjv7JQiXl2E2KdWxf6P8aP_w/s1600-h/24th+1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 350px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383671666662117650" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-jcYPBI8VTY_IzHhFMJ0ZTcW6D6UMGL30A6Megi6lYEq6XEPEN38gTEqph_mHJIyTXjBufXIIkZLGYPBo4lmsfZ5iYr_O0DKpcuxDMbVYqJgG-3mK7vpjv7JQiXl2E2KdWxf6P8aP_w/s400/24th+1.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify">My first British have been sitting on my workbench for a year now. To be honest I have been a bit frightened of them and happier painting Zulus. This weekend I decided to try to finish one figure to see how it looked. Well, I needn't have been worried; he was very easy to paint. Now I love the <em>Perry </em>figures but sometimes they can be tricky to paint but the Empress one was very easy. So much so that I immediately started on a few more including my rocket team. While watching <em>Strictly Come Dancing </em>with the family I assembled the rest of my first batch of <em>Wargames Factory</em> plastic Zulus and based a few more <em>Empress</em> British. One thing, though, I can't think that too many British soldiers would be fighting Zulus without fixed bayonets so I am going to make sure all my subsequent figures have them. I am going to approach the Zulu war slightly differently than the Sudan in that whilst I will try and reproduce every regiment at something like 1/33, for the 24th foot I will paint more figures so I can do Isandlawana and Rorke's Drift with rather more figures on the British side.</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgDsPo6Lw4ZSKyHbSHz-fMXXXX8iqtnGzgncBDHIZt1bG6NjV5Ncu3y8nghfTTPUfsZin6WBCEnDKVxfYKRIp4cGw0GrOxSfsoV-rrrfjlybojX_51Gl6ni09Q5mFJl7nw38a5lw9C1w/s1600-h/24th+4.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 284px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383671758835617058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgDsPo6Lw4ZSKyHbSHz-fMXXXX8iqtnGzgncBDHIZt1bG6NjV5Ncu3y8nghfTTPUfsZin6WBCEnDKVxfYKRIp4cGw0GrOxSfsoV-rrrfjlybojX_51Gl6ni09Q5mFJl7nw38a5lw9C1w/s400/24th+4.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify">I was hoping to finish three Zulus and Masai warrior today but my daughter hogged my desk all day doing GCSE course work (she claimed!) so I didn't quite get them done. This is doubly annoying as I go abroad on Tuesday and am not back until October 14th. Grr! Just when I was getting into my painting again too. Oh well. I will just have to take one of my Zulu War books away with me to keep me inspired! </div></div>legatus hedliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17078980742683576345noreply@blogger.com1