Wargaming the Zulu War

Warlord/Empress plastic Zulu Warrior

2012-02-06T12:02:00.000-08:00

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.

Empress metal and Warlord/Empress plastic

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.

Wargames Factory and Warlord/Empress plastics

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.

L to R: Warlord/Empress plastic, Wargames Factory plastic, Empress metal, Foundry metal

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.

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).

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.

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.

Now all I have to do is decide which regiment this new figure is going to be the first of!

Isandlwana at Colours

2011-09-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

I was most impressed by the one to one Isandlwana display ast 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.

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.

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.

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.

Zulu War Meerkat

2011-06-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

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 Zulu, I think, where the recent digital remastering has turned what was a very dark green into black on the otherwise stunning looking blu ray.

First unmarried Zulu regiment completed: the umCijo

2011-06-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

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.

They also formed the left horn at Khambula and formed part of the 12,000 warriors under Chief Somopho at Gingindlovu.

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.

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.

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!

Warlord/Empress Zulu War plastic Zulus

2011-06-02T00:44:00.000-07:00

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!

My isijula Zulu throwing spear showing the binding joining the tang of the blade to the haft

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.

Zulu War - Military Dioramas blog

2011-05-23T00:15:00.000-07:00

I had a comment on my previous post by a chap called Steve Collins who has just started a blog about his fabulous diorama of Isandlwana in 28mm (I must say that when I first looked at it I thought it was 54mm).

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 Military Modelling, 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.

I'm looking forward to learning more about his techniques and seeing some more photos of this amazing work.

Warlord/Empress Zulu War plastic British

2011-05-16T05:22:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

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.

Some more British

2010-12-27T11:21:00.000-08:00

I've managed to finish another half dozen British this month so I am 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.

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.

I'm going to have to start thinking about how to organise the British and what units they will represent.

First Unit Completed

2010-10-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

iNdlondlo

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 The Sword and the Flame 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 amabandla emhlope "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.

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 between some regiments shortly before the war.

Zulu women cause fights

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 ibutho.

More Foundry Zulu Riflemen

2010-09-10T12:48:00.001-07:00

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.

I've also just picked up Ian Knight's latest thudding great tome on the Zulu Wars. Zulu Rising. which, at 600 pages, I haven't had time to even glance at but it should keep me moving the next batch along..

Royal Artillery Hale Rocket team

2010-04-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

Amazingly it is over a year since I started my "small Zulu Wars project" to get me painting some of the Empress Miniautres British.

http://zuluwargames.blogspot.com/2009/03/small-zulu-wars-project.html
This is well over due but here it is: a Royal Artillery bombardier and his assistant from the 24th Foot with their Machine Rocket, War (the trough) and a 9 pounder Hale rocket.

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!

The Hale Rocket: showing details of the fins used to spin it in flight

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.

Brevet-Major Russell

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.

A 24pdr Hale rocket showing the original colour

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.

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.
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9 pdr rocket trough and rocket, with a 24 pdr rocket below in the Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg.

Assorted Zulus

2010-03-31T10:31:00.000-07:00

Left to right: Empress Foundry, Empress, Foundry, Empress, Wargames Factory and Foundry

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!

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.

Two Bromheads!

2010-03-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

Michael Caine as Lt Bromhead

I don't know. You wait ages for one Zulu Lt. Bromhead to come along and then two come along one after another!

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!

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!

James Booth as Private Hook

Stanley Baker (Chard) and Nigel Greene (Colour-Sergeant Bourne)

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.

Black Scorpion's Bromhead. Already under way!

First Wargames factory plastic Zulu

2010-03-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

Someone reviewed the plastic Wargames Factory Zulus on The Miniatures Page and, like me, thought they were pretty good.
http://theminiaturespage.com/news/talk/msg.mv?id=947518

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.

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.

Next painting target: 24th Foot

2009-11-17T14:06:00.000-08:00

24th Foot so far

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.

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.

New Zulus from Foundry

2009-11-17T12:47:00.000-08:00

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!

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.

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.

First British Figure: 24th Foot

2009-09-20T14:46:00.001-07:00

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 Perry 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 Strictly Come Dancing with the family I assembled the rest of my first batch of Wargames Factory plastic Zulus and based a few more Empress 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.

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!

10mm Zulu War

2009-09-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

10mm figures by Steve Barber

I don't do 10mm figures on account of the fact that I can't see them to paint but if I did I might be quite tempted by this new range from Steve Barber models. http://www.sbarber-models.clara.net/main.htmlI know this firm best from its enjoyable Prehistoric Settlement rules. Barber's figures can be rather crude and many of his 25mm figures suffer from big head syndrome. There are the occasional figures with strange anatomy here but on the whole I think these are rather good.

I love the little Hales rocket team here!

Zulus with Rifles from Empress Miniatures

2009-09-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

It's always been slightly annoying that rifle armed Zulus weren't available seperately from Empress but now they have gone and rectified this with this very nice set. This is excellent news. Once I have finished my next batch of Beja I'm going to move back onto Zulus for a bit. I wasn't very happy with the way that the first ones came out so am hoping the next batch will be better.

Prince Dabulamanzi KaMpande, Cetshwayo's half-brother was the commander at Rorke's Drift and Gingindlovu. His troops have a wide variety of firearms.

The Zulus had been arming themselves with firearms for some time before the Zulu War. One contemporary report estimated that there were around 20,000 guns available to the Zulu at this time. However, it was reckoned that only about 500 of these were modern breech loaders. There were rather more percussion guns but most were old, often condemned, flintlock muskets. The British army recovered nearly 450 guns from the Zulus after the Battle of Gingindlovu but only five of these were Martini-Henrys (presumably captured at Isandlwana) with most being old British Tower or German muskets. In addition the gunpowder the Zulus had was very low quality and bullets could be anything from bits of metal scrap to stones. So although the Zulus had guns, they would not have been very effective.

Wargames Factory plastic Zulus

2009-08-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

I, at last, managed to pick up a pack of these at Orc's Nest today. I have not been very impressed with Wargames Factory's output so far and had already decided that I wouldn't be buying their British Infantry. Mainly this is because Empress Miniatures British are so good (despite their four panel helmets), and the promise of the range is such that I wanted all my figures from the same manufacturer. The Zulus were different, however. I had seen some previews on The Miniatures Page and they looked..well pretty good actually.

Unlike the other figures from Wargames Factory these are packed in a bag with a card insert which has one of the most amateurish looking paintings I have ever seen on a commercial product. Plastic figures are more fragile than you would think so I am a bit worried by the bag but they seem to have got from New England intact.

You get five each of two sprues:

The first holds five different legs/torsos and 18 arms. 12 of the latter are right arms and six are left.

The second sprue holds 14 heads (2 with headdresses) six married and six unmarried heads. This means that you can easily field a force of each from one box.

There are 9 distinct heads, which is pretty good. This sprue also holds six shields, two of which have spare assegais attached. There are also three arms holding rifles (two Martini-Henrys and one flintlock) plus one each of a seperate Martini-Henry and a flintlock. There is one seperate belt with a powder horn. There are five longer throwing assegais and five of the shorter, stabbing Iklwa plus two knobkerries or Iwisa.

I quickly assembled one this evening to compare it to the Empress figures and I have to say that I am impressed. The anatomy is very good; probably better than the Empress figures, although the heads are slightly bigger and, indeed seem to vary in size. The arms have that slightly uncomfortable look that stick on arms always have on plastic figures but they are not too odd looking.

Heightwise they are slightly bigger than the Empress figures but this is no bad thing. Many of the contemporary accounts of the Zulu War written by British troops commented on the size of the Zulus; these were big men. The Empress figures are smaller than their British counterparts however.

The best thing about them are their weapons, however. Nicely in scale and nicely modelled. Best of all are the shields which are much thinner than metal and are also modelled to show the characteristic wavy surface of the hide shields: a really excellent job with fine rear detail too.

In conclusion, and rather to my surprise, I can see myself buying a lot of these whilst still using Empress figures for characters. I will try to paint one up to see what he looks like over the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend.

A small Zulu Wars project...

2009-03-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

Contents of ZWB 09: Bombardier, infantry "hired help", rocket trough and 3 9pdr Hale's rockets.

I haven't got any painting done at all this month as I have been away in the Gulf and Washington. Any spare time I have had has been taken up with Guy's D-Day project. This weekend I am transferring all my files from my old 80GB computuer to my shiny new 750GB computer. Hopefully all those long waits whilst things process will be a thing of the past as they jolly well should be for £1,000 without a monitor!

However, I am keen to get started again, especially with Salute coming up, and I just took delivery of some more of Empress Miniatures lovely new Zulu War British. I bought the new officers set which includes two figures in patrol jackets (hooray!), the infantry firing with fixed bayonets and the rocket set. I have decided to make the rocket set my next project as it has only two figures in it!

The first stage was to attach the rear legs to the rocket trough. Sounds simple but what a nightmare! I used superglue and just couldn't get the thing to stick. After 10 attempts I gave up and decided on an alternative approack of sticking the legs to the base first. It kept falling over so I sellotaped a match to the the base so I could lean it on it at the right angle while the glue set. There is just too little surface contact to make this easy I suppose. Anyway, this worked and then I could glue the trough on top and let gravity keep it in place.

The trough (the technical designation was "Machine Rocket, War) set up.

In the picture on the Empress site they have the rear legs at 90 degrees to the ground and the trough is, as a result, horizontal. They also seem to have cut off the bent end of the leg which also stops it pointing upwards. As you can see from the diagram below the curved end to the leg was part of the design.

Machine Rocket,War: note angle of the rear legs

In reality the rear legs were at an angle to the trough. Changes in elevation were made by shifting the upright (on the right in the picture above) along the arm at the bottom, but of course it doesn't move on the model. This isn't a problem as the maximum elevation of the trough was only 15%; we're not talking a howitzer-type trajectory here!

Here is the team ready for action. Some people like to make little diorama type bases with figures like this. I don't! For some reason I have always wanted my soldiers to be individually based. No element basing for me! This is why I will never play Field of Glory, DB whatever or anything else that involves "stands". Warhammer and The Sword of the Flame are much more my style!

More about the Hale rocket in the next post.

Rorke's Drift in 54mm: 2

2009-01-26T04:27:00.000-08:00

By John 54 on the Miniatures Page has put up some photographs of a Zulu War game they put on at theMuseum of the Royal Logistics Corps in Camberley, Surrey, last weekend (annoyingly as it's only about 20 miles from where I live!). It looks great!

http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x189/byjohn54/Rorkes%20Drift/

I have a box or two of these Call to Arms figures http://www.acalltoarms.co.uk/132_2.html somewhere in the loft and I might dig one out to paint for fun, as I haven't painted a 54mm figure for years.

A birthday anniversary

2009-01-11T14:32:00.001-08:00

The site where Number 3 Column's crossed the Buffalo at Rorke's Drift on January 11th 1879

Today (January 11th) is my birthday and also the 130th anniversary of the beginning of the Zulu War in 1879. Lord Chelmsford's 5,000 word ultimatum had been delivered by John Shepstone, acting Natal Secretary for Native Affairs, to the Zulus on 11th December 1878 giving Cetshwayo 30 days to comply. January 10th arrived and went and no compliance was seen (or expected).

Col Richard Glynn of 1st Battalion 24th foot. Photographed in 1878

At dawn on January 11th Colonel Richard Glynn's number 3 column crossed the Buffalo River at Rorke's Drift. The column consisted of the first battalion 24th foot, seven companies of the 2/24th, a battery of Royal artillery, two battalions of the natal Native Contingent, some European Mounted Police and Volunteers, 2,000 oxen, 67 mules, 220 wagons and 82 carts. In just over a week's time the force would make camp close to a mountain called Isandlwana...

Back painting Zulus again..

2009-01-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

I had a look at Empress Miniatures site again for the first time in a few weeks and saw that they had put some more stuff up on it. They also have some greens of some interesting looking British: artillery? rocketmen?

The best thing was that the Zulu command was out so I zapped off an order. I like the way they are highlighting the bare metal figures now; it really lets you see the detail.

My wife gave me a new daylight craft light for Christmas which I got round to assembling today. It's brilliant! I realise that the reason I haven't been painting much (other than the fact that I have spent three weeks travelling around North America) is that I couldn't really see to paint properly in artificial light but this gives a real white light. Now I have two lights either side of my painting area I should be able to paint in the evenings again. To celebrate I put down the base coat on my next batch of 20 Zulus. Maybe tomorrow I can do the black bits (hair and rifles). Doing 20 figures in a batch is a lot for me but with Zulus you need to go for mass not driblets!

Zulu War in Toronto

2008-12-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

I am currently staying at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto and was amused to see this Zulu War display in the window of the in-house cigar and pipe shop. Britains 54mm figures I think.

Spiffing!

Salute giveaway figure 2009

2008-11-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

Black Scorpion have just put their Salute 09 giveaway figure up on The Miniatures Page. The theme of the event is going to be the Zulu Wars, which is good news! Its quite a nice little vignette and its good to see the Zulu Wars becoming popular again: these things do go in cycles. One thing, though, I can't understand why people keep painting the helmets of the British as if they had four panels.

This foreign service helmet is, I believe, a genuine 1879 one from the 24th foot. It quite clearly has six panels. Never mind, the panel lines are never as much a feature as painters make them out to be, given the scale of a 28mm figure, so it should be easily sorted.

Zulu War celebration in Sussex

2008-10-31T04:21:00.000-07:00

This recent article shows what a hold the Zulu War still has over the public in the UK.

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/3711343.Worthing_salutes_Zulu_war_hero/

I can't think of another conflict of the period which would generate such a splendid turn out!

First unmarried Zulus: umCijo

2008-09-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

Here are the first lot of unmarried Zulus, the umCijo regiment "the sharp pointed". They were also known asuKhandempemvu. At Isandlwana they formed the spearhead for the attack on the camp and wiped out the rear ranks of A and F companies of the 24th Foot. They also fought at Gingindlovu and Ulundi. A tough and brave regiment: the Connaught Rangers of the Zulu army!

First Zulus finished!

2008-09-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

Eight down 292 to go!

Well these have taken much longer than I thought they would. I reckoned that as soon as I had got the skin done there wouldn't be much more to do but had counted without all their charm necklaces, animal tail adornments and the shields, which take ages.

I have got another eight figures nearly ready; I just need to do the shields and spears so should get them done at the weekend. I have eight new figures to do with the white cow-tail adornments and I ordered another 12 figures today.

For the Sword in the Flame rules you need 20 figure units so this is not quite half of what I will need. They are painted as the iNdlondlo regiment who fought at Isandlwana.

I will review the figures themselves when I have got some more done. Suffice to say that they look much better painted than unpainted -even when it's my rather "impressionistic" style!

Zulu War Books

2008-09-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

There are far more books on the Zulu Wars than on the Sudan War of 1883-85 but I was pleased to pick up some less available ones this weekend. I went to stay with my friends in Bath who have a gorgeous 5 storey Georgian town house. The best thing about Bath is that it has a higher proportion of independent stores than any other town in Britain. It is particularly well served for book shops.

I bought four books which I haven't seen before.

Uniforms and Weapons of the Zulu War by Christopher Wilkinson-Latham
The Zulu War A Pictorial History by Michael Barthorp

Isandwana, The Bitter Zulu Victory by Carlos Roca Gonzalez

The Zulu War Centenary Issue by the South African Military History Society

These all contain some great information and wonderful illustrations. I bought three of these books from Bonapartes, a shop which specialises in larger scale military figures and always has a great selection of second hand military books in stock. http://www.bonapartes.uk.com/ A couple of years ago I bought 4 volumes of Wargames Illustrated from them. Well worth visiting if you are ever in Aquae Sulis.

More Zulus on the way..

2008-09-09T03:57:00.001-07:00

Heads you lose..

I have nearly finished my first sixteen Zulus from Empress miniatures. They aren't perfect but look very good en masse. The faces are good, some very, very good. They are a little small some of them, compared with the British, and the anaotomy is not as good, say, as Copplestone's Ngoni (particularly the arms and legs). The real problem is the chest area where the relationship between the deltoid, pectoralis major and clavicle is not quite right. Odd, as the sculptor has modelled the stomach area really well and caught that pot-bellied look from contemporary photographs. Still with a shield and weapon it shouldn't be too noticeable.

Empress have come out with two more releases in the last few days. Firstly, some Zulu's with the classic cow-tail decoration on arms and legs. I am going to use these as unit leaders as in battle these decorations were unlikely to be (but not never) worn. Secondly, a set of British heads, four with Glengarrys and four with the (white) helmets with badges on (as seen in the original film Zulu and also worn by the 99th foot). This deals with the issue raised by Lt Col Mike Snook, in his review on the Rorke's Drift VC site, regarding the trumpeter having a helmet cover, which didn't come in until later in the campaign.

http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1301

I have ordered two packs of the cow-tail Zulus and the head set. My experience co far with Empress is that their dispatch is very fast.

At last a promising range of Zulu War figures.

2008-09-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

The new Empress British. The painter did a great job. If I can do half as well on mine I will be pleased!

As I noted on the introduction to my Sudan blog it was the film Zulu that got me into colonial wargaming and I painted a lot of those Revell plastics. I never found a satisfactory range in 28mm. The two main rivals, I suppose were Black Tree Design and Redoubt.

Black Tree Design have a wide range of poses but the anatomy of the figures is variable: some are excellent, some are a bit odd. The real problem with them is the strange interpretations of the helmets with odd ridges on them where all there should be are seams.

The Redoubt range is also comprehensive as to different troop types although their are less poses of individual infantry. The figures look quite old and on the internet anyway look a bit indistinct in their sculpting and casting. One of the reasons I like the Musketeer Miniatures figures so much, even though they are rather exaggerated compared with, say, the Perries, is that you know exactly what you are painting.

So I was delighted to see a new range of Zulu War figures by an equally new company called Empress Miniatures. http://www.empressminiatures.com/ These are sculpted by Paul Hicks, who is rapidly getting up there with the best sculptors on the planet now. They look a bit chunkier than my usual taste (but that is often the result of the photography) but are very crisply sculpted. I immediately ordered one of each of the four packs that have come out.

The owners (who claim to be women, which is unusual in itself) say that the range will be complete for all troop types in the war. Sensibly, they are going for a release schedule of first some redcoats, then some Zulus, then back to British again, so you can build an army and its opponents at the same time.

I know these will distract me from the Sudan but I have always wanted to do Zulu War British!

The first Zulus are up on the site too now and I just took delivery of a batch of those as well.