Perry Miniatures plastic Zulus: Part 1

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rorke's Drift at the Shed

 Rorke's Drift.  It's quiet.  Too quiet

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!

As in the original battle Zulu snipers sat on the hill at top right and were generally annoying

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!.

The defenders were organised into 12 units of four

I won't go into the detail of the game as Eric has covered it, thoroughly, here.  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.

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.

The first Zulu assault descends the hill

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.

The first Zulu attack comes down from the hill

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.

The assault splits to attack two points of the perimeter

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.

A second wave attack causes the British to bolster the defences

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!

Having built a mealie bag redoubt and despite both buildings being fired the British see off the Zulus...but what will happen next?

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.

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.

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.

Warlord/Empress plastic Zulu Warrior

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!

First unmarried Zulu regiment completed: the umCijo

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

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.

First Unit Completed

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

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..

Assorted Zulus

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.

First Wargames factory plastic Zulu

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.

New Zulus from Foundry

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.

Zulus with Rifles from Empress Miniatures

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

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.

Back painting Zulus again..

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!