Update

Just a quick update today. I've not managed that much recently as one of our cats suffered a serious leg injury and lost his leg as the damage was too extensive to repair.

Firstly I've completed the rebasing of the first batch of Anglo-Zulu War figures. This means I now have a total of 2 "Brigades" of troops for Black Powder so should hopefully be able to try the rules out soon. The British "Brigade" is a bit of a mismatch of units consisting of 1 company of Natal Native Contingent, 1 company of British Regulars and 1 detachment of mounted volunteers (the Natal Carbineers). I'm not 100% sure how this would fare on the table top. The Zulu "Brigade" on the other hand is pretty uniform having 4 warrior bases and 1 of skirmishers. Overall I'm pleased with the way they've come out.

I've also found a very good painting guide on the net for my Adler Napoleonic French (see here for the guide). I painted up a batch of 8 figures as a test and it was quite easy following all the steps. I'm now confident I can attempt the rest of the Division....

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More Anglo-Zulu War Bases

Here's the latest set of bases starting with No. 1 Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Natal Native Contingent. The majority of men in this company came from the amaThembu (meaning people of the Thembu), they provided all of the rank and file along with a much smaller number of NCO's (usually 10). The company also had a few European officers and NCO's who were nominally in charge but often didn't speak the language of those they commanded! The Europeans themselves often came from different countries so communication between Europeans must of been somewhat difficult as well! (The Regiments European Officers and NCO's were English, Irish, French, German, Danish, Swiss, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Belgian and American).








Note the two Rifle armed figures standing out in front of the rest of the company - these are the amaThembu NCO's, being the only Africans in the company with fire arms they were sent out in front to engage the enemy with rifle fire. I presume that they would fall back within the company as the enemy approached. The Rifles were probably Enfield Breach Loading Rifles though some Martini-Henry Rifles were issued to the 3rd NNC they mostly ended up with the Europeans or with the second battalion. The companies firepower is diminished by the lack of training and the small issue of firearms.

Next up is A Company 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot. This battalion had been in Africa for many years by 1879 so probably didn't look quite as smart as they do here. A Company was commanded by Captain William Degacher (modelled with a blue coat which many officers wore in preference to red) and was probably about 80 strong when it crossed the frontier in to the Zulu Kingdom. Unfortunately none of the officers and men survived iSandlwana.








Finally these are the first pair of Zulu "brigade" command stands. Each features a couple of Indana's (leaders) and a couple of Zulu Warriors acting as bodyguards.





All figures are Baccus from packs CBR8 (mounted officers), CBR9 (Natal Native Contingent and European NCO), CBR2 (British Regulars), CZU1 (Zulu Warriors) and CZU3 (Zulu Command). Bases are all by Minibits.

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AZW British Infantry

Still no sign of any bases yet but I have been working my way through the first batch of British Regulars. Admittedly I did find these hard going but they did come together in the end which is good considering I have another 174 more to do.....

Here's the first 18:


A close up of one of the 8 figure painting strips:


The command strip including a Colour Sergeant at the end (you might just be able to pick out my attempt at a sergeants stripes on his right arm):


The other end of the painting strip:


I'm toying with the idea of using these across 2 bases rather than just one as I originally planned (and also increasing the number of bases that make up a Zulu "unit"), each base would represent a half company (2 sections) which coincidentally was a real sub-division of a British Company in 1879. The two bases would, of course, operate as one unit.

Having 9 figures (8 privates and 1 officer or NCO) per half company might make the base appear underpopulated in comparison to the 24 figure Zulu bases but a British infantry company would of been deployed in a very open skirmish order with up to 3 yards between men (they don't call it the thin red line for nothing!). So there's historical support for my basing ideas.

All figures are Baccus from pack CBR2.

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Natal Carabineers

Another re-based unit. These are the Natal Carabineers who took part in the first invasion of Zululand in January 1879. Part of this unit fought (and died) at iSandlwana.

First up we have the mounted version of the unit:








Finally we have the dismounted version of the unit:








All figures are Baccus from packs CBR12 (mounted figures) & 13 (dismounted figures).

That's it for now on the re-basing front as I've run out of bases till the next batch arrives from Minibits. Time to paint some more figures....

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More Zulus

Managed to re-base another couple of bases of Zulus today.

First up we have the second of the standard units of Zulu's from the uKhandempemvu ibutho (regiment). Each base represents a couple of amaviyo (or companies):








Secondly we have a skirmishing iviyo (singlular of amaviyo), I may well add a second base to represent one unit strung out on a wide front:








Finally here's a shot of all of the re-based Zulus:





I'm pretty happy with the way these have turned out and have plans to resurrect some of my other Black Powder era interests. Will post photos of these again when they get their name plates added.

All figures are Baccus from pack CZU1.

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First Zulu Base Finished

Managed to get the figures based and flocked last night, just need to add a label:









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Anglo-Zulu War WIP

Okay so I got distracted by re-basing my Zulu's:






I've based these as a pair of companies from the uKhandempemvu Regiment both moving in line ready to attack. All figures are Baccus from pack CZU1.

These will be used with the copy of Black Powder I finally got around to ordering last night.

Thanks to those that commented on the Roman basing idea it has helped me come up with more ideas for that and other eras.

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An Update

It's been a long time since I did an update but I haven't been idle. So far I've finished over 60 bases for my Normandy'44 campaign, the US infantry regiment is based, as is the supporting tank battalion and a large batch of anti-tank guns and artillery pieces are nearing completion (note to self painting 14 guns at once is easy, painting 14 crew sets isn't....).

One of the other things I have been doing is thinking about my overall wargaming plans and I've decided to:
1. Go back to using 1 base = 1 platoon, it just makes things a whole lot simpler when translating real world TO&E in to BKC format*.
2. Focus my energies on completing my WWII armies for BKCII.
3. Put anything post war on the back burner so to speak. To be honest I'm not really that interested in the post war period these days and it reduces the amount of models I need to paint from the ridiculous to the might be achievable with a bit of effort.
4. Finally sort some rules for the Zulu War and paint some more of the 1500+ figures I have.

*Exception: smaller companies (e.g. those with 10 tanks or low numbers of infantry) are represented by two stands (effectively a half company per stand).

The WWII armies I'm working on are:

1. German Panzer Division 1, June-July 1941.
2. German Infantry Division 352, June 1944.
3. German Panzer Division 6, August 1944.
4. Russian 3rd Tank Division, June-July 1941.
5. Russian 29th Tank Corps, August 1944.
6. US 1st Infantry Division, June 1944.

Each consists of at least a regiments worth of troops and a varied selection of supporting units based on what was historically available to each particular formation. The armies are all matched pairs so I can always play solo if I want. All are at least 60% complete.

I'm also toying with adding the following units (I have most of the models anyway but just didn't want to get too carried away to start with):

7. Russian 29th Tank Corps, July 1943 (Kursk).
8. German forces to take on No.7. Not sure what these would be at this point.
9. Russian Infantry Division - I'd probably build this to make it usable for any point in the war but would start off with a 1941 era division to take on No.10.
10. Romanian Cavalry Brigade, June 1941.

Thanks for reading.

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AZW WIP - British Camp

The first part of my British camp is now well underway:


I Didn't quite get the light right in this picture as they are all the same colour (same as the top one). I have a load more tents, cattle, wagons and other camp/supply column models to do and I'd like to get hold of some Zulu huts if I can find some in resin or metal (I think Irregular Miniatures do them?). Wargaming the Zulu War doesn't feel right without having some sort of camp to defend, a supply column to escort or a scattering of Zulu homesteads across the table.

The tents are all resin models from the Baccus equipment range.

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AZW - Zulu Command Completed

Finished all 6 command bases today:


I also took the opportunity to reorganise the Zulu warriors I'd completed in to 3 base companies. 4 of these companies will form a separate "division" within the uKhandempemvu regiment, a single command stand will be used for each division. The uKhandempemvu regiment had 12 such divisions with a total of 49 companies split between these divisions, the manpower of the uKhandempemvu in 1879 was estimated at around 2,500. So far I've completed 2 1/4 divisions so I've still got some way to go to complete the regiment should I be mad enough to want to paint 500 Zulus!

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AZW WIP - Zulu Command

Just finished the Zulu Command:



Not the best of pictures but I am planning to learn how to use my Samsung digital camera over Christmas (these are all taken on my phone camera).
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AZW WIP

Undercoated the first company (yes there's more than one!) of the 1/24th Foot along with some Zulu commanders. The Zulus are quite nice figures actually and there's 6 different variants in each pack which isn't bad for 6mm. I need to do some more research before painting them as I want to get the headdresses and other apparel right.

That's about it for this week as I'm out for a few nights and have the parents here this weekend.

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More Completed Zulus

The recently completed Zulus have now been based and flocked. Here are a few pictures (there are 12 new bases in all, making 27 overall):





These will be mixed in with the other completed bases and once I've painted some command figures they will finally be complete, only another 5-600 to go.....

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AZW WIP

I've just finished off the next batch of Zulus, these along with the other 60 figures will belong to the uKhandempemvu regiment which was present at iSandlwana. uKhandempemvu means "head with black and white markings", an alternative name for the regiment was umCijo meaning “the sharpener”. This regiment was unmarried and probably formed in the late 1860's:





These figures have slightly different shields (small white spots on the left of some of the shields) and once based the bases will be mixed with the other Zulus to form 6-7 companies of 3-5 bases each. I've fixed the figures to their bases since taking these pictures.

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Natal Mounted Police Completed

I've just finished off the final bases for the NMP:







The next batch of Zulus are now undercoated, hopefully they'll get finished this weekend then its time to do some Zulu command so I can have a try with the rules.

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Mounted Natal Mounted Police WIP

This weekend I've also managed to complete the 17 mounted figures needed to finish off the Natal Mounted Police (NMP), they just need flocking:









I found the first batch of mounted figures (the Carbineers) quite hard going but the second larger batch for the NMP was much much easier. I think this has something to do with having to work out how to paint a model the first time you do it and then once you know what you have to do it becomes easier.

Next up, more Zulus (48 in all):




And here's the completed figure box which is filling up nicely:



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Natal Carbineers

The mounted versions of the Natal Carbineers are now flocked and finished:









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