More for the Zulu War (and a belated Thank You!)

The very nice chap that I acquired the horde of Mike’s Models Zulus and assorted other Colonial goodies from has continued with his sorting out and so discovered some other figures that he reckoned I would also be interested in. 

He was certainly right about that!

The following will be winging there way to Maison Crook in the next few days.

Painted British infantry - really pleased with these as it means that I should be able to flesh out the existing units. They will need rebasing and careful removal of the texturing. I will also need to harmonise the painting standard between the two - aka repainting the helmets into cinematic white!

Mounted Boers and a British cavalryman

Mahdists

British gun crews and a pair of drivers

Limbers, a brace of guns and a Rocket Launcher

I am really pleased with these and reckon that I now have everything I need for the Zulu War - which usually means that something else will be added….

The belated thank you goes to that all round good chap Mr David Barnes of The Ragged Soldier blog. He very kindly emailed me to let me know that the book The Zulu War: Then and Now, had been republished and was available from Naval and Military Press. Sadly I missed out on it but I really appreciated the gesture so thank you Mr Barnes for thinking of me!

Meanwhile, something quite extraordinary is currently en route and will form a later post once it has arrived….

The Zulu War

Been after this for a while and its arrival is doubly welcome following the recent Mike’s Models 15mm Colonial collection

As is my usual modus operandi when embarking upon a new(ish) project, I carried out a quick trawl through eBay for some suitable background material. My library for this particular Colonial adventure takes frugality to new levels as it consists of three, now four, books! The volume you see above I was particularly pleased to get hold of as it is one of the more useful Osprey hardback compilations.

The title contains material previously published as Campaign series 14: Zulu War 1879, Elite series 32: British Forces in Zululand 1879 and Elite series 21: The Zulus. Written by the renowned Zulu War experts Ian Knight and Ian Castle and featuring artwork by the late Rick Scollins and the late Angus McBride, it is east to see what I was so keen to grab a copy of this 2004 publication. 

15mm Colonials

The Zulus War collection I posted about recently - the unpainted horde of Zulus with a smattering of British and Boers - should be with me shortly so I will at last be able to enjoy some Colonial games (once the rebasing has been completed and the Zulus painted that is!). 

Needless to say, the Portable Colonial Wargame and Dominion of the Spear and Bayonet will feature once I get to the tabletop.

Armies in Africa

I am absolutely delighted to have landed a copy of this at long last - even with a sticker mark slap bang in the centre of the cover!

Just before we headed off to Andalusia I scored a major win on eBay. Unfortunately it was too close to our departure date (09/06) for me to see it before we travelled but it arrived safe and sound whilst we were away.

Colonial Armies - Africa 1850 to 1918 by Peter Abbott was published by Foundry Books in 2006. For a variety of reasons I missed out on getting a copy then and have been on the lookout, off and on, for one since then. I have seen several secondhand copies listed on odd occasions but the price - usually in three figures - was more than the Imperial coffers (not to mention domestic harmony) would stand. So scoring a copy of this for £22 was, as they say in certain quarters, a right result!

The book covers the armies and campaigns over the period mentioned and on a national basis. These are as follows: Congo Free State and Belgian Congo, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. This is supported by sections on the organisation, warfare, dress and weapons along with 229 figures, 58 illustrations and 2 maps.

For my fledgling 15mm Mikes’s Models Colonial set up - and with the seductive allure of Madasahatta as a gentle reminder - this book is an absolute goldmine of information and inspiration.

Dead chuffed for sure!

More on Mike’s Models Colonials

The great figure rebase for the recently acquired Mike’s Models 15mm Colonial collection has resumed once again. I had a little break from it, occasioned by last minute tinkering to DTPIW and sorting out various pieces of technology prior to our holiday but am now back in the saddle so to speak.

I had originally intended using bases with a 30mm frontage but after a rethink will instead use what seems to be a standard 40mm frontage instead. The green base you see is courtesy of Essex Miniatures and I have a large supply of these in all the sizes I will need - 40mm x 20mm, 40mm x 30mm and 40mm square.

I picked up some Irregular Miniatures Zulus and Egyptians as well as some Naismith Colonials with the plan to flesh out some of the units. To be honest either are not a great fit but are usable if you are not too fussy. It is not the size so much, it is more the style. I had resigned myself to using these when a chance comment on the Fans of Mike’s Models facebook group put me in touch with a chap that was disposing of a large number of unpainted Zulu War Mike’s Models. Several messages later, a deal was negotiated and so I am now the proud owner of the following:

Zulus….

….thousands….

….of….

….em!

Not exactly thousands but there is a great selection of types.

Really pleased with this set although I am thinking that some Oxen would work better with the wagon.

These are the unpainted versions of the rank and file figures I have painted. I reckon that troops that wore uniforms of a similar cut from other nationalities might be a useful field to look at for other forces.

I am delighted with these as it means that I will not only be able to field some meaningful opposition to the painted British I already have in the shade of the Zulus, but I will also be able to round out some of the line infantry as well as the artillery park. The wagon is a nice bonus, as are the mounted Boers/Irregular Frontier Horse types. 

My plan of action would be to tackle the required rebasing and touching up required on the British troops first - thankfully the latter is minimal and fortunately I have enough Humbrol enamels to match the colour palette used - and the tackle some Zulus. This means that the figure below will have some company!

“Zulus, thousands one of em!”

A Colonial Conundrum of Sorts

Basing sorted - infantry will be in 3s or 2s for dedicated skirmishers (30mm x 15mm), cavalry and artillery on a 30mm square - a gun and two crew or two riders and 15mm square bases for foot single figures, commanders and so on. Mounted commanders will be on 30mm x 15mm bases. The order is already in with Warbases! The Post It note was used to measure out the sizes I needed and how the figures looked - as Mike’s Models are on the diminutive size the 30mm frontage is ideal.

I spent some time yesterday evening sorting through the 15mm Mike’s Models colonial collection and planning the next steps. Now that the cold light of reality has set in I find myself looking in various directions as to what to do with the disparate elements of the whole. Summing up the situation would be a good start so this is what I have been pondering.

The three line infantry standard bearer groups - far too nice to be ignored in my opinion, redcoats and standards flying proudly!

1. There is a lot of British - in pre and post Khaki (more of the former). The redcoats consist of a 12 figure unit of highland infantry (in trews) and there are a further 12 infantry with yellow facings, 7 with green and 8 with a tan/buff colour. There are also 16 in rifle green but 5 of these have white helmets whilst the others have a tan colour. 

The sole tribal figure in the collection - a solitary Zulu warrior

2. NO OPPOSITION! No Zulus or Mahdists and only a representational two units of Egyptian/Sudanese and one Boer. I have a had a change of heart about this as I had originally planned to muddle through with some paint job improvisations but now the stakes have been elevated somewhat. I plan to add a Zulu force as historical opposition for the Redcoats. They will be simple to paint which means they an be table ready relatively quickly. The only other thing I need to address is the shortage of artillery for the British - a point I mentioned previously and is now even more pressing!

3. The Plan(s). I am still fleshing out the back story for Madasahatta 1880 but suffice it to say it will enable me to indulge in a relative smorgasbord of types for the German/Turkish force. Along with the white coated Egyptians, Sudanese Askaris and Boers I would need to add some German Schutztruppen and possibly a naval landing party, not to mention a couple of warships. That is one option. The next and possibly more immediate option would be to acquire and paint up Zulus or similar. I am not looking at the Sudan at this stage although certainly there is the raw material to do so from the British side - both for the earlier Khartoum period and the later Omdurman one. The final option, and this is one that is rather left field, I could raise some Martians for some VSF action. 

I have plenty to think about with this collection but for now the priority will be to get them rebased and refurbished and with a rather more representative artillery set up

Conundrums of sorts but nice ones to have all the same!

The Anglo-Turkish War of 1880 and Madasahatta

15mm Mike’s Models Colonials. Sudan British for 1882/85 and the later Omdurman period. Camels, rifles and a naval landing party. Egyptian infantry, cavalry and camelry along with Sudanese Askaris (I think). A single artillery piece and a Gatling gun along with a small Boer contingent.

The Anglo-Turkish War of 1880 was originally an idea I had in order to get some later ‘blue water’ ironclads built. My plan was to fight a battle between the two opposing fleets for inclusion in Developing The Portable Ironclads Wargame - the addition of ‘The American Civil War’ to the title came about when it decided that  the between the two books the focus was primarily on the war between the states. A fictional conflict felt a little out of place surrounded by ships and battles of the American Civil War - despite the ‘what if’ nature of many of the combats I fought! 

The ironclads for the Royal Navy and the Ottoman Turks are still under constriction - they have been started but thus far only the hulls have been prepared - but for now will have to wait to get finished because of a fairly exciting development. The development that I am talking is my acquisition of a selection of painted 15mm Colonial figures - British, Egyptian, Boer and Askari types - produced by Mike’s Models. I will let the pictures do the talking.

British infantry followed by what looks like a Zulu War era volunteer mounted rifle unit(?) - I do not know the period well enough to comment.

More British followed by the Egyptians and Sudanese (on the left) and the Boers in the rear.

Rifles, British cavalry, mounted infantry and the artillery park.

The collection is by no means complete but there is more than enough to form the basis of a good 1880 set up featuring the British Army along with a smattering of Egyptian and Boer opposition. For organisation the available types would be ideally suited to something akin to Bob Cordery’s Portable Colonial Wargame meaning three figure infantry bases, two figures cavalry and skirmishers and for artillery/mgs a gun and two crew. There is a distinct shortage of artillery so I will need to raid Irregular Miniatures to bolster this arm.

The first order of business will be some tidying up of the figures - a lot of the riders have become unhorsed - in respect of the paint job. I am not planning on any extensive repaints but there are a few chips here and there. The painting technique is very old school and would be easy enough to replicate - even for me! There is also the rebasing - luckily these are on cardboard bases so that should not be difficult to do. I shall also give them a coat of satin varnish just to freshen them up but other than that there will be little to do. 

The Siren Lure of Madasahatta….

So how does this all tie in with Madasahatta? Well, it doesn’t, at least not yet but that is where my thoughts are heading. The problem is changing the back story of the island to accommodate forces for 1880. Madasahatta as we know it only really came to prominence in 1891 with the discovery of gold in the Bloeminstip mountains. The Germans moved in first and established Hansaland followed by the British two years later with New Surrey. The border between the two colonies, running along the centreline of the Bloeminstip Mountains, was set in the Treaty of Badlikortout agreed in 1898. Taking the history of the island back to 1880 changes things a little so I will need to get my head around a feasible prequel. I have an idea about this but need to flesh it out first. I will say no more than other than it was a good job that there featured an Arab Concession centred on Port Maleesh!

Once the figures have been repurposed and reorganised, and the ships built, the plan is to make use of Eric’s marvellous creation once again - either through the Portable Colonial Wargame or possibly even Dominion of the Spear and Bayonet.

I am delighted to have secured this little lot as it will save me a heap of time getting the collection to the tabletop and enjoying these vintage warriors.

“Zulus….120 of ‘em!”

At long last - I have only been on the lookout for these for around three years….

Back at the Cavalier show in February I got talking to Dave, the proprietor of 1-72 Model Figures about the semi-legendary and seemingly nigh-on impossible to get hold of box of Unmarried Zulus produced by Hat Industries. Turns out he had six of these ‘back at base’ and so after a brief exchange of emails a parcel arrived yesterday with two boxes of them - 120 figures in total.

One of the four sprues in each box viewed from the front. There are two figures holding captured rifles to the box holds 8 out of 60 or 16 over the two sets. Possibly a little on the high side but close enough for my needs.

The reverse side of the sprue.

These are for my 20mm soft plastic Zulu War project in which the British rank and file and mounted troops have been sourced from the board game War in the Age of Imperialism. 

The main reason I was so keen to get this set was due to the fact that the majority of the figures are one piece castings so no separate shields or weapons (with a single exception). The ESCI Zulus feature separate shields and weapons and these are, in my opinion, a royal pain to deal with. The only drawback is of course that these are Unmarried Zulus and so lack the distinctive head ring that the married veterans wore. The tribal figures from the aforementioned board game may be usable in this case but I will need to check. In any event there is another box of Hat Zulus that features the married types although guess what? That is currently equally as difficult to get a hold of! 

Expect a further update on this project in 2026…. :-)

Zulus…Dropping Sixty or More

At last! Two boxes on the way!

I mentioned in my earlier post that I managed to finally score some figures that I needed for a particular project. Zulus to be exact, of the unmarried variety. I had a look at the 1-72 stand at cavalier and chatted with Dave the proprietor, more in hope than expectation, about the box of figures you see above and the likelihood of seeing it again. “Fear not” he enthused, “I have six boxes of them back at base - the only reason I do not have them with me is because the box is an odd size!”

I have been looking out for these figures since I acquired a copy of the boardgame War in the Age of Imperialism that includes a huge number of 1:72nd scale plastic figures and other useful stuff. You may recall that the base infantry figure is a very good likeness for a Zulu War period British infantryman and so taking advantage of the Hat Industries Zulu War British Command pack  and a few other bits and bobs I will be able to organise a pretty reasonable looking force. Old school, soft plastic 20mm - what’s not to like?

The deal has duly been struck and so I shall be getting two boxes of the above for my ‘Zulu’ inspired 1879 project which sits alongside my ‘Shogun’ inspired 1600 Samurai one and the the 1870 ‘Last Samurai’ version. Then of course there is ‘300’ and a smattering of the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ - it does seem that much of my gaming has been Hollywood based….

It doesn’t make me a bad person though!

“ Sixty! We dropped at least 60, wouldn't you say?” A quote from THAT film but in my case it is 120!

The Frontier Ablaze

Very pleased - and a bargain to boot!

The Afghanistan section of my library received a welcome boost with the addition you see of the above title. This is the second copy I have owned - the first was presumed missing in action as part of the great disappearing book mystery of years gone by - and so I was delighted to be able reacquire it.

This is nice series of large format hardback books and I already own the titles covering the ‘45 and the Zulu War (covering the battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift). By no means are they definitive works but they certainly look nice and serve a very good primers. The plates are also vey nice - in many ways these could almost be viewed as Osprey Menat Arms on steroids.

All this Afghanistan malarkey is leading up to a front loading for retirement project and so I have at least managed to secure the appropriate reference material.

Felling suitably pleased and inspired by degrees!

More on the Great Game

At last - back in the library! A secondhand hardback edition that set me back the princely sum of £7.45. What a bargain!

My copy of Peter Hopkirk’s magisterial book: The Great Game - On Secret Service in High Asia arrived this morning and so I am ready to plunge in to Pax Pamir and its head spinning subtlety and nuance filled gameplay.

The book is in pretty good condition with the dust jacket intact except for some slightly scuffed corners. It also has that ‘secondhand book from an indeterminate origin’ smell but nothing to be upset about.

The high regard in which this book is held in is best summed up by the comment on the rear of the dust jacket by no less a personage than Patrick Leigh Fermor, the famous travel writer and kidnapper of German Generals.

“The Great Game is absolutely marvellous, the best thing I’ve read for ages”.

High praise indeed!

A Great Game about….The Great Game!

Pax Pamir - a game of political skullduggery set in Afghanistan during the 19th century

The back of the box showing some of the components

I would not usually bother showing the inside of a box lid but this is really lovely to see

The ‘Great Game’ of course refers to the political shenanigans ‘twixt the British, the Russians and a whole host of Afghanistan and central Asian territories during the 19th century. The gist of it was that the British were wary of Russian plans and influence so close to India - and the Russians were wary of the proximity of the British to their own central Asian spheres of influence. For the locals it was a case of attempting to  trying to play both ends against the middle and either working with either of the great powers or attempting to form a viable coalition to be able to stand alone - an undertaking that would be a challenge given the regional propensity for double dealing, skullduggery and intrigue. This is a rude and very simplistic overview of what went on and so for more detail about the ‘Great Game’ click on the link. An essential read would be Peter Hopkirk’s excellent book ‘The Great Game’ - a copy of which I have winging its way to me courtesy of evil bay as my own sadly disappeared during the great missing box disaster of years gone by.

Pax Pamir is a game based on the situation in Afghanistan following the collapse of the Durrani Empire. Essentially players represent Afghan leaders, all of whom are attempting to forge a new state. It is a game of alliances, backstabbing, bribery, assassination, currying favour in one hand whilst wielding a knife in the other and all the while contending with the British and Russian ‘Ferengi’ (foreigners) - who can used or abused as required (usually the former). The game is designed for 1 to 5 players and events are driven by cards which interact and effect the course of affairs in many different ways. As a largely solo gamer having the ability to play this single handed against what looks like a quite challenging solo card deck is a real bonus although playing it with five people would be a blast. Sadly it would probably be too long for a club night but perhaps it will be something to think about going forwards.

A selection of the game components - note the use of period artwork

The map and more of the components - cards, coins and coalition blocks.

Production quality is quite frankly off the scale. The game cards (there are 142 split across three types) all feature coloured artwork and are beautiful to look at. Personalities from period along with troop types and special events also feature. All the playing pieces are top quality and the version I have contains the optional metal coins as well as the card counters included. The game map is actually printed on linen and has a kind of period feel to it - a nice touch.

Yup! Flashman makes an appearance!

I am really pleased to have gotten a copy of this game as the period is certainly an interesting one and is replete with gaming potential. A few year ago I flirted with a fictional NW Frontier setting - the Roghan Valley - and fought a couple of actions using my block armies. It was all good fun but for one reason or another I never really pursued it. Whilst Pax Pamir is not a Wargame as such I hope that by playing it I might dabble in some games set in the Roghan Valley once again.

We shall see!

Cossacks, Polish Lancers and Zulus

The front of the box….

….and the rear. Note the blocks and the map detail - very useful for the budding Portable Wargamer looking for a readily usable map of the region….

You may recall a while ago I picked up a copy of the above board game which covers the Polish - Soviet War 1919 - 1920. This is a card driven block based game that uses a map that is town to town based rather than using hexes - rather like Columbia Games 1815 game Napoleon. It looks really good fun and is designed for two to four players. Given rather more pressing priorities - ACW ships and the final work for the Portable Ironclads Wargame - the game has sat on the shelf awaiting some attention. At this stage the two card decks - one for the Poles and one for the Soviets - are still in their shrink wrap, the counters are unpunched and the blocks have yet to be labelled. I had also made a mental note to read up on the war in order to add some historical context. There are a couple of Osprey titles covering the war - both of which are on the Christmas list - but I seemed to recall seeing the book below in a branch of Waterstones some years ago and so after a little digging was able to track down a copy via eBay for the princely sum of £4.21 including postage. 

A small A5 sized hardback edition by Adam Zamoyski - I reckon with the brace of Osprey titles currently on my Christmas list and the useful notes on the war contained in the game above I will have pretty much everything I need for a Portable Wargame experience.

Projects

One of the ‘long way down the road’ projects I am planning is a late 19th century Colonial style set up using the figures included in the board game War in the Age of Imperialism by Eagle Games. The basic European style infantry figure (of which there are a couple of hundred in the box!) is pretty close to a Zulu War British infantryman in a standing firing pose. I added a box of Hat Industry Zulu War British Infantry Command, together with their very nice Colonial artillery and the inevitable Gatling gun set. Ideally I wanted to get the Hat Industry Unmarried Zulu boxed set containing 60 figures but this is as rare as hen’s teeth at present. The ESCI and also Call to Arms Zulus are nice albeit a little fiddly in terms of assembly. To be honest I kind of parked the idea for the time being as I figured that hopefully when I am ready to pull the trigger they will be more readily available.

The contents of a most welcome Jiffy bag! Bob mentioned that the shields and spears were missing but that is not too much of a problem and is easily rectified. I was particularly pleased with the number of riflemen included for reasons that will soon become apparent….

Anyways, a chance exchange of emails with the painting machine that is Bob the Old Painter ended up with a small Jiffy bag arriving of some ESCI Zulu War figures to get me started with. I mentioned to him that I had a cunning plan with these and so now can unveil the beginnings of an idea.

The tribal figure included in War in the Age of Imperialism is a splendid looking fellow but there are only 16 of them - hardly enough for a Impi! Well, the plan I am thinking about is to use the above in conjunction with the aforementioned tribal figure to set up an African tribal imagi-nation called tentatively the Mazuti. This is a fusion of the Masai, Zulu and Ashanti types. The army will have fierce warband style warriors backed by skirmishing firearms equipped warriors and some as yet to be organised mounted types. The Mazuti empire will be based in central Africa but will have an outlet to the sea but again, I have not gotten as far as planning it out yet.

That is the kernel of the plan though but it will be a while before anything tangible happens with it. Or maybe not….

My thanks to Bob for the figures and rest assured they will be used in one way or another!

Figuring the Figures

Hat Industries British Zulu War Command, Artillery and Gatling Guns. 

The rear of the boxes showing poses and construction where appropriate. The small box contains the ‘red’ contingent from the board game sans the gun model.

As mentioned previously I had decided to source some extra figures to go with the pose available from the War in the Age of Imperialism board game. It is safe to say that for those gamers that choose to use 1:72nd  scale plastic figures - either by chance (in my case) or by design - enjoy an availability of such that is a quantum leap from what is was way back when I first started out in the hobby! One of the most prominent companies producing plastic figures is Hat Industries and so it was to them that I first turned for some additional bits and pieces.

I had checked out the figures on the really useful Plastic Soldier Review website so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting in terms of how they looked but until I could physically place one of them alongside the standing firing infantry figure that was gong to be the rank and file for my planned forces I simply had no clue as to how they would look together.

The acid test. On the left are a brace of Hat British commanders and on the right are the infantry from the board game with the ruler to illustrate the respective heights.

As I expected the Hat figures are obviously far more detailed and anatomically better built (probably not on a diet of ‘Horse meat in axle grease’ as served to the rank and file….) but height wise are not too far apart, certainly not enough to cause any difficulties that is.  The infantryman is scrawny by comparison with the command figure and has a noticeably smaller head and a shorter firearm although in the case of the latter the bayonet is not fixed. As the infantry will be on multiple figure bases and the number of command figures will be limited it should not be too much of a visual issue.

Artillery (including the rather splendid Gatling Gun) does not present any such problem as there are no gun crew contained in the board game - there is a nice engineer figure though - and in any event are usually ‘distanced’ from the infantry. 

For cavalry I shall be using exclusively the figures from the board game - there is one with a sabre and one with a carbine - although Hat do produce a Zulu War lancer. Given the small number of mounted figures I envisage for the set up it would be difficult to justify buying a box of lancers - which undoubtedly means I will do at some point! I did note from the Plastic Soldier Review website that a box of Chasseurs D’Afrique are available which would be very difficult for me to resist for the French force!

I will be able to use the full range of Hat (and others) Colonial figures for the various opposition types but for now have more than sufficient to build the main bulk of the European contingents.

Summing it all up

Overall I can live with the discrepancies between the Hat figures and those from the board game and so I am hoping that once they have been painted the differences will be less obvious to the eye - especially when in the heat of battle. This will be a while away though as the ACW need finishing and in truth, there is probably more likelihood of the naval component of this project seeing the light of day first but we shall see.