Zulus

A few years ago now I picked up a box of each of the Wargames Factory Zulus and the British infantry. I have made up most of the British and even painted a couple but don't like them that much.I thought the Zulus might be just as bad so they have been sitting around untouched! Finally, the other week I was looking for something other than WW1 to paint, came across the box of Zulus and proceeded to make some of them. There are 30 in a box , so, I have split them into a group of 18 that will be spear armed, and a group of 12 that will have rifles and muskets.
Here then are the skirmish chaps, armed with muskets and  Martini-Henry rifles, with a few mods.

The photos were taken last weekend when there was next to no sun about.

The firing figures are crap! But the guy in the centre here got a bit of surgery.

There are some powder horns on belts to be worn over the shoulder but I changed a couple of them to have the guys carrying them in their hands

The way the powder horns are meant to be positioned.

Along with the captured Martini-Henry rifle this fella has grabbed an ammo belt as well.

This guy has also grabbed an ammo belt but he is wearing his one.

All 4 stands.

A Saxon Village.

 

For most of this year I have been working on Dark Age stuff. Started off with painting up 30 odd Vikings and then 40 odd Saxons.  One of my wargaming buddies, Wayne from http://dispatchesfromthemess.blogspot.com/, suggested I make a Viking ship.  That took up a few more weeks. But then the Vikings needed somewhere to raid. So, then it was a Saxon village and with that I ended up making some Dark Age fences as well. Now I just needed somewhere for the boat to land to drop off the Vikings. This brought about the making of the beach. I made this with the thought in mind of using one of our terrain boards and making beach type terrain boards to go around the outside.

On Tuesday night Gavin, from http://tabletoptactician.blogspot.com/ and I set the scene for our first 28mm Dark Age game. We used a Table Tennis table that was blue and set up the terrain boards on that. Gav did an awesome job on the sea with the waves and rocks placed around to help disguise the joins in my beach boards. Then we placed the rest of the scenery and took a few photos.

The game was played on Wednesday night and a full report will be up on our group blog http://southern-strategists.blogspot.com/ as soon we get it sorted.

Village under attack.

and from the other end.

Some of the buildings and fences.

Had to put some figures on the table.

Viking Longship

The sight of a Viking longship was seen as a sign of terror and destruction to come. Hopefully this one will do much the same to my wargaming buddies.

Constructed from balsa wood and cardboard over the past few weeks this longship has been designed to be mainly a “backdrop” piece for our games between the Vikings and Saxons. I was originally intending to make two but having spent so long making this one, I think one will do. I have, however made the mast removable.  By leaving out most of the rigging, changing the mast is an easy operation. One mast with the sail rolled up for when on shore and two masts when at sea.  You may notice that the oars are difficult to see, that is because they are stored under the deck boards at present.

It was difficult to decide on the size of ship to make. I needed something big enough to carry a dozen- or-so Vikings and still look the part. I drew out a rough plan for the base and then made it up as I went along. The dragon head became the most expensive part of the whole operation. First having to pay for a McDonalds “Happy Meal” and then having to pay again to get the toy from my son!

Roll on the first raid...

The Vikings are coming.

Rough seas.

On the high seas.

Converted slinger figure to steer the ship.

McDonalds Dragon head.

The loot.

The raid.

View of the deak.

First Time

Hi all and welcome to my blog. I have created this blog to share with you some photos of my troops both "On display" and "In action".
For almost 40 years now I have been pushing these wee guys around and I still love it. In the beginning it was all Airfix, either unpainted or poorly painted, but as the years went by 25mm metal took over until 15mm came along. Although I still have a fair few 15mm figures most of my collection is now 28mm. Front Rank figures feature quite a lot. There is just something about them that makes them such a pleasure to paint.
As writing is definitely not my thing there won’t be too much to read, but I do hope to make up for it with lots of pictures.
Some of us, in our group (Southern Strategists), have recently started painting up some Dark Age figures so I will kick off with a shot of my Vikings. When the Saxons are based I will do another photo shoot.

Gripping Beast and Wargames Factory plastic Vikings.