Miniature Mondays 05: Zulu Warriors

The Zulus have actually been completed for some time now. They were instrumental in the scenario "Into Darkest Africa" which I ran two months ago. The results of those games can be found earlier in this blog. The Zulu miniatures are manufactured by a company specializing in hard plastic miniatures, Wargames Factory.

These figures came with a lot more sprues than the zombies did. But came with the same number of figures, 30. The disassembled Zulu came with separate right and left arms, heads, bodies, and equipment. The equipment was an array of short spears, long spears, clubs, shields, rifles, and an arm holding a rifle.

The best part about these figures is the sheer amount of variations in assembly. The benefit to this is that no two figures will be identical. Between assembling and painting that means that these 30 figures will not be identical to another player who has bought the same set.

Another thing to note is that they don't come with bases, but I ordered some from Wargames Factory as well just to be safe. I don't know if they will be packaged with them in the future, but I doubt it. I must say that this was a great idea because the bases are made from the same plastic as the figures. The plastic cement that melts the figures together, ensures that they'll never fall off their bases.

The figures themselves took to paint very nicely after priming. The detail on the castings wasn't lost under the paint either. I could probably go back and change the skin tone to have more of a range of colors instead of just one dark skin tone. The most fun part of painting these miniatures were the shields and the white war paint. It gave me a great deal of joy to try and make each figure unique. I'll leave you with three pictures of the finished horde.

Until next time!

Cheers!

And have a great game!

Kevin

Miniature Mondays 03: Thrift Store Finds

I pulled my fedora lower over my eyes and readied my bullwhip as I hunted through the jungle. After clearing away a stretch of vines, I beheld an idol of a long lost civilization. Its piercing gaze stilled me. The small dog held in its arms made me wonder if the civilization held dogs in high honor, or simply as a tasty delicacy. I hoped that human's weren't on the menu also as I pushed farther into the uncharted jungle...

Recently Unearthed

These two tower over a 28mm figure

Captain Mal Reynolds scouts around the fallen idol of a lost civilization

These finds were of great use in the game of In Her Majesty's Name that I ran at the St. Crispin's Irregulars and the HMHS horse and musket day. The tall one worked well as the central objective and can be seen in action in the after action reports.

Into darkest Africa IHMN AAR 4/19/2014

I apologize as this post is quite picture heavy. I had the chance to run the same scenario the following week at the HMGS-PSW. I ran the event twice that day, teaching the rules to the grandchildren of a fellow member as well as other HMGS members. In my opinion all the players appeared to be having a good time.
My scenario for In Her Majesty's Name, entitled "Into Darkest Africa." I made some changes to the layout of the map after some suggestions of the players from the week before. The sun disc was now located at the central statue, thereby forcing the players to attack one another in one location.

The goal of the scenario was to excavate the sun disc which was located at this statue, surrounded by a river which stopped movement.

The addition of wild animals to the game, gave more hinderances and helped thin out the natives before the adventures encountered them.

The Queen's Rifles advancing in mass.

Part of the Queen's Rifles advancing through the river obstacle.

The Queen's Rifles have reached the statue. But beware, the British Expeditionary Force is in hot pursuit as a battle rages. Each group wanting to claim the victory and the accolades.

The BEF sets up a defensive perimeter in the jungle, hoping to cut off the escape route for the Queen's Rifles.

Dexter Small has claimed the Golden Disc and is running toward his friendly forces in hope of escape. No one could catch him however and the BEF lays down heavy covering fire as Dexter secures the goods.

The setup for the second game of In Her Majesty's Name. This time the Egyptian squad defends the statue and the two British squads must race to capture the sun disc first.

The BEF advances through the jungle, about to be ambushed by the Zulu natives.

The BEF defends their native bearer from the attacking Zulu.

At the statue the BEF and the Queen's Rifles fight to the death as Professor Maxwell Zwigler readies his electromagnetic device.

After activation, the electromagnetic device was far more effective on his own troops than it was on the British. The native hoard advances rapidly, eager to return their sacred idol to its proper place.

Clay Arkwright manages to unearth the idol and seeks to claim a victory for the Queen's Rifles.

Each British company had a victory in the two games. The second game had far more casualties, as I wound up losing almost all of the Queen's Rifles to the deadly military rifles of the BEF. All in all it was a great day of gaming and everyone involved had a good time. Until next time.

Have a great game!

Kevin