Street Zulus (and ONE BIG GERMAN!)

I finished a second battalion of Great War Germans the other night and while I was apinting for finish layers of base colours to dry, I knocked off these “Street Zulus”

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

“Street Zulus” from Casting Room Miniatures.

I picked these up some time last year thinking they might be fun to throw into a unit of regular Zulus (for the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879) just to see if anyone notices… or possibly use them in with  my modern African Militia or use them as a group of survivors in Mutants and Death Ray Guns or in some other sci-fi/timetravelling adventure…

I originally started painting these back in October when I was finishing up Zulu units to hopefully play The Men Who Would Be Kings. They were about 90% completed when I lost interest in them/go busy with other things – but they were so close to being complete I couldn’t bring myself to put them back into storage any time I was clearing off the workbench.

Actually when I grabbed these and decided to finish them up I realized one (the crouching fellow) was actually DONE – except for his base – I just hadn’t put on finish or did his base because I was waiting to do it along with the others. The others simply needed a feather or an ammo pouch to be finished up.

This is a 40mm Great War German that my firend John made. He was casting a bunch at my place as he’s in gypsy mode as all his casting supplies are locked away in a container somewhere and left a few for me to paint.

Backside of German.

I probably should have put a 28mm figure in there for size comparison... 

Maybe someday I should get back to finishing MY OWN 40mm figures!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I hope I’ll get to finish up the 3rd battalion of (28mm) Great War Germans this evening… or maybe tomorrow… 

Usuthu!

More Zulus…

Another break from the Great War to finish up two more units for my Zulu force for The Men Who Would Be Kings. These were largely done because a) I’d really like to try out The Men Who Would Be Kings and b) these were pretty low hanging fruit – in that I painted four small groups of five to finish up four 20-figure units! Unfortunately this doesn’t COMPLETE a 24-point force… so now what…? To finish the force I need to paint up two more units – of 20 figures each!

I guess I do have a bunch of musket armed Zulus I could cobble together into a unit (or possibly TWO) of 15  guys – I’d probably class them as Irregulars, and maybe either Poor Shots or downgrade to Antiquated Muskets, but with Fieldcraft…? That could make a 24 point force... 

I do have enough British done for a 24-point field force already done.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

The recently painted chaps – more unmarried Zulus from Wargames Foundry.

I’m going to need to get around to painting some MARRIED Zulus at some point!

One of the units finished up by this lot. (can you tell which are the new ones?)

The other unit finished up by this lot. 

The entire force – so far… with the two units of zulus with pilfered firearms it could be fielded as a 24-point Field Force! 

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have another unmarried unit sitting one the workbench (because all the unmarried Zulus require manufacturing spear and then gluing them on along with shields – the unmarried ones are assembled, primed, and ready to go (again with the low-hanging fruit!). 

Or perhaps I'll just play a few games with the two units of musket armed Zulus and get back to doing Great War stuff!!

Dwarves, Zulus, and Great War Canadians (of course!)

A few odds and ends I finished up over the last few weeks and didn’t post pictures of because… well.. they didn’t fit in with any of the untis I was hastily trying to finish up.

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These Dwarves I found while rummaging through all the old junk they have at the Sentry Box when I was in Calgary in August. One was in a pack from one manufacturer and three were in a pack from another… I forget which was which… I have no particular need for them, but they all looked fun, though, so I grabbed them.

They’ve been hovering on the edges of the paint desk since I got back and I’ve been working on them a bit here and there over the last month or so. I’m sure I’ll find space for them in one Dragon Rampant unit or another… or join a party of Dwarf Adventurers for A Song of Blades and Heroes…

Zulus.

These ones are all from Black Tree Design.

The Men Who Would Be Kings arrived last week and I’ve been looking at that and wondering how to reorganize my forces to work with the rules. Most of my ‘units’ for larger games have 15 figures in them (for Infantry – Cavalry are generally about 10). In The Men Who Would Be Kings regular and irregular infantry has 12, tribal infantry has 16, cavalry 8. So one would think it would be easy for me to just leave out a couple infantry from existing units and find a spare one to add to the Tribal units… Oh, no… not me. I happened to notice that 15 and 10 for regular infantry and cavalry, respectively, were precisely 25% more than the suggested numbers. For Tribal infantry 25% more would be 20. The whole (admittedly, rather arbitrary) reason I have units organized in 15 is because the drawers I have to store them in 10 guys make one nice neat complete row and 10 seemed to small and 20 seemed to big for units so 3 rows (30 guys) would neatly make two units… but if I added 5 to each unit of Tribal Infantry – that would make a nice even unit of two rows… 16…? That’s just crazy talk – where would the spare guy go…

(this is all starting to sound a little OCD, isn’t it…? I may actually have a problem… a buzzfeed quiz actually told me I was 100% OCD).

Anyway… I actually have four units of 15 unmarried Zulus painted – one would think I could just use those 60 to make THREE units, right? WRONG! Two of those units are from and the other two are from Black Tree Design, and the other two are from Wargames Foundry. One of the units from each manufacturer has all black shields, and the other has black with white spots… You don't just go MIXING manufacturers and shield patterns!? WHAT KIND OF A MONSTER WOULD DO SUCH A THING?!

(This is starting to seem like a cry for help. I may need an intervention here…).

(of course, given the audience I’m reaching with this blog, you’re probably all sitting there thinking “What does he mean by that…?”)

Luckily, it seems (when looking at ALL of the painted AND unpainted figures) I have a total of about 90 unmarried Zulus from Black Tree Design, and another 60 from Wargames Foundry - so I’ll just reorganized them into 3-4 units of 20 from each manufacturer.

Of course this means I have to paint up five for each of the units I already have…

So here are two complete 20-figure units of the Black Tree Design Zulus.

Yeah, those 20-figure units look a bit more menacing…

I'll have six of these, eventually, in a 24-point field force... I actually have enough for figures for about TWELVE such units (plus assorted odd and extra bits - Zulus with looted rifles, etc.) 

In the short term, however, I’ll paint up another 10 to bring the two Wargames Foundry  units I have up to strength and then I’ll just need two more units to complete a 24 point Zulu Impi (Field Force) for  The Men Who Would Be Kings. (actually I have two other units I COULD currently use – they’re all armed with looted rifles, though. I suppose could classify them as Irregular Infantry and downgrade them to “poor shots” - not having much actual training in their use...).

I already have enough stuff painted to field a 24 point Field Force of British – though it would be a rather boring force of three units of regulars and a gun of some sort  - I don’t really have much cavalry or irregulars or natal natives painted up… I think they’ll have to wait until after Vimy… I DO want to try out The Men Who Would Be Kings soon-ish, however, so I will take a little break from khaki and finish up a few Zulus.

And now, so Great War casualties…

This little vignette of a casualty on the stretcher being offered a smoke from the padre is

from Gripping Beast/Woodbine Designs.

This poor fellow is also from Gripping Beast/Woodbine Designs.

This stretcher-bearer party is from Wargames Foundry.

A German sniper (who, perhaps, CAUSED some of the above casualties…) from Great War Miniatures.

Staff for the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade (from Gripping Beast/Woodbine Designs)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Zulus…

Great War Canadians (and GERMANS!)…

More Trench Terrain Making… 

All Over the Place Again: Zulu War, WW2, Assorted Ancients, etc…

I had a fairly productive long weekend… Here’s some of the stuff I managed to finish up.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

Nubians from Black Tree Design. The multi-figure base is a Psiloi element for a Nubian DBA army, the other fellow is just a sapre I based up single for skirmishy gamin’ and to try out some different leopard print pattern… Still not totally happy with it.

As above; a Early Greek Hoplite DBA Psiloi Element and ancient Greek skirmish figure, also from Black Tree Design.

A WW2 Soviet NKVD Maxim team (also from Black Tree Design) – for those “There Shall Be NO Retreating” scenarios…

Dead Paras and a German (also from Black Tree Design).

More British/Canadian Paras. These are a mix of Black Tree Design, Artizan Designs, West Wind Productions, and Warlord Games Bolt Action Miniatures. I should do a Para Figure Comparison post… as I have Paras from five different manufacturers…

Still more British/Canadian Paras – a 6lb AT Gun and Crew from Artizan Designs. The crew I painted years ago, and only just finished up the gun!?

British Infantry from the Zulu War (also from Black Tree Design). The chap on the larger stand is a casualty marker – I like to do them on larger bases so that it is clear that it is a marker and not just another infantrymen (especially ones, like this that aren’t prone!)

I suppose the fellow with the amputated leg could also be a casualty/morale failture marker… but it doesn’t look like it was “on the spot”. He looks like he was cleaned up and bandaged up nice and neat some time after the damage to his leg… Actually the more I look at that figure the more odd I think it… Why is someone with a fresh leg amputation hobbling about in full uniform – with his uniform trousers tucked into the bandages!? Makes no sense to me…

A modern(-ish) African Warlord/General from The Assault Group.

Defenders of the Galaxy. The Yoda figure is an official Grenadier Miniatures/West End Games Star Wars figure, the others are from Hasslefree Miniatures.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have an odd assortment of items populating the painting space: More WW2 (Germans, British/Canadian Paras, and Soviets, mostly – some alive, some not-so-alive…), Mounted Boers, Greek Cavalry, Greek Hoplites and Psiloi, More Nubians, assorted Star Wars characters, Those Greek Ships, Ashigaru Spearmen, Vietnam ANZACs, Amazons,  more Hellboy charactrers, … oh , the list goes on… Which I will finish up next…? Who knows!? Probably time to clean off the workbench and put some of those back into storage so I can FOCUS… although, NOT FOCUSING this past weekend has turned out to be fairly productive!? 

British Officer – Zulu War

I’ve been mostly cleaning and tidying and reorganizing stuff the last day. I bought some new storage drawers and have been shifting things about. Splitting up collections that have outgrown their current storage drawers, getting other stuff that’s been sitting in cardboard boxes, cluttering up my workbench and surrounding space into a semi-permanent home. The plus side to all of this is that I am reminded, in a very visual way, of how very many unpainted minis I have (and should be working on – and have NO NEED TO BUY MORE!?). The downside is I am often distracted from what I was trying to focus on (If “focus” can be a work do describe my all-too-brief obsessions with one period or another) and find something else that looks “more shiny”… Today’s mini being a perfect example….

A year ago I had been very excited about the Zulu War – and bought many (MANY!) figures for it. Oh, I painted a lot of them… but not really even close to all… or half… before I got distracted by… something else…? Was it the Fantasy campaign I started planning for the kids…? Anyway. I was reorganizing some of the stuff into different drawers and got thinking I should paint a few more of these units and play some more games. I felt as if I was on the cusp of having enough forces to put one some really big, exciting games… and there were so many elements I haven’t even started…

Well… We’ll see where it goes… I rationalized that I should just paint ONE FIGURE – something quick and easy (to either get it out of my system or get me more excited, I’m not sure). I picked out this British officer below

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British Officer from Wargames Foundry.


He’s wearing a patrol jacket. This particular fellow is slated to lead one of my units of Natal Natives.

Will I get around to painting the rest of his unit… maybe… Hopefully sometime this summer. I occasionally have this bright idea that I should, each week, paint a new unit for a different game or period – adding to the existing collections – and then run a scenario incorporating the new unit… of course that would require time to pland and run such games… not to mention a regular bunch of players that would show up on a regular basis to PLAY such games…

I suppose I DO have a regular bunch of players that would be ready and willing to play anything at anytime…. (the kids!) So far I’ve only introduced them to DBA/HOTT and Savage Worlds.

The paint a new unit each week doesn’t really work for DBA – as it would require painting a whole new ARMY!? I suppose there’s a few existing HOTT armies I have that I also have unpainted figures for that I could paint up as new options.

I suppose I could paint a handful of new figures for a Savage Worlds skirmish… but there are limited periods I’m interested in gaming with them at the moment – mostly pre-gunpowder (fantasy, ancients, mythical, etc).

Perhaps I should make some new skirmish terrain.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Um… hard to say… 

Zulu Dawn (of the Dead)

I was only sort of serious when, a couple posts back, I had alluded to painting some more stuff for the Zulu War… As I think I also mentioned earlier I had recently taken advantage of some deeply discounted packs at Black Tree Design - like 70% off – who can say no to that action… anyway it wasn’t entire lines it was just the occasional pack in assorted lines… so I went though their entire catalogue… all of it… to find all the 70% off packs, because, hey, at 70% off I can find all sorts of uses for all sorts of things, right? No I didn’t buy all the 70% off packs… but I did buy a few and, in the process came across this gem:

Zulu Dawn of the Dead

I’m not sure how they thought anyone interested in the pack would ever find it – it was on the bottom of the third page of the Harlequin Fantasy Undead line – which is all pretty much standard fantasy battle undead skeletons and stuff… No mention of it anywhere near their extensive Zulu War line… Perhaps they thought the Historical Puritans would be all offended and stuff…

Anyway I ordered FOUR packs (70% off remember!) so I could put together a whole unit of them (the standard unit size of my Zulu War units is 15).

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Zulu Dawn of the Dead

(the other eight were back ordered, but now on their way!)

If I had too much money and nothing better to do with my time, I’d totally buy piles of these – and some other zombie types and do some converting – and do a “what REALLY happened at Rorke’s Drift” scenario… (The Truth being so awful and outrageous that it was covered up and said to be a second group of Zulus that had broken off from the main army – not the RISEN DEAD FROM ISANDLWANA!!)

MWA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa…..

I also got thinking they coudl totally be used in Rippers (Savage Worlds Victorian Horror game) or Space:1889 (players get sent out to remote region of Mars to discovery what happened to a lost patrol/comapny/etc...)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Other things in red coats…

New sculpted figures

Star Wars! (...and Zulus)

Taking a littke break from the Zulus, I knocked off a number of Imperial Stormtroopers over the weekend along with a couple other Star Wars characters…. and a couple of Zulus…

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Imperial Stormtrooopers and Scout Troopers from Grenadier/West End Games.

Anyone notice anything funn about these guys…?

Look closely…

They’re almost all left-handed!? Really?! Are Stromtroopers all left-handed?!

Anyway, I should have enough to run a little skirmish game now. Here are some potential heroic foes:


A few more Grenadier/West End Games Star Wars figures; Chewbacca, a minor (male) Jedi and a Mirialan Jedi


Two more Foundry Zulus armed with Muskets.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Hopefully more Zulus – I’d like to get at least one more unit done for Friday’s game!!

More Zulus (and other stuff)

a few new things...

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Another unit of Zulus from Black Tree Design.


A few more Zulu casualty/morale failure markers – the two still standing are from Wargames Foundry , the prone fellow is from Old Glory.


Another odd British infantryman – also from the Foundry.


Um… Hellgirl? This is a Reaper Miniatures figure I was shipped this by accident a few years back… I’ve been reading Hellboy lately… I briefly considered converting the armour to look like a BPRD vest and convet one of the hands to be holding a BIGASS gun… but then I got lazy and just painted it as is.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Zulus. I think I’m going to put the Martians on the shelf until the Zulu war stuff is finished.

I also need to get cracking on refurbishing the Vimy Terrain.

So… ToonCon…

Toon Con 2011 is coming up in October. I’m planning to run a few games there. It seems like the organizers are trying to actually get stuff up on their site as they are hastling me (okay, one email and a friendly inquiry... a couple weeks ago...) about getting them info about exactly WHAT I’m going to run…

so…

Who’s coming and what do you want to play…?! Here’s kind of what I had in mind:

Vimy Ridge 1917

I thought I’d run my Vimy 1917 game again. The game focused on the Canadian 4th Division’s assault at the far right of the line.

I have some work to do on the trenches. First of all, the figures are on new bases and no longer fit in the trenches. Also I kind of rushed the terrain and never really had the time to finish them up the way I’d have liked – with duckboards and revetting and sandbags and such. I might also make some newer (bigger) barrage markers. Otherwise everything is good to go for this one – figures complete and I more or less have a handle on the rules (the same modified Contemptible Little Armies I used last time)

The game is played with four players (all Canadians) with me playing the Germans (though last time I had a helper – Will – and that turned out to be very… well… HELPFUL!!)

Something “Colonial”

I’ve been pretty interested in the Zulu War of 1879 lately and been getting a lot of stuff ready for it. My eventual plan is to play out the campaign using Mark Fastoso and Roy Jones Colonial Campaigns: The Zulu War, 1879. I’m not sure if I’d have enough stuff for any of the big battles/scenarios presented in the book… or exactly what rules I’d use – probably something cobbled together based on Ever Victorious Armies – with a few ideas stolen from Black Powder and The Sword and the Flame.

Alternatively I could do something VSF/Space:1889-ish… using the same rules (with some additional tweaks) and half of the same figures (the British!)

I probably wouldn’t be able to do BOTH, however.

The Zulu scenarios look like they would handle three zulu players (or maybe four… or five – depending on the scenario and how many Zulus I got painted…) and maybe a couple british players (or maybe I could play the British and all the players could play the Zulus…?)

Savage Worlds!?

There are any number of Savage Worlds skirmishes I could throw down at the drop of a hat – so this is the one I most need feedback about… (so those who are coming – what would you sign up for and play!?) Here are just a few ideas:

Vietnam
Patrol/Sweep? Assault?
Up to four players – Easch player controls a squad of US soldiers vs. GM controlled Viet Cong.

Modern
British SAS take down Taliban/Al Quada leader
Up to four players – players control a fireteam of British SAS vs. GM controlled Taliban.

Zombies
Players must collect supplies and get off the table while avoiding zombies
4-6 players – each plays a wild card character vs. GM controlled Zombies.
Need to make some new terrain

Realms of Cthulhu
Heroes trying to stop evil cultists from summoning other worldly evil.
Up to 6 players – each player controls a wildcard hero vs. GM controlled cultists.

Pulp Adventure

Rippers
Monster Hunt.
Up to 4 or 6 players – players control a Wild Card monster hunter (and their allies extras) versus GM controlled monsters.

Supers
Players control super heroes vs. GM controlled super villains and their minions.

World War 2
North Africa? SAS/FFL/Commandos raiding German/Italian compound
East Front? Street fighting in Stalingrad? Kursk Tank Battle?
Northwest Europe? Canadians in Normandy? Paras in Normandy or Arnhem or Varsity? Kelly’s Heroes? Eagle Has Landed?

WEIRD War 2
As WW2 above, but with extra added weirdness!?

Darkest Africa
Explorers and/or British soldiers vs. natives and/or rival explorers.

Pirates
Multiple groups all looking for the same buried treasure on remote tropical island?

Age of Sail Naval Battle
Up to six (eight) players – Each player controls a single ship of the line.
This might take a long time to play… with that many players…

Seven Years War
Washington’s Ambush.
Up to four players – players control bands of either British Militia and allied Indians or French Colonial Infantry.

Early medival
Robin Hood and his merry men ambush The Sherrif of Nottinghams men in Sherwood Forrest?

Fantasy
Defend Village against an orc/viking raid…?
Up to four (or six?) players – Players control heroes and villagers vs. GM controlled raiders
(might need to paint a few more Orcs…)

Sci-Fi
It’s a bug hunt. Colonial Marines (or something similar) trying to get back to their ship on a jungle world infested with alien bug creatures.
Up to four players – players control teams of colonial marines vs. GM controlled aliens

…. I’m sure if I thought about it a bit I could come up with some more… ideas?


Other Games

Earlier I had considered some big battle De Bellis Antiquitatis or Hordes of the Things Games… or some Black Powder or Cold War Commander or Blitzkrieg Commander… But that’s just not where I’m at these days… and I don’t want to overdo it.

I might actually like to PLAY some games over the weekend!? (Expecially if Bob comes out and brings HIS HOTT game!?)

More Zulu War British Infantry

As mentioned the other day… I had a FEW british units on the go and nearly finished, so here then, is the other one…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The figures are from Wargames Foundry. With the yellow facings and black ammuniton pouches these were meant to be the 99th Foot (Lanarkshire) which marched with the No.1 Column under Col. Pearson and fought at the battle of Nyezane and were ultimately besieged at Eshowe. Later they formed part of the 1st Brigade in the second invasion of Zululand.

The 80th Foot also had yellow facings… I may try to pass these off as them at some point as well. I don’t know about the 80th’s ammunition pouches.


Another odd officer from the surplus Foundry pack of goofy cartoony command types…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I now have three units of British infantry (two line, one rilfe), the gatling gun and a 7 –pdr gun… time to get cracking on some ZULUS!!!

…of course if I DID do one more unit of British (maybe the HIGHLANDERS!?) I could form a nice neat four battalion square?!

Aye-yi-yi?!

3rd Battalion 60th Rifles

Oooohh… up waaaaay toooo late finishing these guys off…. There must be a better way to get things done!? Anyway, the remainder of the Rifles…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These figures are from Old Glory. As I mentioned yesterday, these aren’t specifically “rifles” – they’re line infantry that I’ve painted as rilfes. The main difference is the Rifles would have been armed with a sword bayonet.


Officer and Sergeant from Eureka Miniatures. Like the Sergeant Major yesterday, these chaps aren’t really “on strength” with any of the units I’ve organized.

Now, those of your who are actually paying attention and reading this rubbish I type along with the pretty pictures (if you don’t – not to worry – I rarely read the text of any of the blogs I follow… bring on the pretty pictures!!) you might wonder; “well dumbass, why didn’t you paint them rifle green and make THEM the officers for this unit of rifles you were complaining about not having officers for yesterday….!?”

Here’s why:


They’re HUGE!

Here they are next to a couple officers and sergeants from Other companies:


Sergeants from Black Tree Design, Eureka, Foundry and Foundry


Officers from Foundry, Eureka, Black Tree Design, and Foundry

(bonus points for anyone who can guess the ribbons the Eureka sergeant is wearing!)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably more British – in Red coats! Then Zulus… Martians… etc..

Sergeant Major – Rifleman – Gladiator

Just a couple new ones…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


An odd Sergeant Major from Wargames Foundry that doesn’t currently belong to any particular unit… Oh, I painted him with green facings, so he’s ostensibly from the 24th (South Wales Borderers)… but I have all my units organized into units of 15 men of like manufacture… and this chap isn’t currently on strength with any of them…


A Riflemen from Old Glory. The figure is realy just a line infantryman I’ve painted in the colours of the Rifles… I think the only real (distinguishable) difference would be that he should have a sword bayonet… But, honestly, if I hadn’t just told you… how many would have known… I’m not sure there’s actually anyone out there that specifically MAKES riflemen for this conflict (with Sword bayonets), so…

I have two British units on the go – The rifles and another line regiment. Both are about half done – yesterday I realized I wasn’t going to be able to finish up either so I finished off this sole rifleman just to see what they’d look like. The rest of the unit shall follow shortly.

On the plus side; old glory supplies their units in bags of 30. This is really handy for me because as I mentioned, I am organizing my forces into units of 15. Within certain bags of certain units types of certain ranges – usually ones you wouldn’t be fielding multiple units of - they include some sort of command. Usually this includes two officers/musicians/standard bearers – if it’s of an era that would have such things – this is even MORE awesome – again because of my current organization I get two complete units – command and all…!? Unfortunately, I’m guessing they assume for the Zulu War, one would be wanting a whole lot of British regulars so the command stuff is sold in a separate bag… so from this bag I will have two units of 15… with no officer… At some point I’d like to track down and officer for the two units (though from a different line - I won’t be buying another whole bag of OG stuff… just to get a couple officers!?)… but then I end up with two extra dudes... You might think – “what’s the big deal?” but the drawers I store these in fit neat lines of 10 figures – thus making units of 15 take up exactly one and a half rows… yeah… I’m that A-R about these things…

Sigh…


..and another Gladiator for my own team. The figure is from Black Tree Design. I’ve read some disparaging things about BTDs service, and indeed a year or so ago my firend Gary ordered some stuff from them and I think it took more than three.. maybe even four or five months to get all his stuff… But I’ve ordered a number of things from them (the USA supplier) this year (starting off with very small orders to fill in some gaps in units I’d picked up off ebay) and have had no trouble at all. A couple times things have been back-ordered – but they’ve followed along a couple weeks later…

Our Savage Saturday Gladiator Campaign had been raging on for a couple weeks (two weeks “real world time”, four weeks of “campaign time”). I have yet to field any of my own team members (too busy running the show)… perhaps next week….

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

The Rifles!! Then probably a line regiment… Then Zulus or Martians!!

The Guns

Some artillery support for my British Imperial/colonial forces

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Royal Artillery 7 pounder from Black Tree Design.


Martian Colonial Field Artillery. The crew are from RAFM. The carriage is of unknown origin – I got it in a trade (without the actual gun barrels). The gun barrel is a spare from a Renegade Miniatures British Napoleonic artillery pack (the packs are supplied with THREE different barrels!?)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Hmmmm… Zulus? British? Martians…? Hard to say – the workbench is mighty cluttered with all three at the moment (along with a few more gladiators!)

Royal Artillery Gatling Gun

…for a little rat-at-tat-tat!

Actually the sound effect would probably be more like “Chunk-chunk-chunk-chunk… Oooh boogger, she’s jammed!” … or something like that…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


This gun and crew is from Black Tree Design.

Nice to paint two guys and a gun and be able to say “Another unit: Done!”

Of course now I have to paint another two units of Zulus just to even the odds again…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Zulus… more maybe more British stuff… or Martians…

Probably British – it seems to have worked it’s way to the front of the workbench.

The plus side of the postal workers lock out (which otherwise is a sad situation all round!) is that the last couple orders currently inbound will be delayed and therefore unable to distract me from my current purpose!

Zulu War – Sword and the Flame

My friend Will was in town this past weekend and on Saturday we played a little game of The Sword and the Flame. For those of you who are unaware, TSATF is a set of rules for the wars of British imperialism that’s been around for, like, ever… and I’ve wanted to play it for nearly that long… but somehow never did. Anyhow, Will was kind enough to take me though a quick little game with some of my Zulu forces.

Zululand, March 1879

SCENARIO

Go get ‘em! The British have to go out and find the Zulus that are sneakily hiding in the grass somewhere.

FORCES

The British

Major Smythe-Brown - C-in-C
1 company British Infantry (15) Rifle
1 troop British Mounted Infantry (11) Carbine

The Zulus

lWil kaBallii - C-in-C
3 warbands Zulus Warriors (15-16 ea)
2 units Zulu Skirmishers (10 ea)


THE GAME

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Will’s fancy action deck.


The British Forces enter the lands of lWil kaBallii… Where could those dastardly Zulus be hiding.


The Infantry wheeled to the right in open order to go try and flush out the tall grass, while the mounted infantry peeled right and sent out outriders to scout ahead and to the sides.


The British infantry came under fire from Zulus concealed on a rocky outcrop.


The British wheeled around to bring fire to bear on the sniping Zulus – their fire was surprisingly devastating!?


In a turn or two of firing half the Zulus were dead or wounded!


Meanwhile, the one of the scouting/outrider parties of the mounted infantry started taking long range fire from another group of Zulus concealed on an outcropping.


As the mounted infantry advanced under fire the other group of outriders stumbled upon a great band of Zulus concealed in the tall grass nearby…


The Zulus charged the mounted infantry before they could gallop off!


A few Zulus were wounded by fire as they charged in, thining their ranks some, but not enough to ward them off.


On their way in the Zulus chucked spears causing some disruption and injuries.


The actual close combat was a rather lengthy and brutal affair….


I think some three separate rounds of combat were fought…


Before the shattered remains of the mounted infantry gave up and galloped off.


The rest of the Zulus appeared from their hiding places and advanced on the British infantry.


The Zulus move in.

The British mounted infantry did try to regroup, bringing in the outriders. Eventually, however, they failed morale and retired from the table.


Advancing under cover from the British infantryman’s deadly fire.


USUTHU!! In they go!


Again the British fire was withering. A few Infantrymen were lost to thrown spears.


In the melee a few more British were lost but the first charge of the Zulus was driven off.


The next nearest unit (which had been previously mauled in their attack on the mounted infantry) failed morale and scarpered.


The remaining Zulus made a headlong charge, leaving a few stragglers behind.


Again a few rounds of close combat were fought and they were brutal and bloody.


Fought nearly to the last man….


The Zulus overcame the British, but it was pyrrhic victory. The British had sold themselves dearly!

So… The Sword and the Flame….

Definitely a fun game. Thanks to Will for running the game for me!

The game seems somewhat limited in its scope, but could easily be adaptabled for other conflicts. In a much bigger game I could see it sort of bogging down – the whole drawing to determine the extent of injuries – unless one was playing a campaign why would you need to determine whether troops were wounded or dead…? Also the close combat, which was much like Contemptible Little Armies (in that it was fought figure to figure), I imagine could bog down with larger numbers of figures and units.

As will left his copy with me, I’ll probably give it another go. Perhaps I’ll end up incorporating some of the mechanisms (I know John would like the whole testing to see if you go into melee…) into the Ever (Modified) Victorious Armies… or whatever we end up playing…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I'm just finishing up a Gatling Gun and crew for the British. After that...? More Zulus (or British… or Martians...) and perhaps a few more GLADIATORS!!?

Speaking of Gladiators... If you haven't checked it out already our Gladiator campaign has started - you can check out the action over at Savage Timmy's Playhouse