Zulu! - 28mm Battle of Rorke's Drift

I occasionally put books I would like to buy, on my Amazon Wish list and then sit back and wait for a really cheap 2nd hand copy to come on the market. I've told you before I'm extremely "careful" with money....or as my family describe it...Tight.

A couple of weeks ago, the Osprey Campaign book of Rorke's Drift - "Pinned like rats in a hole" by Ian Knight, turned up for the princely sum of 50p + £2.80 P&P. I thought a bargain, so I had it.

Now a 4 day manic business trip around Western Europe gave me the opportunity to read it through and this, together with a re-watch of the seminal film Zulu! has re-fired my enthusiasm to get on and finish my Warlord Games Rorke's Drift set that I got for Xmas about 4 years ago!

First job was to assemble the remaining figures - 40 plastic married Zulus and 20 Plastic British Infantry. There were also 4 Empress Miniature historical British character figures (Chard, Bromhead, Bourne & Hook) plus a Martini Henry armed Zulu in a redcoat and a Zulu Chief on horseback.

All the infantry figures were based on Renedra 25mm plastic bases, textured with Vallejo grey pumice.

I came up with a plan to fastback the Zulus through the painting process.

1. Spray all with Army Painter Leather Brown primer

2. Once dry they were hand painted all over with Vallejo Black wash diluted 50/50 with water. (Figures below on the right)

3. Then when fully dry the details were picked out in various shades of brown.

• Inside shield and loin cloth - German Camo Beige
• Wood (spears etc) - Beauty Brown
• Hair - Black
• Head ring and leather strapping - Orange Brown
• Shield Outer face - White with Terracota splodges
• Feathers - White

Then when all were dry, these areas were given a coat of Vallejo Sepia wash

The bases only needed dry brushing with Vallejo Buff before the figures could be coated with spray Satin then Matt varnish.

Finally a couple of patches of static grass finished them off.

I've been toying with what rule set to use and having picked up the original Death in the Dark Continent for £2 at the Lincombe Barn table sale, I thought I might give them a go. They require figures to be mounted in threes on 60mm frontage bases. I bought some sabot vases from Products For Wargamers (absolute bargain at 10p per hole) which are 80mm frontage. However as everyone will be on the same bases I don't think this will be an issue. These sabot bases were finished in the same way as the figure bases so they all match up.

I'm chuffed with the results, and the speed of finish. This is a good job because I think I'll need at least one more box of Zulus for the game.

On with the British Infantry......