Eighties Colonial War Game Armies

Following on from my post a few days ago about some photos I had found of a colonial Anglo-Zulu War game in the mid-1980’s, my friend who provided the armies then still has them! And as it turns out recently he had had them out of their storage containers for the first time in a long while to check their condition and do a bit of a review. He even took photos, so with his generosity, here’s some photos of the full 1/72 plastic colonial wargaming army collection we used for games in the mid-1980’s through to the very early-90’s.

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Anglo-Zulu War Eighties Wargame

Recently I dug out some very old photos – some of my very first records of wargaming and they included these Anglo-Zulu War game photos played with my good friend Wayne in the mid-1980’s (probably 1985 or possibly 1986). We used 1/72 ESCI figures primarily (as their 1879 British & Zulu Figures, along with the Crimean War Russian Infantry & Artillery, had just been released). We started out with the Anglo-Zulu war (including a multi-player campaign at one point) and then expanded to the Sudan and the North-West Frontier. However this is possibly one of our very first games, and is from the Anglo-Zulu war.

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Rorke’s Drift Ready To Go

It’s been a long process, working on my Anglo-Zulu War Armies, and although the figures are all painted (and have been for nearly 10 years) they still await their basing completed. Luckily the terrain is a happier story, thanks to my good friend Kieran (6mm Wargaming), who has now completed my Warlord Games Rorke’s Drift. As mentioned previously (Rorke’s Drift Update) I pre-ordered this on initial release and it arrived in 2013 – and now, no more than 4 years later, it’s ready for action! While there’s still some minor detailing to finish it off I couldn’t resist putting up some pictures to hopefully inspire myself (and anyone else out there) to get the project onto the table for a game! I hope Kieran’s terrain modelling kills inspire a few other Anglo-Zulu Wargamers as well as me. Continue reading “Rorke’s Drift Ready To Go”

Rorke’s Drift Update

Well it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything directly to do with my own wargaming, and an even longer time since I posted about my 28mm Anglo-Zulu War project! Way back in 2011 Warlord Game’s brought out their fantastic Rorke’s Drift building kitset and fantastic box sets featuring this and lots of accessories and figures from their Anglo-Zulu War figure range, and I quickly snapped up one of their initial special limited edition box sets (Rorke’s Drift Arrives), which I duly passed on to my good mate Kieran (6mm Wargaming) to build up and terrain sculpt for me – as described in Work Begins On Rorke’s Drift back in 2013! Well work has finally progressed and now in 2017 it’s nearing completion…

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Perry Miniatures ACW Buildings

These are some ‘in progress’ pictures of my 28mm Perry Miniatures’  North American Buildings – I’m hoping they will be useful for not just the ACW (American Civil War), but also for the American Old West & Indian Wars, some Colonial theatres, and even early 20th Century pulp periods. Included is a simple conversion of the Perry Store kit, into a small Blacksmith & Stables. The conversion and the kit assembly & painting/basing was done by my fellow gamer, Kieran Mahony (6mm Wargaming). I just need to now flock the bases and add all the micro detail… Continue reading “Perry Miniatures ACW Buildings”

Work Begins On Rorke’s Drift

Well its been much longer than planned and to get things along I have enlisted my mate Kieran (6mm Wargaming) to build my Rorke’s Drift Models and Base Board for me. I have been inspired by the SSWG’s (Southend & Shoeburyness Wargames Group) wonderful demo game from several years ago (you can see a full set of photos here, it was at Salute 2006 in the UK and I believe has been at shows prior to that), and they still reuse it regularly today (see this blog post from 2011). So Kieran has completed assembly of the buildings and we’ve done two mock-ups of the layout…

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Rorke’s Drift Arrives!

My Warlord GamesRorke’s Drift” box set arrived today… It’s an impressive beast- it was part of their pre-order special on the new Anglo-Zulu War range that’s the premier of their new strategic partnership with Empress Miniatures. At the time I resisted the urge to get the full “Horns of the Buffalo – Rorke’s Drift Collectors Set” which is an absolutely huge collection of toys! This set is the first of their collaborations planned with Empress Miniatures – so you get a swag of Warlord Games plastic figures and terrain pieces, some Empress Miniatures speciality metal figs, and a pair of “4Ground” laser-cut plywood building kitsets of the storehouse and hospital. Continue reading “Rorke’s Drift Arrives!”

Fantastic 1879 Anglo-Zulu War Photos

The following link was posted by one of the chaps on the Colonial Wars Yahoo!Group and features lots of staged photos using the Britains, Conte, and similar 54mm Plastic Figure “Play Sets” and such like – some of the photos are amazing and it’s a wonderful effort – check out the British & Zulus at the The Play Set Addict’s 2011 Zulu Page. And there’s more great stuff (including Romans & Barbarians, Medieval Knights, ACW, Wild West, WW2) you can get to from The Play Set Addict’s Homepage. Highly recommended (and will bring out a few memories of the kid in most of us too)! Continue reading “Fantastic 1879 Anglo-Zulu War Photos”

I say, it’s the Natal Carbineers!

As part of my Anglo-Zulu War forces I’m adding a small force of Natal Carbineers. The NC was a relatively small force – one of the smallest of the various para-military units in South Africa, numbering I believe just 60 at the time of the war in 1879 (with a total of 71 men serving during the course of the entire war). Of these at least 22 perished at Isandlwana (along with 26 Natal Mounted Police; and incidentally 2 NMP were also present at Rorke’s Drift – one of whom also perished, the other being wounded). The figures I chose are from the (classic) Wargames Foundry range, as these were the best figures I knew of at the time compatible with my existing Foundry, Perry, Castaway, and similar figs; and they can double as Natal Mounted Police at a pinch if needed… Continue reading “I say, it’s the Natal Carbineers!”