Zulu Yawn? Baccus 6mm

Too back to back Zulu posts and this ones a wrap. Right at the beginning of the month I stated I wanted to get the Zulu's all finished by the end of February and I have managed it with a whole month to spare so I am real happy to be able to call time on the army.

I actually finished off the project by painting up these Zulu's all in the one day. Though it has to be said all in one longish day but rather than being a bind I really enjoyed it and it only took a day as I just went from one stage to another without thought of stopping and doing something else, quite a roll really.

Lots of detail and clear enough to just keep on going, no eye strain or fatigue at all. Of course it helps that this was the end of the project which always acts as a boost for me, like coming towards the end of a good book.

So these will be going over to my mates sometime soon. 6mm are at the moment off the menu though I have started to clean up a few units of ECW and Napoleonic's for either next week or the week after depending on how fast I can get through the 15mm Thracian's I am working on at the moment. I have an outside chance of finishing them in time for my Tuesday deadline but realistically I doubt it will happen.

This is all the Zulu's I have painted in the last two months with another four regiments of 36 figures each supplied to Matt so long ago. 

As well as the Thracian's I also have my entry fee and a female Partisan on the go but all my attention has been with the guys with pointy swords but that may change in the next night or two.

Zulu Storm

You know how some projects end up being a stone round your neck? well regular readers will know this is how the 6mm Baccus Zulu's have been my bogeyman. Recently I painted up three Regiments of them and found them far less of a chore than I had convinced myself they were, indeed they could be counted as a fair bit of fun.

I resolved that I would get all the outstanding Zulu's before the end of February and thus I decided to do them all in one big bunch (except the rifle armed figures). In the end it turned out to be the best decision I could come up with as they painted up fairly quickly and were not the chore I expected them to become.

The laces on the shields gave me the usual fits and I really wish I had the control to get them to be two nice neat columns of four but even by the end I was not managing to get this down. I painted up the following regiments, Frost, Mongrels, Starters From The Umgoni River, The Howling, Forceful, Black Mamba and Savage. Though not in the order that they are presented here. 

The names are on the bottoms of the lolly sticks ready for Matt to take them off and base up. I am hoping to get a photo of the finished army at some point as the mass effect must be rather nice. I will not be looking to paint up any more any time soon, the figures paint up rather easily but those laces, help!

Matt I believe will start badgering his opponent to get on with his figures so they can get a game, after all he has had plenty of time to get them painted. I really did take far too long to get them finished and at all times Matt was a true Gent and very patient, hopefully he won't have to wait too long before he gets them on the table.

Colonial just does not interest me so I won't be drawn into getting my own figures for any of the related armies or scales. I can see the attraction for others but I just can't get myself worked up over it.

Since finishing these I have also painted up the rifle armed Zulu's so I can call this project finished and with it I feel quite free and able to do whatever I like. I still have some ECW in 15mm to do for Matt but these will wait till after March and then will be quick to appear on the table and that will leave me with no figures to do for anyone though I will have to look at doing some 15mm for Steve another mate, I think they will be Thracian's if he is still up for them. Kind of interesting as that is what I have on my desk at the moment for my own army, over sixty of them! But already I have lots of other figures sitting in the wings waiting for their turn at bat. This will include plenty of 6mm Napoleonic's but plenty of other subjects and scales to, happy days.

Zulu's Off The Table

With almost all my attention on getting the 6mm Napoleonic's painted up I have allowed these figures fall out of sight. Given that I have about 300 more figures to paint I really need to crack on. Well I should be able to throw more time at them soon as the figures for Project Waterloo are close to completion though I have not painted a single 6mm figure this month. These are Baccus Zulu's and are very nice castings.

These are for Matt and so will be based once he has all of them back from me, so some time to go yet then. Just two regiments to go with the four I had already done, these are uDududu and Skirmishers. Both should have small white patches on the shields but at this scale it did not look right so I repainted after a few attempts.

Whilst they are reasonably quick to paint up on the whole they don't half soak up time to the end as I got to the laces and spots on the shields. I think I will do the last lot of standard units all in one go, go a little industrial. Then it's the few bases that have the captured rifles, looking forward to that bit.

The next 6mm will be the Leven soon to be released Hougoumont set that I finished painting up yesterday, expect it in the next few days.

Baccus 6mm Zulu's

Finally finished off the first regiments of Matt's Zulu Army. By the time your reading this he will have received them so here is hoping he will like them. Peter at Baccus said with a smile that "People think painting up Zulu's is easy, but it's not" (or words to that effect). Well all I can say to that is, No shit Sherlock! Actually I found painting the Zulu's themselves fairly easy but as for the shields.....

Here we have the Fly Catches, the Zulu regiments sure have interesting names. These according to the Wargames Factory Farnworth painting guide carried a mix of shields as you can see from the picture above.

Bender of Kings also has a similar mix of shields so will look almost the same on the table. Matt asked me to do the horns for Isandlwana, though I also have enough regiments to do the body as well and then move onto the regiments that fought at Rorke's Drift. Each regiment has 36 figures so should look grea when Matt gets them based up.

Next up is Lion's and thankfully a different finish to the shields. Unfortunately that was a black shield with small white dots on it as well as the white laces of leather. It took some getting into the laces for all units and that was the real challenge on these figures.

Sorry a shaky picture of the Evil Omen's but again like the Lion's the shield is more basic and so a lot less impressive but should look good en-mass.

Sculpting wise these are really nice. As you can see above the muscles on the backs and the lines of the loin cloths show up nicely and I am pleased with how the skin has come out. The ink really helped bring out the detail.

I leave you with a shot of all of them together, a grand total of 144 figures and less than a third of the whole army that needs to be painted up. I hope to finish off the lot in the challenge though for reduced points as I think Matt will want to base them himself. Whilst possibly faster than the Napoleonic's I am sure that they are not by a large amount. I am looking forward to handing the lot over to Matt once finished as I know he is keen to get them on the table and get playing with them.