Anglo-Zulu War camp and more units painted

This past I have been focused on getting a few more units painted and making a start on some terrain for my Anglo-Zulu War project.

I needed to make camps for each side, British and Zulu. I decided to start with the Zulu camp first.

Zulu huts and protective walls.

Whenever I make terrain these days, I am always aware of how much storage space it takes up. While the huts themselves are nice and compact, the surrounding walls could become rather bulky if they were based. Instead, I opted to make them from card, using painted effects to suggest the tightly packed wooden poles and branches. The card walls can be shaped into a circle to provide a defensive enclosure around the huts and stored flat when not in use.

The walls allow for one unit of Zulus to be in the camp.

The huts were made using polystyrene balls I got from the local craft store. These were cut in half, stuck to some card, and covered with Gesso paste. While the paste was still wet, I lightly dragged a toothpick lightly across the surface to create the impression of thatching.

Once dry, the huts were painted with an undercoat of cheap dark brown acrylic paint. This was followed by dry-brushing first with a mid-brown, then a yellow-brown, concentrating on the roof to help distinguish the roof from the walls. The doorways were painted using a watery black.

The last step was to seal the huts with a coat of PVA glue.

The huts are made from polystyrene balls and covered with gesso paste. The card was cut away when all dry.

The painting process from left to right: 1) dark brown undercoat, 2) a mid-brown is dry-brushed on, and 3) a yellow-brown is dry-brushed on the roof and the doorway painted,

The walls were made by laminating three strips of 20mm-wide card together using PVA glue. This gives the walls some thickness.

Once dry, I applied a coat of Gesso using an old brush to give some texture on the surface to help with the painting process.

As with the huts, the walls were first undercoated in dark brown. A mid-brown was then applied with stripes using an old brush to give the impression of individual wooden poles and branches. Finally, a watered-down light grey was used to give the impression of the larger poles in a fairly random fashion.

The laminated card strip with gesso applied.

Undercoated dark brown and the mid-brown can be seen applied in stripes on the right half of the wall.

A watered down grey is painted on to give the impression of larger poles in the wall.

The finished walls were given a coat of PVA glue for protection. Once dry, they could be shaped into a circle to complete the camp.

Zulu huts and protective wall.

Three more units also left the painting desk this week: a mounted infantry unit, a British infantry unit and an artillery unit. The mounted and infantry units are from the HaT 20mm ranges, while the artillery piece is a conversion using an Italeri Union Artillery set with HaT figures.

Mounted Infantry and the unit dismounted.

British infantry.

British artillery converted from an ACW set and converted HaT figures for the crew.

This project is getting closer to completion, with just a few more units to finish along with a British camp:

• British officer stands (mounted and on foot).
• A Natal Native Contingent unit.
• An irregular mounted infantry unit.
• A rocket unit.

My aim is to get these last few units completed before the end of the year.