A little bit a painting

The past few weeks of posts have been mostly about gaming, but I have not neglected the painting side of the hobby. I have been adding a few more models to my Star Wars collection and also making steady progress on the Anglo-Zulu War project.

My Star Wars collection generally only grows these days when I spot something in a sale and can pick it up at a reduced price, or when there is a particular character I want to add to the collection.

A rebel squad.

The Mandalorian (Din Djarin), Grogu, and Boba Fett. The Grugu figure was converted so he sits in a hovering saucer, the figure just looked too small on the base without the saucer.

A WLO-5 Speeder Tank as used by pirates.

Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso, and their friendly K-250 robot.

Moff Gideon. A useful villain figure.

The Anglo-Zulu War project began at the end of March this year and is now into its seventh month. There are still a few more British units, wagons and pieces of terrain to complete. I reckon I am now about 75 percent of the way through the project and hopefully in the next two to three months will get the figures onto the tabletop for a game.

2 British infantry units added, along with a mounted rifle unit and some lancers.

I had great fun with the lancer unit, which were converted from some spare mounted infantry.

Some painting, terrain, and a second hand find

This week I managed to finish painting a unit of Highlanders for my Anglo-Zulu War project. These figures, other than the officer, are nicely converted old Airfix Napoleonic Highlanders and have had an interesting journey before finally reaching my painting table.

Converted Airfix Highlanders that were recently gifted and are now painted and based. The officer is from a HaT kit. I could not resist adding the bagpipes.

A view from the front.

The figures originally belonged to John of the "Wargame Hermit: Solo Wargaming" blog before being passed on to James of the "Solo Slow Wargaming" and "The Chauvinistic Blog" blogs. James had been unable to find a use for these, along with a selection of other Colonial miniatures, so very kindly passed them on to me. I wrote about this unexpected gift a couple of posts ago (here). They have now been repainted and based, and make a very useful addition to my growing British force.

A couple of weeks ago I placed a bid on what appeared to be some Peter Laing 15mm American War of Independence (AWI) figures judging by the photo. Fortunately, they turned out to be exactly that and some 60 figures. The Peter Laing range has been unavailable for many years and are difficult to find.

The Peter Laing AWI figures. Alas only one cavalry figure, I could do with another 4 to make a unit.

I originally bought my Peter Laing AWI collection back in 1978, although it remained unpainted until around 2015 when I returned to historical wargaming after reading "One-Hour Wargames" by Neil Thomas. These newly acquired figures will be a very useful addition to the collection and should allow me to add a few more units.

Finally, on to terrain, or more specifically - sci-fi terrain. I am always on the lookout for inexpensive items that can be repurposed for the tabletop, and during a visit to our local $2 shop I spotted some plastic flowers whose heads looked as though they might make some interesting alien plants.

Plastic flowers purchased for sci-fi terrain.

The flowers are removed from the stem and the connector at the bottom clipped off so the flower can sit flat on the tabletop.

Some nice colourful alien terrain.

For around $5 I decided they were worth a buy. Once home, I removed the flower heads from their stems and found that, with clipping off the base that attached them to the stems and a little bending, they sat nicely on the tabletop. I think they look best arranged in clusters of two or three adding some distinctive colours to the tabletop.

A few days of painting and a surprise package

I have managed to make some good progress with my painting recently, helped by my son visiting for a day of painting. While he worked on his Star Wars Legion collection, I finished a unit of mounted infantry for my Anglo-Zulu War project, adding to the infantry unit, a Nordenfelt Gun (which I may convert to a Gatling Gun later), and naval brigade figures which I had completed the the previous day. With the mounted infantry finished, I decided to paint some Star Wars Stormtroopers I have had sitting around for a while.

Mounted Infantry

Infantry unit.

Naval Brigade units

Stormtroopers

As having a painting day with my son was not enough, I also received a wonderful surprise in the post. James, of the Solo Slow Wargaming and The Chauvinistic blog blogs, contacted me a week ago to say he was posting through some miniatures that he thought I would find useful. When the parcel arrived, I eagerly opened it to discover some carefully converted Highlanders. There are enough figures for a small unit, and they will soon find their way onto the painting table.

Surprise package contents

Converted highlanders. I am looking forward to painting them.

The parcel also contained a selection of ESCI, Call to Arms, and HaT figures. The ESCI and Call to Arms figures include some interesting models, such as officers and buglers, which will be ideal for the command stands I still need to make, as well as adding a bit more variety to the officers leading my infantry units. The remaining HaT figures will allow me to add a couple more units to the collection.

There was also an accompanying letter, in which James explained the provenance of the miniatures, many of which had themselves had been gifts to him over the years. It was a thoughtful gesture and made receiving them even more special. Thank you, James. It was a wonderful surprise.

A blood Red Skies game for my Battle of Britain campaign.

I am not quite sure what my next post will be. Tomorrow I will be playing another remote Samurai game with Jon (playing the Osaka side) and have also completed the next scenario in my Battle of Britain campaign.

Wrapping up the Zulus and starting on the British infantry

For the moment, I have wrapped up painting my plastic HaT 20mm Zulu army with the completion of four command bases last week. They are based on 2 x 2-inch squares I cut out from a large sheet of 3mm MDF purchased from the hardware store. For one of these commanders, I converted a figure and used a spare horse so the commander could be mounted. This base will be used as the overall commander.

Zulu command bases

With the Zulu army complete (at least for now) I started painting some of the British infantry this past weekend (it was wet so no gardening). The first decision was what size of the base and number of figures per base?

Testing out base sizes and number of 20mm figures per base.

The Zulu army is based on 4 × 3-inch bases, which is the size I use for most of my armies. Each base has 12 figures, and a unit consists of two bases, giving a total of 24 figures. In the Black Powder rules and its Zulu supplement, which I plan to use for my games, units are classed as either Small or Standard. In my games, a Small unit will be represented by a single base, while a Standard unit will consist of two bases.

For the British, I wanted to give the appearance of the "Thin Red Line." So I kept the base width at 4 inches but reduced the depth from 3 inches to 1.5 inches. This allows eight figures to fit comfortably on each base, giving a Standard unit of two bases a total of 16 figures.

The completed 16 figure unit with 2 bases.

I originally considered making British units around half the size of a Zulu unit, but doing so would have required smaller base widths, not what I wanted. Although each British base only has a third fewer figures than a Zulu base, the shallower formation gives the impression of a much smaller unit and the "Thin Red Line" appearance I was hoping for.

A comparison between the British and Zulu bases.

As with all of my 20mm projects, I have used my usual block-painting approach with a glossy finish. I keep my painting simple, adding just enough detail to create the impression of straps and equipment. These armies are intended for the three-foot rule when on the tabletop rather than any close-up views. I also find that, at this scale, trying to pick out every tiny detail is becoming increasingly tricky with my eyesight.

A tabletop view.

This approach to painting is partly about speed. There are a lot of figures to paint, and I would much rather finish the project and play some games than end up with an incomplete project sitting on the shelf.

Back to painting Zulus

After taking a break from painting Zulus, it has taken me quite a while to get back to them. A few real-life distractions have ended up extending the break to be longer than expected.

A Zulu army advances.

I have been painting the Zulus in batches of 60, simply because that's how many of these HaT 1:72 scale figures come in a box. A full batch can look rather daunting when they are all lined up on the painting table, and getting motivated to start can be an issue. This weekend I decided it was time to knuckle down and get stuck in, and I have now completed the latest and possibly last large batch.

60 Zulus lined up on the painting table.

With these recent additions finished, I thought I would do a bit of a parade and lay the whole collection out on just to see how much tabletop space they occupy. I have been re-reading Black Powder's Zulu supplement, which uses both standard and small units. With most of my collections I base my figures on 4 x 3 inch rectangular bases, so my plan is to use two bases for a standard unit and a single base for a small unit. 

With the Zulus I am able to fit 12 figures onto each base without them looking too structured or regimented. Most units will be standard sized and consist of two bases totalling 24 figures. They provide a good representation of a Zulu Impi on the tabletop. There may be occasions with smaller battles where I will use a block of 4 bases.

I do my best to make the units look unstructured with no obvious lines of miniatures.

So far I have 12 standard sized units and 1 small sized unit. When all laid out they take up a fair chunk of the tabletop.

When I get around to painting the British forces I suspect I will have between 8 to 10 figures to a single base, which I am looking forward too! However, next will be some Zulu commander bases to wrap up the Zulu army for the moment.

A change of painting subject

I have been painting Zulus for a few weeks now, 240 completed so far, and felt it was time for a change of subject. 

The 1:72 scale plastic Zulus completed so far.

The perfect excuse arrived with a postal delivery of some Star Wars Legion models I had spotted on sale. Some Wookiees and B2 Battle Droids were quickly painted up and added to my growing Star Wars collection, adding a bit more variety of units in my skirmish games.

Battle droids.

Wookiees.

While I had my Star Wars figures out, I decided to upgrade the Emperor model. It is a nice enough model, but it looks like an old man rather than a truly menacing figure, even when accompanied by his bodyguard. To give him a bit more menace, I decided to try and add some bolts of crackling energy coming from his raised hand.

My current model of the Emperor lacks menace.

Adding his body guard helps increase the level of menace.

This was done by bending some wire into shape, coating it with glue, and sprinkling sand over it for texture. Once dry, I sealed it with a second layer of glue before painting it in successive layers of mid-blue, light blue, and white to try and create an energy effect. A small hole was drilled into the Emperor’s raised hand, allowing the wire to slot neatly in place. This means the energy effect can be added or removed as needed.

"Luke, turn to the dark side!"

It can be removed when not needed.

Later this week I have a remote Blood Red Skies game scheduled which will be part of my Battle of Britain campaign.

Painting Zulus and a remote Air Wargame

Painting-wise, it has been all about painting the Zulus. Last week I was able to complete 60 figures, and I currently have another 60 sitting halfway done on my painting desk. All the Zulus are plastic HaT 20mm miniatures. I am hoping to keep the momentum going for as long as possible by painting steadily until I hit that inevitable point of not wanting to paint another Zulu. When that happens, as it inevitably will, I will switch to something different for a change, then hopefully return to painting the Zulus refreshed.

In terms of basing, I have settled on 4 x 3 inch bases and have 12 figures per base. This gives a nice dense look to the unit, while still leaving enough space around the figures so I can apply glue and flocking without too much difficulty.

The first batch of Zulus completed.

The Zulus are mounted on 4x3 inch bases. 12 figures per base.

On the gaming front, I have returned to air wargaming using the Blood Red Skies rules by Warlord Games. This was a project I started earlier this year with Airfix’s Battle of Britain set which came with the basic Blood Red Skies rules. The boxed set came with 2 Messerschmitts and Spitfires in 1:72 scale and I have added some additional models to add variety, Hurricanes and German Bombers (see here). They are all mounted on telescopic rods so I can vary heights to show when aircraft are Advantaged, Neutral, or Disadvantaged as per the rules.

Yesterday I played a remote game with Jon from Palouse Wargaming Journal. To make remote play easier I have adapted the rules to use a hex grid, as free movement and the associated measuring and shooting angles can be problematic when gaming remotely.

The setup for remote gaming.

My remote gaming setup is fairly simple, a mobile phone mounted on a tripod using Google Meet. For this game I added a backdrop sheet to prevent the models from getting visually lost against my wall of shelves with their clutter of boxes and containers.

As Jon was new to the rules, and it had only been a few weeks since my last game, we started with a small action with one aircraft each. Jon opted for the Messerschmitt and I had a Spitfire. There is no action report this time, partly due to me not taking nearly enough photos during the game, but also because an air combat game is really difficult to describe. Unlike land battles, where you can write about and take photos of flanking manoeuvres and centres holding firm, it is difficult to describe dogfights that have the aircraft zooming around the tabletop shooting at any enemy targets that end up in your aircraft sights. I will have to think more about how best to describe the games as I am planning a small air campaign.

A dogfight in progress as viewed from the mounted mobile phone.

Early on in the game Jon managed to get his Messerschmitt into more advantageous positions to line up more shots overall, but luck was not on his side with his dice rolls letting him down. On those occasions when he did roll well and landed a possible hit, my pilot proved elusive and successfully dodged incoming fire. With both our aircraft struggling to land any decisive hits, we introduced additional aircraft to escalate the engagement. Jon had a second Messerschmitt, while I added a Boulton Paul Defiant (a recent purchase I that I could not resist getting on to the tabletop) with its distinctive turret guns.

The extra aircraft came with veteran pilots and soon increased the intensity of the game, creating more firing opportunities. It was not long before Jon managed to get on the tail of my Spitfire, and this time, his shooting found its mark and I was unable to dodge. My Spitfire went down in flames and that was the game.

A Spitfire getting shot down.

Thank you to Jon for a most enjoyable game. By the end of the game we had both got to grips with the rules and many of its nuances and our aircraft rule traits. Hopefully I will be able to remember the game's nuances the next time I play! 

Currently reading.

I am planning to setup a short air campaign over the next couple of weeks, and I hope to post the campaign rules in my next blog post. With any luck, my current reading "The Most Dangerous Enemy" by Stephen Bungay will provide plenty of inspiration and ideas.

Boardgaming and test painting Zulus

No wargaming this weekend, but there was plenty of gaming all the same. With the kids and their partners over for a BBQ and games day. As a family we all enjoy gaming, and this weekend’s boardgames line-up included the co-operative games "Reign of Cthulhu" and "The Captain Is Dead!". The Captain Is Dead! proved to be popular and we played it twice, narrowly losing in the first game before managing to pull off a victory in the second game. In the evening we wrapped up with "Small World of Warcraft", which was won by my wife. Despite declaring at the start that she did not understand the rules and was going to give the game a miss!

A cooperative game of The Captain is Dead! in progress.

The games day began with hunting down the horrors of Cthulhu.

The day wrapped up with a game most of us had not played.

Planning and preparation for my Anglo-Zulu War project continues. On the rules side, I have been reviewing options following suggestions from "A Wargamer’s Guide to the Anglo-Zulu War" by Daniel Mersey. At the moment I am leaning towards using "Black Powder Second Edition" with its "Zulu" supplement. I need to settle on the ruleset soon as this will help to determine the basing approach I take.

A option to wargame the Anglo-Zulu War.

On the painting table, I have started work on the HaT 20mm plastic Zulu figures. A test group of four were painted. With 600 Zulu figures to get through, I am keeping the painting approach very simple. They are prepared with a wash in detergent and a coat of PVA glue, then block painted with a final PVA coat to give them a glossy finish that I like. 

The countdown is 594 Zulus to go...

Preparing the plastic figures with a wash in detergent.

A test group of 4 figures are painted.

I have also spent a little time on some remaining Star Wars Legion figures. If I am honest, that was probably a bit of procrastination on my part before I start tackling the mass of Zulu warriors in the plastics pile. Anyway, they are finished now, so no more excuses!

Some Droidekas completed. They were very fiddly to glue together.

Some more Rebel troopers. I chopped off some of their heads and replaced them with Kroot and Tau heads from my W40K bits box. I already have a couple of Rebel troop units and wanted this one to look a bit different.