P47's Part2

So now some more work has been carried out on the Thunderbolts. The green has had a coat of Catachan Green/Charadon Granite 50/50 mix, then been highlighted with Catachan Green followed by 50/50 mix of Catachan Green/Camo Green. The grey has received a coat of Codex Grey, which I found easiest to apply in several thin coats to get a good coverage, followed by highlights of a 50/50 mix of Codex/Fortress grey and finally pure Fortress grey.


The nose has been painted Scab Red and highlighted with Blood Red, and the tail has had a coat of Iyanden Darksun, then Bad Moon Yellow, and a highlight of Bleach Bone. The cockpit canopies have had a coat of Necron abyss for now.

Next weathering, highlights on the canopies, paint the bombs and then decals and basing.

P47 Thunderbolt's

Now the Zulu War project is on the back burner I have returned to my Flames of War force. I had started these P47's before the getting sidetracked. As before these are Battlefront models, but the planes I believe are 1/144th scale, not 1/100th like the infantry and vehicles.

One of the fighters has been completed, and the two on either side are primed (I use Halford's Black primer) and the undersides have been started. All paints referred to are by Games Workshop (unless otherwise stated).

Now the undersides have been completed. The base colour is Boltgun Metal, followed by a wash of Badab Black. Then drybrushed, Chainmail, Mithril Silver (lightly), Codex Grey (lightly), and finished by applying Tamiya's Weathering Master, silver. The weathering powder is not applied to the whole of the underside, but just were I felt it needed a lift to 'brighten' the paint work. The panels have been keylined with Badab Black, to pick them out.

This was the first plane I completed, and I did not dry brush the model but applied the highlights with a 'wet' brush. I think I prefer the result above so this will be touched up, by drybrushing the underside again. Also no silver weathering powder has been applied.

The upper surface of the model has been painted in a camo scheme of Charadon Granite and Adeptus Battlegrey. The nose and tail rudder (which cannot be seen) have been painted Calthan Brown as a base colour for the respective squadron colours. Again I have keylined the panels with Badab Black wash.

Part 2 to follow soon.

Zulu All Dayer

So the all dayer game came and went. Victory to the British I believe.

An enjoyable game, which saw the British under pressure from massed Zulu impi's from the start. As overall commander, I decided to move from column to line quickly and hold off the attackers, and once driven off began a steady advance towards the Zulu kraal at the far end the table. The kraal was an objective but the sheer number of attackers (or are they defenders?) meant it was going to be impossible to reach. Even as the British advanced, further Zulu impi's massed behind the ridge line poised to attack.

The British forces consisted on the right wing of One company (Co.) of regulars, one Co. of Naval brigade, one 7pdr gun, and a unit of Natal Native Contingent. The centre consisted of two Co.'s of regulars, one gatling gun, and a unit of Natal Mounted Police. The left wing consisted of three Co.'s of regulars, one unit of NNC and one unit of Natal Mounted Contingent. The Co.'s were in groups of ten figures with the mounted units being 6 and 8 figures respectively.

The Zulu were grouped into units of generally 30+ figures.

My right wing commanded by DS, did as I expected he would and stoically held off wave after wave of Zulu's. The left commanded by SR and son, were the last to arrive on the field and rushed to cover the left flank which they did admirably. At one tense moment an impi out flanked them and almost threatened the baggage train at the rear of the British line, but a brave charge by a unit of NNC saw them off followed by successive volleys from regular British infantry. The center was commanded by ML, who drove off the approaching impi's, and despite displaying the same traits as Captain_Nolan, managed to curb his enthusiasm to hold the line. But once the order to advance was given he threw himself at the nearest impi, and after some desperate hand to hand fighting this brave British officer went down under a hail of assegai. With the sun already having set the British held the field and the last impi's were forced to withdraw.

Others might dispute this version of events, but thats what happened as far as I am concerned. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so no pictures. I'm sure a full report will appear on the Evesham Wargames blog soon.

I did find at times not having a specific unit to command other than a couple of officer figures, that I did not have much to do. BUT, since orders could only be changed by sending runners, with written orders, then at times I did feel the pressure. This command and control system did work well, though I would probably liked to have had one more runner (rather than the two I did have).

If played again then I would like to see the Zulu, having the number of reinforcement roles curtailed. The three Zulu commanders each rolled for reinforcements which was decided on the die score. I am not actually sure what they needed to role to receive reinforcements but, perhaps if the Zulu C-in-C rolled only, then the Zulu's would have been less in number, but this may have resulted in a game with more manoeuvre, and the Zulu's using the terrain to their advantage perhaps, rather than continuous mass attacks. Overall this was my only criticism of a excellent game.

I must not forget to thank SS, MA and PB who did an excellent job of keeping the pressure on the British forces.

24th Foot (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment

Some further photos of my 1879 Anglo-Zulu War British. These have now been varnished and bases flocked. In all I have completed 22 infantry in about a month, which is pretty good going (for me!). Tomorrow they will have their first outing. An all day Zulu War game is planned at the club. So I will get to use these for the first time and play a Zulu War game for the first time.


I stepped up to be C-in-C, mainly because no one else volunteered, so should be an interesting day. New figures, new period and a new rule set.

These two fella's will be used as runners. The plan being that I will issue orders as events unfold and will hopefully get them to the individual commanders, to save the day! Personally I think the Zulu players are gearing up to make life hell for the British!

I'm quite pleased with these figures even though it felt like 'speed painting' for me at times. I generally like spending a little bit longer on 28mm figures than I did on these. Which is why I have probably enjoyed painting the 15mm figures recently, I don't tend to be so fussy on the detail on them. I also had no reference books to work from on this project so thank you to Paul and Ade from the club for answering my questions on uniform details. I intend to have a break from the Zulu War for a while and get back to my Flames of War project. Though not for too long Empress are releasing new figures every day!

US Para's (Big Ones!)

To fill up a bit of time whilst I'm working on other projects here's some pics of my 28mm WW2 US Para's.

These are all artizandesigns figures, and very nice they too. Great figures to paint. I have about a platoons worth of figures for use with the Rules of Engagement rules from greatescapegames. Still have a few left to do, plus some from Bolt Action now available from warlordgames. I was intending to get these done and then start a platoon of Fallschirmjager as opponents, inspired by the Carentan episode from Band of Brothers, no less.

Though now I will probably be completing a Fallshirmjager force in 15mm for Flames of War.

ZULU'S

Well actually Anglo-Zulu War British infantry, for the 1879 war. Another ongoing project, and one I'm enjoying at the moment. The figures are empressminiatures and very nice they are too! I intend to add a few more in the coming year, as budget allows.

The figures need to be varnished and the bases completed with static grass, plus a few may need a little bit of reworking. On closer inspection the eyes on some are a little scary!

US Airborne

The following are a few photos of a current project. US WW2 paras for Flames of War. I have painted these to represent the M1942 uniform, worn until the Market Garden Operation. Much like starting this blog they have have been a year long project, but I nearly have a 1500 point force to use.

Also have some armoured support, to give Para's a helping hand! M4A1 Sherman's.

The force currently stands at two rifle platoons plus command, and one platoon of upto five Sherman's. Still plenty of support units to add.

All models are from the excellent Battlefront range.