Copplestone Ngoni Female Archers WIP

One of my long-term projects is painting some forces for Congo, and to that end I purchased some mixed Copplestone Africans quite a while ago.

As I also want to play some Paleo Diet in Africa, I thought I would add some archers to the spear-armed Zulus I painted back in 2016 (time flies!); I have four Zulu riflemen almost ready for primer, but I do not wish to use firearms in Paleo Diet.

It also struck me that I can work on an African warband for SAGA Age of Magic, and thus keep myself motivated for getting some minis painted from time to time.

This batch I intend to use for small breaks from Rohirrim, whenever I need some change, but I hope to get the eight Royal Guards painted fairly soon, as I need them to have a 'pure' six-points Rohan warband (and Age of Magic seems to use larger warbands than 'historical' SAGA does, so I shall see myself adding some riders to the mix this summer, too).

USUTHU! - Unmarried Zulu Riflemen, Bases and Powder Horns, WIP

I only added some filler to the bases, and glued another Powder Horn in place. IN this photo, you can see the WIP crossbelt that I am still leaving to harden, before I start modifying it.

USUTHU! - Unmarried Zulu Riflemen WIP

My Zulu project has been dormant for quite a while, but as part of Operation Cleansweep, I am now finally getting these finished.

I added the powder horn to the front left one, statred sculpting a 'crossbelt' on the front right one (for adding a powder horn), and put some filler on all the bases.

I shall have to let the greenstuff harden for a couple of days, before I continue work on the crossbelt; in the meantime I shall see if I can find some sprues and add powder horns to the other two Zulus, and finish work on the bases, so they will all be ready for primer when I have finished sculpting, and then added a powder horn hanging from the crossbelt.

More African Critters

As with many others shown over the last couple of month, I have had these chimps for ages.

They were based on too large washers, so I chopped them off, and put them on 20mm ones instead.

I have another seven of them, enough for a family to hunt, I think, and very soon I shall get them onto the prepping station, but I have some plastic Hobbits, and Perry Miniatures French HYW spearmen to get moved along, first (the goal is to steadily reduce the amount of miniatures sitting on the workspace).

African Wildlife to be Painted!

I had an old Chaos Black primer working overtime this early afternoon - first the Minas Tirith archers, then these critters, soon to be found in a great many settings and games (they might even appear in games of Sellswords and Spellslingers as random encounters or complications).

I shall paint one when I have finished the first member of Lea's SS&SS warband - I would like to try out Paleo Diet in an African setting ASAP, and I think three ostriches and three baboons is just about enough for 3-4 Zulu warriors to hunt, for starters.

When the critters are all done, I shall probably start working on some giraffes or cape buffalos I already have in my possession, and I would also like to expand my collection of ostriches, as I have an idea for some special rules regarding the 'hiding' ones...

Baboon Family to Go

The baboon family is now also ready for primer, and I expect to get it sprayed alongside the Minas Tirith archers and the ostriches. I may paint the prey animals in between the characters for Lea's SS&SS party, as the Hasslefree fantasy mini is dragging on, and I need some variation (and to get something finished a bit faster).

Basing the Baboon

As promised yesterday, here is an update on the basing experiment.

The male Baboon has been glued to the double-base, and some filler has been applied.

Tomorrow, I shall file away the excess filler, and apply some more where needed, and we shall have a final result of the experiment - which already looks promising!

Monkey Business

And I mean it!

As part of my preparations for Paleo Diet in Africa, I have been busy prepping the baboon family.

This included sawing off half of the integral bases. to avoid the finished minis to sit on slotta-base like plinths.

The base of the male baboon is so oblongish that it would take a far too large single washer to fit, so I have started an experiment gluing 15mm washers in pairs to cereal packet cardboard; I then intend to cut around them to create a pill shaped base.

I should have the result of the experiment tomorrow.

The baboons should do sterling service as random encounters in all kinds of Colonial and Pulp games, so they will make a welcome addition to my collection!

USUTHU! - The Mandatory Group Shot

Lots of down-time today, as I actually have not felt all that well (my mood is low, and it influences my level of energy, and my interaction with my family).

I have started re-basing a couple of minis which I expect to be able to show one of the next days, and I am collecting ideas, digging out minis, and finding sources for additional minis for a new long-term project - but more about that in a later post!

I hope to finish painting my Copplestone Santa tomorrow or Tuesday, and I shall continue re-basing models for a fresh look along the way, too.

USUTHU! - Bhekizizwe Joins the Ranks!

As promised yesterday, another married Zulu Veteran can now be shown in all its painted glory 😆

The frontal view is a bit blurred - my camera must have focused on the shield or the iklwa.

I had almost decided to disregard the Foundry Dusky Flesh palette for painting sub-saharan indigenous people, but as I already had given this one a base coat of Citadel Scorched Brown, and a second layer of Foundry Dusky Flesh Shade, I thought I should give it a go.

I mixed some Dusky Flesh Shade with equal parts Dusky Flesh - and struck gold!

Rarely have I expected less, and gotten more! The resulting mix makes the transision between the two paints almost seamless, and I could paint on the third layer with the new mix, and finish of with final hightlights of Dusky Flesh.

I think Bhekizizwe here maybe is the one with the skin colour closest to the one seen on many of the photos of Zulus I have been able to find on the web. That being said, I have seen quite a few different shades of skin (and lots of it), when googling for reference material, so I am under no circumstances going to settle for just one palette when painting future Zulus, and my experiments with Dusky Flesh will not end here, either! I have already planned to mix Coat d'Arms Negro with Dusky Flesh to be able to use Negro as the base colour and skip the slightly reddish Dusky Flesh Shade and obtain a more 'milk chocolate' like effect, and I shall probably also try another go at using Dusky Flesh Shade as base coat, this time with the new mix as second layer.

All these experiments with dark African flesh tones will aso come in handy when I return to painting Uruk-Hai, somewhen, as I want an Isengard God of Battles army based on the Orc Warlords list.

USUTHU! - An Impi is Slowly Growing

I only almost have one more to show, so instead of a newly painted mini, you will have to settle for a line-up of previously finished Zulus. All members of the uThulwana Imbutho, they all sport a white shield. When I add more Veterans to the Impi, I shall use some of the other recorded variants, but for now, I go for uniform white.

Today's experiment with the Foundry Dusky Flesh palette was very successful, and I look forward to show the fourth of my married warriors (I just glued sand to his base earlier today, and expect to finish the base before noon tomorrow).

USUTHU! Anele is Finished - Sort of...

By far not my best work ever, but I rushed to get him done, as he had been sitting half-painted on my cork-holder for several months, because of me getting first my God of Battles Skeleton Warrior unit ready for the table, then painting Dark Ages civilians like a madman for a while.

The colours used for his skin are

1. F Dusky Flesh Shade
2. F Dusky Flesh
3. F Dusky Flesh + F Dusky Flesh Light

I think I may need to mix Dusky Flesh Shade and Dusky Flesh to get a smoother transition, as I am not happy with the harsh contrast between the darkest and the mid layers.

I also consider dropping Dusky Flesh Shade as part of this colour series, and instead use a dark 'chocolate' colour like C Scorched Brown or Coat d'Arms Negro as base colour, and mix an intermediate shade of that and Dusky Flesh.

I may do both - I am experimenting a bit on the last of the initial four married Zulu warriors, and the result I get from this is likely to have a lot of influence on my final decision on this.

The rest of the colours are pretty much the same as the other two Zulus I painted.

Osprey Wargames: IHMN - Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun

I also got the second supplement for In Her Majesty's Name, mostly for the sake of completeness, as I have no plans for expanding my still not very advanced Africa IHMN project into India and the Far East.

I shall be reading it when I have finished reading Broken Legions - but it does not have priority over other diversions, so it may be a while, before I have anything to say about it...

USUTHU! Four Builds Completed

Despite spending most of the day wheelbarrowing firewood into the shed, I manage dto squeeze a tiny bit of hobby time in.

I got the heads of my four unblooded warriors cleaned up and attached to the bodies - not a lot of progress, but better than nothing.

I do not have much more firewood left to move, but as I am going to work tonight, I am going to sleep most of the day tomorrow, and I really want to get the last pile of wood into safety from the autumn rain, which inevitably will return sooner or later, I sincerely doubt that I shall be able to spare any time for hobby stuff. Then again, I did not expect to get anything done today...

USUTHU! Unblooded Marksmen Coming Along

Just as I thought yesterday, I did not have much hobby time today. I spent all morning with my household accounts, and then I had to bottle a batch of mead.

Around five o'clock I got 6 cubic metres of firewood delivered, and Anna and I went about getting some of it piled up in the shed (I know exactly what I shall have to use tomorrow for...).

I did, however manage to clean up the last body (of four) unblooded warriors, and get the arms cleaned up and attached to all of them. I shall try to get the heads done tomorrow, but, as mentioned, I have a lot of firewood to attend to...

USUTHU! More Warriors in the Pipeline

I have been cleaning up the first three (of four) bodies for the next batch of Zulus. This time I am going to model four unblooded/unmarried warriors with firearms to add some ranged support for the Impi.

I hope to have time for at least getting the arms attached to all four models, but I have a lot of other stuff to attend to tomorrow, so maybe that is a tad too optimistic. Luckily, I still have two married/veteran warriors to work on, and I also primed some other models today, so I shall not run out of stuff to do, even if modelling time must be scrapped tomorrow.

USUTHU! The Beginning of an Impi.

Painting progress for my In Her majesty's Name Zulu Impi so far:

Siyanda and Bheka ready to wash their Assegai in the blood of their enemies!

USUTHU! Meet Siyanda!

Finished the second Zulu warrior today, and here he is.

He was painted muich in the same way as the first one, with only a few exceptions:

Primer: Black

Shield Face:

1. Medium Grey
2. White drybrush

Shield Straps:

1. Black

Shield Top:

1. Light Grey
2. Very light White drybrush
3. Black stripes

Shield Back, and Loincloth:

1. F Rawhide Shade
2. F Rawhide 
3. F Rawhide + F Rawhide Light
4. F Rawhide Light

Shield Spine, Knobkerrie, and Spear Shafts:

1. C Scorched Brown

Skirt:

1. White
2. GW Afrax Earthshade wash
3. Black stripes

Leg and Arm'Pelts':

1. Light Bone (needs a deeper tone for more contrast)
2. Thinned White

Spear Tip:

1. C Boltgun Metal + Black
2. C Boltgun Metal
3. C Chainmail

Spear Bindings:

1. F Rawhide Light
2. C Agrax Nightshade wash

Hair:

1. Black
2. Very dark Grey stipples

Skin:

1. F African Flesh Shade
2. F African Flesh
3. F African Flesh + F African Flesh Light
4. F African Flesh Light

 Pouch:

1. C Scorched Brown
2. C Scorched Brown + C Bestial Brown
3. C Bestial Brown

USUTHU! First Finished Zulu Warrior

I opted for the uThulwana plain white shield of my first batch of married Zulus (I may mix in a few shields with a single 'red' spot along the way as well), just to KISS.

Primer: Black

Shield Face:

1. Medium Grey
2. White drybrush

Shield Straps:

1. Black

Shield Top:

1. Light Grey
2. Very light White drybrush
3. Black stripes

Shield Back, Arm 'Rings', and Skirt 'String':

1. F Rawhide Shade
2. F Rawhide 
3. F Rawhide + F Rawhide Light
4. F Rawhide Light

Shield Spine and Spear Shafts:

1. C Scorched Brown

Skirts:

1. Medium Grey
2. White drybrush
3. Black stripes

Leg 'Pelts':

1. Light Bone (needs a deeper tone for more contrast)
2. Thinned White

Spear Tips:

1. C Boltgun Metal + Black
2. C Boltgun Metal
3. C Chainmail

Spear Bindings:

1. F Rawhide Light
2. C Agrax Nightshade wash

Hair:

1. Black
2. Very dark Grey stipples

Skin:

1. Foundry African Flesh triad

I think I shall have the second one finished tomorrow, and then I shall probably have to wait for a Miniaturicum order to arrive to finish the last two of this batch (I need some more Foundry Dusky Flesh Light to finish a mix, as I use Dusky Flesh on both of those) - and in the meantime, I shall paint another mini for the BoB Painting Club at the LAF, probably finish a half-painted Viking and start prepping four unblooded/unmarried warriors with rifles.

I also hope to get a game or two arranged for next weekend, as gardening is now kept to a minimum, and I should be able to reserve a few hours for socializing at the gaming table.

USUTHU! Painting Zulus

It is moving forward, but not at a very fast pace. The garden still takes up most of my time, but as it rained this morning (for the second time during the last couple of months), I seized the opportunity for slabbing some more paint on my first four Zulu warriors. I try to vary the skin tones a bit, but I am still learning to paint African skin, and I think I shall have to get a few more dark brown Foundry paint triads for more variation.