Saturday 30 December 2017

From LeeH : Zulu iNkobamakhosi Regiment (300 Points)

My big project this winter is a radical move away from the Ancients and WWII Desert stuff I have worked on in previous Challenges. I have been thinking, planning, reading and preparing to do the Anglo Zulu War in 6mm for some time and being a crazy madman I immediately decided to go for a low figure to man ratio; meaning I was going to be painting very large numbers of figures. My first entry for this project is therefore 12 bases of Zulu warriors of the iNkobamakhosi regiment. Each base has 48 figures and representing about 500 warriors per base so this lot is a 6000 warrior regiment.


As usual Baccus figures have excellent detail and were a pleasure to paint. I didn't find them particularly difficult to complete; the real test when working on hundreds of identical figures is that of infinite patience and the ability to 'zone out' a bit while painting. Fortunately I enjoy listening to music while painting and that helps the time shoot past.







The iNkobamakosi (aka "The Benders of the Kings") were a large unmarried regiment that fought in many of the major engagements in the Anglo Zulu War including Isandlwana, Hlobane, Khambula and Uhlundi. The shields were of various colours such as black, black with white spots, red and red with white spots so I have tried to represent this here. Accounts of the size of this regiment varies from as as low as 4000 warriors up to 8000 depending which source you look at. I have gone with a middle figure of 6000 for now, but may add to these at a later stage.

Painting 576 Zulu's in one batch was a tough effort and probably not something I'll do again in a hurry! Subsequent regiments that are planned for the Challenge are much smaller and therefore should be much more manageable. 

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Wow! 576 Zulus in one submission - that is an absolutely amazing block of work, Lee. Bravo! 

I like your large figure-count approach to this project. I think its good to reflect the mass of these Zulu regiments to help put these battles into perspective. The closeup of the figures is astonishing. I love the detail you put into their shields, headgear, ruffs, etc. Wonderful work.

This regiment will give you 288 points which I'm going to pip-up to 300 for the care and attention (and gruelling dedication) you've put into getting them done in such short order. Well done! 

22 comments:

  1. In a Michael Cain accent "Zulus, bloody thousands of em"

    Nice

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    1. Haha! Or Steve Coogan doing Rob Brydon doing Michael Caine doing Lt. Bromhead, 'Well chin chin... do carry on with your mud pies.'

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    2. Curses Campbell, you beat me to it!

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  2. Another “Wow” from me! Although from the films Imwatched there’s never enough zulu to play

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  3. USUTHU!!!! Fantastic work Lee!

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  4. Mad, teeny tiny zulus! They look great!
    Best Iain

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  5. Astonishing work

    USUTHU, indeed!

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  6. "Here they come! Small as ants and thick as grass!"
    ; )
    My eyesight rebels at anything smaller than 28mm these days, so I'm amazed at how painters are able to turn out such detailed work at such a small scale. Lovely work, Lee, makes me want to watch the movie again!

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  7. That's a bit of a showstopping entry Lee - well done! :)

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  8. That's a smashing effort Lee, not the least because of the quality of the brushwork.

    I think we might need to form a therapy group for 6mm painters! You can join DaveD and I as we attempt to regain the ability to focus on things not 3" from our faces.

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  9. Gorgeous work, Lee! That is an impressive patch of Zulus!

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  10. Very nice! Looking forwards to more!

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  11. Impressive! I probably wouldn't have had the stomach to get these done. Kudos to you.

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  12. brilliant stuff, excellent dedication!

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  13. jeepers creepers batman! That's an amazing amount of soldiers mate, great stuff!

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  14. Holy assagai Batman, that's a s**tload of Zulus! Very impressive work Lee - more please.
    So you put aside your ancients to work on a ton of dudes with spear and shields?
    Cheers, Peter

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  15. You always bring out the best in 6mm Lee - great stuff!

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  16. Seriously impressive, both in numbers and quality!

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  17. Wow, they look terrific. I love the mass effect.

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