Not to be a Boer, but...

The last of the companies for IHMN that I've painted for Geoff is these Black Tree Designs Boers.

The full Boer force

Boer command, complete with pinstripe jacket on the man in charge and my attempt at corduroy on the guy in the middle.

A few more Commandos

I like to think the guy in the middle has just left his bank job, thrown on his old brown jacket and taken to the field.

The last three figures, including another corduroy jacket.

These aren't the best of Black Tree's castings that I've painted, but they still turned out rather nice. The limited colour pallet did get a bit 'boering'... I'll get my hat...

Nate

Practice German element for the Great War

Seen from the front

Seen from the rear

The problem with painting World War One Germans is the exact nature of the colour of their field grey. I've been trying to work out a combination that works on 15mm figures. The above figures use a combination of Vallejo Dark Sea-green mixed with Brown Violet and then highlighted by adding Sky Grey. I'm trying to get a olive tinge to the grey, without making it too green, but not too grey either. I'm still not sure this has worked. In the past with 28mm figures I've just used Vallejo Grey-green, but I don't think it works at 15mm. I may just have to keep experimenting.

Nate

A British Company ready for a South African tour

The latest figures to roll off the production line for Geoff, these are the 10 British figures that I kept back for an IHMN company.

The three characters - 2 officers and a man waving - which means he must be important.

It's hot work under the South African sun.

A couple of lads about to break into 'Men of Harlech'.

And the last three - two bearded types and another loading pose. I don't know why I ended up with two of the same pose, there were plenty of others. I can't have been thinking straight.

I really enjoyed painting these figures. If there had been no Zulus in the Zulu War I may have even seen the project through to fruition... To be fair I did contemplate just doing the 1881 Boer War with British and Boers, and that was probably quite achievable. Never mind, it isn't as if I don't have a whole pile of other projects to get on with.

Nate

And now for something completely different

Last year I bought some 15mm Crimean War figures off Trade Me, the New Zealand equivalent of ebay. They were advertised as Lancashire Games figures, but when I got them they did not match the pictures on the website, although they did have Lancashire Games written on the packaging. I asked Allan at Lancashire Games about them and he confirmed that they are older sculpts. So they are quite slim, and a true 15mm figure unlike the newer figures which are closer to 18mm.
About three battalions worth were already painted, so I thought I'd base them up and finish off the armies. I'm looking at using modified Neil Thomas rules, based on the ones that I used for playing French Revolution games.

My brigade commander talking to one of his Highlander colonels.

A Line battalion. these figures were already painted when I received them.

British Guards. Again, these were mostly already painted, I had to finish another four figures to complete a battalion.

The Gordon Highlanders. These are all my own work. I tried to use the same black line technique as the figures that were already painted so that the whole project is consistent. I think it worked.

A close up of the command element.

The only Russian battalion that I've painted so far.

And a close up of the command to give an idea of my black lining technique.

In the past I've used warflag for my banners, but they didn't have anything for the Crimean War. Never mind, I just used Napoleonic flags instead. I'm not sure how close they are to the flags of 40 years later, but they will do for now.

I have 8 battalions, 2 cavalry units and 2 guns for each side to put together, and that will be the whole project. The Allies have 5 British infantry units (including the Rifle Brigade) and 3 French ones to give me a bit of variety. They are supported by Hussars, Lancers, foot artillery and horse artillery. The Russians have 6 line , 1 jager, and a Siberian rifles unit, supported by hussars, Cossacks and 2 guns.

Today my 15mm Napoleonics turned up from Old Glory 15s. The figures are great and I can't wait to get into them. One can never have too many projects!

Nate

Some Zulus

A while back I bought a whole pile of Black Tree Designs Zulu Wars figures while they were having a sale. I then decided that I was never going to get around to painting them all and sold them to Brian down south. He has since painted them all up and ordered more!
I did keep a dozen figures each of Zulus, British and Boers though, with the idea that these might be the basis for companies for In Her Majesty's Name.  As I sold the other IHMN companies to Geoff in the South Island, I thought I'd paint up the rest of these figures and offer them to him as well. So here are the first lot - the Zulus.

Zulu characters.

Four Zulu Warriors

And another four warriors, two with firearms.

The fact that these guys took me so long to do and don't look any better than Brian's efforts helps me realise that I made the correct decision not to pursue a large scale Zulu Wars project. Painting 120+ Zulus would have driven me insane(r)!

Nate