With over 260 Zulu warriors to paint I needed a plan of attack. Horns of the buffalo maybe? Hmmm, not quite.
- Batch painting.
I’ve worked out a simple formula for skin tone and some basic colours for clothing, shields, weapons and headwear.
Having a slight, no matter how slight it is, variation between each model was good to keep me focussed.
Things to note: Make sure I know if it’s an unmarried group of ten or a married group. Shield colour is paramount here. Basically impis (Zulu Regiments) were broken up into battalions of married warriors and unmarried warriors.
Zulu warriors were not allowed to marry until they had “washed their spears” in the blood of an enemy. This meant they had something to prove which tended to make them more aggressive and hot blooded than the married regiments composed of older men. In the case of the battle of Isandlwana for instance the horns of the buffalo, which would spread out on the right and left flanks of the enemy, were made up of fast moving and eager unmarried warriors. The married men were seen to be wiser and more careful in their approach to battle. (I’d say in my own case, as a married man, I am neither wise or careful in my decision making haha).
- Paint ten and then break
The plan is to paint in batches of ten Zulus at a time. These are then mounted on 25mm bases which can be then slotted into (Mdf) movement trays.
After I’ve painted ten Zulus I’ll take a break and paint a couple of redcoats. I’m doing this as I’m hoping to break up the monotony. Hopefully this approach will keep me motivated and keep me focused. Just a reminder there’s 260 plus Zulus to paint and 150 Brits and Natal Natives.
Here’s the first ten “married” painted, but not yet based, Zulus. Im waiting on a delivery of bases and trays.





As you can see the colour scheme is fairly straightforward. This is both historically accurate and a welcomed relief because painting a myriad of different colours for each and every model would be a bloody nightmare.
My pal Keith will be coming over next week to give me a hand with painting some Zulus. Might try and get 20 done. (10 for him and 10 for me). He’s a fan of the movie Zulu and he used to paint Warhammer miniatures over a decade ago. I’ll sort the skin tone out and will just need him to paint headwear, weapons, shields and clothing. Fingers crossed he hasn’t lost his skills haha. I might even try and rope Big Waz into some painting too hehe. If you’re reading mate don’t avoid my texts and phone calls haha.
Cheers
IRO
Reblogged this on ausevor.
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Well you are off to a good start mate and enlisting support seems like a smart move too. If it was me though I’d have gone for spraying them all a nice brown colour, dipping them in a wash and then picking out the details. Alternatively I would have never started such a project and if I did I would have handed it over to you! 😉
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Haha. I didn’t even think of spraying brown.
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Sounds like a plan mate – how many are you planning to paint?
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There’s a total of 260+ now I’ve done this lot. Plus 140 odd Redcoats.
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Ugh, that is a lot!
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What you need is a montage!
Seriously, I reckon if Keith can paint 10 when he’s not been painting for over a decade then you should be able to paint at least 20. Track down Waz and make a party of it. If he can do 10 as well that’s 40 of them in the bag, plus the 10 you’ve done here. Get the boys trained up now and you can put them to work helping you cheat your way to victory in Orktober! 😀
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That’s actually the most perfectly evil plan! I could output all my Orks to a third world nation and get them to paint them for ten cents an hour. The only thing is I’ve developed quite a conscience these days so I don’t think I could do that. It’ll just have to be Big Waz and Keith but I won’t pay them a cent.
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These look great, mate and I think you’re smart to try get some help in this task too. Hopefully Waz and Keith are down to help 🙂
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Haha Keith is locked in but Big Waz is gonna take some convincing hehe
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Great work IRO. I found when I was painting hundreds of them that a spray with Tamiya TS3 and then a black wash gave a great skin effect and I then just had to paint the bits and pieces. Worked well.
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Thanks mate. I think I’ve got the recipe sorted but it’s still going to be tedious hehe
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Great looking skintone Luke, a whole army of these should look very effective, the shields and headgear bring the whole model to life.
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Cheers mate. I’m going for simple but as realistic as possible
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Ahh the joys of batch painting, oh wait I don’t think there are any joys of batch painting!
Unless Waz and Keith are reading this then, Oooo, batch painting I wish I was there too you lucky lot! (think I got away with it?
Cheers Roger.
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Hahaha
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Sounds like a plan- a good idea to recruit your mates into helping too.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Keith is locked in but big Waz is gonna take some convincing
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A good start there I think! 🙂 First 10 done and a plan for the rest!
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Thanks John. I definitely needed some sort of plan hehe
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IRO you might be interested in these character figures:
https://awminiatures.com/product-category/28mm-zulu-war-1879/british-infantry-28mm-zulu-war-1879/
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Ahh yes that’s where I got my Frank Bourne figure from. They’re big and chunky so good for my Frank Bourne hehe. I’ve got all the figures I need now thanks mate. 👍🏼
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Next time I’m whinging about painting a Blood Bowl team, I’ll just think about IRO and the 260 Zulus!! What on earth have you gotten yourself into!? 😂
They look ace next to that building though! Looks like you got everything sorted and looking great so far! Are all the minis assembled, or you doing that as you go?
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Haha I keep asking myself the same thing but, at this stage at least, I’m feeling quite motivated. Everything is built and undercoated man. My mate keith is coming by tonight to help paint some.
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That’s awesome, hope you’re able to get lots done! 😃
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Bugger me mate thats a few figures to paint!! I remember painting six hundred guys for the ACW dio when I first started and it took me nearly a year!!!! good to hear Little Keithy is coming to the rescue!!
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Wow that’s a lot. I’m hoping to get them done before the end of 2022.
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I’m sure you will mate as I can see your set on the chase 🤓👍🏻
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