5th Lancers

Here are the latest figures for the week. Cavalry proved to be very valuable during the Boer war. scouting, finding, chasing the Boers but not so much the charge. Lances proved to be even less valuable and soon most lancer regts would forgo the lance for the remainder of the war. The lance was used to great effect at of the first battles of the war, when the 5Th Lancers charged the retreating Boer commandos at Elandslaagte.

These continue the old glory figures using the dip. These figures would also be real nice for northwest frontier figures which are gaining an interest for me.

This brings the year total to 15 infantry and 5 cavalry.

wargames factory

Here are some wargames factory British infantry. I finished last week. The army painter really makes painting quick but I find I don't enjoy the painting process nearly as much. I find I am much more satisfied with the end result when I layer paint.

The figures themselves are good, lots of different looks and poses. The assembly process is not too difficult and they paint up pretty well. There seems to be alot of Zulu war figures on the market these days. These figures are not the best I have seen and not the worst either. but for the price they are hands down the best value. I will buy more.

year to date total 10 boer war and 5 Zulu war infantry

2nd batch

Here are the latest from the work bench. 2010 has got off to a good start of 10 figures, not bad for me. just 8 more KRRC to go to finish up what I have for the battalion. Instead of doing the "dip' on these I used a paint brush to put it no them . I like the result better, less pooling on the figures and a more uniform coating. It's funny, I am already looking past the Boer war at what other period I can use for these figures I am definitely thinking of NWF somewhere down the line.

Kings Royal Rifle Corps

Here are the 1st 5 figures of the new year. Note the black belts and equipment and rifle green patch on side of helmet. 2nd five just need a dull coat and hopefully I will finish the last 8 this week. Figures are old glory 28mm figures which I like but with reservations. The helmet with pugree is not really correct for most units. Most wore a cover over the helmet which concealed the pugree. in case you don't know what a pugree is, it's that band in the middle of the helmet and was designed to help keep it cool. also I have seen a lot of pictures with the haversack worn on the back instead of the side. having said that they are good figures with a lot of character and poses are nice.

Having just criticized the pugree I noticed the picture on the front of the blog have it on!

new year part 2

Well, I meant to start a new theme year with a napoleonic army however,... I started reading a Wilbur Smith novel on South Africa and I was hooked! back to Africa for another year. so instead of starting a new theme which came mighty close I decided to return to my Boer war project and really flesh it out. I am still looking for a set of rules to use but have order the new set black powder so we will see how that goes. First 5 infantry for the new year are finished with a 2nd 5 just waiting on a dull coat.

Here is the planned order of battle for the British:

• 3 infantry Brigades of around 20 figures to a battalion and 3 battalions to a brigade.
• 1 guards , 1 Irish and 1 highlander brigades
• 1 mounted infantry brigade of 4 battalions of 10 figures each
• 1 South African, 1 Australian 1 yeomandry and 1 mounted infantry bn
• 1 cavalry brigade of 1 lancer 1 hussar and 1 Canadian dragoons
• 1 battery of RA and 1 of RHA

while I realize its not completely historical, it will give me a nice cross section of troops and nationalities and will help to keep my interest in painting. so far I have 1 battalion of Irish and am working on the second battalion plus 1 regiment of Australians. done. so hear 's to a new year.