Wednesday 7 December 2011

Brings a Tear to The Eye

 
Bewhiskered gent in a red and white suit with black boots and a belt round his middle...Santa? No! Colour Sergeant Bourne of course!

Heather and her dad mugged me for my Christmas pressie list. To be honest I didn't really want anything but they insisted. Essentially, the argument runs "You've had a crap year. We want to get you something nice that you want."

Oh god, decisions, decisions. There's enough of those at work without turning Christmas into a chore as well. So OK, I'm putting a hold on any more purchases for Winter of '79 until I've got Rolf's Meltdown British with SLRs in my hands and can plan my future needs around them. So, not Cold War Brits....Mmmm. Our preferred Christmas day film is ZULU. I've wanted to do the Zulu War since 1974, but only now with the Empress Miniatures' recent releases is there a range that has the depth and most importantly, provides a match for my inner vision of what Zulu War models should look like. I had the Cliff Sanderson 54's way back when, and not one single wargame range has come close to replicating the energy and imagery embodied in those figures over the past 35 years. So decision made! And and hey presto, Maelstrom Games have sent me a 17% off for Christmas voucher. Wish it were that simple at work.

So, Zulu War, Black Powder it is. And an extra impetus required now to get Winter of '79 stuff built and painted before "Zulus! Thaaaaasands of 'em!" hit the Hannam lead pile.

Meanwhile, very much back in the realms of 1979, I've picked up some ex-Citadel Dark Future 'punks' on eBay. A glut appeared there recently, but I still had to put up a fight against some serious bidding. As you know, I'm an exponent of playing the 'long game' and gratefully ended up not paying over the odds on my third or fourth attempt. Added to the ones MajorMike donated, these'll do the biz until I get some dedicated Winter of '79 armed punks sculpted.

I have a Sex Pistols cover of the Zulu version of Men of Harlech playing in my head right now....

Cheers
Mark
 

6 comments:

  1. One of the best films going...historically well ourt but still one of my top ten..so good that ridley scott nicked the zulu chant for the opening battle scene of gladiator..:-D
    You´re going to do colonial brits? From 1979 to 1879...nice one. I´ve been considering having a go myself. The hat colonial range is pretty good....and cheap :-D
    Cheers
    paul

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  2. I'd considered plastics and even newline Designs 20mm which are very nice. But that would have been another compromise amd why when Empress have Zulu War nailed on the head. Plus Warlord plastic and Reaper metal Zulus make it affordable.

    Cheers
    Mark

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  3. Good job on the Dark Future figures- I'm a fan of them myself.

    Zulus are always good too.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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  4. Beauty! And the Empress figures are truly top-notch stuff, as well.

    "And a bayonet sir, with a bit of guts behind it."

    Love me some CSM Bourne.

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  5. Hi Mark,
    Just got rid of a load of my Anglo-Zulu Wars figures on ebay a couple of months back. Would have been glad for them to go to a good home. It is good for the soul to dip the paintbrush into a bit of scarlet every now and then. Outnumbered, out of ammunition and only a bristly set of whiskers and a stern look to quell the natives!

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  6. Kind of you Rusty. But a man has to paint his own redcoats.

    "Outnumbered, out of ammunition and only a bristly set of whiskers and a stern look to quell the natives!" Yup that sounds like work this week.

    Cheers
    Mark

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