"15mm Zulus" Topic

What companies make Zulu war figures in 15mm.
Thanks for the information in advance.

Old Glory 15's, Minifigs and Irregular, just off the top of my head.

Also Gladiator (which I own, but haven't painted yet) and Gallia (which I have painted, but find a little small compared to others).

Essex

No pics at either Wargames Inc or Essex …

I painted hundreds of Old Glory Zulus. Since you need scads of them, OG is the most cost effective way to go, I think.

Hi Ray,

Any 'top tips' on how to paint "scads" of 15mm Zulus quickly that look OK on the wargames table? (I think this has already been partly addressed on the painting forum but I have 2x bags of OG15 Zulus to paint & it would be useful to hear how you did it.)

Thx!
Richard

Miniature Rundown:

Old Glory – Shields seperate from castings. Can be a pain to glue on, Best overall quality

Essex – Chunkier than old glory, Seperate shields and weapons, decent figs but most prone to damage while gaming

Gladiator – Rank and file are horrible but their command figs are really good and they also have a good selection of dead zulus for disorder markers.

Minifigs – Really thin ankles… bend and brake off alot when handled.

I've never seen the irregular ones so can't comment.

hello my friends

you can make a mixe of their figurines but the me the og are the best

if you are interresting bye the zulu i take to you my blog adress

you can see some 15 mm figurines zulu 'album force en presence au zoulouland) ====> zoulou sorry the blog is in french

link

best regard

gerard

Stone Mountain makes Zulus with shields attached.

Check with Virtual Armchair General about the Zulus that came in Houston's Box sets. Nice characters. Shields seperate from shields.

I painted about 400 in a couple of weeks (Ok, maybe three).

Here's how I did it.

1. Glue them to tongue depressors, about eight of them should fit nicely. Glue them at about a 45deg angle. Humans are fairly flat; the angel gives you better access to all parts.

2. Spray prime with your favorite primer.

3. Slop on various shades of brown paint.

4. Ink some with brown and some with black ink

5. Paint fur bits, wood bits

6. Paint backs of shields rawhide (light brown)

7. Paint all shields white

8. Separate figures into regiments and paint all shields in a regiment with the same brown or black splotches covering about the same amount of area.

IMPORTANT--Remember the more senior the unit, the whiter the shield. Zulu regiments were allowed to marry, not individuals. Do not mix married and unmarried in the same unit. Married Zulus can be identified by the ring on their heads.

9. Paint the black parts and metal bits.

10. Coat them with your favorite brand of flat.

From my list at: link

-Battleline Miniatures
-Essex
-Gallia Miniatures
-Gladiator Games
-Irregular Miniatures
-Lancashire Games
-MiniFigs
-Musket Miniatures
-Naismith
-Old Glory
-Richard Houston Collection
-Stone Mountain Miniatures
-Table Top Miniatures

Table Top and Houston's aren't currently available (although Patrick Wilson has indicated that the Houston's minis will be available from TVAG again soon).

As has been mentioned elsewhere, I think that the OG15s are nice figures and probably the best bang for your buck. Stone Mountain's figures are close to MiniFigs. For the Zulu armies, I'm pretty content with mixing in a few figures from different lines (for some variation), however your mileage may vary.

Joe

I've painted upwards of 4,000 Zulus (15mm). Over the top granted. Mostly Essex (irritation value of having to stick on shields), Stone Mountain (a little odd but cute and ended up using the 100 or so I had for command groups) and Gallia ones (now owned by Warrior Miniatures). The bulk are the latter, obtained at a knock down price for a massive order when a guy in North London owned the masters.

As for painting, slap varying shades of mid brown (whatever you have) over the whole figure, then wash with GW Chestnut or Brown ink (or a sepia pen ink or if you can get some Rotring ink). Don't be too worried about where the ink goes and remember that Zulus would have been pretty dark skinned, but there would be variation. Everything else (apart from the shields) was drybrushed. A Snakebite Leather under a light flick of cream does it for the lion clothes etc. Spend your time on the shields, frankly that's what will either work or not. Get the shield colours right too and don't mix the shield designs in a regiment that's not how it looked (remember its cow hide and no one shield would ever be identical to the next).
I have got some Minfigs, they are OK (well I have got 500 of them actually), bit thin looking and I've used them for the semi-autonomous non-regimental local Zulus.
Natal Native Contingent, one man in 10 with a rifle, I've used static standing spear armed Zulus for the bulk and Zulu skirmishers with rifles for the 10th man.

I've been away a few days but knew ther would be some good information provided. Thanks everyone for your input.