"Mealie bag color?" Topic

I have the new Warlord "Horns of the Buffalo" Rorke's Drift set and want to start painting up the mealie bag barricades.

Looking around the web I see folks ahve painted similar mealie bags for the Anglo Zulu War in a variety of colors, from almost white to a dark brown, with everything in between. Warlord shows theirs painted in a beige, but with blue and red stripes.

Is there a 'best' color? Any idea on how to do the stripes? Do they need the stripes?

Thanks.

Jake

People do worry about the 'right' colour for trifling things.

It's a bag. For storing and transporting grain.

They would be made from whatever 'stuff' link was available. Think sandbag, but bigger.

Ticking, hessian, rough cotton – anything. In any natural shade – grey, beige, light brown, off white.. Don't forget to stencil a WD arrow on them though :)

He's an Army officer. They tend to be detail oriented.

After droping $400 USD on the set it may be that you want to get it at least close to right. And while I dont doubt that the bags from different places where not the same, and none of them would be quite the same age, the ones at Rorkes drift probably where more or less the same shade, and it was a specific color. Of course without a color photo, we may have no way to show what exactly that color was.

Of course it probably doesnt matter, unless you want to display your new toys in a public place with a bunch of hyper picky people around, like say at a games convention. Then it is nice not to have some kibitzer in the crowd whining at you.

Owen

Of course it probably doesnt matter, unless you want to display your new toys in a public place with a bunch of hyper picky people around, like say at a games convention. Then it is nice not to have some kibitzer in the crowd whining at you.

To whom the correct reply is, "If you have an actual mealie bag as supplied to the British army in South Africa in 1879, I'd be pleased to see it so that I might see where I went wrong. Of course, if, as I suspect, you can't provide such a thing I'd be grateful if you'd s t f u you annoying tit" :)

The above also works on people who bang on about 'wrong' hues for uniforms. It works, trust me.

I want to paint mine as accurately as possible.

It's an expensive set that should be pretty impressive when painted up. Most people might not know that it's 'correct', but it is important to me. I should mention that I don't mind inaccuracy on other people's minis at all :)

I'd love to see some sort of documentation for the stripes on the painted pieces on the Warlord site, I don't think I've seen that before.

Check Osprey's "Mealie Bags of the Victorian Era". Volume 3 covers the Zulu Wars. The stripes depend on the rank of the mealies.

The volume on "Mealie Bags of the 18th Century" has a plate on Bushy Run, but the curator of the National Parks museum at Bushy Run claims that it's inaccurate.

Much of the information in the Ospreys is culled from Horatio B Chauncy's 'Military Mealie Bags Through the Ages', most of which is pure fiction. Opinions differ about the stripes, but the latest theory is that Chauncy acquired some coloured crayons whilst in the mental institution.

Slightly humorous posts OFM and Connard, although I'm not sure how they are a positive contribution to the discussion. Are you using humor to expose how silly it is for some of us to want to know if mealie bags had stripes or not?

Thanks or trying to do me a favor (saving me time painting all those stripes) but I haven't changed my mind yet :)
I appreciate the thought!

The Bushy Run museum is not a National Park at all, it isn't even a state park anymore and gets all its own funding.

It is run by the Bushy Run Heritage society.

That Osprey is spot on, John's informant is a fraud.

I'm going to apologize for the snotty post I made, but John and Connard- I'd really like to know if you guys are seriously against someone getting all the information they can about a subject, and then deciding whether or not to deviate from accuracy? That's how your posts come across.

No need to apologise. I can take it as well as dish it out. John's a big boy too.

What we're saying is, it doesn't matter to anyone but you. At this remove who knows? The people who were there are long dead. Beating oneself up over obscure detail is the route to madness in this hobby, there are so many unknowns and uncertainties.

Warning: More 'humour' follows.

I'm almost certain that in the darkest cellars of Whitehall there still exists a yellowing document with the cover title "Bags MkVI. Mealie, Maize. For the Transport and Storage of." in which the precise size, colour and weight of cloth is laid down.

I further assume that civilian contractors assiduously ignored such dictat, and used whatever they had in their stores.

I was serious about the War Department arrow though. That would have been stencilled on the bags.

Go with what seems best for you.

I had a similar dilema a while ago around painting my Spanish hill town.
One manufacturer stated as a virtual fact that buildings were not whitewashed back in Napoleonic times.
They said they got this knowledge from a visit to Spain.

Yet a TMP member lives in such a Spanish hill town and said they could have been painted white.

I found a website for a Spanish village that has a celebration every few years that involves re-whitewashing their homes, they say this celebration first took place before the Napleonic wars.

So depending on who you talk to you can justify whatever colour you like best.
I wanted nice whitewashed buildings so did it anyway and I have evidence to say it is accurate, others say they have evidence that it is not.
The fact of the matter is, I like how it looks and it is my toy.
How annoyed would I be if I spent all that time to paint it grey and brown and disliked it just because it is more 'real' as stated by some blokes I have never met.

What we're saying is, it doesn't matter to anyone but you.

Exactly.

It never would have occurred to me to worry about that. I most likely would have painted mealie bags to look vaguely burlap-ish. I am surprised that a question wouild arise.
If there IS a "correct" answer, go for it.

I tend to be quite exacting when I paint my AWI or FIW figures. IF the detail is to be found easily, I will use it.
The very fiorst Britrish regiment I painted was the 38th Foot. Why? Because in several different book (remember books?) I found plates for the line infantry, light infantry, grenadiers, officers and flag.
How many times have they been the "actual" 38th Foot in a wargames battle? Less than half?

Here is the "problem" as I see it. If your mealie bags are as totally "accurate" as it is possible to be for Rorke's Drift, do you have to make up and paint up a whole different battalion of mealie bags for Bushy Run, if you KNOW that the mealie bags at BR were a different color than the ones at RD?
Would you refuse to use mealie bags for sandbags?

By the way. Does anyone have a good tutorial for making mealie bags out of sculpting clay?

Would you refuse to use mealie bags for sandbags?

To be fair, mealie bags were a good deal larger than sandbags. They held a lot of maize.

Honestly, the stripes on the piuctures from the Warlord site are what prompted me to ask the question. I can find/figure an appropriate burlap color and am not that anal about it. But when I saw very specific markings on the bags, it made me curious.

The colour of the biscuit boxes seems a bit dark in those pictures…

What an a-maize-ing discussion!

Well, someone had to use that pun and it might as well be me.

I, too, have the Horns of the Buffalo set, and would be interested in other's take on painting the mealie bags.

Since there are a lot to paint, I'd just as soon NOT paint stripes on them.

Mind you, this is really not the most important information regarding accuracy, but I DO want to have my set look as good as possible, so the question is valid to me.

I haven't started on any of the scenic items yet, so I'll keep an eye on this thread for useful information.

GregS

Sadly, you are not likely to find useful info on this thread, unless you consider snarky comments useful.

Sadly, you are not likely to find useful info on this thread, unless you consider snarky comments useful.

Very little of what I posted is snarky (to British eyes anyway, Americans seem to be hypersensitive in this area), there are some elements of truth in my posts though. Perhaps it's that you find hard to handle?

I've had that question in the back of my mind for years, ever since I first made my own Rorke's Drift years ago, for the same reasons…curiosity and with a vague interest in getting it right. But I sold that off at Historicon about 15 years ago, and now own the Warlord set, so I appreciate the question (not that I'm necessarily going to bother to paint them historically even if we find out the truth).

While we're at it, another vague wonderment I've had for years since watching "Zulu"…what does the "WD" with the arrow signify? "War Department"?

what does the "WD" with the arrow signify? "War Department"?

White Dwarf.
GW own the IP for Rorkes Drift.

No need to be 'snarky' AB

I think you will find that my comment was rather witty old chap!

One man's wit is another man's snark old boy!

If it's any help one of the weaving firms who's archives I'm working on was supplying the British war office with jute sacks during the Zulu war. Raw jute is a mid to dark brown and bleaches to a straw colour in the sun.

No certainty that they were used as mealie bags in South Africa but they seem to be sent everywhere in the Empire and beyond.

x42

Regardless of colour do any of you folks have tips on using washes , shading , highlights, dry brushing etc for the mealie bags and boxes. They are well sculpted pieces of scenery so (in my opinion) worth spending time on to make them look good.

"Don't forget to stencil a WD arrow on them though."

Anyone reproducing the broad arrow without authority within UK jurisdiction is committing an offence under Section 4 of the Public Stores Act 1875.

So don't.

Will they be around to inspect me then? It would be pretty funny actual.

Owen

They are reading this thread, and they know where you live.

I believe CPT Jake's organization settled the Crown jurisdiction issue quite some time back…

Well said, Rubber Suit Theatre!!

Hey if they do show up perhaps they can tell us all the proper shade and the best wash to use.

Owen

proper shade, don't know. But for those who want to know, pop over to Lead Adventure Forum, the Colonial thread and find the photos of the gorgeous river boat with the bags on it where you can see the actual texture of the bags (Plynkes can help here if he chooses) and follow that lead and you are not likely to go wrong. Accurate or not, people will admire the work.

- there should be a new page on TMP where only snarky members are allowed – AND not allowed out of that page -

If you want to see "snarky" in action just pop over to the Napoleonics Boards.

I think everything said above was all in good humour and should be given and taken as such. We really cannot have any snarking in the Mess, chaps: its just not proper.

Early Morning Writer, I'd love to help, but I can't quite recall which one you mean (we've had a fair few river steamers come through Colonial Adventures). Can you remember whose it was?

pop over to Lead Adventure Forum, the Colonial thread and find the photos of the gorgeous river boat with the bags on it where you can see the actual texture of the bags

Could be Frank's:

link

Plynkes, no I don't recollect who but it was there in the last month or so and I believe it was one of the best "action photos" every seen of miniatures – with a hippo in the mix if I recall rightly.

Plynkes, no I don't recollect who but it was there in the last month or so and I believe it was one of the best "action photos" every seen of miniatures – with a hippo in the mix if I recall rightly.

Doc, that is it. Spectacular work and if you can do similar work on your mealie bags, CPT, no one is going to care if its accurate.

Fantastic pics, aren't they? I was lucky enough to play with Frank's figures on his Sudan layout last year at the Tactica show.

The two games I played there had a different steamer (without sandbags), one built by Michael Immig, I think. It was before Frank had built his own. I think that's what threw me. I got the two confused in my memory.

There was unfortunately some unavoidable tomfoolery with that hippo…

It seems odd that there so many mealie bags used there. I mean, bags are really ineffective as mealie weapons. They should have used knives, swords, or even brass knuckles and saps. Now there are some proper mealie weapons.

Hey, Plynkes, I have no idea where I am going to use it but you just gave me a great character name: Tom Foolery – maybe I'll connect him from one period to another until he 'lives' in all my miniatures collections! What do you think, should he have a pet hippo?

My two cents worth, the color of the bags is ingrained in our heads from "Zulu", so whatever the true historical color was (and stripes / no stripes) it may not look right to you ot others unless you go with "their" color. Just my opinion.

'Zulu' the final attack.

YouTube link

Lots of mealie bags with Michael Caine and Stanly Baker in the foreground.

I did a spit take with my morning coffee when I saw that hippo. I gotta gets me one of those!

Whether bags were bade out of burlap or canvas, their color would vary significantly based on age and exposure to sun and the elements. Then there would be the added variables of method and material of manufacture.

Long story short, there really is no wrong answer.

I've often had wargames ask me about colour for various things.
My rule is that if you cant find any references and nobody you ask knows, then its hardly likely that there will be anyone who can prove you wrong for painting them to your own best judgement.

May be worth browsing thru the Diehards gallery perhaps?

thediehards.co.uk

For those chaps lucky enough to have the Horns of the Buffalo set – what are the dimensions of the complete model? Want to make sure it'll fit on my table before I do something stupid like ordering it.

By the way it doesn't mealie matter how you paint the bags! Sorry, couldn't resist!

I have not gotten around to setting mine up on the table yet, but I may do so this weekend as I am interested as well. If I do I will post here.

Owen