"Zareba" Topic

The Sudan is a project down the line for me. I have figures bought, some painted & TSATF rules selected. There are other projects ahead in the queue but I'm reading on the period as a sop to my interest.

The use of 'Zareba' (thorny mimosa bushes) were extensively used for protection against the Mahdi's troops.

How can I create this (in 1/72 scale if it makes a difference)?

I play British Colonial games set in the Sudan, among other places, in 15mm. I use lichen for my zarebas.

I'd second Lichen – you can get it in brown at the hobby shop if you look around. If you have seen the early 'Four Feathers' in B&W there is a scene with a zareba being attacked where the hero's friends are captured. Pretty universal for all Colonial games set in Africa.

Rubberised horsehair's pretty much ideal if you can get hold of it.

I second Dom's on the Rubberized horse hair.

Hard to get these days unfortunately, hence "if you can get hold of it" – occasionally it pops up at wargames shows, and I think Antenociti have it, but the most likely local source is an upholsterers or upholstery supplier.

Your link's part hog, and a very odd colour – the usual is a light scrub colour perfect for zaribas, eg:

link

I use marabou boas in my 28mm games. I buy the white ones and then use RIT dye to get them the color I want.

Here's a UK seller on Ebay:
auction
Fairly inexpensive.

I have been looking for proper rubberized horsehair in the US for years.

Apparently the main cause of poor supply is the unpopularity and consequent scarcity these days of rubberised horses.

Zariba made by the Flag Dude. Apparently clipped from some kind of plant.

ducdugrandfromage.blogspot.ca/search/label/Tamai

As noted above: lichen or what they sell as rubberised horse-hair is good. Real 100% rubberised horse-hair seems impossible to find these days. The links above are all to the substitute which is in fact mainly rubberised coconut fibre. It still works. It's available from companies selling materials for classic car upholstery, which is where I bought mine from.

Those suppliers selling it in the wargames hobby are often charging the most unbelievable mark-up on it imaginable and typically only selling in tiny little pieces. The only issue with buying from the classic car folks is that you have to buy a whole sheet which is about 3' x 6'. Best thing to do is to club together with some friends and split the sheet/cost.

In the UK you can buy sheets of it here (link below). It works out at around £2.00 GBP per square foot:
link

Hello,
I really like using lichen. I attached one of my blogs here so you can see them. Using that light colored lichen I thought worked and looked pretty good. To make things easier I wood skewered them in 1 foot and 6 inch sections. That gave me the flexibility of moving them around when the Zareba was removed in combat. It also allows me to just use the lichen skewers to line up my river banks quickly for my gunboat battles. Sgt. Guinness provided me some very nice rules for removing them in battle which worked out great.

And yes lichen tends to dry out but I keep mine in a ziplock bag and after every battle I spray them with water before I put them back in the bag. Keeps them nice and fresh…lol.

Last Stand Dan

link

Thanks for the replies: lots of solutions.

Great blog hunter4a BTW.