"Zulu shield help needed!" Topic

Hi all,

I am trying to paint my Zulus as the uThalwana Ibuthu, and am finding lots of contradictory info online about their shield colours.
Its obviously white, but possibly with red brown spots?
Does anyone have any idea about the proportion (if any) of shields with spots?

Thanks in advance!

I've read the less white showing the more senior the regiment-if that helps.

In fact the opposite is true. Thus unmarried regiments (since marriage was allowed by regiment based on seniority and battle honors) would typically be predominately more black or brown. Married, or more senior regiments would be more white. Leaders would be almost all white.

Although figures usually have shields of the same size, in fact smaller, more handy shields would be used by the fighting regiments. Larger, unwieldy shields would be used by leadership.

There is a third shield which was typically reddish that would be tiny (buckler size) which was only used in ceremonies.

You may have noticed that I refer to regiments a lot. The Zulu are was very organized and the military was integrated into the culture. Marriage, honors, and privileges were conferred by regiment rather than individuals. In this way, they were not dissimilar to British army they opposed but were light years ahead of their contemporary African opponents.

I hope this helps.

I painted mine plain white.

Another factor was that older regiments on occasion got drafts of newly initiated youth to maintain their strength. The oldsters would have the light colored shields, but the youngsters would still have the dark ones.

I went full white. But then I also used white helmets on my Brits.

Since shield color is one of the main ways to tell regiments apart I make all figures in each regiment the same color.

If you are painting uThulwana in its peerless full regalia, go with white and a few random spots.
If you are going to add drafts of newbies (and this is the first time I heard of that), keep them in the rear and out of sight. The drafts have not earned the right to wear the regimental regalia.

It's true that the usual reference sources give contradictory information about this unit. Gnashing of teeth ensues!

But for what it's worth, mine are all white, since I painted them long ago when a more limited number of available books all agreed that white was their regimental distinction.

I'm not inclined to paint them over again. And like another poster said, uniformity and consistency helps distinguish one regiment from another on the tabletop, which is important when most of your players can hardly tell one Zulu unit from another. (It's different when YOU painted them!)

I'm just doing mine according to the Farnsworth article from Wargames Factory. Shield color helps to tell who from who ?

I don't think there were ever new drafts as such – regiments were organised according to age. What did happen is that, as regimental numbers were depleted due to age or attrition, they were brigaded together to form more effective tactical units.

Farnsworth is a pretty good guide on which to base your painting. And my uThulwana have almost entirely white shields as well.

Back to your original OP's question. Solid white shields would be rare (these were cow hide after all). IMHO they would be predominately white but would have some black, brown, or reddish blotches.

link

Thanks guys
I had started using the WF Farnsworth guide, which is white, with a few with 'red' blotches.
I think I may increase the number with blotches on as the figures look so cool that way! XRaysVision for the win!

As long as you're happy with 'em! May they conduct themselves with glory and aplomb!

Cheers Piper! – Win or lose, I am sure they will look damned impressive!