Brecon Regimental Museum and Cathedral

Good afternoon folks,

I've just had a cracking weekend visiting the Brecon Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh. Formerly the South Wales Borderers (formerly formerly 24th Regiment of Foot/ 2nd Warwickshire!). The museum, whilst small, is superb, packed to the brim with history. It has sections ranging from the Zulu War, all the way to WW1 & WW2, then ending with the Troubles in Ireland and the recent war in Afghanistan.

My favourite section by far was the large room for the Zulu War, it had Lieutenant Melville's dress tunic and other personal possessions, including a sketch book of his. The central diorama was incredible, showing Rorke's Drift at the height of the ferocious fighting. These were 28mm Redoubt figures as far as I could tell. Even though I have plenty of Empress miniatures British I was tempted to buy a few interesting poses from Redoubt afterwards, such as those characters carrying ammo and British wounded.

Brecon town itself is a nice spot, after the museum we popped over to the Cathedral where the 1st Battalion Regimental and  Queen's colours are still held to this day. I'd urge anyone visiting the museum to go and see the colours, they are a real relic of the Zulu War. The flags themselves are thread-bare, encased in glass cases. A silver wreath was awarded to the Regiment for their actions at iSandlwana and Rorke's Drift, which can be see there in the Cathedral. All successive colours bear the silver wreath too, I could be wrong but I believe it is attached to the Queen's colours only.

The experience was highly informative and I'd eagerly recommend it to anyone interested in military history.

Thanks for reading and keep painting!
All the best,
Rhys

Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh (Brecon)

Hi folks,

Tomorrow I'm making a day trip (pilgrimage of sorts) to the Royal Welsh museum in Brecon, with my good friend Owen. We're both fascinated with the Anglo Zulu war so we'll be soaking in all the history there. We might even cram in the Firing Line museum at Cardiff Castle if we have time.

In terms of the hobby, I've been painting bits and pieces of terrain. Namely two plastic tree which were passably Zululand-fied, glued onto an old CD and large metal washer respectively. Copious filler, PVA and stones and Bob's your Uncle! Wilko tester pots in the UK are ideal for painting up terrain as they're a pound each, cheap and cheerful.

For Zululand earth I go Nutmeg spice then Chocolate dream as a dry-brush, the same method is used on my mini bases and even the 4x4 MDF board I made recently. For rock I go Flintsone then Urban grey. When researching stone in Zululand (the kind of sad thing I do in my spare time) there was a mix of results. When I had attempted a more sandy rock I wasn't happy with how it looked, so have stuck with grey since.

I'll be off the radar for a week or two as I'm visiting my girlfriend's family in  America for the first time. The dilemma, of course, will be what to take in terms of reading? At the moment I'm thinking ' 'Die Hard! Famous Napoleonic Battles' and Penguin's 'Alfred the Great' for my studies next year.

Keep painting!
All the best,
Rhys.

The Gathering Storm

Good morning folks,

Time hurries on and I'm throwing myself into wargaming the North West Frontier! I'm certainly not giving up on the AZW, I'll be adding odds and ends and painting units for it when I have the time.

So far as the 2nd Afghan war is concerned I'll be painting up figures from the Foundry and Artizan ranges. Some Afghan irregulars and regular infantry arrived yesterday, whilst I already have a great deal of British troops. I'll only need enough for a large skirmish game. I'm also making a big piece of terrain- a small Afghan fortress out of a large piece of packaging polysytrene, I've carved out the gate and interior with a serrated knife, and I'm moving onto the ramparts and ladders (made out of dental sticks of all things!).

I'll be posting pictures soon of my painting progress, they're a sorry sight at the moment with merely the base-coats.

Carry on painting!
All the best,
Rhys

Zulus, Royal Artillery and Natal Carabineers

Good morning folks,

I've been reading a great deal on the Anglo-Zulu war, making my way through Laband and Thompson's excellent Illustrated Guide to the  AZW. Also I've been tearing through Ian Knight's Zulu Rising and now his Brave Men's Blood. Whilst I've just began the latter, the former 'Zulu Rising' was immense and utterly comprehensive if you're interested in iSandlwana and Rorke's  Drift.

I've picked up a copy of Daniel Mersey's 'Wargamers Guide to the  Anglo Zulu War' too, which is a really helpful resource. I've really enjoyed doing the research for uniforms, going through lots of reference images online. All the books and reading have immersed me in the period and kept my enthusiasm up for the painting!

Here are a few pics of my WIP Anglo-Zulu war figures. The Empress Natal Carabineers are very nearly there but they have the nasty sheen of gloss which is going to be matted down today:

Here are some Royal Artillery personnel I've painted up, apparently there were a great many of them at the actual camp at iSandlwana who weren't actually manning the N Battery, 5th Brigade (two 7-pounder guns). These consisted of supporting roles such as carpenters, farriers etc. Really I just wanted to have a crack at painting their uniforms, I don't have an artillery pieces as of yet. They have red facings over dark blue tunics, trousers of the same colour (with red stripe), and yellow chevron and yellow Austrian knot.

Last but not least are a finished (minus basing) unit of Zulus, I'll probably be using them for the Men Who Would Be Kings rules. I have been using the half-sized (Skirmish Kings) variant which cuts down tribal units to 8 figs rather than 16 and regular infantry from unit of 12 to 6 figs. Its a great little skirmish game on a small table but I'm sorting out a larger table set up at the moment.

Next up on the painting bench will be Artizan Afghan War figures, I have Afghan regulars, irregulars on the way in the post, some British regulars (and some converted Empress Brits of my own), and Highlanders!! 

Keep painting,

All the best,

Rhys

Beginnings

Good evening folks,

I aim to write a blog concerning historical wargaming but focused on the Anglo-Zulu War, 2nd Afgan War and Napoleonic wars. Lately the AZW has really captivated me and I've dived into Ian Knight's books on the topic.

I was lucky enough to buy a job lot of AZW Empress miniatures from a fellow wargamer online, who admitted it was an unfinished project of his. We certainly all have those, gathering dust in a box, never to be graced by the brush!

These Empress castings of the AZW British really are quite something, I'll be posting pictures in the next couple of days of my progress through them. I'm attempted to 'black-line' the figures in order to have them pop on the table.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the researching the period, especially into the various uniforms of the war. For example, I have four excellent models of Natal Carabineers on my painting desk at the moment. I use the wealth of information available in the Osprey series of booklets, along with literary sources and other images I can find.

I hope in further posts I'll be able to format this blog well and insert liberal images of what I'm painting! I've been painting quite a few pieces of terrain for iSandlwana/ the beginning of the war so that'll serve as a good backdrop for photos.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope will be an enjoyable blog for fellow enthusiasts,
Thanks again,
Rhys