When I brought these off Trademe (New Zealand’s homegrown version of eBay) the British and allies were all based on 25mm round MDF bases. I was going to prise them off and reglue to multiple figures bases. However, at the time I saw the absolutely awesome Zulu War armies at Silver Whistle’s blog and thought – why not do the same.  He had used 20mm rounds so my sabot bases are necessarily a bit bigger, but I still think it will work.

I decided to base companies of British infantry in units of 16 figures (I have the Black Powder rule book and the sample game in that book uses similar so I went with that).  These are the first non-Napoleonic infantry I have painted in donkey’s years, and to be honest, they are a refreshing change from lace, fiddly uniforms and so on. I am sold already on this period.

This is  the first exposure I have had to Black Tree Designs miniatures and I have to say that I really like them. They are quite big and solid, and take paint well.

A bit of the first of my British allied units – Natal Native Contingent – who will be the subject of my next post.