Tag Archives: Warlord Games

Portuguese Infantry (Warlord Games)

I got a couple of boxes of Warlord Games plastic Portuguese infantry a few years ago off Scott at Kapiti Hobbies.  They sat undercoated and ready to paint on my table for the best part of three years whilst I was in the midst of my painting block. However, I decided to get cracking on them and finished them last week.

The Warlord Games set comes with 24 figures. Twenty are plastic and there are four metal command figures. The standard bearers come with wire flagstaffs with very pointy spear points. Be aware that they will jab you under the finger nail if you are not careful and draw blood. The figures come basically as one part miniatures to which you glue the backpack and the head variant you want – Barrentina or Stovepipe shakos and a head in a fatigue cap.  I went with the barrentina shakos to match my earlier period Portuguese infantry already painted.

These figures are OK but are plastic. Which means I have been my usual paranoid self when it comes to fretting about broken bayonets. Some of the figures have some dodgy moulding – cuffs that merge into ration bags for instance, but on the whole they are pretty clean.

These guys will pass muster on the tabletop but not so much for close up scrutiny. I did not use the flag sheet that came with the box, but printed off a sheet of Portuguese flags I found on the internet and used two. I know they are not right for the regiment – one of the ones with red cuffs and piping – but frankly, I don’t give a rat’s arse about that. They look vaguely Portuguese so that is good enough for me.

Zulu War: British Volunteer and Auxiliary Cavalry

I have wanted to include a unit of Volunteer and Auxiliary Cavalry in my British force for some time but various reasons – mainly cost and other spending priorities, has put this on the back burner. However, I splashed out and ordered some Empress dismounted volunteer and auxiliary cavalry from Nathan at Elite Miniatures Australia.  While waiting for them to arrive I decided that of course that meant that I needed to represent these guys in their mounted form as well. So…I decided to give converting a go.

I looked through the lead/plastic mountain and found a box of Perry ACW Cavalry.  I also had sprues of Warlord Games British infantry and Natal Native Contingent available, along with a tube of really old greenstuff.

These guys came out a bit huckery in places but on the whole I was happy enough with the outcome considering it was a two day job.  I made four Natal Mounted Police, four Natal Carbineers, two Newcastgle Mounted Riflemen and two Buffalo Border Guard.

The horses were used as is. The tack and harness is not exactly Zulu Wars Imperial but I could live with that.

Bodies were mostly used as is, with some tunic lengthening and ration bags added with greenstuff. Helmets and hats came from Warlord Zulu Wars British infantry and cartridge belts from their plastic Natal Native Contingent sprue. I also took the odd NNC hand and rifle as well.  Not the greatest conversions but I think will pass muster on the tabletop and three feet of distance.

IMG_5138 IMG_5139 IMG_5141 IMG_5142And the finished product.

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Natal Carbineers
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Natal Carbineers
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Natal Mounted Police
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Left – Buffalo Border Guard – Right – Newcastle Mounted Rifles.

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Zulu War: British Casualty Bases

Yesterday I knocked out these casualty bases for the British side in my Anglo-Zulu Wars project.  I had a few Redoubt casualties (all Auxiliary Cavalry) that I brought in an order last year – really to test the waters with Redoubt figures to see how compatible they were with my Black Tree Designs figures. Very compatible as it turns out.

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A Frontier Light Horseman. I don’t actually have a unit of these yet, but best to be prepared.
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A Natal Carbineer. I do in fact have a unit of these – subject of a post next week when I take some pics.
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A Redoubt Natal Carbineer that I converted to be a Newcastle Mounted Rifleman. based on one of the custom 70mm casualty bases I had made by Warbases in the UK.
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Another view of same. He arrived with the barrel of his carbine broken off so replaced with a piece of a pin.

I had no British infantry casualty figures on hand so turned to my Warlord Games plastics. I brought a bunch of sprues during one of their sales a year or so back and assembled one company of British infantry and got halfway through painting them before I decided that I didn’t like the plastic figures for this project….but that meant a lot of left over bits.

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A British sergeant comforts a wounded comrade.
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Started life as a standing firing pose. But then again don’t they all.

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