I have over the last few years been trying to put up more pictures of miniatures I’ve painted and projects I’ve done because after all this is “My journey in the World of Wargaming”. So here is a quick post up on some commission work I did some years back for a gamer many of us know and have battled with over the years, John Curran. While digging around my enormous pile of unpainted lead and stalled projects I found my “all the Zulus in the world” Rourke’s Drift project in 15mm sitting in several boxes. Now I love this period, had purchased nearly all the figures,Zulu and British, that old glory 15’s (now 19th Century Miniatures) produced, and also the whole Rourke’s Drift building set from Richard Huston himself at Historicon years ago with great intentions. However, after painting about 400 of them realized that this would be a seldom played game and frankly had drifted into other pursuits miniature wise. So up on the TMP “for sale” page they went only to be purchased by of all people fellow gamer (now living in another state) John Curran!
Yes like many of us I go a bit overboard when buying for a project!
John bought the whole set, figures and buildings, and also wanted me to paint them! Funny, I was trying to reduce the lead pile to create time for painting other items and now I ended up painting them anyway. Well not that strange since there are somethings that I really want to paint or build and this Zulu project was still one of those.
The vision of thousands of charging Zulus must have been terrifying! Back in the day I was still trying to paint eyes on 15mm figures! Silly me, although on these the tiny white in the eyes does help to define the face more.
The Old Glory set is rather nice and after a couple of additional details like supporting beams, room partitions and widow frames was ready for paint.
The roofs had nothing molded in to hold them in place.
Wood strips were added to keep the roof in place and not sliding around during the fighting!
Just a few extra details added. Balsa wood support beams and window frames ad a lot to the lifelike look of the building.
Ready for primer! I almost always use Krylon auto Primer. Flat Black!
Doing Zulu shields is like Medieval Heraldry there are certain colors for each “regiment” and I just gave up and painted what I liked withing historical constraints of course!
It was a fun paint and I felt a bit of satisfaction in finishing Rourke’s Drift even though I probably will never see it used. I hope John gets some enjoyment out of it!
Building #1 done!
I thought about basing the buildings but since I was not going to use them and I was not sure of the table setup/mat John might use I went without. The boxed set (no longer produced?) comes with Two buildings, Mealy bag wall, the Kral, Redoubt, and the ovens.
Nice interior for that desperate room to room fighting!
Looking back at this stuff make me sorta wish I never sold it, but as the French say Sela Vie, whats done is done, or something like that!
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- Ovens, Kral, and Redoubt.
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- Side access to barn.
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- The Barn and storage areas. Finished.
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- Simple paint but effective I think.
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- The Barn and storage areas. Half painted.
Thought I would post a few pictures of an ongoing project of mine. Years ago at the “HISTORICON” wargaming convention I picked up the “Old Glory” 15mm “Rourke’s Drift” 
then coated in clear gloss followed by some matte spray.
