Zulu War British

 For my African gaming I've previously focused on WWI era East Africa. But with the release of "Death in the Dark Continent" and it's large variety of armies, I thought it was time to move a bit father back into the Victorian era.   A few years ago I had an order from Warlord go missing, and they were kind enough to throw in a few free sprues of their Zulu War British with the replacement package. Though they wouldn't have been my first choice for a new army (I would have preferred Sudan era troops), who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

Looking at online references, there seems to be a lot of variety in the red and blue shades people are using for the uniforms.  I eventually settled on the following Vallejo color triads:

Red 70926, Carmine Red 70908, Scarlet 70817
Black 70950, Dark Sea Blue 70898, Dark Sea Blue/Field Blue 70964 Mix

The sprue doesn't come with a ton of options, which is a tad disappointing considering there seems to have been enough open space to add more.  I would have liked to see a couple of more heads and arm variants, such as can be found on the new Perry set. 

 Warlord does not have a plastic command sprue like the Perry set, so you're forced to buy command from elsewhere.  I had read the plastic figures were designed to match the Empress Zulu War range, so got a pack of their officers. They are a bit more slight with thinner bases, but I think they'll blend in fine once painted.

While Perry's seem to be the better of the two sets, overall I am happy with the final figures.  Warlord recently had a 50% off sale on loose sprues so I went ahead and picked up another squad (plus some Natal warriors).  Northstar is also working on a VSF set of rules, so I expect these will be pressed into service there as well.