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[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

From Empress.





There will be some more Brits next week...... and then the cavalry immediatly after  - 

[Malamute]

Very  nice

[Helen]

Nice facial expressions on the British.

Helen

[former user]

very individual faces

nice

but aargh, the zulu shield are the late uprising versions......

are they seperate??

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Yes they are seperate and we do have the larger shield in the range.

Not sure what you mean by the late uprising version?

[former user]

shaka 1824 - very big shields
zulu war 1879 - very big shields and a bit smaller variants
1887, 1906 - uprisings, small "ceremonial style" shields, because the original shields were recognized as useless against minnie shots  - depicted above

[Plynkes]

Not sure what you mean by the late uprising version?

By the time of Bhambatha's 1906 rebellion the shields carried by the warriors were very small. I would say they were perhaps even smaller than the ones depicted in the above picture, though. Maybe, maybe not. I can't really remember.

Edit: former user beat me to it.

[Traveler Man]

Oh, I like those British! Lovely animation and detailing! 

[Malamute]

shaka 1824 - very big shields
zulu war 1879 - very big shields and a bit smaller variants
1887, 1906 - uprisings, small "ceremonial style" shields, because the original shields were recognized as useless against minnie shots  - depicted above

By your comments above I would say the Empress shields are the "bit smaller variants" and therefore spot on for the Anglo/Zulu war of 1879.

[former user]

Edit: former user beat me to it.

why would I?
I have seen some photographs, and who knows what or whom the photographer did depict??
and yes, there are written accounts that the shields were small
that's it
was anyone running around with a ruler? - don't think so

returning to the miniatures
the warriors in theit period costume would belong to the large war-shields
at that time the small shields would be ceremonial or dancing shields
but then the costume would be more ceremonial as well, and even the married warriors depicted would wear a little bit more panache

to the small shields used in combat would also belong the magical tokens (wasn't it a headband or what?) that made the warriors "bulletproof"
an attribute clearly noticed by the british soldiers after the battle when feasting on their fruit salad 

[Calimero]

Is the second British figures from the left have a bandaged head under is helmet? It’s hard to tell from the photo.
All those figures are really nice by the way!

[Plynkes]

why would I?

I think we're misunderstanding each other here. I'm not sure what you mean by that. When I said "former user beat me to it" I simply meant you had said much the same thing as me. Your post was not there when I started typing mine. I did not want you to think I was ignoring you, as I think it is a little rude when people do that on forums, so I edited what I said to acknowledge your post.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

To clarify there are two shield sizes in the Empress range the large 'earlier' shield that was still being used in 1879 and the smaller shield that had become very common by 1879. Thus the modeller has a choice.

The shields are NOT representative of the far smaller, almost, ceremonial shields seen in the later rebellion period. These were significantly smaller than the ones we model.   

Hope that makes sense 

[Yankeepedlar01]

Probably the odd one out here, but the Zulus in my opinion are just 'more of the same' poses with 'added fiddly bits and bobs'. I would like some more agressive looking figures please in a future release. I'd also like some Boers please. I like the British figures much more, but I have more than I need already, so other 'types' are more useful to me.

[Gluteus Maximus]

To clarify there are two shield sizes in the Empress range the large 'earlier' shield that was still being used in 1879 and the smaller shield that had become very common by 1879. Thus the modeller has a choice.

The shields are NOT representative of the far smaller, almost, ceremonial shields seen in the later rebellion period. These were significantly smaller than the ones we model.   

Hope that makes sense 

If I remember correctly, the larger ones were retained by older "traditional" warriors, whilst younger ones used the smaller version. Possibly also due to "defense cutbacks" as there was obviously less hide used for each smaller shield.