Perry Plastic Zulu War British Infantry Preview

[LordSpode1879]

My son doesn't mind too much...he'll happily put up with reasonable size variances?

[Calimero]

Nice figures! As usal with Perry's plastic.

Was the "Home Service Helmet" used on campaign too?

[Captain Blood]

No. Only at home 

[LordSpode1879]

These are a must purchase as soon as humanly possible kinda thing.....

[charla51]

Does anyone else think that the gaiters on the ORs are just a tad too short? Shouldn't they grip the trousers at a point just just below the knee?

And the Home Service helmet wasn't just a campaign helmet with a spike, it didn't flair out above the ears as these seem to do.

[Marine0846]

Really like the look of the figures.
The Lord knows I don't need to buy more figures.
But that has never stopped me before.

[Bindonblood]

Hi Charla,

No, the gaiters look spot on for the o/r

[charla51]

Can all those contemporary London Illustrated graphics be wrong?

[carlos marighela]

Wow! Those are so very tempting and what an incredible treasure trove of useful head variants.

[Argonor]

...what an incredible treasure trove of useful head variants.

That!

[Bindonblood]

Yeah, and perhaps no one has done a correct figure before....

I've never seen a wargames figure with long gaiters. That said, that is no guarantee of anything.

However the Perrys are usually good at research and converting that research into accurate figures.

While some illustrations do show longer gaiters the photos from the period tend to show the short gaiters being worn by other ranks.

There are a couple of pictures that look like longer ones, but they could be either officers, irregulars or mounted infantry off the top of my head, they aren't clear. 

Ian Knight's Osprey, British Forces in Zululand for example has illustrations that match these figures, so I would tend to believe these figures are correct.

[charla51]

"I've never seen a wargames figure with long gaiters. "

At a cursory glance, take a look at the British infantry of the A-Z war as made by:

  Redoubt   Empress   Foundry   Minifigs   Hat (1/72)   Britains (1/32)

All have gaiters extending up the leg gripping the trousers at the widest part of the calf. I always thought this was this case.

The gaiters on the Perry figures here seem more like those of WWII British infantry.

[sjwalker51]

Couple of very informative threads on the Victorian Wars forum that seem to confirm the Perrys have got it right:

http://www.victorianwars.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=6212
http://victorianwars.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7869

While over there, take a look at the more recent and very interesting thread (from Mike Snook) questioning which equipment the 1/24th were wearing at the time of Isandlwana. Looks like it's not just boots and gaiters that are wrong (for this particular action at least) on most wargames figures. :-)

[Bindonblood]

Which Foundry A-Z War range? The one the Perrys sculpted or the other one?

If the other range,then I would describe them as short rather than long,if you look where the knees are.

http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/our-ranges/colonial/zulu-wars/british-army-africa-collection-bcda015/

If you look at the pack of gunners, the officer's are long, the gunner's are short.

Thanks Simon.  Ill take a look at those threads. Must resist more figures though.... 

[Cubs]

From memory I think the leather gaiters worn by infantrymen in the AZW were 11" tall at their longest point (the ankles, comfortably reaching the calf on an average height soldier of the time) when new, but they had a tendency to sag a little with use as the leather softened and wrinkled a bit. Also, the trousers were tucked into the top, but then folded over and pulled down a couple of inches to cover the top of the gaiter and hang down, so you wouldn't see the whole gaiter.