Expeditionary Force British Artillery For Zulu Wars is just what you need to add to your battles. As you know Expeditionary Force has released a series of sets for the British and Zulus. Now Expeditionary Force has artillery for the British.
Expeditionary Force British Artillery For Zulu Wars Photos
The Expeditionary Force British artillery comes in two versions. You can either get the figures with spike (ball) sun helmets. The other way is to get the figures with plain sun helmets. The cannon is a nine pounder. The set comes with nine figures and two cannons. You have one officer looking through binoculars. This leaves four figures for each of the cannons.
This a nice amount of men for each cannon. It annoyed me that Marx in their Civil War playset did not have enough men to man their cannons. Expeditionary Force does a proper amount. You have soldier ready with a ramrod. There is man carrying a shell. Next is soldier ready to fire the cannon Finally the man is carrying a bucket or powder.
Expeditionary Force British Artillery For Zulu Wars Cannon
The nine pounder cannon comes in four parts. Two wheels, barrel and carriage make up the cannon. It is called a nine pounder because of the weight of a single solid iron shot fired by that bore of cannon. Looking at the history of British artillery in the Zulu war we find that the nine pounder was not used in the beginning of the war. At that time the six pounder cannon was used. The nine pounder was in the battle after the disaster at Isandlwana. Between the use of cannons and Gatling guns the British forces were able to defeat the Zulus.
Expeditionary Force British Artillery For Zulu Wars Final Thoughts
The set sells for $34.80. Only one other company put out British artillery. That is Armies in Plastic. The figures are for a few years after the Zulu Wars, but they have done a Gatling gun. It will be interesting to see if Expeditionary Force does one as well.
Look pretty nice !
It’s true that Marx didn’t give us a full crew to man its artillery pieces. But Imex (back in it’s good old days when it was still making good, high quality plastic figures) contributed excellent artillery poses that fit in perfectly with Marx. AIP’s Civil War Artillery crews are also great.
But for Ex. Force, with these outstanding artillery sets to add to their outstanding 24th Foot, plus mounted units, plus Zulus, is making a real contribution.
And Accurate did some too plus BMC before Imex.
I think a call to arms did one and Stombraker did one set too x CW and other x ARW in plastic and metal formats kits.
In vintages only Britain artillery sets are close but very costly .
Now most sets done by those are of 3 figures plus cannon.
In reality a cannon was served least by 4 and still does.
Not counting officer that generally serve/command a battery of 4 cannons.
But is true back in the era,complete a lack in Marx being able to do so many other poses,be se careless in it.
In fact their ARW,Alamo and WW2 sets lack then too.
Marx did abundantly in poses and sets plus many cannon and even caisson drivers/crew.Yet fail.
But they did other poses few had touched too.
I’m impress in EXF set detail and getting better every time.
Yet their prices are become collectibles but not discourage their sales as far I heard.
Well so far they had gone as promoted and in time with may release of Zulus and colonial British plus following.
as copy from last stated and base in 2016 they mention…
(The major periods planned for 2016 are Colonial Wars (Zulu-Boxer),60mmNapoleonic Wars (1812-1815), and Wars of the Roman Empire.60mm)
Sound too me a lot and diverse as cover three periods/wars eras .So least one set each army per era should be done by end of 2016 if they continued as of now I think.
So far they had released since May 5 different poses sets with additional parts variation of Zulus and 5 different sets British plus Ancient chariots addition to previews ancient sets.
Total 11 sets since May not counting head /weapons variation.
One interesting note I always see and EXF company note more is the fact they list their sets for gamers and collectors, typing (gamers first) ,every set lists that and main page advertise as well in same format.
Another indication that the market for gamers had got very ample since AIP with these scales but definitely most EXF and AIP do not match in scale next each other.
Still as I been reading in gamers blog they buy a lot this brand even the prices had gone high than most.
The demise and stop of HAT,italeri ,ACTA,IMEX,Waterloo ,let then with AIP only left till 2013 when they stop.
So now EXF is only champion in mass set produced sets per years and variety of them.
Again my only point here is to observe that many making toy soldiers are focusing in gamers customers as never before and clear proof the gamers transition in to bigger scale had increase a lot as well.
My thoughts..
Beautifully sculpted figures but not my cup of tea, sadly – though I wish them the best as I think EF is a great addition for many in the hobby. My own reservations, expressed several times before is cost and scale issues (which I hope they have solved).
Someone made the comment about gamers’ influence on the hobby and this is one of my concerns as a collector and guy who specializes in mini-dioramas and temporary photo scenes. It appears to me (and I discussed this time and again and it probably damaged my relationship with at least one producer with whom I had a close relationship) that concentrating on the gaming aspect reduces our figures to mere playing pieces. Beautifully detailed and sculpted playing pieces but pretty much playing pieces.
For pre-20th Century Armies it appears more and more you see the “basic” six poses: Officer, Standing firing, Kneeling firing, At ready (defense), Advancing (attack), Marching. Maybe you get a bonus musician figure and/or flag bearer. Cover those and gamers are satisfied. One can do the same pretty much with WW2, only maybe substituting the marching pose with a light mg or mortar.
The sad thing is, it’s like I noticed one day when I was playing with my little brothers with their Airfix WW2 guys one afternoon on the bedroom floor. I used to send them a box or two of the then-newly released Airfix sets (1/32nd scale) every month when I was stationed in Germany. When I came home on leave one time I got on the floor with them and we had a big battle all the Axis v. all the Allies. With every set out on the floor together I realized (with the exception of some of their sets like WW2 US and German Paras and Ghurkas) you pretty much had seven basic poses with minor differences other than uniforms. What’s the point, really?
As I pointed out years later to a friend who was a gamer, one could use matchsticks painted different colors and game. Don’t get me wrong, I used to game years ago when I lived near other folks who shared my interest in toy soldiers, but I liked the occasional guy getting shot in my firing line to add realism. I didn’t mind having a few guys sitting in the rear drinking coffee (we could always swap them for a fighter later in the game). But, sadly, I usually end up in the minority in such discussions.
I know gamers are going to love these figures and if I was more in to Zulu Wars and had more in my budget for the hobby and there wasn’t so many other things I AM interested in, I would definitely invest in these guys to augment my Conte or ACTA British – that is, if they were the right scale.