Royal Artillery

Just a small entry to the Painting Challenge this week, but considering how busy and tired I have been I consider this a success. I was planning on getting more infantry companies painted but was making such slow progress I switched to something a little easier just to make sure I could submit something this week.

Royal artillery uniforms were dark blue with red collars and red stripes down the outside of the trouser legs. I opted for a slightly lighter blue as the original dark blue would have looked almost black after the usual ink wash, especially at this scale. I rather like the result, although I'm sure uniform purists will be pulling their hair out.

At the start of the Anglo Zulu war the N/5 Battery Royal Artillery, consisted of Six 7pdr 200 lb Rifled Muzzle Loading (RML) guns. These were mounted on Colonial or Kaffraria carriages - low slung with large wheels and narrow tracks - which were considered more stable and therefore suitable for African conditions. This battery arrived in the Cape Colony in 1878, taking part in the closing stages of the war against Sandili before being assigned to the invasion of Zululand. Field batteries were usually equipped with 9pdrs at this time, but this battery had 7 prs which were thought to be more mobile and therefore better suited to the rough terrain.

One Gatling Gun was also brought into the early stages of the war via a Naval Brigade from HMS Active. After Isandlwana more Gatlings were brought into the Order of Battle and played an important part in the closing battles of the war. I expect I'll be painting more of these at some point in the future but with naval troops manning them rather than RA gunners.