Isandlwana Hill

With all my planned figures painted and two weeks left of the challenge remaining my mind began tuning towards a final 'Body of Work' photo. Then I thought it would be cool to lay out my British and Zulu's against a backdrop picture of the mountain of Isandlwana. This train of thought could only go one way and it wasn't long before I had a moment of inspiration/madness... and the next thing I knew I was building a mountain in my living room!

Let me start by saying that I have not built a lot of terrain before and certainly nothing on this scale, so this was a major learning curve for me. One thing that was evident from the beginning was that I was using the wrong materials; I had the wrong tools; and the less said about my technique the better! However I am happy with how this turned out and when I get myself properly tooled up  I will be making more terrain in future!

This isn't an accurate 3D model of the mountain, rather a rough approximation based on modern photo's and contemporary drawings. I think its recognisable as Isandlwana and is certainly acceptable for wargaming at home and in Posties shed-o-war.

'Last Stand' Cave.  

According to Zulu accounts one lone infantryman of the 24th is supposed to have held out in a cave only to run out of cartridges before being overrun and killed. If true he would have been possibly the last man to die in the battle. 

This model is made up of five layers of foam, each a little over 2" thick, so the whole model stands 11" high. The bottom layer is a little over 17" long by 10" so its 'footprint' on the games table will demand some attention! I spent a long time get to the top I spent ages trying to work out the dimensions for the purposes of scoring this is a little tricky but here are a few pictures and my size calculations.

I spent a long time trying to work out the dimensions for the purposes of scoring this model for the Painting Challenge. Terrain scores 20 points per 6" cube (216 cubic inches) and at 832 in³ this model is the equivalent of 3.8 cubes or 76 Points. Minion Ray graciously bumped this up to 80 points so I'm very happy with this as my last major project of the Challenge.