The other day I finished off some Natal Native Contingent (Pioneers) for my Anglo-Zulu War project.
With the exception of the British commander, the minis are from Foundry's
Casting Room Miniatures line of figures that they thought weren't good enough for their main webstore...
They are the only company that makes Natal Pioneers that I could find. The minis look a little odd in the picture, but not that bad in person. Well, not
really bad. My painting probably doesn't help.
The Natal Native Pioneers were raised by the British army to support their invasion of Zululand. The British suffered from a shortage of engineers in South Africa, so used native volunteers to assist with road building, fortifying positions and getting stuff across rivers. At the beginning of the conflict 3 companies of Pioneers were formed and accompanied the invasion columns into Zululand. Each company had a strength of about 80 men (the recruitment target was 105, which only the 2nd company came close to reaching), consisting of 4-5 European officers, 4 African officers and the remainder being pioneers. The Pioneers were the only one of the three locally raised formations (The others being infantry and cavalry) to receive uniforms from the army. Each man was allocated an old red uniform jacket, pants, a hat and a tool. The jackets were an older pattern from the army stores with the traditional coloured patches used to designate regiment removed.
The Pioneers weren't meant to be a combat unit, though some of them did see action. The officers and the NCOs were the only men in the company who were allocated firearms, the rest had to make do with their tools or use their traditional spears. This was because the British were unwilling to arm the Africans rather than due to any shortages. Some of the Natal volunteers came from the Hlubi tribe, who the British had been fighting only a short time before and the British were therefore reluctant to trust the volunteers.
The 1st Company of the Pioneers accompanied the centre column from Rorke's Drift into Zululand and were present in the camp during the battle of Isandlwana (see the movies Zulu and Zulu Dawn for this). As a non-combat unit they were likely one of the few units with a chance to escape from the massacre that followed the collapse of the British line, though not many records were kept of the men in the unit and which ones were able to cross back into Natal.
Lt. John Chard (the hero of the movie Zulu), was an Engineer attached to the main column and had been left behind to build a bridge near Rorke's Drift along with a section of sappers. While the men working on the bridge in the movie were Welsh, in real life they would more than likely have been African.
The 2nd Company was assigned to the coastal column under Col. Pearson, where they helped to convert the mission station of Eshowe where the column ended up besieged and served as scouts and foragers during the siege.
The 3rd Company were in one of the reserve columns that was also present at Isandlwana, though the 3rd aren't listed as having taken part in the battle itself.
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450
I can't speak for the models as I haven't started assembling them, but the rulebook is a beauty. Wonderful detail, illustrations and full lists in the back.
