Empress Miniatures - Maoris

It seems far too long since the last post, what with the demands of work and the distraction of Lego - 'Pirates of the Caribbean' for the Wii, I have been found in dereliction of my duties with regards to this blog and painting in general.  

These fearsome warriors have been sitting on the paint queue for some time; part of the problem was the trepidation as to colour palettes, fortunately help was at hand in the form of the Osprey's 'Queen Victoria's Enemies 4 (Asia, Australasia and the Americas' but more importantly the work of Roly at 'Dressing the Lines' and Giles at 'Tarleton's Quarter'.

Empress New Zealand Wars Maoris

I've long been a great devotee of Empress Miniatures and this range fits perfectly within the parameters of 28mm Victorian Warfare.  The sculpts, once again by the talented Paul Hicks, are simply sublime with wonderful attention to detail.  Three of these are wielding tewhatewha a wooden war club with a striking edge; the fluttering feather ornaments apparently there to distract the enemy.

When it came to the basing I knew I wanted to represent the iconic silver fern (or bracken as we like to call it here) so associated with New Zealand.  These ones can from 'Hasslefree Miniatures'  and are part of their etched brass range.  All things considered I'm pretty pleased with the results although there have been one or two liberties taken with colours, particularly with the kiwi feather shawl.  Just now need to crack on with the others.

Female Warrior