Teaching "un vieux chien" some new tricks!

Voila Claude Deplussis, soldat of the 28eme legere.

I finished him today along with the rest of the 4th Company.  All have been given a protective coat of strong semi-matt varnish (hence the shine in the picture), and tomorrow, once the varnish has time to dry thoroughly, I'll take them outside for a few passes of matt spray varnish and mount them on their base.

Again, the picture doesn't do the figure justice.  A much darker, richer blue in real life and the cockade on the shako didn't come out very well on my cell phone camera. 

Nevertheless, this particular mini is something of a departure for me, as I tried a different painting technique with the ochre campaign trousers.  I'm pretty happy with the result.

I usually paint in all the shadows and line in the details.  Not as subtle as what some painters out there are capable of, and the "toy soldier" look is not to everyone's taste.   

But it is an effect I like, and it is reminiscent to me of the Peter Gilder and Phil Robinson figures that graced the pages of the early issues of Miniature Wargames.  And it does stand out nicely on the tabletop.  

The problem is that it is a time-consuming technique.  Washes would have made the job a lot simpler, but I have had no luck with using washes in the past.  They always looked terrible once dry; the colours would leach, and darker colours in particular tended to dry a whitish mess whenever they pooled in crevasses.  

I therefore decided to give up with washes, and to just do everything the hard way by painting in shadows, and lining in details such as deep creases and cross-belt lining.

But the method is too slow given the amount of figures I need to paint.   I need to speed things up somehow, and after checking some blogs and posts on line I decided to give washes a second chance, and to try my hand at what I call a "modified dip" method.  

First, I applied a coat of matt (actually satin) brush-on acrylic varnish over the area I want to wash.  When dry, I then took a small amount of the paint I wanted to shade the area with and mixed it in with some more varnish and a little water, and presto- it did the job nicely!

Now I want to experiment a little more with the technique, but it does seem promising.  I'll still keep largely to my traditional painting style with the lined-in detail as I do like the effect, but it looks like I may be able to take some much-needed short cuts when possible, and speed up production accordingly.   

Painting artillery

As far as painting goes, this weekend I've been working on- amongst other things- a section of French artillery; a 6 pdr. and four crew, all from Front Rank.

Here is the progress so far.

My latest hare-brained scheme is that I'll paint up one stand of artillery and a squadron of cavalry for each infantry battalion that is completed.  Not only will that break the painting monotony and save me from the madness that comes from painting multiple horse-harnesses and the black iron banding around the artillery pieces,  but it will also mean I can build up an all-arms force in relatively appropriate proportions.

This means it may be a while before I work on the next gun in the battery, so I will have to keep a record of what paints I used so that the miniatures are consistently painted the colours I want!  

The best place for me to do that is right here on this blog, so here is my "recipe" for painting a French artillery piece- largely for my own reference, but maybe someone out there may also find it useful.  All paints are Ceramcoat unless stated otherwise.

• Prime whole model black.
• Paint carriage and wheels Hammered Iron (a dark olive-grey). A number of thin coats are best to give depth.
• Drybrush with Timberline Green to bring out the woodgrain.
• Give the carriage and wheels a very thin wash of Amsterdam Acrylic's Raw Umber.
• Bring out the highlights on the woodwork with a light drybrushing of Olive Yellow.  Don't overdo it!
• Paint gun barrel with a couple of thin coats of Metallic Bronze.  Leave lots of time to dry between coats.
• When thoroughly dry, give the barrel a black wash.  Using a very thin brush, line in the raised parts of the barrel casting with black. 

Still yet to be done; first, however, take a good swig of some strong tea, coffee, or some stronger beverage to fortify self before going on to the next step.  It will take some time.

• After taking a deep breath, start painting all the remaining ironwork using matte black,  one side of the gun at a time. 
  
• When dry, highlight with Metallic Pewter.
• Carry out the same step for the wheel rims and iron hubs.
• Glue the wheels on to the gun.  
• Brush on satin varnish.
• Add figures and gun to base.
• Place on gaming table, roll high and knock down Russkis like ninepins.

Woo-hoo! Finished figures!

The elite companies of the 28eme legere, under the command of their brigadier,  Général Victor-Eugène BOUILLON-CANTINAT,  as they prepare to assault a manor house.   (Said to contain a large cache of the most excellent pinot-noir- the good general has a keen interest in all matters of logistical importance.)

Merde!  Not a single cask to be found.  The Prussians must have gotten there before us!  We'll go and hunt down some pesky Freikorps instead.

Half of a battalion is finished (indeed a full battalion should I wish to play a game of Shako)- the centre companies are soon to follow, along with a section of artillery- and hopefully a bit of a surprise! 

The third week of September is a long vacation here, and not only can I paint 'til I drop, but I'm also scheduled for an actual wargame!  We'll be playing DBR, but it will be a good chance to promote/ hype/ cajole interest in a game of DBN.

The Sands of Time...

"No sign of that wretched Sharpe fellow anywhere, mon ami..."

Time for a quickie update as I really want to get back to the painting table. The 28e legere are now being brush-varnished with a protective coating, after which I'll give them all a spray of artist's matte finish. I found a brand that sprays evenly and lightly, and dries matte with only a slight sheen. It seems to bring out the colours nicely.

While waiting for my bases to arrive from Litko, here is a skirmisher stand that I made up using one of the bases that I do already have. These are 50mm by 25mm pill-shaped bases that will do just fine for the voltigeurs.

The voltigeurs have now had their bases textured with fine sand, but I will paint the bases all in one go after the whole battalion has been based and textured, so that the paintwork will be consistent.

Note picturesque verdant background to photo. I bought some green hobby grass matting from a local craft shop. While at 50cm by 75cm it is too small for a gaming table, I have glued it to a board that I will use for my "studio" shots.

Right now I'm giving my back a break from being hunched over the painting table, and I've been looking at various online horseflesh-painting tutorials for the cavalry.

M. le Capitan's log, supplemental-  I found a couple of good sites here  and here on painting horses- lots of pictures of the actual beasts as well.

Cowardly captain's eye view

Not the best picture, the reds (highlighted in gouache scarlet to stand out on the tabletop) have come out much too orangy/ pink.

Note all the straps, accoutrements, piping, and assorted "doohickeys" which convince me that to be a Nappy buff you've gotta have the patience of Jove, or at least lean towards some interest in masochism...