A little bit of Napoleonic help please?

Ok, so work continues on lots of different things for Adepticon next weekend. I've just posted a couple of photos of completed ox-drawn water cart objectives over on the Guns of April blog, go check them out ; )

Above you can see the work in progress photos of my 7th Hussar. Things are trucking along nicely, but last night I hit a bit of a snag.

On his left arm he has this little band. It is neat, and doesn't really look like a bandage, but it also doesn't look too much like a black band of mourning (or something like that). I'm guessing it might be an identification band, marking him out as a member of a particular troop or squadron.

Do any of the Napoleonic buffs that check out my blog a) know what it is and b) what color it should be?

Cheers
Dave

The 7th Hussars in Egypt

With Adepticon rapidly approaching, I'm pleased to say that it seems we'll reach almost all of our goals for our Guns of April project. Lots of last minute painting (most of it seeming to be the cavalry components), and a little bit of fun modeling and objective building, and we'll be there. Expect to see a lot of posts on the GOA blog over the next two weeks.

Anyway, with that wrapping up, it seems I might have time to try to get an entry sorted for the Crystal Brush. Inspired by several paintings by Keith Rocco of a trooper of the French 7th Hussars in Egypt in 1798-99 (two of which you can see above) I've started on the model and have most of the conversion work done now. I've take a Perry Miniatures Hussar officer (from one of their 1815 command packs) and swapped his head for one from the plastic Hussars boxed set. A little putty work to give him the early Hussar boots, extend the flamme (I think that's what it's called), ensure his cap cord was attached to the mirliton headwear, and give him the late 18th Century hairdo was all that was required.

Next up is adding the final basing material and priming before I get stuck into the fun painting!

Wish me luck : )

Cheers
Dave

Busy, but not much to show for it.

I've busy, very busy, these past two weeks. Busy with work, travel, illness, children with illness, etc etc. I've still managed to squeeze in some painting time, and you can see the figures I've finished over on the Guns Of April blog ; )

In addition, here are a few cool things that have entered my house since the Cold Wars convention last weekend:

• Marshal Ney, the free figure from the Cold Wars show.

• Lots of fun reference material from those chaps at Osprey. Take particular note of the two on the right.

• Eight models from the "Napoleon in Egypt" range from Brigade Games. They are all members of the French Dromedary Corps, two mounted and six dismounted. I'm really looking forward to painting these up for some fun "Rosetta Stone" period skirmish gaming!

Earlier this week a package of Mantic's Corporation troopers arrived on my doorstep. I was originally under the impression that the Corporation models would be plastic, but these are the plastic resin. I've not worked with it yet, so I'm curious how things will turn out. I must say the figures look great, possibly the best from Mantic this far. A solid mix of contemporary and near-future aesthetics.

Finally, my Scenic Express order arrived with some more Late Summer Buffalo Grass tufts (I use these all the time). I added a few items I haven't used before that you'll get to see added to models over the coming months. The package at the front has four separate sheets of meadow flowers, each with different colors (yellow/white, red/white, purple/white, and brown/white). Should be fun to try these things out.

Until next time.

Cheers
Dave

Ligne and Leger, and not much Morr

Above are 15 of the French Ligne (Line infantry) battalion I'm working on. Only nine models to go.
Below are the first 12 of the French Leger (Light infantry) battalion I'm working on at the same time. Only 12 more of those models to go. I'm very glad to have "broken the back" of these units. 27 down and only 21 to go.

For those of you who have been wondering why the work on my Procession of Morr army has slowed down, well the recent rash of crazy Empire rumors has me wondering what will be released if and when it happens. The latest crop suggests an April release which would give me enough time to incorporate some stuff into the army. So, until these rumors here are confirmed, I'll keep plugging away on my Flagellant unit.

Cheers
Dave

Painting the early 19th Century, three models at a time

Last week I completed my "must do" painting tasks for the big Battle of Salamanca game my friends and I are putting on at Adepticon in two months time (I think it might be eight weeks today!)

That means, obviously, I have free time to help some of the other guys out wrapping up their forces. That's the fun part of working as a team to achieve it all. We're all committed, we're all working hard, and we'll all put some great looking models on the table top.

So, onto the French that I'm painting up. I figured I'd start with a battalion of French Ligne (regular, old, line infantry for those not in the know). Now, I typically paint from a black undercoat. By "typically" I mean that 99.5% of the models I paint are primed black rather than any other color. It's just the way I paint. Anyway, I noticed that the French models are wearing a solid 50% white clothing/equipment, and I've been itching to really try out my pot of Vallejo Pale Wash (73202). After deciding to try it out as an experiment on some wonderful Warlord Games Russian Grenadiers I have (waiting for me to launch into that project this summer), I realized this would definitely be the way for me to go. You can see the test in the photo above, and yes, they are the pink collars and cuffs of the Kiev Grenadier regiment. Quite nice aren't they.

So, simply put, the method is as follows:

• Prime models with white spray (to give you an indication of how infrequently I use white spray, I think my can might be from 2007)
• Wash the areas that will be white with the Vallejo Pale Wash
• Highlight white areas with white paint (I'm using Vallejo Dead White)
• Paint remaining areas as appropriate (usually going back to my normal dark-light process)
• Touch up any white areas with white paint

Above are the first three Perry Miniatures French models (themselves genadiers). The coats look a bit bright in this photo, they're actually quite a bit darker in reality. Also, in the spirit of using washes as intended, I painted the shakoes and shoes with Vallejo German Grey and then washed them with Badab Black. Another good result (particularly on the Russian kiwers.

Here are the next three, fusiliers this time, with their white bits washed and highlighted, and the rest of the painting begun.

Well, I'm back to painting these little Frenchmen for a while. Enjoy your weekend!

Cheers
Dave