From Greg: 28mm Foundry Austrian 5th Dragoon Regiment

Straight off of Greg's painting table here we have a beefy regiment (24 models) of Austrian Dragoons - the 5th Regiment - Prince Eugene of Savoy's Moravians.

I asked Greg to give me a run-down of how we painted these lads and here is what he passed along:

"The colours are my usual pile - a mix of GW and craft paint ("Americana" from Michael's) acrylics. The white on the uniforms starts with a base of GW Fortress Grey. For straps, to give them some more "pop", I go straight to a Americana white. For the cloth parts, the base is the same (GW Fortress Grey), but then I put a highlight of GW Bleached Bone, before a final highlight of Americana white. The facings were GW Dark Angel Green as a base, then GW's Snot Green (hate their names). The shabraque and other red horse furniture started with a base of GW Red Gore, then GW Blood Red, and a final highlight of Americana Cadmium Red. On the shabraque, there is an eloquent “F II”, with a crown on the back corner of each side.  I can’t do detail like that 48 times, so I just did a metallic gold squiggle. The gloves for the troopers were base colour of GW Codex Grey, with a highlight of GW Fortress Grey, and then a final touch of GW Bleached Bone. The gloves on the officer started with GW Snakebite Leather, then GW Kommando Khaki, and a final highlight of GW Bleached Bone."

"Skin tones start with a base of GW Bleached Bone, then a main highlight of GW Vomit Brown, and a final touch of GW Elf Flesh. Generally, I have found a personal preference for the "yellow"er side of skin stones (as opposed to using Dwarf Flesh, for example) but I am going to experiment a bit to get into a colour progression that maybe provides a bit more warmth. I am so stubborn..."

"Any yellow parts (the lining of the shabraque, the comb) started with a base coat of GW Snakebite Leather, and then got GW Golden Yellow. On the shabraque, I painted in a thin line of GW Regal Blue between the two yellow stripes...I didn't quite capture the detail I have seen in some of those blankets, but it added enough. For the comb, I like to create some contrast/context with the colours, so I would only dab the yellow over the base colour, and would let the yellow "fade" before refreshing the brush and dabbing more, to create a contrast. I would also dry-brush GW Shadow Grey over the black part of the comb, to give it definition too."

"The horses were just various combinations of browns with highlights. The musician's horse was GW Shadow Grey, the GW Kommando Khaki and finally GW Bleached Bone."

There you have it. This regiment will give Greg a hefty 48 points to the 'Spring-Thaw Painting Challenge'. Greg has now completely closed the gap with JohnM and myself. Excellent stuff, Greg!

From JohnM: 28mm Front Rank & Perry British Foot Artillery

Here are some very nice new arrivals from JohnM: three bases of British Foot Artillery.  

The two flanking sections below are Perry sculpts (Hanoverians technically) while the center gun and crew are from Front Rank. For those interested, John says he used GW Fenris Grey for the gun carriages and the Quickshade Dark Tone varnish for the shading. Great job, John!

John is busy getting forces together to run a La Haye Sainte scenario using his solo-game modifications to 'Lasalle'. Judging from the Hougoumont game that he ran over the Christmas holidays this upcoming game, focusing on the assaults on Wellington's center, should be both exciting to follow and a feast for the eyes.

These lads will give him 15 points to the Painting Challenge, pushing me aside for the lead. Nonetheless, I hear the drumming hoofbeats of Greg's Austrian cavalry approaching so we should soon have some more action on the scoreboard!

6-10mm Scale Terrain from 'Forge World', 'JR Miniatures' and others

A resin 'Forge World' castle tarted up with additional buildings and trees.

I was reorganizing the shelves in my storage cabinet the other day and noticed some 6-10mm terrain that needed a bit of touching-up since our move.  I dragged them out, repaired them, got a little nostalgic (sniff) and thought I'd put up a few shots of them. 

Check out the whacky door and walkway out of the upper tower: 'Watch out when you go out to the loo, the first step's a doozy.'

There is nothing more picturesque than a burned-out village...

I always liked the rips and patches sculpted onto the sails of this windmill.

I put this stuff together several years ago for my 'Grande Armee' and Warmaster collection. The castle and windmill are from the sadly, now-deleted Forge World range of terrain for Warmaster. I'm not entirely sure about the other buildings, but I think at least a few of them are from JR Miniatures.

'Berthier, after you write out those orders, get me a couple of fresh croissants, some butter and a non-fat latte from that village. Oh, and mind the artillery fire, I don't want you to spill...'

As an aside, these are Adler 6mm which have incredible detail. You can even see the bespectacled bald head of Marshal Davout! (He's on the horse to the right of that strange little Corsican chap.)

To give a sense of scale I've placed one of my 'Grande Armee' command stands depicting Napoleon's headquarters next to the windmill.

Bases placed together to depict a town with very poor zoning bylaws.

I mounted the buildings on 4" square plywood bases in a manner where I could mix-and-match them to form a larger town (or towns) if needed. Well, now I feel like dragging out my 6mm stuff to have a game of Grande Armee!

From Curt: 28mm Foundry and Victrix French Voltigeurs

These eight fellows have been shuffled around my painting table for several weeks and so I thought it high time to get them done and ready for duty.

The four above are from Foundry (Perry sculpts) in 'mid-period' uniforms (ca. 1809).  I particularly like the guys with the high gaiters and tall plumes - quite smart looking.  I find that the GW 'Scorpion Green' really adds a bit of punch to the base-tone green, but you have to use it sparingly or it can get a little too bright.

The other four are Victrix plastics in the 1804-1807 uniform. As I've mentioned before these models are kinda fiddly to assemble, but the variety of poses and possible conversions are a huge bonus.  I'm going to add a couple more models to each of these two groups as I plan to have several batches, composed of six models each, to serve as skirmishing screens for my various battalions. They'll also come in handy for 'Sharp Practice'!

Product Review: 'Architects of War' 28mm 'Garden Kit'

I picked up a bunch of stuff from 'Architects of War' about a month ago and promised that I'd post the finished results as they came off the hobby table. Well, here's a charming little vegetable garden from them that I assembled and painted pretty much stock out of the box.

The vegetables, scarecrow, sack of weeds and water pale came as white metal bits, while the base is a single piece of resin. (There is also a hoe that I decided not to put in.) There was no warping in the resin and all of the white metal pieces were relatively clean. I did use a bit of Liquitex gel medium to fill in some of the gaps where the foliage is inserted into the base, but any gap-filling glue would do the trick as well.  Bernie from 'Architects of War' has great assembly and painting instructions on his website for each item which is a great help. The whole thing painted-up pretty fast as it has a deep defined texture for quick dry-brushing.

I embellished the base with some grass tufts and flock for a bit of added texture.  I particularly like the scarecrow and footprints in the soil - kinda whimsical. I think it'll be a nice addition to the table for skirmish gaming.