Tuesday, January 7, 2014

From StefanK: 28mm Napoleonic French Infantry from the 1812 Retreat (40 points)



Stefan and I are obviously channeling the same winter theme with these amazing Perry miniatures.

From Stefan:
Retreat from Moscow 1812:
After he found Moscow burning Napoleon had to abort his campaign in Russia in 1812. He wanted to return to safer countries as Poland or Prussia and wanted to spend winter there to undertake another try in 1813. But he hesitated too long and his Grande Armée was assailed by the relentless frost of the Russian winter.
The eight miniatures I happily present here are from Perry Miniatures's excellent Napoleonic range. They represent a couple of French and Allied soldiers fighting for their bare survival. They collected winter gear wherever they found it and are wearing a mix of military and civilian clothing. The miniatures are extremely detailed and very well painted. Especially the faces are crisp and clear and great joy to paint. They are full of expression and make it easy even for a mediocre painter like me to work it out. As usual I painted the miniatures with Vallejo Model Colour and Army painter Quickshade. As snow I used corundum sand. It is bright white, durable and has a nice sparkle in it. The tufts of grass are by Mini Natur and -to my mind- complete the bases nicely.
Hmm, I dunno, there's nothing mediocre at all about your work Stefan - these miniatures are excellent. I really like the detail you've pulled from their faces, and you've really done a wonderful job with the basework - I would have never guessed you could get that nice of a snow effect from sand. I learn something new every day (and I need to get some of those great looking winter tufts instead of continually puzzling through my handmade ones).

These eight freezing Frenchmen will give Stefan 40 points. Beautiful work!

17 comments:

  1. Whoah, I thought I was time-travelling - just saw Curt's awesome troops too. Very nice work by Stefan. "I smell Cossacks in those woods!" Dean

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  2. These are excellent and its great to see them set against Curt's for the colour changes on the dresses

    Ian

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  3. Stefan,

    Your definition of mediocre is certainly different from mine. I've had the full set of retreat figures for a few weeks now, and, coupled with Curt's efforts, I am determined to start them soon. Well done Sir.

    Pip pip

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  4. Oooooh, more frozen Frenchmen. These complement Curt's "Villain" entry very nicely :)

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  5. Nice. I like the red in the first pic.

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  6. Great looking figures Stefan, clearly you and Curt have been reading the same book!

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  7. These really are gorgeous Stefan, fabulous job.

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  8. Stefan these are top drawer. The basing is superb and your colours and blending is gorgeous.

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  9. Great work Stefan I feel cold just looking at them
    Peace James

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  10. Excellent painting once again Stefan!

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  11. Thanks mates.
    As I already said, these miniatures are absolutely awesome. Extremely well sculpted and a real help for the painter.

    There are more retreaters to follow during the challenge very soon.

    Cheers
    Stefan

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  12. Other group of fantastic painted figures. Really nice!

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  13. Oh these are very fine indeed. Nice to see so many variations on the retreat minis

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Thanks for your comment! As long as you're not a spam droid I'll have it up on the blog soon. :)