The French are finished.....
The last touches applied today.
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| Bases 'textured' with fine sand, coated with burnt umber, then 3 levels of dry brushed highlights. The black chaps with black bases are surplus to current requirements, but will make an appearance in Phase 2. |
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| Le grand homme et son entourage. |
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| l'infanterie. Finished with a sprinkle of flock. |
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| Generals et cavalerie. The chaps are ensconced in their Ferrero Rocher boxes lined with magnetic sheet. Good job I had the foresight to scoff a lot of the Ambassador's favourite treat months ago because the price has soared. I have a couple left I think, which might just be enough for Phase 2. |
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| Les dragons et l'artillerie (et un canon, erm, squashé par un géant clumsy). |
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| I'd omitted the hat lace on the cavalry, but seeing Jon's recent post jogged my memory. |
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| Heavy cavalry in the foreground, dragoons in the background. I've gone for dragoons in 'bedcaps' because that seems, well, more like French dragoons to me. It also breaks up the rows and rows of tricorns. These were from the H&R Marlburian range. |
This little lot is supposed to represent 11 1/2 infantry brigades, 8 cavalry brigades and c 60 guns. Or c.23,000 infantry and c.12,000 cavalry. I plan to roughly double this in the not too distant future, then do the Pragmatic Army/His Britannic Majesty's Army so they'll have 3 opponents: the Prussians for the SYW, the Brits for everything, and the Austrians for a Habsburg-v-Bourbon bash in the 1740s.
The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed that the flags are currently plain. These will be painted up in due course. H&R figures come with flags moulded on and normally I hand paint the flags to reasonable effect - good enough for the table top. One option that has occurred to me is to cut them off and use the paper flags that Baccus sell, but they don't do cavalry or dragoon standards.
Talking of Jon's recent post, the next phase will include some cavalry in bearskins. I plan to do the same regiment (
Raugrave).
So Phase 1 is complete. Will I get enough time this weekend to get Rossbach on the table? Or will I just have enough time to prepare a scenario?
Chris, this parade represents one impressively quick and comprehensive effort. Great job and well done! Rossbach this weekend? Good luck!
ReplyDeleteCheers Jon. When I put my put my mind to it I can get stuff done.
DeleteThese really do look the business en masse and of course, as with all figures, a nice basing technique (and yours is) adds about 20% to the overall effect!
ReplyDeleteYou’re right about good bases. I’d say maybe even more than 20%. It brings the figures to life. I didn’t learn that until about 12-13 years ago when it was pointed out that I should give it a go.
DeleteVery nice looking army. I am looking forward to seeing the photos of the game.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ben. Might not be able to do it this weekend. But we’ll see.
DeleteExcellent work and splendid results. Will one of your commanders be named the Duke of Ferrero Rocher perchance?
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Indeed. His Grace once served as ambassador to Volare-Cantare before being promoted to the court of Tragard. He continues to campaign in the Summer and practice diplomacy in the Winter, like M. Marlborough.
DeleteVery impressive, both visually and in how quickly you turned these around:).
ReplyDeleteIf I can do it, anyone can!
DeleteThe one-page H&R advert in wargaming mags was always so tempting! Good to see they are still around and holding their own against the more modern gnomes and bobble heads.
ReplyDeleteI used to pore over those too. H&R are in my opinion the best in that size. They've been more or less the same since the 80s at least, which shows how good they were. There’s enough detail on the castings if you want to take advantage of it, but you can ‘gloss over’ it if you don’t.
DeleteGod mate those are bloody lovely. Hope you get a game in with them soon. Top class stuff. Most impressed!
ReplyDeleteThanks JBM. Complements indeed. I enjoyed doing them.
DeleteThe figures look great, good stuff! Would you consider a blog post giving a 'step-by'step' guide to your method? (it would only really need to be a series of pictures, I guess) Or is that 'trade secrets'? :)
ReplyDeleteThe bases are nice, and it made me think, could you paint a gaming mat in the same effect, thus allowing the bases to match the terrain? That might be really effective!
I’d be happy to do a step-by-step guide. But to be honest there’s a perfectly good guide, which I follow on the Baccus website. The ‘Baccus method’ was a revelation to me. I’d previously done 6mm figures to an acceptable level by my standards but the new method took it up a couple of notches.
Deletehttps://www.baccus6mm.com/howtoguides/HOWTOPaint6mmfigures/
I tend to do flesh as the first colour after the black undercoat, rather than later - not sure if Pete changed his guide or if I misremembered it.
I thought there was a guide to doing bases on there but I can’t find it. Baccus sell ‘basing kits’ of sand, paints and flock. Maybe it’s in there. I’ve still got some of the basing kit paints which I bought in 2010 and I have done thousands of figures since then.
Chris
Thanks, yes no need to re-invent the wheel when details are already out there from Baccus - and their method looks really simple and clearly gives good results! I remember reading Terry Wise as a kid, I think he said he always left the flesh until last as painting the face 'brought the figure to life'. Ever since, I've done the same - for purely sentimental reasons!
DeleteWow! A whole army seems to appear out of nowhere. Great job! The troops look excellent. 😀
ReplyDeleteGo on phase 2.
Thanks Stew. I think I might roll phases 2, 3 and 4 together. But I might have to do something ‘good’ domestically to ‘earn it’. 😁
DeleteSplendid looking French force in practically no time, excellent work!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Cheers Iain
Delete