FIW British Infantry - WIP

Quite some while ago I started collecting forces to use with Sharp Practice.

I purchased some really nice figures from Crann Tara and started them.

https://cranntaraminiatures.co.uk/product/british-command-standing/

https://i2.wp.com/cranntaraminiatures.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/P1040637.jpg

Then a lot of other things happened and I stopped painting them.

This week I have restarted them.

Nearly finished.

Other ranks to follow.

Now that I'm officially an old man I think these aren't too bad.

What do you think?

May Status Report 2019

Things have been chugging along albeit a bit slowly.

Healthwise there is more good news than bad news.

Full body and head scans show that there is no sign of any further cancer, yes, a brain was detected and it was showing the appropriate signs of aging (big number now).

I have some symptoms pointing at an intestinal problem and my blood pressure is still alarmingly high (161/104). More tablets and tests to come.

The active stuff on the back burner has produced enough of an army to take a picture or two and the front burner has finished a Regiment for a chum.

Above is a 10mm French Division aimed at the Portable Napoleonic Wargame by Bob Cordery.

You can see a Brigade of two Infantry Regiments with their Brigadier in line supported by a second Brigade of two Infantry Regiments in column and their Brigadier.

On the flanks are the Artillery Batteries belonging to the infantry brigades.

To the rear are two Regiments of Cavalry and their Brigadier.

In their midst is the Divisional General.

You can see they take up a 7 x 4 hex grid which is tiny compared to the whole table.

At this this scale I can field multiple Divisions so making up a Corps and still have room to manoeuvre.

I hope to have four Divisions (and their opponents) ready for battle testing soon.

 



This is the second Infantry Regiment of 7YW Prussians I am doing for a friend.



 



Complete with Regimental Artillery from the full Brigade.

IR 11 for those that like to know.

Hope everyone else is in good shape.



Waterloo Farm

Here's a preview of the Waterloo Farm I am doing for The Great Game this summer.

The Main House

The Farm House

The Gateway

The Small Stables

The Long Stables

The Great Barn

The Courtyard

Almost all in place

The whole complex is about 18" square

A Field Forge

An incoming casualty

The Water Cart may be too late

The Blacksmith at work

A cart with nowhere to go

All this is work-in-progress, hopefully not for much longer

Water Cart by Warbases

Bought yesterday morning, painted yesterday evening, photographed this lunchtime.

Warbases Water Cart

Dark Grey undercoat, light grey drybrush, brown wash, finished.

Add draught animal of your choice.

Prussian for scale.

https://warbases.co.uk/product/water-cart/

Albanich 2019 - Goodies

Todays trip to Dumfries was wet all the way down and sunny all the way back.

In between I got some clutter for my Waterloo Farm.

I got some resin packing cases to clutter up some of the outbuildings and courtyard from Warbases.

Every farm needs a hay cart, mine is no exception.

I spied a blacksmith so he had to have a cart.

Water, water everywhere and some of it to drink.

Ammo, for obvious purposes.

The farm I am portraying was used as the British Field Hospital so I needed a few casualties splattered about c/o Warlord.

Some paint from Colonel Bills, for the use of.

Coat d'arms brushes, size 2/0.

That'll keep me busy for a few days, as if I wasn't busy enough.

Just for you Bob and a Few Others

Here's another demonstration of a painting technique which will get your figures on the table relatively quickly even if you think your eyes are not up to it.

This example is a Zulu War British Infantryman. Everyone knows what they look like. I blame the film.

The general colour scheme is a red jacket, dark trousers, a great big pith helmet and a big gun. There are more subtle colour features to be entertained, we will deal with a few and ignore a few others.

Using a Revell number 3 brush I basecoated the entire figure in a terracotta shade. This will be mostly overpainted but some will be left below the helmet and maybe the hands.

The jacket is painted a deep red, think crimson or maroon. It doesn't matter if it covers other bits as long as the terracotta under the helmet is left alone.

Paint the trousers and boots black. Make sure you don't overpaint the deep red on the jacket.

Lightly paint the trousers dark blue leaving the boots black. It is OK if some of the black shadows remain on the trousers.

Paint the rifle dark brown. It is OK if you overpaint the hands.

Using a smaller brush, maybe a 3/0 or a 2/0 dab a little flesh colour on the face and hands.

Paint the pith helmet a linen colour. Keep it tidy around the bottom edge. Paint the ammo pouches on the belly linen. Paint the little bag on the hip linen.

Paint a white cross on the back of the figure.

Paint the cartridge box black.

Paint a proper red line along the upper and lower arm, front and back leaving a little of the deep red as a shadow. Dab a little red in the triangles between the cross belts.

Paint the base to match your terrain colour.

Touch up any little errors and gloss varnish the figure.

Base to your own requirements.

If you are capable of a little more detail you could add a red stripe down the outside of the trousers, it is not essential.

You could add coloured collars and cuffs, say Green for the 24th Foot. This is not essential either. If you were an attacking Zulu Warrior up against someone from the 24th and another from a different regiment you would still see them a couple of guys in red coats.

You could run a line of a gunmetal colour along the top of the rifle, again, not essential.

Give it a go everybody. Remember, just think of significant features, red coat, blue trousers, silly big hat and a big gun.

Just For You Bob

A games friend recently admired my 10mm figure painting and said

"I don't know how you do it! They are wonderful!

I wish that I had your painting skill ... but my eyesight (even with my new glasses) and the arthritis in my hands mean that I cannot paint that accurately."

I didn't think they were anything special but here is how I do it, just for you Bob.

These are 10mm Pendraken Napoleonics painted in a form of 'toy soldier' style. It works for me.

This is the figure cleaned up and mounted on a painting stick with a blob of blu-tac.

I use a Revell number 3 brush which is not that small.

I paint the entire figure white, a sort of undercoat.

I paint the arms, front and back blue and the back of the coat leaving the front of the jacket, the legs and the head white.

I paint the entire head, face and hair and helmet black and the boots black.

I paint the sword including the hand gunmetal.

I paint the plume red.

I paint the face and the hands a flesh colour. I forgot the left hand, will get that later. I use a Coat d'arms 3/0 brush which is a little bit smaller.

 

I paint the sword scabbard and belt black.

 





 

I paint two little V shapes white on the coat tails.

 



I gloss varnish the entire figure. I will paint the base green later just prior to basing.

This is how he will look when based up.

This is how a full wargames unit looks.

None of this painting requires excellent eyesight, adequate will do, a lot of the end result is dependent on using the correct technique, This is my technique (one of them anyway). Once they are 4 foot away they will look dandy.