Fusiliers-grenadiers of the Imperial Guard

After a couple of posts related to Star Wars, back to 1/72 and the Napoleonic era. This week-end, I have painted a company of Fusiliers-grenadiers, a middle guard unit attached to the regiments of Grenadiers à pied.

Much less known than the units of the old guard, the fusiliers-grenadiers formed a regiment created in december 1806, and disbanded in may 1814. The regiment consisted of two  four-companies battalions, for a total strength of about 1800 men.

I've painted a unit of 10 soldiers, 1 NCO (first figure from the left) and 1 officer wearing a surtout.
Those who follow this blog from the beginning may have recognized the unexpected guest, the goat-that-travels-through-time. So a little game: could you find the year, and the post in which this goat was spotted for the last time ?

 Meanwhile, the plastic soldiers keep on marching through the village.

Nothing new regarding the painting technique, which has already been explained a few years ago at Benno's. I could copy a link to the post with the explanation, but I've just checked, and I realized that:

1. The post is difficult to find since I answered a question (by Sceavus :)) in a thread regarding half orcs
2. The pictures used to explain are no longer visible since the host on which they were stored is no longer in activity.

So I think it might be a good idea if I put everything here. Here you are:

Concerning white: when I want to paint white clothes, I first don't use white, but I start to paint a light grey layer, with a Citadel paint called Deneb Stone (in their old denominations, I don't know the name in their current range).

An example, with a Fusilier grenadier (french middle guard by Hät):

Then I wash the area with Agrax Earthshade - not much on the light grey area, or the shading might be too strong - well it is a question of taste.

Then I begin to lighten. I paint a layer of pure Deneb Stone (carefully, because at this step you have to keep your shades as thin lines between the different elements: clothes, belt...). Then I mix Deneb Stone and white, and I add a new thin (diluted) layer on some areas only - those that receive the sunlight. It is possible de repeat this operation several times on always smaller areas - it depends on your time and on the quality you want to get.

In my example, the belts are painted in a whiter color than the clothes. In the picture below, you have the three steps illustrated on three different minis:

Concerning the flesh, I use a red ink to shade the face and the hands, but I am not very happy with the result because the contrast is not strong enough in my taste. I will go back to my previous technique, a simple wash of diluted of Citadel Dark Flesh (ancient range, it is a sort of brown red), then lightening as explained before. The only difference is that I lighten the flesh paint with Citadel Ushabti Bone (something like ivory), NOT white.

Here you are the result:

I hope you find this little explanation useful, and that you like the result :)

Star Wars Imperial Assault: a Wookiee

A new mini for my collection, on the Rebellion side this time: a Wookiee.

You all know about Chewbacca, the giant hairy creature seconding Han Solo in his adventures, and co-pilot of the Millenium Falcon. Chewbacca is the first Wookiee we see in the saga, a creature from the planet Kashyyyk (3 'y', yes,not me, I just checked on wikipedia).


The figure below represents another Wookiee, such as those who fight on their home planet in the third episode of the Saga, Revenge of the Sith.

In this movie, Kashyyyk is a tropical world covered with forests...

... large enough for many many Wookiees!!

But I've painted only one so far.

Not much to explain about the painting: dark brown as a base, then some highlights with drybrush, the easiest thing to do on a hairy figure.

This Wookiee joigned the Rebellion to fight against the stormtroopers and their auxiliaries.

That's all for today. Hope you like him :)

Star Wars Imperial Assault: a Jawa

This is another figure for Star Wars Imperial Assault boardgame, a Jawa. You surely remember the little creatures with yellow eyes, wearing brown cloaks and living in the desert of Tatooine.

This guy is one of them:

In the next picture, he's fighting in a duel against a Rodian mercenary - although smaller, the Jawa stands his ground... probably because there's a dozen if his kin not too far :)

Let's examine him from all sides.

Not too difficult to paint. You just need to use different shades of brown for the cloak, the leather belts and the weapon.

Hope you like him :)

Mamelouks de la garde impériale

Happy New Year everybody!

After a break (almost one week, we had a great time with our families, both in Orléans and Aix-en -Provence), I'm back to the brushes, once again with Napoleonic horsemen, and among the most impressive: the Mamelouks de la Garde Impériale.

Bonaparte recruited some Mamelukes during the campaign of Egypt. Several dozens eventually followed the French army back to France, where they formed a squadron attached to the Chasseurs à cheval de la garde.

According to the ruleset I might use for wargaming, I only need 2 or 3 riders to complete the squadron. So this unit is virtually complete :)

Hope you like them :)

Oh, by the way, this blog is now 3 years old since the end of december.

Second grenadier à cheval de la garde

Good evening (it's winter, seems that the evening replaced the day any time), I hope that most of you will enjoy some vacation for Christmas sooner or later. There's only a few days left before the end of the year, so it's high time to finish what can be.
In my plans for this year, I wanted to paint a few grenadiers à cheval, so that my French Imperial Guard project (long term project, Fantasy and Ancients come first) record some evolution this year.

Well, the result is very modest since I painted only one horseman (and his horse too). Together with the one painted, hmm, last year, they form a very small unit, maybe a squadron (some rulesets require only two cavalrymen).

Very little pictures for this very little step :)

I have 3 more undercoated, but it's very unlikely that I finish them before the end of 2019.
Hope you like them anyway :)

Star Wars Imperial Assault: Rebellion soldier

Oh oh, a second post on the same theme, that's rather unusual on this blog! I keep on painting some minis for the Star Wars Imperial Assault boardgame. This time I've painted a good guy (that's what they say in the saga), a soldier of the Rebellion, the sort of man that you can see in the first seconds of the first opus (that is the nr 4, you all remember, I won't explain), trying to protect Princess Leia from the Imperial assault (ah ah) of the stormtroopers, and Darth Vader himself.

That's what my mini look like:

A courageous man ready to defend that door (let's pretend Leia is behind - no, that door won't open on the next picture). Incidentally, there are enemies rushing to him.

A close-up to show how nervous you can look when you have to enemies in your back :)

And this is what the soldiers looked in the first film (I meant the fourth... well). You know what ? They don't seem to worry that much. I think they should! So I guess it's not a real war picture, but a reenactment one :-)

Ok, my colors are a bit different, but the originals looked very dull, and after all, I just intend to paint minis for a game. A few more pictures of our rebel:

I still have two other guys exactly like him to paint... maybe one of these days.
Hope you like him :)

Star Wars Imperial Assault: my first minis

Several years ago, FFG released a game of tactical combat based on the Star Wars universe, Imperial Assault. One of the players commands the armies of the Empire while the others become heroes of the Alliance.
I bought that game to play with my son, and we had several disputed fights. I'm not a big fan of the films, but I appreciate the universe for its depth and variety, particularly the numerous species of aliens.

No wonder then that the first mini that I have painted is one of these aliens, a Rodian, that is a guy from the same species as Greedo, the bounty hunter killed by Han Solo in a Mos Esley cantina on Tatooine.

So, here you are this Rodian citizen, just painted today, with a stormtrooper to fight against.

The Rodians are meant to be green-skinned humanoids, so I followed the instructions :) Regarding his equipment, I gave him a blue outfit, dark leather belts and boots, iron pieces of armor, and a black gun.
I tried to paint his eyes as if they were red gems - dark red, orange glow at the bottom and a spot of white to simulate the reflection of light - not quite satisfying, but I have so many other figures to paint, I will do better on the next ones.

A few more pictures of the duel. The elements of the scene come from the boardgame. I planned to replace their bases with transparent ones. Oh, and I should add a layer of varnish on the white armour.

By the way, the first post with a "Science Fiction" label on this blog, hourrah !

Hope you like them :)