Basing before packing...

 ... Then moving! Within two months, I will be away. Not very far, less than 5 km from here, but we have a lot of stuff to move, including several thousands of figures, among which at least 2000 are painted. I've not decided yet how I am going to take them away, but I'm sure that the painted figures will be safer if they are stuck together on MDF bases.

So I'm in the process of gluing the figures, starting with the Napoleonic French troops.

The Mamluks are going to engage some Mantic zombies

This is the first batch of French troops: guard cavalry, light and heavy cav, Neapolitan line, Bavarian line, and one battalion of French line.

More French and British Napoleonics to base, then Ancient and Medieval figures... Wish me luck :)

Any advice from those who have already moved large collections of figures is more than welcome!
 

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 :)

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 :)

8th Neapolitan Line Infantry Regiment - complete

With the addition of the last musician of the month, I can show you a complete Napoleonic infantry battalion, belonging to the 8th Neapolitan Line, white uniforms with pink garment (as original as a Berg Cavalry regiment).

Here you are:

Each company is represented by a set of three figures, so that we have a complete battalion with 18 figures: 4 fusiliers companies, 1 voltigeurs company and 1 grenadiers company.

Voltigeurs

1st company, with officer, drummer an standard bearer

2nd company

3rd company

4th company

Grenadiers company

 The organization of that unit is the same as in the French line infantry. A few more pictures:

The minis are a mix of several manufacturers: mainly 1812 French Hät (Line and Light, Officer from the Young Guard set), Accurate and Newline Design.

The Grenadiers are conversions, using Hät and Accurate bodies, with Esci grenadiers hats and backpacks.

Hope you like them ! 

Musician of the month: Fife player

At last! We're on the last day of March, it's still time to publish a post about the musician of the month :)

I am in my Napoleonic period (I can hear the Ancients calling), so I painted a musician that belongs to the Napoleonic Chasseurs à pied de la garde: a fife player.

Let's begin with the pictures of the figure:

You may know that there were two sorts of musicians in the Napoleonic regiments. The first belonged to the military bands, who walked in front of the troops during the parades, and the second were the fifes and drums, who were used in battle to communicate the orders. The fifes were used during the Napoleonic era, but were replaced by the trumpets in the middle of the 19th century.

The fife is a small wooden flute, such as these:

I chose to paint a dark brown fife, which means that it is rosewood, a tropical hardwood that makes very good music instruments.



This mini was given to me by Borodino - lucky me, these minis are out of production! Thank you, mate.

And one question for my scholar readers: my first idea was to paint a fife wearing the colors of the Bataillon of Neuchâtel, a famous Swiss troop in french service, but I couldn't find any evidence of such musician, even though fife playing is a Swiss tradition nowadays. What do you think of it ? Do you think I might paint a fife player of that sort ? Any help welcome :)

Napoleonic French line infantry

Hi! I'm still in the mood to paint some Napoleonics, and I'm trying to be a bit more productive. So less time on the details, and three or more foot soldiers at a time.

I wanted to test that method on french infantry, and I've painted troopers with two different uniforms, first for the 1808-1812 period, then the Bardin uniform.

For the 1808-1812 period, I've painted a grenadier and two fusiliers, here they are:

I wish to represent soldiers in campaign. Not sure that it is a good idea to give them trousers of the same color, it is too uniformed, I will add some variety for the next figures. They are Hät minis, from set 8095 1808-1812 French Line Infantry.


For the 1812-1815 period, I've painted one grenadier, three fusiliers and one voltigeur, as you can see below:

There are different colors for the trousers this time, does it look ok ? They are also Hät minis from sets 8041 French Line Fusiliers, and 8042 French Light Infantry (used to represent grenadiers and voltigeurs).


What do you think of them ?

Grenadier à cheval de la garde

Hi everyone! Don't know what's happening to me, I'm more in Napoleonics than in Ancients these days :D

I've started to paint several minis for the French Imperial Guard, and this time I can show you my first Grenadier à cheval. It's a Hät mini, one of their first references, and still very good in my opinion.
His uniform is the model worn in the early years of the empire.

It is a test shot - I wish I have patience to paint a dozen more after this one - and I would like you to tell me what you think of it, and if you find any mistake I should correct. I chose to paint his horse black, which is correct according to the regulation, but a dark brown horse would be correct too.
Any comment welcome :)

Sometimes I paint Napoleonics

Not much to say this time. A few more men for my Napoleonic Middle Guard unit, together with the musicians painted last year. In this scene, they are walking through a small village, somewhere in Europe.

 

We can also see a Cuirassier riding in front of them.

Middle Guard by Hät, Musicians and Cuirassier by Strelets.