Well my first 3 twelve-figure Austrian infantry units are complete and the same number of French are almost there too...
As you can see, my painting is typically a 'no frills' technique! ... I do appreciate the work and detail some gamers put into their figures but I'm more your 'they look good from 3' away en-masse' kind of painter. I would love to have the time (and the patience) to put in every detail but to me, even in this relatively 'large' scale it still seems pointless!
Anyway, today my HaT French Dragoons and Austrian Chevauxleger arrived so it'll make a nice break to paint some cavalry up before getting back to more line infantry.
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| HaT Austrian infantry |
Anyway, today my HaT French Dragoons and Austrian Chevauxleger arrived so it'll make a nice break to paint some cavalry up before getting back to more line infantry.
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteNice work on your Austrians. An Army I would love to do but the white scares me.
You started following my blog a time ago and I tried to check out your own link through your own info section but the link seems to be dead for me. Glad I have found your blog now!
Cheers
Paul
Cheers Paul,
ReplyDeletePainting an all white uniform is much more difficult that I thought it would be! I'm not the best figure painter in the world but I'm quite pleased with how the Austrian pieces are turning out. I've now got a technique which allows me to paint them up quite quickly while still looking good using the 'viewed from 3' rule! Hopefully when they're en-masse on the table top they'll look quite effective.
Steve,
ReplyDeleteYour Austrians look perfectly fine, especially for en masse wargames troops. Do the HaT sets come with command? Those Kaiserlicks really need their doppeladler flags to give their all fur Kaiser und Vaterland! The free flags from Napflag.org work perfectly fine and really give der Oestereichers "the look". Second, a couple of really easy quick tricks with the mostly white Austrians 1) wash all of the white - coats and pants with a heavily thinned blue gray (use water with with surfactant, so it settles in to the crevices) and let dry, then just paint the belts with "pure" white again. Easy, takes very little time, and really enhances the look. Less is better than more when it comes to the wash - you can always put another coat on! 2) Try a red to orange brown wash on the faces and hands (or alternatively, paint them the brown color [I use "Terra-cotta"]) and later highlight very roughly with flesh color, which is what I do on my stuff of the past 7-8 years or so. Look forward to seeing more of "The White Menace" from you! Peter
Thanks Peter, I need all the encouragement I can get! Good tip on the flesh 'wash' I may try that as the flesh looks a little stark at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI'm just about to start painting a few cavalry stands at present and I'm ooking for tips on a quick but effective way to paint the horses. I've done a couple of trial pieces but I'm not at all happy with them as they look very 'flat' in appearance. Any info gratefully received!
All the best,
Steve
Steve,
ReplyDeleteThere is a simply great guide to painting horses using some easy stains and washes, and a bit of simple dry brushing that I've been using for about 10 years... "Geting Good - painting ponies", IIRC... I'll see if I can find a link for you. OK, here it is, on Mr Tin's site:
http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/paintingTips/paintingTips.html
Hey Peter,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, it was very useful! I managed to paint my first 6 mounts today and they turned out well I'm glad to report. I started with a basic brown coat followed by a thin black wash. Once dry I lightly dry brushed a paler shade of the original basecoat colour. The method was quick and resulted in not too bad a finish. ... Just the riders themselves to complete and then I'll pop a few pics on here ..... No laughing anyone, it's been over 20 years since I painted Napoleonics!
Glad it helped, Steve; in my case I think it's been about 45 years that I have painted some Napoleonics at least every few years - and a real lot 1997 - 2005, and then lots again starting in 2008, and planning on continuing through at least 2013, as we have big plans!
ReplyDeleteI'll look forward to seeing how your Dragoons come out!
What, no laughing? ROFLMFAO over at Gunfreak's house!
ReplyDelete