Sunday 11 January 2015

Napoleon WIP 1

A bit of an exciting post for me tonight as I have finally taken the plung and painted a really lovely sculpted AB Napoleon figure.

I have had Napoleon and his pals sitting unpainted on my lead pile for many years now for 2 reasons:
The 1st is that I want to keep concentrating on my Prussian and Russian armies and didn't want to complicate matters by jumping into painting the French as well, and 2nd napoleon and all his mates always seemed to me to be a bit complicated on a base, who should be included for a certain time frame (I'm trying to hit 1812-13) and where exactly to put them all on a base?

Anyway there has been some superb 15mm-18mm French eye candy floating about over the past few years starting with Von Bluchers French commands I bought last year (cheers John), John B's completed Napoleon command base last year and more recently stoneman from the TMP forums beautiful French command and a few other excellent commands done by blokes I don't know the name of over on TMP and elsewhere. So with the inspiration flowing I looked my troops out, cleaned them all up and arranged them on a 2 piece base I picked up from Martin at warbases last year.

I was a little scared of doing Napoleon as he really is the main reason we all do this period! I wanted to do him justice for a start and a wee bit added pressure is he is the last of my big commands I plan to do with Blucher and Kutuzov already done. Sure there will be marshals and fancy pants cavalry generals to come but he's the Número uno big cheese for me!

I recently picked up Rafael Perez (Archiduque) Napoleonic painting book which is also great inspiration and used his colour palette for painting Napoleon's coat however I swapped in Coat d Arms dark grey for Vallejo khaki and I'm very happy how that turned out. I'm not sure exactly how Marengo, Napoleon's horse looked colour wise, perhaps the dark ankles I have give him/her are wrong and if someone knows better I may change them. Over all I'm very happy how he came out. Mr Bartons sculpting is simply stunning, I got a great deal of enjoyment out of painting this figure, I really did. I would guess this one has been cast a few hundred times as I had a fair bit of cleaning to do on him before I put paint to brush and I perhaps should have done a little more in certain areas of his saddle but he'll do for me!

This is a rough layout of how I want the command base to look, it will be much better when they are all painted and set out properly and there maybe a little more trimming of the raised area napoleon is placed on. The centre obviously lifts out for use in wargaming and the main base will be for display. I pinched the idea from one of the guys who did a cracking Napoleon command base on TMP.

And my constant inspiration, a stunning meissonier drawing I purchased with my 1st ever wage packet many years ago. Still had some cash left over for dig money and beers at the weekend!

Anyway I hope you like home and I'll do a proper post when the whole base is finished.

Happy wargaming!
Best Paul

54 comments:

DaveD said...

Great stuff Paul.. About time the Grande Fromage made an appearance...look forward to seeing this one completed..

Ken said...

Hi Paul,

Nice to see the little guy at last. Nicely turned out as usual!

Cheers

Ken

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Supurb work Paul! I would say the best I've seen you do which is saying something as all your figures are wonderful! Oh your right he is the big cheese a-number one for Naps.

Christopher

Paulalba said...

Thanks Dave, Grande Fromage indeed lol😄

Paulalba said...

Thanks Ken, yeah we are very lucky to have the AB range and this little sculpt is one of his best.

Giorgio said...

very nice

Chasseur said...

A lovely Napoleon indeed!

Paulalba said...

Thanks christopher, yeah I would agree with you as I put a lot into the wee guy however saying that I often wonder with the uniforms of the French they look a little bit more sexy all round when painted compared to say the Russians and prussians?

Rafas colours helped with the cost to make it look more interesting.

Paulalba said...

Thanks Giorgio,
Glad you like him!

Paulalba said...

Thanks chasseur,
Glad you like him!

GaryA said...

Beautiful!

Paulalba said...

Thanks Gary,
Will you be doing him as well?

Craig said...

Absolutely stunning work Paul. You always do a magnificent job, but this is really special! Congratulations. BTW, is the "big cheese" actually based on a slice of cheese? ...I am really impressed with the way you made him look like Rod Steiger frowning ;)

Phil said...

Le Petit Caporal est très joli, excellent job!

Paulalba said...

Lol Craig thanks no he's on exspandafoam. Rod Steiger was my goal 😉

Paulalba said...

Merci Phil! 😉

"Chuck" said...

Very nice Paul! I really like your painting style and I look forward to seeing the rest of his staff done!

Paulalba said...

Thanks chick, really kind of you! Maybe a wee while till I get the whole caravan finished.

Ray Rousell said...

Good grief you've made a cracking job there Paul, can't wait to see him all based up.

Vasiliy Levashov said...

This is something beyond wonderful, Paul! Hats off to your talent. You're on an unattainable height!

fireymonkeyboy said...

That's just fantastic, Paul. Beautiful work.

FMB

fireymonkeyboy said...

That's just fantastic, Paul. Beautiful work.

FMB

Paulalba said...

Thanks Ray it maybe a wee while as busy work schedule ahead.😁

Paulalba said...

Wow Vasiliy that's really kind if you, Thanks buddy!

Paulalba said...

Thanks FMB glad you like him, just 11 men and horses to go till they are finished 😣

John (VonBlucher) said...

Very well done, Paul. Great idea on the base. I've been fight that itch to paint him also. For sure you'll need to finish your Guard Chasseurs now as they were always around him, except in a couple of instances.

Paulalba said...

Hi john, thanks, glad you like him. Yeah I'll be doing his 2 guards next I think. Not mastered the Vallejo shades for the lighter guard chasseur horses though.

I had our blokes out last night and plan to finish them at some point this year but the thought of slowing down to convert the Mamelukes is holding me back at the mo.

Jonathan Freitag said...

Outstanding brushwork!

Paulalba said...

Thanks jonathan!

Chris C. said...

Beautiful job on that miniature!

Phil C said...

one of your best work to date!
awesome brush work on boney!

Sun of York said...

Fantastic inspiration for me to get cracking with a Napoleon command base that I need for my army. Great work!

DHC Wargames said...

It is one lovely miniature and a fabulous execution on your part there!

Really looking forward to seeing this progress!

Rodger said...

Stunning work Paul! Great call on the greatcoat too!

Paulalba said...

Cheers Chris, glad you like him!

Paulalba said...

Thanks Phil, much appreciated!

Paulalba said...

Thanks SoY, very kind of you to say that!

Paulalba said...

Thanks Burkhard,
I'm glad you like the enemy of or glorious prussians!

Paulalba said...

Thanks Rodger, I'm glad there are people like Rafa putting in good work with paint shades as I'm generally very boring with my colour selections however I'm slowly moving over to Vallejo and it's definitely helping my painting.

Stryker said...

Hi Paul - you have done the great man proud! Strange how nerve wracking it can trying paint the Emperor but like you my own Hinton Hunt version was a joy to paint. Looking forward to seeing the finished base.

MurdocK said...

Excellent work on such a small scale.

Le Tondou always intimidates.

Your efforts will tell on the tabletop, as always.

Paulalba said...

Cheers Ian, I know it must be because he's the centre of attention on any battlefield either in book, film or on the gaming table.

Paulalba said...

Thank you very much MurdocK! Struggling a wee bit with my 2 guard chasseur a cheval. Tricky hussar style uniforms,

James Fisher said...

It's a well-sculpted figure, as you say Paul, and you have done a grand job of the painting!

Gonsalvo said...

Superb job on the Emperor, Paul. His Majesty would be pleased! :-)

Paulalba said...

Thanks Fins! Yeah he's a great figure. We are very lucky AB did his range. Amazing likeness to napoleons pics.

Paulalba said...

Thanks Peter, just need to get the rest of the little characters done now.

Rulane10@gmail.com said...

Outstanding colouring, both on Nap and the horse. Beautiful work as usual.

Paulalba said...

Thanks Ru much appreciated! Hope your getting on well with yours.

Anonymous said...

Now is he based on Napoleon or Rod Steiger?
I think Rod Steiger makes a better looking Napoleon. : )

Paulalba said...

Yes I'd agree,great to see you online Neil! Kind I have those elite Austrians when you need them!

Anonymous said...

Re-send me your address and I will send up the last of my Old Glory French to you guys. Plus I've found a few more AB bits for you as well.
Send the Austrians down any time. At the moment I have my white painting mojo on painting Spanish.
Hopefully I'll have a new lap top soon to show some photo's on my blog.
Cheers.
Neil.

Paulalba said...

I can't find your email Neil, My email address is:
paulalba2004 (at) yahoo.uk

Send me up your address and I'll get the austrianscand a few other bits and pieces in the post. Good to hear your still painting naps! Hope to see your stuff online again soon!
Regards
Paul

CAP said...

Awesome!It's wonderful! Excellent job! Congratulations from distant Argentine Republic. Carlos