Tuesday 23 September 2014

Prussian Battalions x3

I've put in a good few days of figure painting over the last couple of weeks since my last post and have some how managed to finish off 3 battalions from the workbench that have been a stone around my neck for quite a while. You may remember that I picked up a large number of painted Prussians from my buddy Darren almost 2 years ago that were painted similar to my old style with black undercoat showing through. I quickly debased all the figures and split them into new battalions with characters added in where I usually do. I then cleaned up with files and scalpel any areas I felt needed it. I decided to use Darren's paintwork as my base coat however I still had a long, long way to go to match them in with my own troops. 

1st up are the Pomeranian grenadiers. There were a lot of grenadiers with white facings so I decided to keep them as Pomeranian and will look to build a regiment each of Colberg and Pomeranian in time. I hope!

The mounted officer was a little bit of conversion fun with a mounted uhlan officer, his belt was removed and an overcoat added with buttons up the front. The red lining of the cape is possibly a bit over the top or perhaps he is a wealthy landowner? 

As required there are 2 companies with white shoulder straps and 2 with red. The finish is a little harsher than I would have liked with the black showing through, however they are still very neat and will fight just fine.
  
Next up is the 2nd battalion of the Lieb regiment. There were a good few figures in skirmishing poses amongst the figures I received from Darren and my thinking is to have my 2 battalions of hard fighting Lieb musketeers in firing lines with casualties to make them stand out from my other regiments. My Lieb fusiliers will also hopefully take the form of a heavily engaged battalion.
  
I plan to do a command base from the famous painting with Yorck lowering his cap to the Lieb regiment as they march past after heavy fighting (I think after Wartenburg?). 

Again it was a case of me using Darren's painting as a base coat although I used my own blues and added a good lot of extra details and colours.
  
You can't really beat the AB Prussians and I did wish at times I was painting them from scratch. Still they look very good to me now that they are all based and finished.
   
The firing line doesn't even look that bad in column and I can also tick them off my Katzbach OOB.

The 3rd battalion I finished is the 2nd battalion of the 1st East Prussian regiment, these guys can be ticked off my Katzbach OOB as well!

I have 1 final battalion to do from the figures I received from Darren, they will be guard fusiliers however I have changed them to my new style and they are pretty much all repaints. Once they are done I will be painting everything from bare metal. 

And this is pretty much how I would like all my Prussian infantry to look from now on. 

These guys are from the East Prussian grenadier battalion and since taking these pics I have 2 companies complete and I have enjoyed every minute of painting them.

Also recently I went out and purchased a good number of Vallejo paints and have been working out my combinations for trousers etc.
  
An officer from the 3 company with face and sash still to be highlighted. I'll post picks when they are done.

Happy Painting
Paul 

Monday 1 September 2014

Russian Foot Battery 1812-14

It's been a long, long time since my last post. 1st we've had a great summer in Scotland and the thought of sitting in the loft painting just hasn't appealed. To be honest up until today the only online surfing I have been doing has been on my phone, a quick visit here and there posting the odd comment. I also haven't played or watched a wargame in a very long time and at the moment I have to say I haven't really missed the gaming side of things. 
  
Luckily the break over the past months has kicked off a mini painting bug and I managed to slowly figure by figure get something finished. I've had a couple of AB Russian light foot batteries sitting on the work bench for a couple of years now and have managed to take 1 to completion.
  
With the later kiwer the battery probably would be better listed from 1813-14 but they will be used (eventually) for our 1812 batteries.
  
So down to the painting: I have finally settled on colours for my Russians, I have used the Foundry triad for French Chasseur a Cheval for the coats and I'm really happy with the result (even if it's hard to see the shade in my pics). The trousers are doe with an undercoat of GW deneb stone progressively mixed with white and the guns apple green is base coated in Foundry Russian light shade then the shade and middle shade of Foundry Dragoon green. I'm really happy with the finish!
  
The flesh is done with my own selected triad from different Foundry flesh.
  
There are only 2 sets of poses in this battery at the moment however when the 2nd battery is complete I'll mix through the different sets of crews as all will be based and finished the same way.
  
The new shades of green on the lower right gun and a gun from my original AB battery painted a few years ago. I picked up most of my AB Russian figures from my buddy Stuart that had been machine gun painted by JP. I kind of got sucked into following his original paint patterns however from now on all my Russians will be done with my own shades.
  
My completed battery with the final battery with all the base coats applied.
 God only knows when I'll get it finished!
  
I'm not sure what I'll be working on next? I have an eye on some of Sho's new Russians and some of his Generals are in the post to me at the moment however I may hold off on them until he finishes the additional command figures he is working on. Sho's new General range looks to be completely compatible with AB's Russian command figures so it is truly exciting times for 18mm late war Russian fans!

A wee appeal: Does anyone have a GW foundation Deneb stone they dont use? my pot is on the turn plus is running low and is my favourite for Russian trousers. They are now very hard to come by and I would be willing to pay for the tub or possibly trade for some colours I have. I have plenty of Foundry Napoleonic paints I don't need.