Merde!

A French Voltigeur of the 45th finally escapes the swords of the Union Brigade and makes It back to his own lines. What a story he will have to tell his grand children.

Almost there

Not long to go now with just a few more highlights and the white straps on the backpack to go. I decided to paint a few Shako covers in linen to add some colour variety to the unit. These are Front Rank figures and are mostly the early French range. I prefer these sculptures to the later post 1812 ones, they are just better done. They must have been a later project as I think he must of improved along the way. They will fit in fine for my Waterloo army so I'm not too bothered and I do like the variety.

French Blue on the brush

Next up, I carefully painted in the blue around the white straps and belts. This was easy to do as most of the figure was infact white. I painted the red and other details before finally painting on the blue highlight, using it to cut back any mistakes.

Let there be White

I found the Grey a pleasure to work with and It made shading the white a doddle.

Something new

After looking through the excellent Blog of Saxon Dog, a true master If ever I saw one, I thought I would run off and try some of his techniques. I went straight to Halfords and bought myself a can of Grey spray paint to try out something new, I had seen the way Saxon Dog had used It to paint French in greatcoats. At first I was worried It would go on too thick but It worked a treat and actually made the detail easier to see. I would love to say the spray paint was cheaper than usual ( GW, Warlord Games etc), but it wasn't.

I have to admit after starting this Blog and looking and learning off other painters, my own technique has improved quite a bit. I only released this when I looked back at my old painting.

French skirmishers

French Skirmishers push out in front of the attack columns.

Skirmishing Celts...sorry Nan

Another group of skirmishing Celts join the throng. I have decided to dip all my Celts from now on unless they're somebody really important. It just means I can produce hundreds of them in a month. I'm also impressed with the quality of the stain If painted on with a brush rather than dipped. The shading looks good and in some cases, even looks better than some of my old paint work...sigh. I may use this technique for my ancient Germans and ECW ranges as well.
One tip I use is to spend a little time on the shield, the detail helps to take the eye off the simple paint work on the figure. Little Big Man studio shields are a big help here too. As you can see, I am making the most of having loads of freed up bases now the French have been moved on to bigger ones.

Another red morning

Almost there on the basing front.

Just over half the army is re based now and looking good in their new formations.

I shudder to think of the day I have to flock these guys, that will be a long day. Best not think of It yet, instead look at all the new french units...joy. Lucky for me my four Cavalry units will not need re basing and should pass muster. It's so good to have them organised at last, as I mentioned earlier, I created these units in the hope of a 28mm War hammer game. After years of waiting their are now two to choose from which fit the bill, Foundry's 'Napoleon' and Warlord Game's 'Black Powder'. I like the look of both these games and they both have their merits. At the moment we are leaning towards 'Napoleon' because it is based solely on the correct era and it has army lists and point values.

It's like waiting five years for a bus, you wait for a good 28mm Napoleonic game to come along, then two come along at the same time.

French 'Lights'

I think this unit to me represents the turning point in my Painting career back in 2005. Before, I had rushed through Regiments at lightning speed and with eras like the American Civil war, you could. However, with the Napoleonic French army and all It's detail and amazing colours, I had to stop and take my time with the painting to get things right. Painting Romans and Celts is great fun because you can use your imagination but with these guys you have to research and read. Two different types of enjoyment and satisfaction in one hobby, very rewarding indeed.

French Light Infantry

Again, this unit has been re based into a 24 man Regiment. This is one of my favourite Units in my French army, partly because of the time it took me to paint with all the detail. It is an early Light Infantry Regiment from Front Rank Figurines.

Unlike the other units, this one was tricky to base because of all of It's levelled muskets. The bases were difficult to arrange and I pushed the men presenting as far back as I could on the base, so they wouldn't stick out too much at the front. Even with my best efforts I'll have to leave a slight gap in between each rank when they're in column. At least the British will be in Line most of the time when they are on the board and won't suffer too much from this annoying problem.

Rebased for the 'Napoleon' game

The two large Regiments are now rebased into three 24 man units for the 'Napoleon' rule set. I had 10 figures left over that will be added as soon as I order some more expensive bases from Foundry...tut.

New Line Design French

These two 36 man Regiments are from New Line Design and are rather fine. At the time I remember them being cheaper than other makes and was surprised to see they were of high quality. They are quite fine featured and seem to be better proportioned than other, larger makes. They also match the Perries plastics in size and have a range of positions. A very good buy at the time.

Voltigeurs finished at last

The last bases of Voltigeurs are completed which finishes off the five regiments of French Line started over four years ago.

Happy New Year from the Mitten

Here's too the next one, cheers.

Painting Napoleonic French...A Guide

The three rules about painting a Napoleonic French Army quickly are very simple to remember. They are as follows:

1. Greatcoats
2. Greatcoats
3. More Greatcoats!!

By following these three easy steps you will have a whole French Division up and marching in no time. Thanks for listening.

1815 and all that

The rest of the French Infantry wait to be re based in the shade. As usual I may end up with more units than I can use in one days gaming, but that would not be anything new for me. I love to paint and collect and with each unit holding a different memory's for me, I can spend hours sitting there remembering years gone by. Most of the time though I sit there and think "God I wouldn't of painted It that colour now", but that's life. I hope you have enjoyed my trip into 18th Century France.

More lambs for the slaughter.

Here is a look at the next unit to be re based, a unit of Light Infantry. This one will be merged with another slightly later unit to make three units of twenty four. By re basing them all It gives me a chance to dust them down and retouch any old paint work. Also, there is a lovely feeling at having them all properly organised at last. I orginally had them in units of 36 but now have changed them down to 24 after reading the 'Napoleon' rules. I still like the idea of large French units opposed to British ones so might combine two against every one of British. 'Black powder' uses the 36 man regiment size for the French and I think I will sway that way too, we will have to see.

I have painted these troops to a standard I am happy with, they won't win any competitions but they do work en mass. I think this is the only way to go with such big, detailed Napoleonic armies.

A French Division.

Another command base with another brave French Officer leading from the front. As I am collecting the Armies of Waterloo, I have taken to coating a lot of the troops in mud. I love the fact that all these lovely uniforms were covered in mud and dirt. It gives them a real feel of the day, I will make the bases very muddy as well to finish the effect.

A large Division of French troops advances.