A Tedious Step Finally Finished!

A head on shot of the entire 32-figure battalion of Freiherr Wilhelm's Pioneers. They have really come alive since completing the shirt cuffs and facings.

Above, you see a picture of Freiherr Wilhelm’s Pioneers as things now stand. All facings and turnbacks have been colored red. The collars, in keeping with the Osprey Men-at-Arms illustration of mid-19^th century Austrians pontoniers on which I’m basing my figures, have been left out. Not anything you miss or that looks unfinished on these particular figures.

Unfortunately, I must take an evening off to take care of some paying writing projects I’ve been putting off. When I return to the painting desk, the next items on the agenda are the white shoulder belts, supporting the cartridge pouches, as well as the smaller leather and canvas straps that support the haversacks and canvas shoulder pouches.

Still eagerly awaiting Battlegames #13, to see myself in print. Alas, nothing yet. Sigh. And my subject matter? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. After all, I don't want to scoop myself you know. ;-) Enjoy your day men!

Here's a close shot of a company officer, the battalion drummer, and a company NCO.

Comments

tradgardmastare said…

Stokes
What is your magazine article about?
Alan

10:27 AM

Steve-the-Wargamer said…

..already read it Stokes, and a more erudite and informed article it would be hard to find.... ;o))

7:40 AM

guy said…

Hi Stokes,

They are looking v smart. I will have to re-read some of my uniform books to find something similar to break up the massed regiments of my Prussian musketeers. Perhaps a colourful garrison regiment might be suitable.

Without sounding smug, I received my copy of battlegames over the weekend and yours was the first article I read. Congratulations are certainly due and I hope it encourages others. It is accompanied by some excellent photos although it would have been interesting to see a completed painted converted cavalryman. I think the painted ones on show fighting the spencer smith cavalry are the Revell austrian dragoons.

This photo was however most helpful to me as it showed the rear of the figure. I was a bit uncertain how I should paint the sadles etc. I am nearing the end of 80 prussian dragoons which has proved a bit of a painting mountain. However I have passed my painting tipping point when they really come together and I am just now putting the final touches to them and correcting errors. So shortly the 1st and 5th dragoons will be varnished and based up. I have the flag for the 5th while the 1st will have to wait until I put in my next order. From what I read the 5th are a v famous regiment so I confidently expect them to rout early on the first game they take part in.

Regards,
Guy

10:17 AM

It's Early Days Yet. . .

M aking some early progress with Batch A of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment over the last several days/evenings. Nothing terribly exciting just yet, but the basic black, brown, and flesh areas are done as are the green bases, and gray undercoat. The latter two areas needed some careful retouching early in the week. Next up, the neck stocks. I might just do these in red for the enlisted men although some of my source material suggest they were black, but I always look for an excuse to shake things up a bit. Any errant splotches of red (or black) can be covered with another application of light gray before I move onto the next step. "Giddy up!" as one Cosmo Kramer might have said. -- Stokes

A Little More Brushwork. . .

A little more brushwork on the first batch of (my version of) the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment yesterday (Saturday). Taking a different tack this time and addressing many of the details first before the white coats and other larger areas of uniform. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've painted the (dark) red stocks of the enlisted men. Always a difficult and frustrating item to paint, it made sense to paint from the inside out as it were and get that particular detail out of the way first rather than try to paint it in later after much other painting has been accomplished. Trying to reduce the need for later retouching of other items on the figures you understand. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to these later today after a second trip back to the Apple Store for help with a couple of new iPad issues and, following the return home, some revision of Google Slides for tomorrow's meetings with my students. -- Stokes P.S. And according t...

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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