A couple of high-ranking, nominally Austrian engineers converse with a field marshal as a mounted infantry colonel looks on. The figures are, naturally, by Minden Miniatures in the U.K., and wonderful castings they are too.
A birthday for the Grand Duchess, followed by Mother's Day, along with the usual May Term course duties, and an interruption of two days while new basement windows were installed here in Zum Stollenkeller notwithstanding, I managed to wrap up this latest command vignette yesterday (Sunday). The May 15th deadline in the current painting challenge among my loose group of wargaming friends and acquaintances looms dangerously close now. However, I will try my best to finish a couple of small vignettes featuring two different kneeling Minden Croats plus a horse and a human casualty before Midnight Central Daylight Time on the 15th.
And yes, before anyone comments, I realize that I inadvertently reversed the colors on the sashes worn by three of the officers shown here. Rats! Don't you hate it when you do something like that? Sigh. Well, they aren't real Austrians in my little world, and the painting is reasonably good, so why mess with things any further? The white edging also seems to make the sashes stand out better against the chests of the 1/56th scale figures. So, finished they are.
Painting this time was mostly done with Citadel and Ral Partha acrylics although the flesh areas, horse, and hats/boots were my usual alkyd oils thinned down with Liquin, which was dry to the touch by the next morning. I used very thin dark brown and/or dark blue hobby acrylics to add a little selective lining on the four figures along with some dark brown to stain areas on the field marshal's coat that were destined for gold lace. Metallics don't stand out well by themselves on white coats, you see. I might touch up two areas on the front of the mounted colonel's coat, which seem to have just a bit too much brown at the moment. Funny how you never notice these things until the photographs have been taken and posted.
The two coats of gloss on the miniatures were achieved with Liquitex acrylic gloss medium, while the groundwork on the base was my usual sand stained with dark brown acrylic paint. That was followed by a sprinkling of Woodland Scenics grass material held down with Liquitex acrylic matt medium and a few carefully placed Woodland Scenics shrubs, tacked down with one or another brand of superglue gel. Oh, and the base was cut from a piece of basswood and lightly sanded to knock off a few edges and splinters.
I don't think that this vignette is the most exciting and dynamic group of figures painted in the last few months, but I'm reasonably pleased with the way it turned out. Certainly, it was a nice change to paint Austrians in a color besides white! When I get to that large, reinforced company of Minden pioneers/miners and laborers later this summer, this group of officers will oversee their work. . . Whatever that might be at the time, depending on the game scenario or display.
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