Recently I started a little reading project in honour of the Waterloo anniversary. The project is to read all of the Sharpe books, which I've shamefully never read, despite regularly rewatching the tv series so much my wife refuses to watch it any more! Along with these, I aim to try and read up about each of the battles that occur before moving onto the next book. So far it's a bit hit and miss with the actual history though as I can't find many books about the battles from the first few novels. Still... it is a start right? If anyone has any recommendations for this period beyond the book "Wellington in India" by Jac Weller, I'd love to know.
Originally I thought about trying to paint something for each book too, but at the rate I paint that's probably not a great plan.
Matakashi's wonderful skirmish thread provided a better inspiration, so I decided to take the plunge at painting some troops of the period by taking advantage of Warlord's offer last month. A free set of Peninsular troops with the Black Powder book... who could say no to that?
Here's the test model to work out colours and overall scheme.
The colours in the photo are a bit off as it is a quick snap, but it gives you a good idea of where it is going. So I can remember what happened for the next one, this is the process. They are based on 20mm round bases so that they can fit into 2x2/40mmx40mm square bases for larger games as well as being useful for skirmish level games. Speaking of... the base isn't done yet!
The process so far is similar to the
Warlord step by step with a few additions/modifications to fit my painting style and paint selection.
I'm sticking with the green as this is the colour of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of foot, which is where I'm from. They also served in a lot of the major battles of the peninsular campaign such as Douro (1809), Talavera (1809), Albuera (1811), Vitoria (1813), Nive (1813) and Orthes (1814). I've no idea how well they did, so that is some other fun research for later
My steps are as follows (mostly for my reference so I can repeat it later...
1) Undercoat - Army Painter Chaotic Red spray. This is basically VMC Hull Red and acts as a good shade for skin and the red coat.
2) Trousers - Base coat of VMA Sea Grey, layer of VMC Sky Grey, thinned highlights of VMC Offwhite. Glaze of Warpaints Boney Spikes/Gloss Medium to add dirt around the bottom
3) Jacket/Hat trim - Thinned layers of VMC Carmine Red; trims Citadel Warpstone Glow; final wash with Devlan Mud. Random glaze of Warpaints Boney Spikes/Gloss Medium to add dirt
4) Straps/Hat trim top - VMC Off White; wash of Devlan mud
5) Boots/ bags/ shako - Black with VMA Grey Green highlights.
6) Musket - VMC Leather Brown wood; Boltgun Metal for metalwork; overall wash ofNuln Oil
7) Skin - VMC Cork Brown; thinned layer of VMC Basic Skintone; wash with Devlan Mud. Stubble: 50/50 Black/VMC Basic Skintone painted onto jaw
8 ) Canteen - VMC French Mirage; Wash with devlan mud then Nuln Oil
9) Hair - VMC Leather Brown; wash with Nuln Oil
10) Bed roll - VMC Neutral Grey; wash with Nuln Oil
11) Sack - VMC Stone Grey; wash with Devlan Mud; stains with Warpaints Boney Spikes glaze.
12) Hat badge - VMC Bronze; wash with Devlan Mud
Doing one took about 2 hours, so we shall see how long it takes to do 4 more...
If you spot any serious historical mistakes anywhere in this thread, just shout. This is all pretty new to me and I'm bound to miss something in my vague attempt at research
31 December 2009, 10:26:30 AM
