Waterloo in 28mm - My journey log

[vodkafan]

I am somewhat running out of steam in the final stretch of this project with new projects taking ever more of my mindshare. 5 more cavalry units and two more (half) batteries to go... Pushing myself

After all this it should be against the law for you to stop Helge 

[LazyStudent]

OooooooOOoOoOoO! 

Very nice woodcut. If I might ask, where did you purchase it from?

I really like the plan to have the battle board on the back. Is it magnetised, so you can leave minis in place if you have to squirrel it away in a hurry?

[Helge]

Very nice woodcut. If I might ask, where did you purchase it from?

This is a custom plague print. I found a framer willing to put the frame on the back and then print the map on the front. Look up "plaque print" for the process. The finish is slightly glossy/varnished similar to plaques in a museum for example. The map itself is from a stock photo website and presumably scanned from a book. For the rest of the room I had two more such plaques printed (though 3'x2') covering the other two "battle collections" on my list: Marston Moor in the English Civil War and Gettysburg for the American Civil War. I paid somebody on Fiverr to visually match the style of the Waterloo map so that the room is tied together. Photos to follow as my ECW Marston Moor project is next on my list (it's 13.5mm so should go quite quickly as an "intermission").

But first the allies need to be wrapped up! Here we have Hussards No 8 (Belgian) which completes the 1st light brigade for the Netherlands. Just two more regiments to go. First though, I have to finish up a few bits and bobs.

[Freddy]

Great additions! I really like your idea with the map!

[Basementboy]

Very cool! You’re racing through these, really nice job

[Helge]

As promised, here are some bits and bobs. These are Perry Miniatures vignettes showing the capture of the eagles of the 45e and 105e regiment d'infantrie, the loss of the V KGL Line's colours to French Cuirassiers, some hussars in camp, and a few civilian visitors on the battlefield. The flag of the 45e had to be truncated a bit to fit the staff.

[Bloggard]

fantastic.

[Basementboy]

Lovely as always!

[Zenza Raggi]

Your commitment to the project is impressive. Two years on and still adding to it. Whereas I find it very difficult finishing thirty figures for the same unit.

I am not a fan of the look given by contrast paints but can understand why you would want to use them given the number of figures involved. Your figures have certainly come out well using the technique. 

I also appreciated the size of the pictures you uploaded.

[Helge]

Thank you both. Contrast paints are really the only realistic way to tackle a project of this scale (at least for me). Not just because of the reduction in painting steps, but also because of the batch-painting tolerance. A lot of this collection wasn't painting in a linear - one unit at a time - pattern. For example, I batch painted 200+ horses in a single burst and then painted the riders much later. Or painted the shoes and metallics of some 500+ Perry brits all in one big session. Contrast paints reduces all this to a single bottle of paint so I don't have to worry about mixing ratios for highlights or surface finish three months later when I finished the rest of the model. Everything will come out very consistent which, in my opinion, is more important for large collections like this than individual figure detail. Remember, you are looking at this as close-ups of individual bases one at a time, but the whole thing sits on my table as one big impression.

My way of batch processing probably sounds crazy to many of you, but is essential for my self-management around projects like this. I have a high stress, high volatility job, so my mental capacity for hobby time at the end of the day varies a lot. Often times, painting shoes in a quasi trance is all there is left in the mental gas tank . Rather than make no progress at all that day, this achieves something. Equally importantly, it reduces the remaining paint effort on those batch-prepped models when I finish them later during periods with more mental capacity for detail work. With the horses done, shoes done, metallics done, etc., I can finish an entire cavalry unit in a session or two which increases the dopamine hit of "getting it done". Every hobbyist is different, but this approach has worked very well for me over the decades.

Speaking of getting something done, I finished up the remaining bits and bobs: a limber team for the horse artillery and an assortment of cavalry casualties. Unlike the infantry and horse artillery where I have a marker/limber for every units/gun, this will have to do for representative coverage. I just couldn't find that many horse casualty models to cover 30+ regiments and even the available ones often don't really fit on my chosen 40mm marker base. And even I am not crazy enough to paint 37 horse artillery limbers to match each gun in the collection...





I am also almost done with the last cavalry so this weekend will see the end of this grand project! Stay tuned.

[Zenza Raggi]

Thank you for such a thoughtful reply. Your explanation of the batch painting makes a lot of sense and I think is very much in line with most gamers' methodology. It may just be that I am severely lacking in discipline.

I agree with your point concerning consistency. Ultimately the figures will be seen at arms' length so that is what matters. Thankfully the contrast paints provide enough shading that is noticeable at such a distance.

At what rate will you be done with this project? And have you already thought about what the next one will be? Curious minds want to know.

[MaleGriffin]

Excellent additions to your collection!

[Helge]

At what rate will you be done with this project? And have you already thought about what the next one will be? Curious minds want to know.

That's an interesting question. I did some digging out to see what trend lines I could generate. The project started in the Fall of 2022 and I am just about done with the Anglo-Dutch contingent. Call it 20 months. The Anglo-Dutch come to around 2,450 infantry models including gun crews, ~580 cavalry models including command models, and 76 guns. Plus a few miscellaneous models. Grand total of 3,105 models of all types. So that's a momentum trend of around 150 models per month.

The next phase will be the Prussian which, again, will the entire order of battle on the field which comes to about 2,400 models of all types. So in theory that should take another sixteen months. I will take a break after the Anglo-Dutch to paint some other projects while I gradually prepare the Prussians (clean, assemble, spray, etc.).

Just for fun, I also tracked a few other stats during the past ~20 months of this project. I bought 41 spray cans of Wraithbone primer. Subtracting my current inventory and a few cans for side projects, I used in around 35 cans for this projects. 18 bottles of Nuln Oil and 14 bottles of Black Templar were the record holders for paint usage.

Now, on to something a bit more interest . Here is MG van Merlen commanding 2nd Light Cavalry Brigade of the Netherlands. His first regiment are the 5th (Belgian) Light Dragoons.

[Bloggard]

crikey, you'd need quite an income just to cover the cost of rattle-cans !

whatever the kind of paints used, I think the results are fantasic - only for myself I 'd probably have gone satin (or even gloss!) varnish.
Showing my age, and just increasingly feel it's 'right' for toy soldiers - and Napoleonic in particular.

[aphillathehun]

I've always thought the Dutch and the Belgians give this alliance a certain elegance to their looks.  Nicely done all 'round.