Since we're getting Napoleonic here...

[Aaron]

Here are half of the 40mm rifles I finished last week. These are for a friend of mine who wants to do some skirmish gaming set in sunny Spain. All Sash and Saber except for the prone figure by Perry.



They are the intended opponents of these fellows I posted before:



I still have some French cavalry and gun as well as some British light infantry and Portugese to finish for him.

[Super_Gibbon]

Great job! I love the muddy trouser legs. None of the figs are as handsome as Sean Bean though thats not your fault! Excellent work.

[Aaron]

Thanks! Sean is in the other half of the unit actually. The Sash and Saber command pack came with historically correct and Hollywood head options. It has been a very strange experience working on these and my own 6mm stuff at the same time.

[Hitman]

Nice work...almost makes me want to start 40mm, but I still have 100's of 28mm Napoleonics to paint up for my skirmish games and larger battle games. Thanks for sharing.

[Malamute]

Very nice, I like 'em, especially Sgt Harper.

[TheWeasel]

Chosen men? Well I didn't choose ya!

Beautifully painted models! You make a  good case for 40mm. 'Fraid I'm kind of locked into 28 currently.

[Aaron]

Thanks all. I have managed so far to restrict myself to 28mm for skirmish and 6mm for big battles in my personal collection, but 40mm is a dangerous siren call.   

[Leapsnbounds]

I'm a big fan of Wellington's India Battles.  I've made a couple of posts about it.  The Rules system I use is Piquet which are a lot of fun.  You can weight the armies and still have realistic results.  My native Indian Armies outnumber the British Sepoys 2: or 3:1 and the British can still win most of the time.

[Hitman]

The 95th Rifles are superb. I need more time to paint I tell ya!!!

[Helen]

Lovely figures Aaron, I'm sure you are very proud of your work. Could you please consider a tutorial for painting Napoleonics for the LAFers who have an interest. I for one would be interested as I wish to expand my painting style to include this period for skirmishing. It doesn't really matter what scale you paint the figures as long as we understand the general concept -Please consider!

I'm also looking into this period for skirmish and for those folks who may have an interest in Alban miniatures Paul of Alban has recently placed this update on his website.

Please excuse me for hijacking your thread.
"An Update:

I'm collecting the greens on Tuesday of next week, then off to Griffin for casting. Therefore the next 4 packs should be available by the following week, or maybe sooner, Griffin are exceptionally fast!! Richard is now working on our first 2 Big Men for "Sharp Practice".

Website:
http://www.albanminiatures.com/index.php

Helen
PS: No, I don't have shares in Alban Miniatures!

[hamrock]

No problem at all:  I'll post some "green" photos next week.

[Aaron]

Thanks again fellow LAFers.

The problem with a tutorial is that there are just so many uniforms and variations out there. The French uniform changed officially at least a couple of times during the course of the wars and most of the other nations did also. And then there were regiments who defied the regulations and made up their own rules. It can be maddening if you are obsessive about it. I'm happy to answer questions though. I can't remember the minutaea that well, but I have a decent library. Osprey are actually pretty good for the Napoleonics excepting the French.

I saw the Alban figures that came with my pal's copy of Sharp practice. They are fantastic, but sadly too small to go with our collections of mainly Front Rank and Crusader stuff. They should match up perfectly with the "smaller 28mm" stuff like Perry and OG Second Edition.

[Helen]

Thanks again fellow LAFers.

The problem with a tutorial is that there are just so many uniforms and variations out there. The French uniform changed officially at least a couple of times during the course of the wars and most of the other nations did also. And then there were regiments who defied the regulations and made up their own rules. It can be maddening if you are obsessive about it. I'm happy to answer questions though. I can't remember the minutaea that well, but I have a decent library. Osprey are actually pretty good for the Napoleonics excepting the French.

I saw the Alban figures that came with my pal's copy of Sharp practice. They are fantastic, but sadly too small to go with our collections of mainly Front Rank and Crusader stuff. They should match up perfectly with the "smaller 28mm" stuff like Perry and OG Second Edition.

Thanks Aaron,

Actually, I was just looking forward to a tutorial on how you paint your Napoleonics. I doesn't really matter how many uniform changes contries went through just the basic hues at this time.

My whites I've a concern with. It's fortunate that at this stage I'm just painting mainly WW1 uniforms where there is minimal colour. Oh, I did paint a Zouave which was okay.

So, what white do you recommend that will glide over uniforms nicely without having too many problems with the colour.

Thanks again,

Helen

[Aaron]

I fought with whites for a long time. I have a friend who prefers a more natural linen look which consists of a VGC beast Brown followed by VMC Iraqi Sand through pale Sand to Ivory. I like a nice blinding white myself, so I start with either London Grey or Neutral Grey (pretty much the same thing) followed by the Foundry white triad. Failing that There are a few VMC Greys that can do the job followed by their white, but I can't remember their names at the moment.

For French and Prussian blues I start with VMC Dark Prussian Blue through Prussian Blue to either Medium or Flat Blue (they are pretty similar). For reds I use Burnt Cadmium Red through Cavalry Brown to Flat Red, usually with a final touch of Vermilion for officer types. The Rifle Green was a mix of black and Military Green (IIRC) with some Russian Uniform thrown into the mix for the final stage.

I usually do more of a wet blending lately when time allows with a few mixes of the colors, but I am lazy so it winds up a little different every time. Of course this is for 28s and 40s. I have started painting 6mm figures and you really have to exaggerate the highlights for those. I stole Braxen's technique there: http://sixtwentyeight.blogspot.com/2008/08/painting-6mm-french-infantry-tutorial.html

I'll try to take some photos by stages the next time I get time to work on this project. I think Brit light troops are the next in line for him. It should help explain the process better then my rambling

[Helen]

Thanks Aaron,

Greatly appreciated your assistance, an I just wanted to get a heads up as I'm really now coming to terms understanding colours and combinations of the two extremes. Practice and practice goes along way an I forgot to mention that I painted for my friend Drew some Redoubt International gun crew for the Boxer Rebellion we are gaming this weekend. You can see this on my blog, which is at the bottom of my footer!

What's the difference between VMC and VGC?

Helen