Gendarmes: a bit of a comparison.

Heavy French and Italian cavalry 

When I finished the Swiss pike, my original intention was to launch straight into a pile of 200 landsknechts to give them some more opponents, however, I also had quite a large lead pile of cavalry to do, first off was a couple of units of Swiss and Italian mounted crossbows (that don’t feature in this post) and having done them I decided to try some of the many Gendarmes and early 16th century knights that were also sitting in the box. I had figures from 3 different manufacturers which I had accumulated over the past 6 months, a dozen of the SteelFist Gendarmes, 6 charging and 6 with upright lances, 6 late 15th century knights from SteelFist, 8 Gendarmes and 8 archer types from Eureka, and finally 24 Foundry Gendarmes (only 12 of those finished so far).
So, having painted all of the above in this last few weeks I thought I’d give you a brief comparison.

Steel Fist Gendarmes
So first, the Steel Fist figures.  I can find very little to say about this companies figures apart from unstinting praise, beautiful sculpts, great and enormously varied poses, high quality casting and metal, they are excellent figures. They produce 2 different sets of Gendarmes, one charging, one with lance upright. All the figures and horses are different, with separate heads and weapon arms,  and sheathed swords. plumes are also separate,  so the permutations are enormous. If you wanted to get super adventurous you could swap in some of their Landsknecht heads or maybe Perry ones. The horses are all individual barded mounts, if you want to find it, there is amazing detail on them.
 My only very small  issue  with these figures is that you might need to drill out the odd neck to get a better fit with whichever head you choose to place on whatever body.  These are outstanding figures.The best way to buy them is as a set of 6, this way they come in at £5 a figure. Not cheap, but generally you get what you pay for in this life. 

Steel Fist again, remarkable figures- side-show Bob leading the charge.

Now the bad news. Currently the Gendarmes are out of stock and unavailable due to the current emergency. I will be getting another dozen as soon as life returns to normal. I urge you all to do the same (but not until I have my order in).

Earlier Italian Knights from Steel Fist

Somewhere along the way I bought 8 earlier knights on unarmoured horses.  these tie in well with the Perry plastic set, I replaced one of the heads with a Perry one. Not as flamboyant as their later brethren, but similar in style and quality, separate heads and lance arms.
All of the Steel Fist figures look BIG. Nothing wrong with that, and they are the same size as Perry medievals.

Eureka Miniatures Gendarmes, with heavy cavalry support

Next up are the Eureka miniatures. Lovely figures, well cast, great, crisp detail, separate lance arms, alternative sword/hammer/mace arms and weapons, these are really well thought out figures, separate plumes, lovely Barded horses- you can create a lot of variation with these figures, price for these is £28.25 for a set of 8 which is very good value. I will be getting another 8 of the Gendarmes. They also produce Archer/coustillier types which are nice, although without the massive variations of the Gendarmes. Good figures. My only comment would be that are a little bit small,not a lot, but a little,  certainly when compared to Perry and SteelFist. In their own units alongside each other they look absolutely fine, but I would be reluctant to mix them in the same units with the other manufacturers.

Eureka again, very varied and clever designs

Foundry Gendarmes

 Finally we have Wargames Foundry. Wargames Foundry are... well, Wargames Foundry. Consistent, high quality sculpts to good standard. They are sort of benchmark figures. Separate cast lances and sword scabbards, the latter of which fit really neatly into a lug on the figure. Cast on heads. The figures are fine, albeit a tad dull. All in a sitting lance upright pose, little animation, and I guess if you have read this blog you know I like a bit of animation.
There are basically 3 or 4 head variations on 2 body types. Then the horses......I’ve never been a huge fan of Foundry horses, to much shaggy pit pony for my liking. I bought 7 different mounted packs of the Gendarmes....and there is only 1 barded horse type and 4 unarmoured horse. However, I can live with that, what was a bit of a shock was the casting quality. It was bloody awful. Massive lumps of flash, mould lines, the works. 24 figures and horses took me about 4 hours to clean up and assemble, which is a bit poor, and after all, Foundry are charging premium prices for 30 year old sculpts. I bought them on a deal which was great, but if I had paid full list price for them I would have been disappointed. Compared to the more modern figures their age is showing, but, they paint up as fine as they always have.

Another view of Wargames Foundry

Foundry head on

All of these figures were a joy to paint, and I’m really pleased with them, I set them off with a bunch of Pete’s Flags, which, let’s be honest, always make average painted figures like mine look brilliant.
Flags, faces and bases....that’s all you need.

All banners from Pete’s Flags.

Austrian Dragoons by Doug Mason, and a bit of news

I can't help but notice its been 7 weeks since I last posted here, I wish I could say that a lots happened wargames-wise in that time, but I'm afraid thats not the case. I've had little time for games or painting. My output has been insignificant; I've STILL got 4 lancers to finish for that regt, although all the horses are done and the rest are based and finished. On a positive note I am coming up to my annual quiet period in terms of work which is normally  a productive painting period, so lets hope so. 

One thing I did manage was to get Mike Ingham to part with these dragoon figures painted by Doug Mason. I did nothing to them other than touch up the bases, they are the Elite figures. This gives me 2 regts of Dragoons now, plus the 2 hussar regts, and 1 lancer. I have one regt of 36 Chevaux legere (why give Austrian cavalry a French name?) still to paint- this will give 6 regts and a total of 240 cavalry.

There are stiil the Cuiraissiers to consider,but they can wait.

In 2 weeks time I will be heading up to Scarborough for Gerry's birthday bash which he has kindly invited me to. While I'm obviously looking forwards to this, it's also a bit sad as it will be the last time I will get to play 25mm napoleonics up there. Its not been any great secret that ill-health is forcing Mike to shut down the holdiday centre. Gerry is now well underway embarking on his own enormous - and I mean enormous!-10mm project (He already has erected a brand new, purpose-built "bunker" with about the same amount of table space as the current centre!). He is looking to replicate what they had in 25mm in 10mm in a couple of years- should be fascinating, and is going to be upping the figure scale so what was a 36 man btn now has a mental 108 figures. The man is nuts.

Although some figures have been sold, the rest of the collection (which is still massive), including all the buildings and terrain is moving down to the Basingstoke area under the stewardship of Mark Freeth. I spoke to him this morning and he has new premises sorted, and is hoping to put his first game on in February! He said he should have a website up next week. He is going to be doing Napoleonics, plus ACW and Malburian, and has already rebased all the WWII stuff (!) for Flames of War. He has some new ideas and will hopefully breathe a bit of new life into the WHC. I wish him all the best, and am looking forwards to playing there (and its only an hour up the road!).

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WIP: Lancers

September has been a fairly hopeless month in terms of gaming, painting, and blogging I'm afraid. So, just in case you thought I'd jacked it all in I'll put up some pics of the Austrian lancers I don't seem to be able to finish. 

Elite figures and horses with a few mounts from elsewhere (Connoisseur, Alban, Firing Line). 

Bases obviously not done yet, still awaiting painting, brushing and grass bits. So far I've just done 32 out of what will be a massive 48 man regt - 8 squadrons of 6 figures. I picked the the third regt as I liked the red Czapka, plus the trumpeters apparently wore white ( though I've had trouble confirming this). Plenty of conversions and head twists, plus a few replacement heads from Firing Line. Lance pennons by GMB. There will be a standard bearer, although I'm not sure if Austrian light cavalry actually carried them in action. All the lances were soldered, and the officers sabres replaced. I also played about with some of the horses, teasing out manes and tails with the soldering iron to give them more movement. In the end, however, I decided life was too short. I might do this again for officers and the odd special, but otherwise.No. 

I hope to get these finished this week, I guess I've had a bit of mid-project blues with the old Austrians. It will pass.

I have also decided to give these chaps their own staff officer - seeing as they are such a big unit. I found a lovely Bicorne Uhlan officer, and I've tweaked him a bit- changed his sword arm, added a steel sabre and soldered a "flying" scabard onto him, again to impart a little movement. I'll post him when he is done. 

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Hussar problem solved

I mentioned that while I was up at the Wargames Holiday Centre I was hoping to make a few purchases. Well,I did indeed, and here are a few pics of some of them. Mike has been selling off quite a few units this year in order to "slim down" the collection (for example, having nearly 180 x 36 man French btns seemed a bit OTT), and I hoped to buy a few units I'd always really liked. High on the list were these 2 regts of Austrian Hussars, 1 of 36 men and another of 48 (Wish they were both 48's).

One of the problems I've always had with the Austrian army is the hussar uniform. Now I know they invented the things, but I've always thought the Austrian hussar uniform looked more at home in Billy Smart's Circus than on a battlefield. All that purulent bright green, stupid red trousers, and yellow plumes...Give them some long, floppy shoes rather than hussar boots and they would have looked better.
Subsequently I've never had any great desire to paint any. So from years ago when I first saw these rather more subdued paint jobs they always appealed. They are all wearing overalls and the green is (a more realistic) darker shade.  Despite this they are still suitably gaudy enough for hussars, with their red shabraques with yellow piping and either bright or dark blue dolmans.

They are (naturally) the Elite miniatures castings, painted and converted by Doug Mason. All the sabres are pins soldered into the hand and are very tough. Even after many years of service up in Scarborough I only had to replace 3 swords out of 84. Doug has done plenty of bends and twists to these figures. There are only 4 basic figures here, officer, trumpeter and 2 trooper figures, and he really has imparted an incredible sense of movement to the models which really look the part of hussars at full tilt

I just did a minimal amount of work on the bases to blend them with my standard basing. Just an oilwash and highlight then some grass clumps added. I also gave them a quick new coat of gloss. I had contemplated giving them a matt coat, but they look infinitely better in their original gloss glory. I'm developing a bit of a theory about gloss V matt: Gloss varnish isn't terribly fashionable these days which is actually a bit wierd. There is no debate about it bringing out the colour and establishing a visual contrast between the figure and its base, this is simply optical fact. Nonetheless, a lot of folk "prefer" matt these days. Anyway, my theory is, that gloss varnish makes well painted figures look even better and badly painted figures look even worse, while matt varnish just dulls everything down to a more median uniformity (no pun inteneded). So for Mr Average painter (like me, and most of you) we think our stuff looks better when we matt varnish it, because gloss just shows up all the cock-ups, while matt is more....forgiving.
Anyway, thats my theory.

These figures were painted by someone who really knew what he was doing, and it shows up even better in the flesh than through the lens of my rather inadequate camera.

These weren't the only figures I bought from Mike, there are more (I just kept peeling off the tenners until he said stop) but the rest will have to wait for another time.

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Fast Horses

Front Rank (left) Elite collectors series (right) undercoated with 2 light sprays of tan, in this case from Army painter

Work has taken over lately so my painting output has plummeted, however, a few of you have expressed an interest in how I paint horses using oils. This is a very fast method for getting an effective look on brown horses without too much fuss. It doesn't work for grey horses, and black horses....well, I just paint them black.

 I did do some pics a while ago when I painted the Austrian dragoon regt but they were a bit pony....Pony?...oh dear, sometimes I'm just too funny...Pony...Geddit?...(For those of you not familar with rhyming slang...), anyway, these are from some more recent general figures.

So, the first pic shows 2 horses just after getting a couple of coats of tan paint. It really can be just about any brownish paint. Whatever you use for the base will ultimately dictate the predominate colour for the end horse. For most cavalry units I would do some in this pale tan, and some in a darker  brown to get a bit of variation. The method doesn't change at all irrespective of what you use as a base (as long as its some sort of brown).  Add in some blacks and greys and you get a mixed unit.

Once the basecoat is dry I block in the leather work and mane/tail in black. On  the Elite horse on the left I've left the mane and tail to be coloured later.

Now the main event, applying the oil paint: I use good old Windsor & Newton Burnt Umber. You can get it in any art shop.It needs to be thinned with white spirit to a thickish wash sort of consistency. You will just have to experiment with this. Then, just brush it on. It doesn't matter if it slops over the black bits you've just painted, just make sure you get a decent covering.

Then, you need to leave it a little while. Depends a little on air/room temperature, but 5 mins is probably about right. When you first apply the oil it will look wet and glossy. Quite quickly it will begin to dry a little, and start to turn to a more satin finish. This is the moment when you need to wipe it off. For this you need a dry clean soft cotton. I use an old Tee-shirt.

This needs to be done fairly gently, just lightly rub over the flanks of the horse. Use steady, LIGHT touches, removing the top coat of the oils. This will leave the undercoat still stained a little, and also leave heavier deposits in the folds and defined muscles on the horse. I usually leave the front and underside of the horse. This adds a bit of shadow.

I've wiped the Elite horse on the left, but not the right hand nag. See how there is still a bit of paint in the folds and on the underside.

Now I've wiped the Front Rank horse on the left. This looks a bit pale. If you are not happy with the result the solution is a very simple one; repaint with oils, just slap on another coat, and repeat the process.

So, thats it after a single coat and gentle wipe. Looks alright. This horse I want to have a pale mane and tail so I've now blocked those in with Vallejo ivory. 

The Ivory is now washed over with a burnt sienna wash.

Next, the black, reins, is dry brushed with Vallejo German Grey, which is pretty dark, and the tail/mane dry-brushed with ivory again.

The Front Rank horse after dry brushing on reins, mane and tail plus a further really light dry brush with a pale grey (Vallejo Neutral Grey). The brass is touched in with ..brass, and any white bits (blaze, socks) primed also in Neutral Grey before finishing in white. If you want to do eyes (and actually can paint horses eyes- most people, including me, can't) then fine, go ahead. 

One final point: Don't attempt to use a spirit based varnish within 24 hours. Water based types aren't a problem, but spirit gloss varnishes put on too soon can be a bit disastrous. Leave it a day and its fine.  

TA-Da!! the finished product with a general sat on it, a Front Rank gabion and some yellow flowers .

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MayDay Parade

All of the Austrians to date: 5 German line, 1 Hungarian, 1 Grenzer, 18 skirmishers, 1 battery, 36 Dragoons,

April was a busy month, so sorry for my lack of posts here. I'm afraid blogging is the first casualty in the time stakes when it comes to work, painting, home stuff etc. Sometimes something has to give.

Despite this my painting total for April was bloody impressive even if I say so myself, 130 pieces all told. A dragoon regt (counts as 72 pieces), another 48 of German line, 6 skirmishers, and 5 mounted generals. Not bad going at all. I didn't even really feel I was making a special effort. Most of the cavalry I got done while I was down in Devon at Easter, and the infantry were done over the odd week-end plus evening, likewise the skirms and general figures. Generals are always pretty easy as you can usually get an entire figure finished in an evening and still have time for everything else. 

Dragoon column led by a spiffy officer

The dragoons were not quite what I expected, when I ordered them, I'm sure I asked Mr Moreby for all the figures to be with sword down, but given that with the rest of the order I'd asked for max variation he gave me half sword down and half "waving sword about overhead, unlike any cavalryman, ever" pose...in the end I'm glad he did, I replaced the rather fat little curved sabre with a very straight (and probably overlong) flattened pin, which looks a bit more like a  pallasch, then, I cut a 'v' in the shoulder of the sword arm, which allowed me to bend the pewter arm round to something which resembled ' a point' , well, at least a bit more than the original. 

GMB standard as ever- annoyingly Elite don't make an ensign figure

The trumpeters got similar treatment to bend the trumpets round in front of the figure (I hate that blowing the trumpet over the shoulder look), and added cords out of 5 amp fuse wire twisted in the Dremel.

I'm happy with the net result, at first I wasn't, but I these lads are growing on me.

When I thought about doing this unit I had in mind a regt which uses the same figures at the WHC by Doug Mason. It's beautiful, some of his best work. To this end I took a few pics of what he'd done the last time I was there in order to get some references of what he did, so I could try and emulate it. Comparing the 2 now I'm not even close, ...to quote Samual Jackson in Pulp Fiction: "Not the same ballpark? It's not even the same sport"....(he wasn't talking specifically about wargames figures but you get my drift)

A few head twists and arm conversions, all sabres replaced with pins, wire trumpet cords added

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Austrians going great guns

I'm making decent progress with the Austrians, even if I do say so myself. I've now finished 5 48 man btns, 12 skirmish figures plus this battery pictured. I've also done the guns and half the crew for a second battery.

On top of this I'm 2/3rds of the way through a sixth 48, which I'm hoping to complete this week/end, though it might be tight as I'm away for work for 3 days tomorrow.

Anyway,its decent progress given my 2 year timeframe for finishing this stage (this stage? Gulp!) of the Austrian army, puts me about a quarter of the way through the infantry which I reckon is pretty damm good.  

Most importantly, the psychological aspect is fine too, I'm not remotely bored with painting white infantry, quite the opposite, and on the whole my technique is improving both in terms of quality and speed which is really encouraging. I even now look foward to starting yet another 48.

However, I'm not going to do that, once these 6 btns are complete (tonight!) I will start on some cavalry,probably a dragoon regt in white. I expect this to take a little while, I will replace the swords with pins and have to convert a standard bearer as Elite don't make one (havn't worked that one out yet, but it can't be too tricky). I'll also do a "how to" on the horses as I go.

These guns are straightforwards to do. I went for a speed paint on the gunners which were a doddle. An evening's work for 8 (no muskets, no backpacks!).

I sprayed them with a desert tan primer, then painted the black plus grey highlights, washed the tan coats in burnt umber oils, did the flesh, washed and highlighted, facings in sienna finished in red. Grey/white belts and breeches which are then gone over in white. A few yellow and gold touches, and they are done.

The figures are half and half Elite and Connoissuer. I had about 30 gunners from Connoissuer sitting in "the Box" so I've just added extra Elite figures to bulk them out. I would have done seperate batteries but the pose mix of the Connoissuer stuff I had was a bit uneven so I decided to mix them. I think they look just fine with a mix any way. I have enough figures for about 4 x 4 gun batteries so they will become the 6Lber crews then the 12lbers will get all Elite crews. That is a little down the line though, I'll get these 6lb units done before worrying about that.

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