The figures are hat Nassau Napoleonic infantry. 1/72 or 20mm plastics.
I picked them because they have the nearest shako look for the Dane’s bell shako.
I have started to use a furled flag approach as invariably my flag production does not match my figure painting!
I could do some head swops to get other sets in on the act but wanted to try a straight paint job here to see if I liked the result.
The basing is my standard 40mm square mdf with budgie grit pva then 3 colour brown, ochre and yellow/white highlights. As it’s nearly spring the grass is dead tufts from gamers grass over Javis sawdust green.
Once again I have belatedly found a painting challenge. This one by Dave Stone started at Christmas and is about getting stuck into your figures backlog – assuming you have one?
This is my first contribution.
15th regiment
These figures were prepped and on painting sticks on the 10th January 2023 according to my painting journal. A year in production is not uncommon in the Erratics world. I had made more progress by November with the main colours done when I stopped all existing production to do some new acquisitions!!!!!
Finally I have finished them complete with gaming bases.
For many years I did not record my painting activity or maybe kept random notes until with lockdown I decided to consolidate my notes and eventually opted for a handwritten journal. It has stood the test of time and has repaid the effort as I have added duplicate figures and simply dug out the recorded paint guide.
These figures are Hat 1/72 World War One German Infantry who have simply been given a paint job. I decided the boot detail was fine at even close distance. This then magically turned them into the 7th and 15th Landwehr Regiments of 1848 who marched into the First Schlieswig Holstein War.
7th regiment
The bases use my standard technique taken from Warhammer Ancient Battles – birdcage grit on PVA followed by Burnt Sienna, an Ochre dry brush and a yellow white highlighter. I then use a Javis mid green turf to finish. Bases are from pendraken.
Cockades were popular
The figures are based on 4 No. 40mm square bases which allow me to use a variety of wargame rules.
In line for a variety of rules
The flag is from Warflag (They are certainly worth a donation or a few) and I have opted for plain flower arranging wire flagpoles with the paper flags glued to recycled covid testing sticks – the hollow sticks fit the wire just right. I am still deciding on how to arrange them – whether to give them caps to set them at the height I want. Right now they just drop onto the figure.
Ok so pistols were only just arriving in 1848 but I like the figure as is…
The only difference between regiments is in the shoulder strap colours. The 7th are yellow while the 15th are light blue.
My reference book is Ralph weavers armies of the first Schleswig Holstein war 1848-1851 published by partizan.
Brilliant guide by Ralph weaver
You can also see a glaring mistake – one base incomplete with only two figures. Quite simply back in 2023 I managed to miscount the figures being put on sticks and never checked again until basing them! This was a puzzle as I used all 48 figures from one box to paint 4No. 12 man units……
Oops one of my men went missing
So that journal will repay itself again as I paint that missing figure – when I find it!
I first used budgie grit on my 28mm Perry WotR forces and I liked the surface finish although the dark colour choice – english mud – I never liked. When they get another run out things will be lighter.
And following success with my Normans in the South I have retained the lighter colouring for my Piedmontese who are the first of my Wars of the Italian Unification (WotIU) project.
I use budgie grit as suggested in one of the many Warhammer Historical Gamebooks
I pva some budgie grit around the figures, then give everything a burnt sienna undercoat. Then I use a discontinued B&Q tumeric – yellow ochre I guess. This is haphazardly brushed on. Finally I dry brush with a Valpasar yellowy cream. I found this colour was not so intense as using white.
The foliage is woodland scenics from the USA – I use the bush material and mix an olive green with a brighter green colour.
In the wings
In the lead photo you can see Austrian Artillerymen, Austrian Line Infantry and Italian Bersaglieri.
I have had some very satisfactory results moving to large bases as suggested by Impetus Rules when using 1/72 figures. So 80mm x 60mm basing has been almost exclusively the preferred basing method.
With my latest enchantment – Wars of the Italian Unification (WotIU) I have moved onto something different. I intend using PIQUET rules amongst others. In their ruleset 1700-1900 Field of Battle, Brent Oman suggests that units composed of a few bases not only work for his rules but look good.
I think he is right. So I am going with a standard unit of 4 bases, each measuring 40mm x 40mm.
This will allow 1×4 columns, 2×2 blocks and 4×1 lines. As you have probably gathered, scale is not my priority on the battlefield. I like a combination of “look”, proportion, abstraction and playability.
And being a solo wargamer “look” is simply my preference.
So these pictures show my first Piedmontese Line Infantry unit.
one up front does not look right.
The only other consideration is figure arrangement. Going with PIQUET, I have settled on 3 figures per base. So you can either have one figure at the front or two to the front, assuming your not having 3 in a row.
I am going with 2 to the front.
two up front looks better to my eye. And actually the 12 man units look ok.
I have started my Normans in the South project by painting up some Strelets figures. These are a bit chunky but on the whole a likeable set of figures. I used the figures from the big Stamford Bridge set and the mini sets for Normans
i have opted for an arid south mediterranean look rather than a dark earthy northern europe onein slightly different light the ground does not look quite like a desert!so a few archers and now a few spearmen – i have opted for a more open look with the shieldwall not formedI quite like some of the before battle poses strelets have done although figures do vary in size. I am not looking for the regimented look anyway.I am quite happy with the look including the vegetation. the bases are all 80mm x 60mm and I shall use them for either AMW, DBA or Impetus games amongst others.
Do bases matter that much when it comes to miniatures used in wargaming? By current standards they clearly do with plenty of trade offerings available and a wealth of DIY advice online.
Also the preference for elements without individual figure removal permits more imagination to be applied around a base. Perhaps the exception is skirmish gaming but even here you have the option of sabot bases providing the individual figure movement while retaining the convenience of the larger element base which can still be given varying levels of decoration.
My basing journey has been pretty basic. Back in the dim and distant past I painted desert or green paint onto cardboard bases. I still have them and they work after a fashion. The figures are 25mm. They look a bit tired though.
I think this figure is a citadel adventurer from the 1970’s when my painting hand was patient and my eyes still worked! note the ageing gloss varnish.
Then I started a 15mm phase and actually paid for painting including basing. The quality was good but somehow they did not grow on me. They look accurate but……
15mm Essex Byzantines professionally painted with matt finish and understated basing!
I did some of my own and I was even less happy!
And then I caught the plastic fantastic bug and returned to simple painted bases for some 1/72 scale figures.
Zvezda Russian Cavalry cruise past some positively ancient 20mm minifig french napoleonics and giant 25mm tradition russians
In the middle of this phase I moved into 28mm figures and thought they needed something extra. As it happened despite all the wealth of offerings and advice in all the various magazines and books I had collected, I stumbled across the humble warhammer guide in one of their rulebooks – maybe shieldwall – where they recommended simply gritting the bases, basecoating and drybrushing once. Somewhere I found a suggestion to use budgie grit. I tried it and painted it up, except no dry brush, but added some static grass and…… I was still underwhelmed. There is no pleasing some people.
Perrys 28mm Continental Burgundian Pike on DBA bases
I then had another surge of plain painted bases when I reworked more of my old 25mm metals.
You can see them next to the Zvezda Russians above – Minifigs French circa 1972? and Tradition Russians from the mid 1970’s. The bases they replaced were very dark green painted airfix box card – the figures have been transformed in my view, although unbelievably garish – they cheer me up!
And then I decided to do some mediterranean normans. Coincidentally I had watched both British cycling, Le Tour and La Vuelta races and the penny dropped. All my scenic basing had generally used dark green/dark brown earth (or grey brown for 15mm) colours – and I had not recognised why I liked the bright green bases beyond their simplicity. British cyclists rode through dark earth countryside with bright greens but La Vuelta cyclists went through fantastically bright coloured soils of many hues and even with brighter green shrubs and trees on top. (well except in the picos mountains in the north).
So I got my paints out and started experimenting – and so I have now found what I want for my Normans. Well until the butterfly lands on the next flower…..
Back to basics or is that basings? Most wargames today have taken from boardgames the token or counter principle and many miniature figures now find themselves stuck to a base with some others of their kind.
Yes there is another strong theme of individually mounted figures although, because of gaming time, this will usually reduce the figure count on the wargames table. So if you want to show lots of figures and still finish a game then multiple figures on one base is the way to go.
First up are some posts on my current struggles with basing style.
The Wargaming Erratic 