Friday 12 May 2017

Travel Battle - painting the figures, part 1.

I managed to paint the first infantry figures from the Travel Battle sprues this week, plus an artillery base and officer bases. I must admit that I found it quite daunting at first, it's been a long time since I have painted anything quite this small! having base coated in black I began by picking out the blue coats followed by the white trousers. At that stage I was not too impressed with progress, only once I painted (dotted) in the flesh did the figures seem to 'come alive'. I then dotted in the red facings with a fine brush, followed by painting the cross belts carefully, laying the sprues flat and using both hands to steady the brush. The shakos were then given a brass plate and pom poms dotted in red and blue for a touch of contrast. At this stage I called it a day, deciding there was little point in attempting to add further detail at this scale. Once glued into their bases I felt quite satisfied with the results as you see below. I'm halfway  through the next blue sprue, leaving the cavalry until last, and as I have two sets to paint I have 8 sprues to work through in total.

I'm sure the fully finished results will be worth the work, just hope my old eyesight holds up!






8 comments:

  1. Glad you posted. I had a similar experience ... though yours look much better than mine I have to say. I paint quite a bit of 12mm, but not long after starting to paint these, I wished I hadn't started .... though when done and inked, they do look fine. I have done my French and have massively slowed down on my British ...... though I am decorating the lounge, so I am probably 'painted out'!

    I didn't basecoat and I think that was a mistake, though mostly rectified by the inking.

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    1. Norm - At one point I almost gave up, but as you say once finished and based they do look rather good. I'm just doing one sprue at a time now, it's easier to keep up the motivation I find. Painting some cavalry next.

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  2. Great stuff Lee. I've not bought the set myself, as I was undecided about just how well they'd paint-up. But you've certainly made me reconsider that with your paint-jobs :-)

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    1. They are rather nice sharp little castings and no need to trim up at all. It took a little time to re adjust to the smaller scale again but I'm getting the hang of it now!

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  3. Very nice Lee - what are the rules like?

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    1. Hi Ian - the rules are pretty simple and straightforward, but that's one of the things that attracted me to the game. Once I'm all painted up I'll run through a couple of example games.

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  4. I started painting the blue army. I wish I hadn't started. I used the painting guide with the rules. I have the pants, shakos and faces painting. I couldn't find the right ink at the local crafts stores, so made a wash from black craft paint. I should have based them black and dried brushed the paint on. I have decided to base the red army unpainted. Hopefully they will sell the figures loose. I would probably buy at least 3 sets to use with other games.

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  5. It was a chore base coating them all by hand as I did, but I think it was worth the effort as it's easier to pick out the colours and letting the black provide the shade lines. I'm sure I'll buy more sprues once Perry get them up for sale.

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