Travel Battle - painting the British.

I felt the urge for a bit of a change recently, the Ancients project being stalled somewhat by the scale issue referred to in my last post here. Most of my hobby time has been spent on the ECW's, but I was in the mood for touch of smaller scale painting the other day so got a couple of the TB sprues out I undercoated several months ago. Some may recall that like many others I purchased two sets of the Perry 'Wargame in a box' game and so far have completed the contents of one box, two blue sprues and two red sprues, and have just started a test paint on one terrain square.

I was concerned that my eyesight may not be up to such tiny figures these days, but once focused I found it a pleasure to be picking out the shades again. For the British infantry I started with Valljo Flat Red over black primer as it's a thick paint and covers very well. I used a blue grey for the trousers, again dotting and lining, being careful to leave a black line down the centre. I managed to dot in facings too, the final bit being to carefully paint in the white cross straps. This can be tricky, you want a white that flows well off the brush, but you also want a white that is strong and requires just the one stroke. I went with Vallejo Foundation White after some experimentation, again it's a thick paint that covers well, it's flow properties are not as good as standard Vallejo white, but by picking up the paint on just the very tip of a fine brush it gives a good clean white line. Bit of patience and they turned out rather well, if I say so myself! OK, so such fine detail in such a small scale might seem overkill and unnecessary, but I enjoy the challenge and I like the result.

Cavalry were painted as Household cavalry and generic Hussars, a couple of mounted offices and artillery pieces completed the sprues.

So that's half the French and half the British done so far. I then have the buildings to do before the 4 boards. As Perry are now selling the components individually I may add a couple more sprues to try some conversions (Imperial Guard, Highlanders etc ...... seen it done!), and possibly two more boards which would give a nice 'coffee table' sized game 30" x 20" perfect for when the Son In Laws come round.