Monday 4 February 2019

The French are based, onto the British!


I have completed the basing of the French army and must say I'm very pleased with the results, the ugly washers are gone (seemed like a good idea to begin with), buried under filler, stones and static grass. For the record and future reference, the basing method consisted of the following:

50/50 mix of powdered filler and PVA glue in medium sized plastic container.
Two tablespoons of earth shade pigment. Apply to bases by medium brush, fairly thickly.
Once dry, cat litter (ground to fine stone, size to taste), is added in patches and left to dry.
Shake off any loose stones, apply PVA and drop static grass, give it a quick tap, leave for a minute or so (while applying glue to the next base) then turn the base over and tap off any excess.
A watery wash of Burnt Umber is then applied to the stone areas and once dry drybrush with Buff.

I wanted a quite light finish to my bases as I feel it helps the figures to 'pop' a little more, I wanted some of the filler mix to be left showing. The cavalry bases did need a fair bit of building up due to the large bases and the washers, but they turned out well once finished. The units are all of three 30mm bases for a common frontage of 90mm which will require a 100m grid, be it square of hex. The guns are on large frontage bases of 45mm and I'll probably go with two bases per battery on a 90mm frontage once I get more guns. So the French army to date consists of the following in Commands & Colors terms:

3 x mounted generals.

8 x line infantry (12 figures per unit)
1 x Grenadier battalion
2 x light infantry units

2 x lancer light cavalry. (6 per unit)
1 x Chassuer light cavalry
1 x Hussars light cavalry

3 x Dragoons heavy cavalry
1 x Horse Grenadiers (Guard heavy cavalry).

3 guns and crews.

A grand total to date of 195 figures.

British heavy dragoons. Blue Moon 18mm figures as are all the figures.




The Frenchies!
















17 comments:

  1. A good sized and well painted French force there. All looking splendid on their finished bases.

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    1. Thank you Peter, I could of course go on painting more French, but feel this is a nice balanced little army for the time being. I'm really keen to a similar sized Prussian army next.

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  2. Wow, impressive and beautiful French...Hope they'll resist these splendid British heavy dragoons...

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    1. Thank you Phil, the heavy dragoons are possibly my favourites!

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  3. As ever the thing I find most impressive is the speed at which you get through all these units.

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    1. Thanks Rob. I'm lucky to have time on my hands now days, and get to paint almost every day for a couple of hours :)

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  4. Very tasty and I think 90mm for a 100mm / 4" grid is a good combo.

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    1. Hi Norm, cheers. I know the 90mm frontage will work well within a 100mm grid as it gives that look of an extended battle line when using small 'battalions'. I felt a command base with every unit would be OTT so opted for every other one, again this works well with the closed up frontages. If I have one issue it's that of depth between the units, but that's a compromise one has to accept with a grid.

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  5. really lovely! Makes me want to get some Blue Moon!
    And thanks for your openness about the dysthemia, people need to hear more about this sort of thing!
    best, Alex

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    1. Thank you for the comment Alex. I like the Blue Moon figures, well detailed, slim but robust. Far cheaper than AB's and would match well as 18mm in scale. As for the Dysthymia, painting model soldiers has been a wonderful therapy over the years, through some very dark days to the present situation so much improved. I have always found it really focuses the mind and blocks all of those negative thoughts, don't know where I would be today with it :)

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  6. Cheers Steve, now to get on with playing with them!

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  7. Great looking French force,but I'm afraid the British heavy cavalry are my favourites!
    Best Iain

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  8. Cheers Iain, I think they are my favourites too, something about those bicornes!

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