Sunday 14 August 2022

Epic Old Guard and personalities & 3 Battalions for Tony!

More painting off the production line this week, first of the Epic French Old Guard, some British and French command figures and 3 battalions of 20mm WSS French infantry for Tony. 

I held back on starting the Old Guard until I had painted a fair number of the line troops and having passed the 600 mark I could resist no longer. From the single sprue it is possible to produce an epic regiment of 80 infantry plus a strip of Engineers and Marines, but my Old Guard will only comprise 2 battalions of Grenadiers, a battalion of Chasseurs and a combined base of the Engineers/Marines plus a battery of foot artillery (2 guns). I decided to add a mounted colonel to the command base which required a little bit of cutting and trimming along with a tad of green stuff but I'm pleased with the result.




Also painted some of the command figures, great little sculpts. was surprised how soft and bendy the resin compound is but they paint up a treat.





The three battalions for Tony represent a solid 20 hours of painting over the week and I'm very pleased with the results. I changed from my usual black primer to a mid grey primer for these as I was keen to avoid any stark contrast where black shows against the sky grey coats and I think this is something I will continue to use for white/grey uniforms. 

From Monday I'm back to painting 15mm ECW's for Graham and have some 2mm Napoleonic bases to do for Geoff. 














11 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Cheers Ian, I'm rather pleased with them myself. I'm limiting my Old Guard to about 40 figures plus battery but I keep seeing images of the full painted Guard box set of three 80 figure battalions plus the Engineers and marines and 3 gun battery! Still amazes me that for a £6.00 sprue you get 100 figures plus a gun and crew.

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  2. Great job on the Epic, I like the new commanders packs. Does that resin need priming?

    Good job on John’s figures especially coming in at 20 hours I must find a faster technique for myself.

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    1. Many thanks Norm. Nice sets those commanders, I still have a few to paint yet. As mentioned I was not expecting such 'bendy' resin but it's OK and I managed to trim up a few bits with a very sharp knife with no problems. It undercoats well without washing (as is the case of all the plastic sprues).

      The WSS figures are actually for Tony (Prometheus in Aspic). The mid grey primer was unusual for me but it actually helped as a fairly controlled dry brush over it of Vallejo Sky Grey almost gives a finished look, just final highlight at the end. of course it meant I had to come back and paint the black areas, something I never usually need to do beyond a bit of touch up. Overall though I reckon the timings were about the same all in. Being a commission painted I have to keep and eye on timings to achieve my very modest hourly rate, I could of course go further with fine detail but would be more expensive so I think this is a typical example of my 'Good wargame standard'. It also helps that Tony sends very clear painting guides ( as does John). I also paint quite quickly, very focused and 'in the zone' if that makes sense? Tea breaks help a bit though.

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    2. I think my approach to painting of seeing it as a job / chore does not help ….. getting a bit more into the zone would be a good step forward.

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  3. What he said. The rest of the figures shown too.

    Kind Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. Thank you very much Stokes, your comments are always appreciated :)
      Lee.

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  4. superb lookung Nap generals!!! the Les Higgins French fantastic, well done mate, cheers Old John

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    1. Thank you mate :) Always enjoy painting the old school 20mm's!
      Lee.

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  5. The commander figures do look especially nice Lee. A good job, well done. 👏
    The problem with the Old Guard (if you think it’s a problem), indeed with “elite” units in general, is that many wargames armies have a disproportionate number of elite troops. Now, where’s the challenge in that?
    I once recall in the early 1980’s overhearing one gamer telling another that his forces had more (whatever) than the Russian army. What…? So presumably he was playing a “fantasy/near future” game then - ‘cause they sure weren’t historical.
    At least the weather is cooling down now, so hopefully better for your painting.
    All the best,
    Geoff

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    1. Hi Geoff, to be honest I really just enjoy painting stuff that I fancy doing :) I could not resist the Guard any longer! I now have paint three battalions of Foot Guards for the British to keep things balanced. I'd probably not use the OG for DBN games but they look pretty.
      Cheers,
      Lee.

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