Evilstu’s Historical Tinkering

Working on a 1745 Jacobite Rebellion force.

Before diving right in and overcommitting on a paint scheme that I would need to replicate on a whole unit (or army…) I thought i’d do a test paint on the piper as I’d never tried painting tartan before. Reasonably happy with the result for my first time around but I’ll have to see if I can find a way to speed up the process for the rank and file. I don’t mind spending 4 hours a mini on the centrepiece models as I do quite enjoy the painting process, but I would like to be able to field a force eventually and I’m realistically going to need a few dozen of these guys minimum for a Sharp Practice force, more if we count the tartan on the Government forces opposing.

In an effort to improve my tutorial game (channeling @amachan here) and to remind myself later, colours used were:

Red tartan: base of VMC 70.957 Flat Red, wash of black ink, repaint VMC 70.957 Flat Red on highlighted areas, mix of VMC 70.957 Flat Red and VMC70.970 Deep Green for the green stripes, pure VMC70.970 Deep Green for the green checks, VMC70.953 Flat Yellow then overbrushed for the yellow stripes.

Green tartan: Base of VMC70.970 Deep Green, black ink followed by VMC70.970 Deep Green highlight, stripes were a mix of VMC70.970 Deep Green  and VMC70.918 Ivory, with checks pure VMC70.918 Ivory.

So pretty much this approach:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/government1745/28mm-1745-jacobite-rebellion-miniatures/posts/2179497

Cap was VGA72.721 Magic Blue, highlighted with a mix of VGA72.721 Magic Blue and VMC70.841 Andrea Blue.

Skin tone was GW contrast Guilliman Flesh over white primer, shaded down with VMC 70.836 London Grey, highlighted with VMC70.815 Basic Skintone and then given a targeted glaze of GW Reikland Fleshshade.

White was a combination of VMC 70.820 Off White or 70.918 Ivory depending on how white a colour I needed and what I had on the palette at the time.

Silver was AP Gun Metal, pipes were VMC 70.929 Light Brown and VMC 70.821 German Cam Beige WW2, Black was VMC70.950 Black and leather was VGA72.740 Leather Brown. Used my homemade black wash sparingly as required, highlights were a mix of base shade mixed with the ivory or off-white as was on my palette at the time.

So a bit more busy than my usual ‘max 10 block colours for tabletop and then AP dip’ but I’m doing historicals to try and improve my painting techniques a little after just spamming out fantasy forces of late. Am now at the point where anything else I try to do to the mini will probably detract from the mini rather than add to it, so will park it here, give a matt vanish tomorrow then try to up my basing game (which is another area I want to work on this year…)

Sixteen Grenadiers to hammer out today before Sharp Practice at Cancon tomorrow night…

Where are we at then?

Presently on my paint bench I have around 100 Perry and Warlord late Napoleonic French in various states of progress.

Assembled and primed I have:

• The start of a 1745 Jacobite Rebellion force, 2 units of clansmen and a unit of Royal Ecossais. The older minis are, I believe, Front Rank while the newer ones I have procured through the Flags of War kickstarter. Just had it confirmed today that there will be a third Kickstarter for this range so already looking forward to it;
• A Sharp Practice sized force of Union infantry from Perry for ACW;
• A unit of AWI militia from Warlord. Am planning on being clever and seeing if I can press some of these into service for both the French & Indian War and AWI;
• a bunch of celts from various sources that I really need to organise into a 600 denari warband for an SPQR campaign (I may be holding off for the Wargames Atlantic Persians to drop, as fabric on a Persian army will be really quick to paint, right?…); and
• A couple of units of Caesarian Romans, see above.

Assembled but not yet primed I have a box of Perry War of the Roses infantry, with a second box and a box of foot knights still on the sprue. So a bit of cavalry and I’ll be away. While this is outside the Black powder period there are a set of Sharp Practice rules for this one which I’m keen to try out… Also part way through putting together some Perry Confederates to oppose the Union force mentioned above. Yeah, assembling minis feels a bit more like a chore to me than fun regrettably. Another point in favour of metals I guess…

Longer term would like to put together a Napoleonic Russian force as the 1812 sojourn into Russia has always struck me as particularly interesting. And I do feel quite drawn to the French & Indian War. Will need some more trees first though…

Well for me last year was the year of mindlessly grinding through painting fantasy armies. While good fun, and as it turns out, quite productive, my painting was at tabletop batch painted level. so while i did get a lot faster over the year, my detail painting has not improved.

Similarly, I have had a policy with regard to historical minis for a few years that when I see bargain priced minis that I grab them quickly and set them aside for later until I know what to do with them. So in an effort to try and get some of the stuff to tabletop and improve my painting skills I’m going to shift some of my focus from spamming out fantasy armies to working on historicals. Will still be taking them to a tabletop standard, but hopefully somewhere slightly forward of the 8-10 colour AP dip method I have been utilising.

Don’t really presently have a use for all the bits and pieces I have kicking about, but if I can get stuff painted up now I can always find a rules set for it later. and it will be easier to paint now than in 20 years time when hands are shakier and eyesight is worse…

So will be starting out with smaller forces, and then building as far as the mood takes me. Will generally aim for a ‘Sharp Practice’ sized force initially, and then work up to the scale of one of the books from the Merseyverse or potentially something mass battle (Black Powder 2, Pike & Shotte or similar).

So, without further ado…