54mm Victrix Voltigeurs Project Completed

Finally completed the Victrix 54mm Voltigeurs project. It was definitely a load.  Ended up using 15 different print references and lots of time on the net pulling prints, and going back and forth as to what I wanted to paint versus what one usually finds "out there".

Just a few points about the box set. They were pretty easy to put together in contrast to a set of 28mm plastic Napoleonics I attempted to put together several years ago. I swore off plastics until I put a couple of cool Warlord 28mm ECW box sets together.  The Victrix 54s do suffer the slings and arrows of most injected plastic figures. I kept finding small mold lines needing clean up and a weird "no mans land" crease between the coat, facings and pants on some figures. Y'all can snicker but I just cleaned this up a little with an X-Acto and painted in the anomalies.  It's a bit of "artist's license" but hey; they're for my collection.  The only other issue that irritated me was that the figures weren't "cut" deep enough in contrast to metal figures.  I'm a "contrasty" painter so I like to use folds and so forth to make the figures a little more campaign style.  Ok, I'll quit whining now and put some pics up. My camera is dated but hopefully my iMac helped the quality a bit.

Here's the unit. Note the non-professional photographer's attempt to get it right. My thinking on this unit was to have a "rogue's gallery" versus a traditional wargamer's unit for the game table.
The Victrix 54s did the job quite well. I'm very pleased with the result. I've also got several gaming options; one is making two (2) units of "Light Infantry" for Ken Cliffe's All the King's Men rules; two is just painting infantry units and inserting the voltigeurs into the units. It would make a hodge-podge of units but would be ok in the more "toy soldier" style of gaming.

The reader may notice I use a different style of shading white. I like a very light brownish tint versus a stark grey most wargamers and painters use. I've found the brownish tint to work quite well for me. To each his own. I do NOT black prime figures, no matter the scale. I use Rustoleum Flat White primer. It's worked for 30 years and old farts like me don't like changing what works.

I was digging around my reference library and found several copies of Haithornewaithe, several Mollo "little books", tons of Osprey comic books, my trusty dusty Knoetl Uniforms of the World, LT Schick's Battledress, multiple Funkens in French and English, plus a really cool copy of "Military Dress of the Peninsular War" dated 1971. I pulled a lot of painting inspiration from the print references. Looks as if I need to splurge on some Uniformology CDs if this Napoleonics project gets any larger. Sure, I've got good print references but any wargamer/collector worth his salt just "needs" more reference materials right? Old teacher's habits just die hard.

The Cleve-Berg Voltigeur-1811 on the right, was taken from Haithornewaithe's Military Dress of the Peninsular War, p.151

The voltigeur to your left was taken from the Funken's Arms and Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars (will be abbreviated AUNW below), p.35, #3.  This reference may seem a bit pedantic but hey, why not do the reference work right?

I use a cool Artist's Color from Asel Art Supply here in the DFW area for the base coat of yellows on all the figures.  It's called Diarylide Yellow. It's made by Golden Arts Centre in NY.  It cools down quite well using my Minwax technique. I DO NOT dip my figures but brush a light coat onto the figure. I can then use a Vallejo light yellow for highlights. The Vallejo paint is just transparent enough to not kill the depth of the deeper yellow. I've tried Vallejo's Golden Yellow and GW's deeper yellows.  They don't get the job done like this yellow.

My attempt at a Voltigeur "cornet" (trumpet to we publicly educated Texans) came from an Osprey comic book. I really don't care for Osprey softcovers but they get the job done.  I didn't attempt the lace work on this figure. There should be alternating red, blue and white lace. I'm just lazy and this figure was at the back of the "git 'er done" area; so sue me!

Every self respecting wargamer and collector "needs" a voltigeur from the Regiment Irlandais. This guy is my attempt at an 1809 version taken from Haithornewaithe's Peninsular War, plate #59. I'm sure the green should be either lighter because of fade or darker because it hadn't faded yet in the field.  I do like the pose from Victrix and played around with three different shades of green in the process. It was a fun figure to paint and stands out on the game table or display case.

This guy was taken from Knoetl's Uniforms of the World, p. 293.  The figure depicts a Voltigeur from Murat's Kingdom of Naples, 6th Regiment.  The photo doesn't do the colors justice however; the facings ARE Orange but turned out looking Red in this photo.  I also probably violated painting protocols by using brass on the musket. I like the contrast it provides and looks ok at the same time.  One can see the effects of Minwax upon the shako cords. All I had to do to finish them out was to put a small dot on the cords to "pop them out".

I like the head and face variants on the Victrix 54s. This breaks up the monotny of painting larger scale figures that are all the same.  I'd like to have an arm that has a shako or an opponent's shako molded in to give a little spice to the figure.  I'm too lazy to convert or gut another figure so if it happens; it will have to be from the manufacturer. I took this figure from Funken's Arms and Uniforms, p.35.  It is more of a "Fantassin" rather than a direct copy of a subject in the print. I like the way the French blues work on the Victrix figures as well. I use a Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue as a base coat, Minwax fills the folds with a softer brownish tint and then I can highlight in the "Dallymore fashion (blob) the highlights of the sleeves.

Another "Fantassin" French Line Voltigeur taken from Funken's Arms and Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars, p.35. The plate has a group of shakos that illustrate the "brush" style of pompom.  I used a bit of artistic license again on this figure; adding some patches for a little campaign look.  I like the variant of the figure catching a quick smoke break. "Smoke 'em if you got 'em!"
I'm using a combination of Liquitex Medium Viscosity White with a topcoat of Vallejo White for belting, pantaloons and vest.  The medium viscosity covers any mistakes and the Vallejo richens the color. I don't know if anyone really cares how I paint or what techniques I use but these techniques have been acquired over the years from master painters. Just wanting to share lessons learned.

The Prince of Neuchatel fielded troops for Napoleon's venture in Spain. They were derisively called "Canaries" for their yellow uniforms. I've seen different interpretations of the "yellow" while researching my rendition. I took this from a plate in Embleton.  Again, the Golden Deep Yellow was the the base color, toned down quite well by the Minwax Royal Walnut, then highlighted in Vallejo Light Yellow.  As I've posted previously, Victrix figures come with an assortment of arm and head choices. This really gives the painter good variations with which to work.

Another Swiss Line Infantry Voltigeur taken from Embleton.  I use a three color combo for reds. This picture just doesn't do the depth of colors justice.  I'm looking forward to painting some Swiss to go with my Napoleonic 54mm collection.

This is a depiction of a Legion Hanovere Voltigeur, 1810 from Embleton, p.97.  Following the French occupation of Hannover, a large flood of Hanoverians went to England and formed up as the King's German Legion. Napoleon and his staff weren't going to let an opportunity to pick up some more fodder slip by.  The British gained about 15,000 troopers/officers. The French did not get 1/10th of these numbers. They served under General Loison between 1808-1810.  They missed the carnage at Vimiero but were present Bussaco as a brigaded force with the Legion du Midi.  The Legion Hanovere were thrown back with significant casulties.  This was a fun figure to paint.

Napoleon ordered uniform changes that some regiments followed but some regiments just tended to "ignore".  This figure represents one of the changes.  Taken from Funken's Arms and Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars, p. 33, figure #3. White uniforms are difficult to get right without either laying on a heavy shade or using the "wash" technique. I don't do that. I use Minwax Royal Walnut and then paint the highlights where necessary. Saves me time when I want to get a project completed in a timely basis.  I don't like to take months to paint a single figure.  My war gaming bud Clay Smith tells me "it would look better if I took more time."  He's right as usual but I am a devotee of the "git 'er done" school of painting projects.

This is an example of a Westfalian Volt. circa 1812. The figure is painted according to Knoetl's Uniforms of the World, p.241.  I've painted Junot's VIII Corps in 15mm, 28mm and now starting to paint it again in 18/20mm as a Napoleon at War army. My friends are definitely not surprised. I can crank out lots of infantry quickly when I paint VIII Corps. I also like to play a less trained Corps to see if I can do better than Junot.  Most of the time, my tactics echo poor Junot.

Here's another Funken "fantassin" Volt. As I've previously gone on and on about; I like the different head variations in the Victrix box sets. This is the first time I've painted full faces on a war gaming figure in years. I used the old Model Soldier Guide step by step technique modified by using acrylic paints and a .03mm permanent ink roller ball pen by Pentel. Yeah, I cheated on the eyes but I don't like to paint them, am not patient when painting them and view the process as a pain in the butt.







The bottom line is that these figures are a super bargain for the 54mm war gamer and collector. They're consistent across the box set and once painted, provide the collector with a strikingly nice looking set.  Highly recommended. I got mine from Ken Cliffe at All the King's Men. His business is highly recommended as well. He does business the right way. I'm looking forward to adding his Cuirassiers, Carabiniers and Line Infantry to my collection soon.  Will post up photos of how they look as a work in progress and completed unit.  It did take 21 days to complete.  This is way more time than I like to paint a project. Hopefully, I've learned how to improve and reduce the painting time. Please keep checking back as this project matures.  I'll see a few of you at Millenium Con in Austin

Victrix 54mm Voltiguers Project-Work in Progress

Ken Cliffe from All the King's Men Model Soldiers twisted my arm severely (not really) to start a 54mm Napoleonic journey.  I've recently returned to regular life stuff after a month in hospitals. It sucks to get old but at least my hematologist nailed why I kept having recurring issues.  For the past 20 years, I was being treated for the wrong issue. Resolved now and set on the right path.  I'm learning to walk again and will translate from my pimped out walker to a cane. It is my intention to walk on two feet again as my leg can't figure out how to follow instructions from my brain to move my foot.  Hey, it coulda' been worse!  Enough about me, now moving on about what Ken Cliffe "made me do".

I've painted some Warlord 28 mm ECW plastics previously and was a bit wary of painting 54mm plastics because I felt the Warlord figures weren't "cut deeply" (folds, etc.) enough to work with my painting style.  When I got the Victrix figures, the old wariness set in again. I was put off by having to assemble each figure.  No fault of Victrix mind you; the box set contains a multiplicity of arms, heads, swords, and "stuff".  I am spoiled to the quality of ATKM figures so there it is...I posted it.  

My concerns were alleviated after putting all 16 of these figures together.  They glued together easily, had a lot of mold lines/flash to scrape and cut,  but the final product was OK.  I also like the idea that the box set produces enough figures to fill out 8 battalions of line infantry volts. or two units of "Light Infantry" if played in the ATKM rules format.  Good value. 

Here are several figures in the process of basic block painting of colors.  Shading and lining will happen once I finish out the other figures in the unit.  I've glued the figures down to an ATKM line infantry base instead of a circular ATKM light infantry base. Again, my thinking is to put these guys straight into my French line battalions.  Looks as if I'll "need" another box set to paint the Grenadier companies.  Darn the bad luck right?  My current plan is to paint a brigade of French, a brigade of British unless Ken brings out Russians or I find the address of the manufacturer that does them in plastics heh heh heh, a brigade of light horse for both sides, a brigade of heavy horse for both sides and artillery for both sides.  Yes Virginia, I AM an addict! 

You might notice the different plumes on the figures. I'm taking a different tack (go figure...I NEVER follow the leader on much of anything) on this collection.  I've been a collector of Napoleonic reference materials since 1980.  This box set just begged to be painted as a "series" or a rendition of a "change and continuity" of uniforms over time.  I pulled out my old Funken series, my copious collection of Osprey "comic books", an old edition (1974) of Military Uniforms of the Peninsular War, just had to pull out my "Otto von Pivka" (sic) Armies of 1812 and hit the Internet to gather enough plates and pictures to paint each of of these figures in either a different uniform or as an evolution of uniforms from 1809-1812.  I'm also including several allied contingents such as Westfalians (because I like them and can), Swiss (because they are red), Neuchatel (because they're the Canaries), Italians (I don't know why but I'm basically lazy and the majority of their uniform is white).  This little project is going to be a blast and will lend some color to my collection when plonked on the game table.  

Here's what started this mess....I'm sure you purists and Napoleonic experts in the ethersphere will snicker, laugh derisively and flame me for "trusting" Funken, Osprey, ad nauseum for painting references. OK, now that all that is done; I wanted my collection to be different than a standard wargamer's collection. 54mm collecting is a little different than my 28, and 15mm collections. The ideas of producing vignettes, constructing figures using themes,  and just having a little fun is intriguing and has kept my interest while painting mass quantities of 54s.  

Here's that old copy of Military Dress of the Peninsular War. It was copyrighted 1974.  It's been one of my best friends for years. I like the campaign look of the plates. That's why some of my figures will have patches on the knees and will sport "appropriated" brown pants (taken from monk's cassocks) in Spain.  

I'll post more regularly now that I'm feeling better and hopefully you'll be able see some progress on this project.  Now how to squeeze in completing my Napoleon at War British, French armies, paint more 54mm AWI, complete the terrain/buildings/table eye candy to paint.  Lots o' projects, lots o' time.  Keep checking back for updates.  That is all!

Skirmish Game Day-August 31, 2013! 

Skirmish Game Day is a DFW area games tradition.  We're having this year's Game Day at Area 51 Games and Collectables in Grapevine, Texas.  Most genres will be represented.  Several Napoleonic games and a SAGA tournament will be held.  

I'm putting on the "Battle of Yasgur's Farm". It's a direct rip-off of the campaign against Cornwallis leading to the Battle of Yorktown.  Cornwallis has split his forces to pursue the motley crew of Rebels.  The rebels have stretched out the British along the route of march.  The rebels turn and attempt to defeat the British in detail.  This battle occurs along the clearing known as Yasgur's Farm. The rebels hold the sizable farm known as Woodstock or Yasgur's Farm.  The British must clear the rebels from the farm, obtain victuals and move to crush the main rebel force approximately 2 days march away.  

I'm using All the King's Men rules and playing the game on a 12x6 table. The rules are fun, easy to learn and subtle to master.  If you live in the area and/or just want to make a day trip to the DFW area, please take a look at our main site.  We're looking forward to seeing YOU!

Click here for more information

Painting Day 3-A.T.K.M. French Cuirassier-54mm

I took a couple of days off. Work gets in the way of painting sometimes. Not whining, just keeping long hours during the first quarter of school.  I Minwax'd the Cuirassier over the weekend and finished it out tonight. It took about 1.5 hours even stopping for some dinner.  These figures do paint up nicely.  I'm still not sure about the tall green grass thing under the horse but will finish it out and see how it looks.  I don't think having it is a deal breaker however.  I'm looking foward to seeing a 12 figure regiment, en haye, on the game board.  

You'll notice I'm beginning the basing process.  It's a really difficult process...:) Paint the base Vallejo Beasty Brown (you choose whatever color-I just had 12 bottles of it laying around after my ECW project.) let it dry 30 minutes. Put a thick coat of Elmer's Glue. I use whatever is around. I'm a teacher so I'll scrounge up a bottle of School Glue on the cheap.  I put a combination of Medium and Light weight Woodland Scenics brown ballast. I buy the big plastic bottle. My bottles have lasted three years.  Ha! I put the ballast in a cleaned up plastic lunchmeat container. Do try this at home!  Finish the glue thang by spreading it around and dip the figure into the container. Badda-Boom-Baada Bing...done! I then glue down some Medium weight railroad rock stuff from Woodland Scenics. Paint it Dark Grey when it's dry.  I use Basalt Grey by Vallejo.  Use whatever you like.  I dry brush the rocks with Howard Hues Concrete then lightly touch the rocks with a medium viscosity Acrylic white.  I use cheap tube White for this part.  Get some static grass from your favorite Local Game Store. I get mine from the Model Railroad shop because I can get more stuff and save a little in the purchase. As per the ballast, I've had this stuff for about three years too.  Brush on some diluted Elmers in a classic WW2 British camo pattern and sprinkle the static grass on the base. Thump the base a couple of times.  The grass will stand up on its own.  This is the most time consuming part of the basing.  I then repaint the edges of the miniature with more Beasty Brown to finish it out. All my figures have magnetized surfaces. I sign each figure base and date it.  Sounds weird...well...pretty weird...it's cool however to look under some figures you've not played in a while and find you painted 10 years ago.  Musing of an old man right?  Anyway, here's the miniature painted and ready to base up. 

You NEED some of the figures if you collect 54mm Napoleonics. Easy to paint, easy to finish out

Day 2-ATKM 54mm Cuirassier 

I've finished the basic block colors on the miniature. I used Vallejo paints for most of the figure.  I also used Howard Hues Concrete for the base color of the shabraque.  

The base of the plastic horse looks a bit weird with the tall grass and all. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the foliage or cut it down a bit. We'll see how it looks once the miniature is based.

I do like the way the plastic horse turned out. It didn't turn out too poorly.

 Here's a shot from the other side. I'm liking these figures.

 I use this old copy of Peter Blum's Model Soldier Manual for painting horses, tartans and constantly re-learning how to paint eyes without giving the figure the "zombie stare".  Found this copy at Half Price Books. I don't know if it's still available. My copy was printed in 1971.

This is what I use instead of washing (never works right-always muddies up the figure), Army Painter (this can was $4.00 USD at Ace Hardware-how much did you pay for Army Painter), is the right shade (not too dark-not too light-just right) and will brush on with a flat brush consistently.  It cleans up and is thinned with Odorless Mineral Spirits. Keeps the spouse happy with "no stank".  Light brush on instead of the lazy-assed "dip method". Takes about 8-12 hours to dry. I don't take the figures into the Tejas heat to speed dry them. I've found that doing that "crackles" the finish.  

More pictures as the project continues....you NEED some of these figures! They definitely are cool.

Painting 54mm Horses-A Pain Free-FAST method!

I spent about 10 minutes painting this horse for the 54mm Cuirassiers.  I paint all my horses like this; regardless of scale.  I usually go to Wal-Mart and pick up an "eggcrate" mattrerss pad.  I still have pieces of the last one in my horse painting box I bought several years ago.  Here's the process. It has worked consistently since 1980.  Thanks to Ed Johnson (gamer from the Royal Guardsman in Dallas), Ken Ray (still gaming in the DFW area) and Ruben Aguilar (he is no longer with us...) for taking the time to teach me the technique.  You may not like this and may like to use multiple "washes". To each his/her own. This is what works for me and I'ma stickin' to it.  

I use Windsor and Newton Water Soluble Oils for all my horses.  In this case, I used Ivory Black as "Cuirassiers were big men on big black horses".  I use Payne's Grey for my trumpeters and then add horse details straight from my old copy of the Imrie-Rimsey "Model Soldier Book".  

I glop the paint on the miniature with a large flat or round brush and let it set on the miniature about 5 minutes.  If I'm in a hurry or just want to get stuff done; I'll set the miniatures out in the spa room to enjoy the Tejas summer heat. Tends to cut the set time in half.

After letting the paint set for a few, I "pull the paint" off the figure with the foam.  One doesn't have to crunch down on the figure when pulling the paint; just pull it gently.  You'll use several pieces of foam. The art form here is to get a finished look that contain glops, streaks and or looks stupid (you'll have to figure out of what I speak).

You can see the finished horse in basic Black. I like to let the paint set overnight just to make sure I can paint over it with acrylics.  I'll detail the horse by painting its face, eyes, horse furniture, mane and tail and hooves.  After finishing the horses, I'll paint the riders.

Here's a little more of a close up.  Bottom line, I usually paint 20-30 horses in a setting or a unit in 54mm.  In All the King's Men, that is 8 figures per unit.  They look good en masse and are quite easy to paint and time-efficient to boot!  Let me know what you think. I never use washes, or paint the horse colors "up" like a polka-dotted dark to light effect (Dallimore's method). That looks like crap in a larger figure and is not time-efficient. It took longer to develop this post than it did to paint the figure!

All the King's Men 54mm Napoleonics Project Started

Ken Cliffe has hit another home run with his 54mm Napoleonics line.  He recently sent me a teaser gift, knowing I'm a lead prostitute-lead addict:  and will spend copious amounts of disposable income to build a cool Napoleonics collection.  My plan right now is to build a division per side (French and British) plus add "accoutrements" such as limbers, etc as Ken brings them out. Hopefully I can find some of the old Hinchcliffe Calder Craft sets like the field forge and Larrey's ambulance.  That will set me back but they were cool when I got started in the hobby and will be cool now.   I'm posting the progress of painting this figure and will describe the painting techniques, colors used and time it takes to paint it.  

All the King's Men sends two types of heads to construct either Cuirassiers or Carabiniers.  This is a cool touch.  The horses are soft plastic. I don't remember the manufacturer but I do remember they come from Argentina.  The carbines and sword scabbards are separate castings and must be attached.  I use a weird technique (go figure...right?) of a drop of Elmer's Glue plus a drop of Super Glue-Gap Filling to make a tough bond.  Hopefully this will help the miniatures avoid the grip of the "fat wargamers" like me.  I also like that all the horse furniture is molded onto the horse. The previous horses I've painted for my AWI 54mm collection had an Achilles' hell of the reins getting broken during play.  I could have fixed it by poking a hole in the head of the horse but I'm too lazy to take the extra time.

Ok, back to the figure.  I prime all my figures with Rustoleum Flat White after cleaning the soft plastic horses with Dawn dish soap.  It just works and has worked since 1980. Krylon just doesn't get the job done.   I built the rider and glued it down onto the horse before painting the horse. I don't have a problem doing that. I then glued the figure down onto an All The King's Men cavalry base after attaching adhesive backed thin magnet sheet to the base. My traveling boxes are metal lined. Again, that's just what I do.

I'll paint the horse with Windsor-Newton Water Based Oils. I use Lamp Black. I apply the paint in a thick "gloppy" coat and "pull" the paint off with sponge or foam pieces.  Been doing this for years as well.  Will post in progress pictures below.

What's Currently on the Painting Table

Here's a unit of All the King's Men 54mm Hessian Grenadiers-Regiment von Rall in progress.  I've found these figures to be just outstanding and a lot of fun to paint. We use Ken Cliffe's All the King's Men rules and find them to be fun, easy to learn but subtle in their challenge.  Highly recommended.  Peeking over their heads is a 15mm Early War (1940 France) 155mm battery for my 1940 French FoW army. Underneath them is a box set of Indians for the AWI project.  These are going to be fun to paint.  I've got to watch "Last of the Mohicans" to get into the mood.  Magwa will be the war party leader of course.  

On the right is a small archer unit for my Andalusian/Arab/Saracen Saga army.  I like the Saga rules.  The game mechanics are quick, but again as above, require some thought instead of line up, wind them up and watch them play.  I've got Normans and have wanted something different than the stodgy Vikings/Saxons/Irish/Scots that my friends have already painted.  When finished, the army will look great and quite colorful.  Hopefully my friends will "let" me play it

It's spear/lance/flagpole making time.  I finally found Clay Smith's anvil and brass hammer after several years. I really hate it when I put stuff up and forget where it located.  The process is simple, buy a bunch of 1/32" brass rod. Cut it to the size you want. Hammer the end flat. Clip the end into a point.  Be sure to warn your tabletop opponents that these spears will stick them.  Unsuspecting gamers have leaned over the table and came back with a gut full of 28mm pikes in the past.  Gives a good vision to one of our DFW Irregulars' sayings.... "gutcheck" (for those heftier wargamers).  Ok, it's time to cut 200-500 of these guys and get them done. I won't have to do this again for several years although my Normans need lances/spears, my Saracens need lances/spears, my 15mm Brunswick Uhlans need non bendable lances. 

Time to get to work eh?

The Rat Palace III Nearly Ready For Prime Time!

After a hiatus of about a year, my gaming house is being renovated.  A group of tree rats (squirrels) decided to make it their home. I replaced the original cheap arsed pressboard trim and fascia with Hardie Board trim.  It's a concrete mix and should keep the tree rats out.  The inside has been competely redone with new ceiling, and wallboard, fresh paint and a couple of ceiling fans.  My friend Clay will be glad to know the Texas Sized airconditioning unit is supported by more than an "Oak Cliff'd" support structure.  I'm still looking for some more display cabinets. You can see the wall mounted cabinets in the picture. I'd like to go ahead and get more but haven't found a source.  I'm looking forward to getting games going again. It's been a long time.

I'm Baaaack....

I've let this blog pretty much die off for a while.  A great while.  I apologize for any and all that were following.  I haven't died.   Life and work have just gotten in the way.  I've been a busy bee completing American Revolution 54mm collections, and jumping off into Napoleon at War.  I'll be posting again if you're interested in keeping contact again.  Keep checking back.