Wednesday 8 January 2014

Retreat 1812 - More frozen Frenchmen...

Although my main task during the last two weeks was to finish the Broodlord for the fortnight bonus round, there were some other figures to be finished. Last year I bought some sets of the 1812 retreating Frenchmen by Alan and Michael Perry. Unique figures for a backgrounSd most manufacturers ignored until now. Maybe they thought there isn't enough chance to build an interesting range around Napoléon's defeat in Russia but the twins prove that black is white.

Here are the eight miniatures I painted lately:
Württemberg Grenadier
The miniatures are from different sets from the Perrys' Napoleonic range more exactly from their sets FN168 to FN171. Some of them are wearing a rather usual kit as provided by the French army and other look ragged and wear civilian clothing they might have looted somewhere in Russia.
French infantry officer with a looted pelisse

Grenadier of the Old Guard

Grand Duchy of Berg Lancer with civilian coat
French Fusilier who might have robbed Santa

Allied Officer wrapped in a simple blanket
Chasseur à Cheval with a rather original kit
Voltigeur who improved his kit with a civilian jacket
It was real fun to paint these miniatures. They are all extremely well sculpted and cast all the details are crisp and clear. Especially the faces are awesomly vivid and full of expression. Although I'm a great fan of Perry miniatures there are some range where the faces are a bit impassive which makes it very difficult for me to work out the highlights properly. But these Frenchmen are absolutely top notch. Until now I've rarely painted better figures.

As usual I painted the miniatures with Vallejo Model Colours paints and some Armypainter Quickshade for the shading. But after shading I took the time to highlight the clothing and the skinny parts in one or two stages and especially the faces work worth every stroke of the brush. Although I saw much better painted versions of those guys I'm absolutely happy with the result since it is one of the best for me so far.

For the basing I used corundum sand mainly. It's a very white and very fine sand which is usually used as grinding medium in dental technology. In addition to its bright white colour it has some sparkling grains in it and is very durable. To prevent that the drying PVA glue shines through yellowish I mixed a drop of white colour into it when I glued the sand onto the base. The grass tufts are by Mini Nature and come just ready to use. Fortunately I found them in a wargaming shop in Düsseldorf randomly.

20 comments:

  1. very nice an cool ^^
    one Thing you should do is, to paint the base around withblack...so the winter scenery is ON the base and the black will give it a very nice frame

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    1. Thanks a lot, Michael.
      I painted the base completely white because I wanted to have them blur a bit when the boys are on our winter gaming board which is completely covered with that kind of snow as well.

      Cheers
      Stefan

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  2. They are really beautiful, great paintjob!

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  3. Fantastic work - I'm very tempted by the Perry 1812 Retreat from Moscow line but will try to resist.....

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  4. Impressive work on all of these! They each look like a stand-alone character. Wonderful! Dean

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  5. Beautiful painting! I can almost feel these troopers' tiredness and cold.

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  6. I thought these were superb Stefan and really brought to life with the basing, which is just perfect.

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  7. I can feel the cold from here, wonderful work Stefan.

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  8. Great painting! I very much like the muted tones.

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  9. Awesome and perfectly suited to the current U.S. weather.

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  10. Lovely painting and basing! They do look like they're all in a terrible spot of trouble.

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  11. Very nice and very chilly they look too!

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  12. Thanks a lot mates. I appreciate your positive feedback very much. Although I had them on the lead mountain for nearly a year they now encouraged me to finish some more for the painting challenge. They'll be submitted for one of the bonus rounds to come...

    Cheers
    Stefan

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  13. I think said it on the challenge and I'll say it again here mate. Just WOW.

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  14. Excellent painted figures! Actually I have some of these in 1/72 on my painting table. Thes give me some good inspiration!

    Greetings
    Peter

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  15. Beautiful paint work! And I love how you did the basing!
    Greetings, Sofie

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  16. Terrific painting, Monty. I love the basing too - very effective. Brilliant!

    Giles

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