28mm Napoleonic War Gaming - Spanish Unit

[HoolioPaulio]

After doing very little modelling for too long, I've had a resurgence of motivation.

 

Some background information of how I got here.  I've had a gaming friend group from work for some 20 years or so, which started out as getting together once a week to play Magic: The Gathering card game, and it evolved into RPG's on PC from home (like Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and Dungeons & Dragons Online etc), then recently we've been using Discord to video chat online and play old school Dungeons & Dragons but using an online web browser based system.

 

Now we plan to start meeting up in real life again next summer and play table top wargames together.  The chosen subject was Napoleonic, though I personally would have preferred Warhammer as a subject matter.  However, either way I was excited for all that this will bring, getting together in real life, painting models again, and trying something I've never done before in the form of table top wargaming.

 

For context, we are doing this very casual to keep it relaxed and fun.  So rather than doing hours upon hours of research to get exact colours and uniform types etc, its a case of anything in the range of 1805-1815 (though 1805-1811 is preferred), and some brief time on Google to get colour schemes for our chosen countries roughly right.  I chose Spanish.

 

As ever, I'm always open to feedback, constructive criticism, and pointers on accuracy etc, but do bear in mind we are doing this casually for fun right now, so I'm not stressing about inaccuracies, but will welcome any information that can help be closer historical accuracy to some degree, within the limits of what I have.

 

I am initially starting with just one unit, which comprises of 24 infantry, 8 cavalry, 1 artillery, and a unit commander.  I have already finished the artillery piece before I thought of starting a thread, and I didn't take many pictures of the process.  But lets start basic.  I order a plastic box with a clipped lid, and made an insert to stop everybody moving around in transit.

 

 

Pics of the artillery build to follow.  Thanks for looking.

[HoolioPaulio]

Artillery Unit

 

So, another first embarking on this project for me is working with metal.  The artillery was purchased from Perry Miniatures, and consists of an 8lb cannon and 4 men to operate it.

 

 

I primed the cannon parts, and painted them an approximation of the blue I had seen online (using the example painted model from the Perry Miniatures site for reference).

 

 

Then I forgot to take progress pictures, but all the metal work I mixed brass with black to make a very dark mucky brass, added some yellow/grey paint fade on the wood, then gave the model a wash of black on the metal work and brown on the woodwork.

 

 

I primed the men in light grey, but later realised this was a poor choice as it was annoying to make sure it was all covered.  Going forward the rest will be primed in black, so any missed nooks and cranny will look like shadowed areas.  This is a learning curve on many a level for me.

 

 

I then quickly realised sticking them to a stick didn't work for me, so I set about making a better process.  Some corks off Ebay, and old scrap of wood, and a flat drill bit, and I had a crude system of holding them to paint individually, and keeping them upright when painted.

 

 

I then over the course of a week or so got all the colours on, but only took one photo at the end.

 

 

They would then receive a wash of various colours to compliment the base colour, followed by a matt top coat.  The only picture I have of that stage was when I was laying them out on the base and took a photo to remind me where I wanted them.

 

 

Never done basing before, or any form of diorama work so more new stuff to get my teeth into.  Using some Wickes all purpose filler left over from decorating the stairs and hallway, I added texture to the base below where the cannon would go (as I didn't want to try and do it under the cannon when glue in place), painted it Vallejo Flat Earth, and added some tufts of grass I got off Ebay.  This picture was me reminding myself the rough position of the stones I had selected for the base, small chips of slate also from Ebay.

 

 

The big chips of slate were painted grey, dry brushed highlights and washed the shadows.  I used more filler to give the whole base texture and bring it level with the bases the men were cast with.  I also added some coarse sand (also purchased from Ebay) for texture, and some smaller rocks (large bits in the coarse sand) that were unpainted.  Added more grass, and there you go.  My first base.  Very pleased with it, but welcome feedback if I can improve anything going forward.

 

 

I'll get some better images, and do an RFI of this piece later.

[HoolioPaulio]

RFI for the artillery

 

 

[HoolioPaulio]

Next on the bench are the Dragoons.  Again, in metal from Perry Miniatures, I got one set of the standing models.  The one on the left will be used for my unit commander (not necessarily with the horse he's above) as I only need 8 Dragons.

 

 

And I got two sets of the riding into battle models.

 

 

I'm starting with the horses, and I quickly learned that my cork holder v1 was way too tightly spaced for anything larger than a man stood upright

 

 

I was catching them on each other and scraping primer off when putting them back.  So a better piece of wood was drilled and holder v2 was ready.  All the horses are now primed in black.

 

 

And this is where I'm currently at, so updates will come a little slower now.  I've never painted horses before so I'll need to research colours.  I plan to do the main Dragoons in basic horse colours, but my give the unit commander a more exotic colour scheme if I'm feeling brave.  To be decided...

[Agrippa]

nice work 🤩

[Stef N.]

A very interesting project. I will follow along and good luck with it. 👍

[PLC1966]

Some really nice work there  

 

Only a couple of points,

 

you're going to wargame using a Spanish Army........while their uniforms are really nice, I take it you never fancy winning a battle......?

 

And as for the undercoat colour. I was doing a fair bit of 20mm Napoleonic at one point. I always used Halfords Black Primer.  And I swore if I ever re-started that I would white undercoat and use a wash

to pick out the shaded areas.   

[HoolioPaulio]

Not a lot of progress but I have decided on the colours for the horses.  The brigade commander will be on a Palomino horse (pale yellow/brown, blonde mane/tail, white socks), and the Dragoons will be on Bay (brown, black main/tail and socks/stockings).  I just lightened my Vallejo flat earth brown for the Bays and then custom mixed my pale yellow/brown for the Palomino.  Colours approved by my eldest daughter, who has ridden horses in some capacity since she was about 5.  The Bays look darker under normal lighting.

 

[HoolioPaulio]

So the Brigade Commanders Palomino had its mane/tail painted in a very pale yellow (probably more like off-white), and a sock and stocking added.  Never blended colours before, looks reasonable in real life, a bit ropey on close up photos.  I'm happy enough for now.

 

 

[HoolioPaulio]

I wasn't happy with the colour of the Bay horses.  So I mixed up some new paint darker with a smidge of red.  I'm a lot happier with the colour on the right

 

[HoolioPaulio]

So I made a wet palette, mixed up black with a smidge of brown so its not 100% black and began the mane/feet detail on the Bays.  Got 2 of them done, but they might want a second coat on the manes, and one of the socks needs the blending fixing

 

 

 

 

[HoolioPaulio]

Been a while, lots going on so little time for painting, then I made more work for myself.  I initially painted the leather work black (well off black), but I wasn't happy.  Too much contrast on the Palomino, and none on the Bays against the black hair.

 

 

 

So I mixed up some brown instead, which in hindsight was too light, but when painted over the black made the perfect colour.  So I had to paint all 8 Bays black first, then go over with the brown.  Happy though, the colour looks very good compared to my daughters riding tack.

 

 

[ERK]

Excellent work  on the horses.

 

Erk.

[Hunter Rose]

Really like those horses! 

[Hopsing]

Through your thumb you can see how small the horses are, very nicely done!

[HoolioPaulio]

We're all also helping out with scenery for the table.  I began construction of a farmhouse on Thursday

 

 

Then today I finished the roof off, which is removable.  You can see in the foreground my test to make sure the filler stuck securely to the cardboard, which it seems to have.

 

[HoolioPaulio]

So I began etching the roof tile detail on some 1mm plasticard.  I should have enough at the top to miss out the squiffy line across the bottom

 

 

That's the small roof finished, just need to do the same for the main roof on the big sheet 😐

 

 

Oh, and I have started to get regimental colours on the horses

 

[HoolioPaulio]

Been off the boil for a few months with no motivation, but I'm back on it.  I bought some new grass stuff from my local model shop, and knocked up a test base sampling all of my stuff as a test

 

 

Then I made some flowers for the commanders base, out of copper wire strands and brown sugar granules

 

 

Then I got the horses glued to bases and some filler on, then painted mud brown.  I wanted the commander to be on very smooth land compared to the troops

 

 

Then I finished basing the commanders horse

 

 

 

[Hopsing]

Beautiful work and your flower is sweet as sugar, wonderful idea!😀

[HoolioPaulio]

Finished basing the horses, can now start painting the riders.  I wanted the commander to be on nice flat grassy land, and the dragoons to be running through patchy mud.  I'm still learning basing though, so they could be better, but I'm happy with them for now.

 

 

 

[Hunter Rose]

Oh cool those bases look fantastic! Great work with the flowers, they look very natural 

[HoolioPaulio]

I started to crack on with the riders for the Dragoons, and was soon halted.  This was all of the primer I got on the first guy before a blockage...

 

 

I keep my airbrush spotless, but its been a while since the primer was cracked open and some gubbins kept clogging the nozzle.  After much battling and cleaning the bottle lid, and using my patented 'piece of the wifes old tights' as a filter inside the bottle I got paint flowing and was able to get all 9 men done

 

 

Lets hope I can keep this motivation up

[HoolioPaulio]

So I had primed them in black, then realised that apart from the boots and hats, everything was really light colours (yellow and pale blue, and yellow and red for commander, with some off white details), so resprayed them with white primer.  But I didn't coat them enough in my haste, so they were more like my grey primer in colour.  So I started to brush paint the white areas, which is most of them, and realised that black covers anything really well with a couple of coats so I airbrushed them all white.  Then realised the bulk of the uniform is yellow, so I then airbrushed them mostly yellow.

 

 

From here I'll brush paint back over the details with white base, then do the final colours etc.

[HoolioPaulio]

So spurred on by my rapid progress on the Gunslingers I have managed to kickstart a modelling spree, so last night until about 1am I was working on the farmhouse again.  Its so close to done so I need to get it out of the way and focus on finishing the Dragoons.  The roof is painted and top coated in matt, the building is painted but needs its top coat to protect it.  To get texture on the plasticard roof tiles I gave it a light coat of clear gloss, then dusted it with flour, then painted over that

 

Next is the construction of the 2 doors and 16 window shutters (2 per big window, I'm not bothering with shutters on the small windows).  They were made from 1.5mm thick sheets of wood I got off Amazon, and I scored the lines to look like planks.

[Hunter Rose]

Nice! Those doors look great