Wednesday 26 May 2021

Napoleonic 5 7th French dragoons

 Well, it's taken a while to actually finish these chaps( although much faster than the previous dragoon unit) mainly it's been down to work and then spending every weekend looking at university towns for my daughter. I have enjoyed painting them and they've come out pretty well, again black undercoat and a  rapid coat of the various colours. I  attach a work in progress image of my painting tray and paint box with my mix of paints. I've started using sticks to attach my figures to which is  helping to speed up painting ,suggested by various bloggers and I'm glad I took they're collective advice!

As you can see there are more dragoons in the pipeline, both French and Austrian, I seem to be enjoying Napoleonic cavalry at the moment so I'll stick with it, although in the shed various other projects are bubbling along!










I had to do a little conversion work on the trumpeter as he had given up his legs in boots to a cuirassier ( well you would, wouldn't you?!) so spare hussar overall legs were press ganged into use as there are various images of dragoons in overalls. My reference for this lot was these 2 pamphlets which cost me 50p each I think,  I've got the Ospreys but they're bound in a six volume set which while nice and large,isn't very handy for painting on the sofa!

As I've said next is probably more French dragoons, probably!

All the best Iain 

55 comments:

  1. Fantastic looking unit Iain, you have been very productive and great selection of horse colours in the unit

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    1. Thanks Dave,I'm happy at how they came out!
      Best Iain

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  2. Very nice work Iain - and there seem to be plenty more where they came from! I am not a fan of painting cavalry but I will have to overcome this, as I have just ordered SIXTY GNW Swedish cavalry from Ebor!

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    1. Thanks Keith! I find priming black and rapidly wet brushing the colours on a lot of horses at one time (in different colour batches) gives an acceptable finish quite rapidly, you can add white flashes and just need to touch up the leatherwork with a bit of black ,as opposed to doing it all from scratch!
      Cheers Iain

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  3. Splendid looking unit, which no Napoleonic army would be without.
    I hated painting horses more than infantry and you've done a great job with the variety of colours for the mounts.

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    1. Thanks Joe! I seem to be on a roll as far as cavalryare concerned, let's see how long that lasts!
      Best Iain

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  4. Very nice and in good numbers too! That will give a lovely sense of mass.

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    1. Thanks Norm! Another unit will be along relatively shortly!
      Best Iain

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  5. They're coming together nicely, Iain, well done. What make are the figs, they look like lovely sculpts?

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    1. Thanks Markus! They are lovely sculpts, Perry plastic, so economical too!
      Best Iain

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  6. Good work! French dragoons are always handsome. You paint on the sofa? I would like to see a photo of that painting set up.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan! At least one more unit,set up is simple, 2 cushions behind my back and the little tray with a piece of hardboard on my lap!
      Best Iain

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  7. They look great Iain. Is the 5th, the 7th or a combination of the two regiments? Been using the sticks method for four decades! I find that stir sticks from the paint department of your DIY store work really well.

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    1. Thanks Peter! Napoleonic post 5, regiment no 7,I could have done with some punctuation! I'm using kindling at the moment!
      Best Iain

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  8. From one dragoon painter to another: well done! I also endorse the color combination ;)

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    1. Thanks Ed! From one dragoon painter to another I happily accept!
      Best Iain

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  9. Excellent French Dragoons in green, Iain!

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  10. Splendid dragoons, well done!

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  11. Lovely work Iain, they look great. I think you have to keep going with Napoleonic cavalry when you are on a run as it can be difficult to get started again once you have put them down.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence! Yes, push on through, much like you're doing, I'm finding the white lines quite therapeutic!
      Best Iain

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  12. Very nice looking unit……you’ve got to love Napoleonic cavalry 👍

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    1. Thanks Matt! Absolutely, looking forward to seeing yours!
      Best Iain

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  13. Oh, my, that's some serious work. I'm impressed, they look so great!

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  14. They look fabulous Iain. The black undercoat works really, really well.
    Have you ever tried using Payne's grey? I was put onto it some years ago by a tip on a blog/website somewhere (how vague is that?!) and it is great. Almost black and has the same 'automatic highlight' effect, but it is just that little bit more subtle. Maybe of interest?
    Regards, James

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    1. Thanks James! I haven't used it but I do have some and thinking about it, it would probably be a good highlight for things like black horses?
      Best Iain

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  15. Splendid stuff Iain...

    All the best. Aly

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  16. Absolutely splendid! Nice job. 😀
    Now where is that dark age village? Lol.

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    1. Thanks Stew! Well, moving along?!
      Best Iain

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  17. Great results on those cavalry Iain. That painting box made me laugh I have to say, all the jumbled pots of paint :) But clearly works for you.

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    1. Thanks Lee! I know, nothing like you're impeccably ordered pots!
      Best Iain

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  18. A fine looking regiment, Iain! I trust there are more to come with Yellow, Aurore, and Rose facing, too!

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    1. Thanks Peter! Yellow already done,orange up next!
      Best Iain

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  19. An impressive amount of Dragoons and very inspirational as I am about to embark on painting some for myself.

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    1. Thanks Pat! I look forward to seeing your no doubt splendid dragoons!
      Best Iain

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  20. Oooh! They do look rather dashing!

    I've actually dug some Napoleonics out myself - thinking about using them with either One Hour Wargames or Rebels & Patriots - looking for stuff that I could quickly get ready enough to play games.

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    1. Thanks Tim! I remember you getting that big haul of Napoleonics, I'm not sure I'd describe anything Napoleonic as something that it's easy to get ready quickly in my experience!
      Best Iain

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    2. True enough!

      By "Get Ready Quickly" I meant I was hoping I'd mostly be able to get away with reorganizing stuff I'd already painted - maybe some rebasing and touching up - possibly painting a few figures to finish up a unit - or one complete unit to finish up a fieldable force.

      Turns out I have LOADS of British painted - that I've been busy rebasing this past week - almost enough for TWO forces in Rebels & Patriots... but nowhere near enough French. Minimum, I'd have to paint three units of 12... or maybe two units of 12 and a unit of 6 horse...

      For Seven Years War, I may be able to get away with finishing up ONE unit of 12 french and three or four others to finish of another couple of units.. So I may get to playing that (which is more what Rebels and Patriots was written for anyway!)

      Looking at the Colonials, I have plenty to play Men Who Would Be Kings either in Zululand or on Mars - without having to paint a thing!? Ha! So I might start there while working on the Seven Years War French and thinking about working on some Napoleonic French.

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    3. That makes sense, a big change from your warhammer/40k run you've been on!
      Best Iain

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    4. Ha! It definitely IS a bit of a change! But a welcome one. It should be fun to mix things up for a bit.

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  21. Cracking dragoons Iain, well done, I really struggle with Napoleonics.

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    1. Thanks Cyrus, I find it strangely therapeutic now!
      Best Iain

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  22. stunning work on the dragoons!
    cheers

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  23. Great looking unit Iain!

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