Tuesday 12 January 2021

Great Italian wars 46 Fast and dirty gendarmes!

 We have here 24 x gendarmes for the great Italian wars, three units of eight, it's just that two were painted earlier, in fact they've been cluttering up the paint desk for something like eight years! They're metal Perry war of the Roses command figures. The rest are all Perry plastic with the addition of spare Steel fist heads from their gendarmes set.

I've painted up two units as Spanish gendarmes which were less heavily armed than their Italian and French counterparts, the Perry set is for the War of the Roses and goes up to the end of the 15th century, the Great Italian wars starts at the end of the 15th century, they might be a bit old fashioned but in the  words of Rod Stewart, I don't mind, they wear it well!

The other unit I will be using as French and I have given them a French flag I did in a previous challenge, those gendarmes are currently flying Papal/Venetian flags in two of my To the strongest  armies, I wanted to be able to field four armies on my two tables but I have a dearth of gendarmes, hence these 24 gentlemen,  I have a further 24 moving on to the painting table, gosh this laser focus on Napoleonics is going well don't you think? 

I've changed techniques on these chaps,previously I would prime black, dry brush white and then paint with washes, giving me a kind of highlighting.  In an effort to increase speed and productivity I have continued to prime in black and then wet brushed the colours on using the black as shadow,  I think it's worked alright, I'm calling them good enough!

The Spanish flags are by Pete's flags, they're ace!

So a unit of Steel fist gendarmes and two units of plastic pound shop gendarmes  have now hit the painting desk, more French gendarmes (they need a lot!) to come!

















The barded horses are warlords plastic English civil war horses with their heads replaced by Perry's ,first post of 2021, that's 220 points,charge!

All the best Iain 

55 comments:

  1. Your new technique worked really well Iain, as they look excellent in the pictures, and if it speeds up the process as well, that's a win win in my book

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    1. Thanks Dave,yes I think it works pretty well and is certainly faster,so yes win win!
      Best Iain

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  2. I do like these, your change in technique isn;t tnoticeable imo, but that's a good thing right ?
    The three units together look quite the force and the variatie of figure and mount really add to the effect !
    Great additions to your Italians.

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    1. Thanks Joe and I'm glad the quality doesn't seem to have dropped, the Steel fist bits and bobs certainly help add to the variety!
      Best Iain

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  3. Wow, don’t they look great en masse! I shudder to think how long they took to produce, though they were certainly worth the effort mate.

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    1. Thanks Mark! They do look better all together don't they, a couple of weeks in the evenings, its pretty efficient doing 24 at one time, faster than the previous technique!
      Best Iain

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  4. Very impressive sight, Iain! Great work. I have a measly unit of five gendarmes in work on my desk.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan! Little and often makes sense but I'm trying to make efficiency of scale by doing a decent number in one go!
      Best Iain

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  5. They look superb, nice technique, ideal with armors imho...

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  6. These look fantastic, Iain! Nice sense of mass when they're gathered together, as well.

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    1. Thanks very much Marcus! Yes the combined image is much better than the individual units !
      Best Iain

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  7. The project nicely moving forward! Well done Iain!

    Best wishes,
    Jan

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  8. very nice, and seeing all 24 together in the final few photographs is very impactive.

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    1. Thanks Norm, all 24 certainly looks better!
      Best Iain

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  9. Wow! These are just gorgeous! The bardings and the colours, all individuals, wow. A force to be reckoned with for sure!

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  10. Nicely done, Iain. Fast or not, they look great - love the work on the barding and "jupons."

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    1. Thanks Dean! Heh,fast but not as fast as you!
      Best Iain

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  11. It's been a while since your last post Iain, but now I can see why! Lovely work on these figure, they look fantastic

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    1. Thanks Keith! Yes a couple of weeks, not your kind of thing,24 figures on the painting table!
      Best Iain

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  12. Great stuff Iain, interesting to see the Steel fist bits mixed in with the Perry Men at Arms.

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    1. Thanks Oli! I didn't want to waste all those useful extra bits and they're eminently compatible with Perry plastic figures, which is useful!
      Best Iain

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  13. Very nice and a substantial addition of heavy cavalry in one go !

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    1. Thanks Matt! They actually didn't seem too many in one go,it was just more efficient en masse!
      Best Iain

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  14. Terrific work Iain, they look great. I purchased some Pete's flags for my 15mm Italians a couple of months ago, and was very impressed with them.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence! Yes, I think Pete's flags are good value!
      Best Iain

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  15. Excellent work! Colorful and they look right.

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  16. I like them! I'd be happy to have them on my table.

    Cheers
    Kevin

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  17. Smart work Iain.
    I'm now wondering what Pound Shop Gendarmes are, has the stock improved since I left the UK?

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    1. Thanks Paul! No last century pound shop stock,all will be revealed, eventually!
      Best Iain

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  18. Very nice Iain...
    Does fast and dirty describe their fighting style as well...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly! I imagine it does for the lesser orders, crushed beneath their feet, or them getting shot to pieces by scoundrels hiding in the woods!
      Best Iain

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  19. Nice job! All of them together look like some seriously serious business! I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that charge! 😀

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  20. Looking good, and the flags are lovely!

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    1. Thanks Peter! Yes ,they are , yours must be almost ready to go?
      Best Iain

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  21. Love all the colours Iain. What a great job!

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  22. They look fantastic, I love the imposing overall looking, it's truly evocative.

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  23. These look great! I would never have guessed these were speed painted unless you had said 😀

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    1. Thanks Andy! I needed to speed up to get them done, glad you like them!
      Best Iain

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  24. Painted speedily? They look wonderful to me. I enjoy seeing someone else who starts one thing and finishes another! It's all progress, in the end, not to mention enjoyable and edifying...
    Regards, James

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    1. Thanks James! Yes rapidly painted, absolutely with you on progress planned or otherwise is to be celebrated!
      Best Iain

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  25. Eight years before seeing the light of day has to be a record. Wonderful painting and basing.

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    1. Thanks Pat! Unfortunately eight years is far from a record in my collection!
      Best Iain

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  26. Fantastic looking gendarmes, Iain! Good balance of color saturation and brightness. Bright and at the same time restrained.

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    1. Thank you very much Dmitry! Got to be bright!
      Best Iain

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