Heavy Horses

This post looks at the latest unit on my painting table, a unit of Cuirassiers for my Swedish army of the 1620s. 

28mm Avanpost Cuirassiers.

This is the second unit that I’ve created using Avanpost’s 28mm resin figures (see the previous one here: https://theviaregia.blogspot.com/2021/06/ake-totts-cuirassiers.html).  I’m not very confident about the longevity of these rather fragile figures but they are lovely to paint! 

After seeing someone else’s unit with different finishes of 17th century cuirassier armour (hello to Paul Mackay on Facebook!) I decided that I would have a go at a mixture of armour finishes.  I have also always liked the Angus McBride illustration in the Osprey Elites title on English Civil War Cavalry that shows Haselrigge’s lobsters with three types of armour finishes. Untreated metallic armour would have rusted very quickly and so metal armour typically had some form of protective patina added. 

Base coat of mixed gunmetal, black contrast and blue metallic.

Dry brush of steel and dark wash applied.

Blackened armour was probably the most common (and cheapest) finish and this could be achieved by coating the heated armour with linseed oil and soot. To achieve something like this on my miniatures I used a base coat of equal parts of GW Leadbelcher, VMC Blue Gunmetal and GW Contrast Black Templar. Over this a dry brush of GW Ironhands Steel, and then a final wash of thinned GW Nuln Oil.  By adding more of the Blue Gunmetal in the base then a bluer finish can be achieved which was a considered a more desirable, and expensive, finish in the 17th century. 

Base of gunmetal, washed with red-brown contrast.

Dry brush of steel added. 

Russeting was another patina finish which gave a reddy-brown finish, and was most popular in the 16th century.  One 17th century recipe I’ve seen for this suggested oil and vinegar. To represent this I used a base of Leadbelcher with a ‘wash’ of GW Contrast Fyreslayer Flesh. Finally a light dry brush of Ironhands Steel. 

Gumetal base, dry brush with steel, and highlight with silver. Final dark wash. 

It is also possible that some individuals may have kept their armour ‘white’ (plain metal, uncoloured) if they had the available man power to constantly polish and clean it. For this I used a base coat of Leadbelcher, a dry brush of Ironhands Steel, and a wash of Nuln Oil.  For a really fancy finish (for the Cornet) I painted on some VMA Silver as a highlight.

I like the final look of the cuirassier unit in their fancy armour, and it was fun to play armour with the armour recipes. 

The cornet (flag) is from Mikhail Betskii Creation.

The trumpeter rides a Piebald horse, a popular choice in the Swedish cavalry.

As with most of my recent units I added a casualty tracker base for the unit.  This uses one of the lovely Bloody Miniatures ‘Dismounted Cuirassiers’ next to a Avanpost wounded horse.  The base is from Charlie Foxtrot. 

Next time, back to the infantry. 

Until next time,

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig (FoGH). 

More Haiduks

This blog post looks at the latest unit for my Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth army; another unit of Polish Haiduks. 

Polish Haiduks from Wargames Foundry and TAG in 28mm

In this earlier post (https://theviaregia.blogspot.com/2021/11/polish-haiduks.html) I described the background to these native Polish infantry. This unit is more of the same, with the figures also being from Wargames Foundry and The Assault Group (TAG) in 28mm.  

Extract from the contemporary ‘Stockholm Roll’ showing Haiduks

I chose a different paint scheme this time, with this unit being based on a unit of Haiduks in the Stockholm Scroll. This amazing 15m long work of art depicts the ceremonial entry of the wedding procession of King Sigismund III and Archduchess Constance of Austria into Kraków on 4th December 1605. The picture includes many military units, including Haiduks. This needs to be used with caution of course as this is a ceremonial procession and not a battlefield. It is nevertheless very useful. There is a great Wikimedia page with details of many parts of the scroll here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Stockholm_Roll

This unit of Haiduks on the scroll have a nice dark blue uniform with a yellow lining on the outer coat. The figures in the scroll don’t seem to have braiding on their coats but as my model soldiers do, I have given them braiding in the same contrasting yellow. 

A ‘tenth man’ and musician.

Biting open a cartridge.

Casualty Marker from Warbases

I painted the figures using the same approach as described in the previous post above. I think they’ve come out alright. I’ve added a casualty marker for the unit as well, using one of the handy counter bases from Warbases. 

The scroll shows further Haiduk uniforms and so I will be trying these in the future. Next up, my Haiduks need some commanders.

Until next time

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig. 

The Guardsmen of the Amsterdam Kloveniersgilde (Nightwatch) - Part 2

In this blog post I give an update on my Nightwatch project.  (Part 1 is here link.)   In this project I am paying homage to Rembrandt’s master piece, The Nightwatch, by converting and painting wargames figures to represent the characters portrayed in the painting.

The original picture, just in case you have forgotten what it looks like!

Progress has been slow but I have finally got the first eight figures painted, and also got another batch modelled and undercoated.  Rather than my normal wargames unit, batch paint approach, I have been painting these one figure at a time.  This is quite fun (even therapeutic!) as there isn’t the same pressure to bang on to finish a colour / process as there is when going through a batch.  The downside is that it is a pretty slow approach, and I’m already known at my club for being the slowest painter!

The first eight figures painted, and placed in their relative positions in the original painting.

I have enjoyed the process of studying the figures on the painting and trying to work out how I will paint my model as a representation. At the start this was a bit daunting.  Master painters, like Rembrandt, earned large sums because they were  brilliant at what they do.  A lead or plastic figure and my meagre skills are obviously not going to get close to the same wow factor as the actual painting.  Luckily I am doing this ‘just for fun’ so as long as I can vaguely recognise my painted figure against the picture then I am happy.

Studying the picture very closely has been fascinating.  I have an ever increasing respect for the genius of these master painters.  How they dealt with light, and how they represent perspective is amazing.  As I mentioned in Part 1, it has been very useful to be able to download a high resolution version of the picture from the Rijks Museum site (link).  This allowed me to use photo editing software to increase the ‘exposure’ and see in to some of the dark corners of what is quite a dark picture.  I also came across a very interesting lecture on “The Night Watch: Rembrandt, Group Portraiture, and Dutch History” from Yale University, available on YouTube (link).  In this video it shows a copy of the picture made soon after it was first displayed (supposedly by one Gerrit Lundens).  The great thing about this copy is that it includes the pieces removed from the edge of the original when it was cropped (the horror!) to fit in to a new venue later in the picture’s life.

Copy of the original showing where the original is now cropped. Image has been 'enhanced' to see in to the shadowy background, which inevitably 'blows-out' the highlights.

I have taken an image from the YouTube video of this copy and also ‘lightened’ it.  You can see this brings out some interesting details of the setting of the picture. For example, I hadn’t noticed before that the sergeant on the extreme left of the picture is actually sitting on a low wall or balustrade.  I’ve got him standing at the moment.  Will have to think about that.

Here is a walk through of each of the eight figures painted so far.  (More details of the actual characters portrayed are in Part 1 here link). The figures are in the order in which I decided to paint them.  Unless otherwise noted I undercoated all the figures in black, and then gave them a very heavy dry brush of Vallejo Beige Brown (a technique copied from Matt at Glenbrook Games).

Jacob Jorisz, tambour (drummer)

I decide to go for the drummer first as I wanted to get the drum out of the way, and as there isn’t much of Jacob in the original painting I had more of a free rein for the figure.  The first challenge was that in the original he is wearing what looks like an iridescent silk or satin doublet.  Rembrandt manages this faultlessly, but I had to accept a ‘flat’ approximation of the turquoise / green colour, and then highlighted with a greener hue.  I was pleased that the drum was nice and plain as I find these very fiddly to do normally.  Just a dry brush with some highlights here.  The Avanpost figure was a joy to paint overall with nice crisp detail all over; something I would come to miss in some of the other figures.

Sergeant Reijnier Engelen

 

Next I moved on to Sergeant Reijnier. In the original he is a very dark figure. As noted above, it seems this figure is seated in the picture, but for now I only have a standing figure.  I tried to show black clothing, with some different highlighting in green, grey and red to show some different blacks. With his armour I tried to give the impression of blackened armour that has then been burnished and polished over many years.

Unknown Man, musketeer

Next is the Unknown Man.  I had a sense of grey with a hint of purple from this figure on the painting, and so this is how I approached the figure.   The original has a very fancy design to the bandolier strap which I didn’t attempt.  The most fun on this figure was the oak leaf sprig on the helmet.  I have written a separate blog post on how I did this here link.  (I suppose I ought to look at a way of showing that the musket is in the process of being discharged in the original.  This is one for the back burner.)

Running Boy, Powder Monkey

  

I have to admit to just going a bit ‘rogue’ with the running boy figure.  The figure that I had converted appears to be in a scruffy shirt and so I have painted a very scruffy linen type of shirt.  It is not clear exactly what the original is wearing but it is in a darker colour.

Jan Claesen Leijdeckers, musketeer

 

Although Jan is behind, and in the shadow of the Lieutenant, he is a bit more brightly attired than some.  He is described as a married man and so shouldn’t be too brightly dressed. (It appears that in mid 17th century Amsterdam that young bachelors were expected to dress very brightly, until they married, when they would dress more soberly as befitted men of maturity.)

Jan van der Heede, musketeer

 

Next, one of the bachelors (i.e. brightly attired!). As he is dressed almost entirely in red I went for a lighter undercoat of GW Wraithbone, and then a wash of GW Agrax Earthshade. The base of the red was a GW Contrast Paint, Blood Angels Red. I then highlighted this up with Vallejo Orange Red.   (I like this red contrast paint and also used it on my British Napoleonic red coats. It does need to go on a light undercoat though.)

Captain Frans Banninck Cocq

 

On to one of the big stars of the picture.  I left the two officers to last to build up my confidence.  These two figures are very much centre stage in the original picture, and so I know they are the first things people will see.  I’m not sure my conversion is really doing the good Captain justice.  Once I’d mashed the figure about with Stanley knife, pliers and files I think that I’d lost some of the original figure's details.  The paint job helps a bit.  I’m not 100% happy with my final figure, but without another suitable candidate for the base figure this is it for now.

Lieutenant Willem Van Ruytenburch, Lord of Vlaardingen and Vlaardingen-Ambacht

Finally, the snappily dressed lieutenant.  I undercoated again in GW Wraithbone for this very light coloured figure, and followed up with a wash of GW Seraphim Sepia.  I haven’t managed to give the impression of the rich and detailed fabric of the original, but I am happy with the overall impression. The final figure certainly stands out from the crowd, just like he does in the original picture.

So these are the first eight.  I need to work on basing them next and I'm still considering the best way to do this as I want to represent a paved area.   There are then probably another 20 or so figures more to be painted.

Here are links to the  websites of the manufacturers used for the miniature figures (so far!):

* Warlord Games - https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/pike-shotte
* The Assault Group (TAG) - https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/renaissance/
* Empress Miniatures - https://www.empressminiatures.com/english-civil-war-3-c.asp
* Avanpost Miniatures - https://www.mezzersminis.co.uk/avanpost-1
* 1898 Miniatures - https://www.1898miniaturas.com/shop/en/48-spanish-tercios-28mm-miniatures
* Colonel Bills - Depot Battalions - http://shop.colonelbills-store.co.uk/epages/4f27da57-42ee-48c0-9cb8-22c9dd921a68.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/4f27da57-42ee-48c0-9cb8-22c9dd921a68/Categories/86/44

Until next time!

Andy @ FOGH

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