Following on from the last update (link here) when we had about 60% completion we are now well over 80% there, with 36 of the 44 entries sent in. The Denswe side is in the “lead” with 19 of the 22 units in total vs the Siarus Army at 17 of 22. However the Siarus miniatures was sent out a week after the Denswe ones so this would be expected.
So we are waiting for another 8 contributions to complete the armies, there is really no major rush but hopefully we should be there soon. The King of Denswe, did have a letter delivered by the charming Colonel of the Klarkling Regiment giving an explanation of his delay.
A background to this project can be found here. And a number of painting guides has been produced, a good start is this one as it contains links to the other ones.
My Lord,
I pray thee foregive my tardiness in moving my regiment to your positions. We have suffered such deprivations upon our march that we have resorted to eating our horses.
My men are the finest that Denswe has to offer and they will take pride of place in the line to push back the foul forces of the enemy. I myself, will be cheering them on, though I fear not from the front lines as I had wished. Unfortunately I twisted my ankle whilst boar hunting, and I am abed, in the care of Madam Pomfroy, who has provided board and lodgings within her estaminet.
How I wish I could see my boys, in the finely cut coats, marching to glory! I shall raise a glass when the hour comes. Anyway, I must now sign off. Madam Pomfroy tells me it is time for my bed bath and I must not disappoint her.
Tally ho, and here’s to today’s fox!
Your obedient servant
Alfvold Klarkling
Colonel
Klarkling Regiment
Army of Denswe
Needless to say the King sent out a detachment to recover the Colonel and for him to heal his ailment in camp. We will present his regiment in the next update.
This update will focus on the Command Bases as we received the minatures by Sidney Roundwood this week and they are really nice indeed. I decided to do a more elaborate basing than I had done for the Denswe command bases and that led me to update those as well.
I had already seen them from a teaser photo sent by Sidney
Any way here is how they turned out.
I did a few with Trees and one with a little bit of flowing waterPainted the flat past of the base in some browns and a few layers of Varnish
For the trees I have a number of small trees ordered from China and I just add some more scatter on top.
Typical cheap end “Chinese Tree”, these are very cheap and there are better ones to get as well. Basically soak the tree with the super glue and then dip it in some light Green Coarse turf (mine is from Woodland Scenics). However it may be better to use tacky glue as the super glue causes fumes (Please be careful and be in a ventilate area, like outdoors)
And for the other type they are the railway modelling type of fir trees that when inspected closely look like the bottle cleaners I used to clean my children’s baby bottles, but again you can, if you wish make them look less so. They look fine without the scatter but for that Command base I felt obliged to do better.
Same idea, tree dab with PVA glue and add some fine turf weeds (again from woodland Scenics)
Anyway here is how they turned out in some more detail:
I think they look great! I have use my standard “trick” for doing these photos with a background as described in an old blog, link here.
As I said I added some more details to the Denswe bases too, here they are:
/I hope that was of some interest, the two armies are presented in some detail in a previous blog post, here.
The following draft document contains some background to the two armies that forms part of the 6mm Chartity Project that is currently in full Swing (you can read more about this project here).
The Battles that will be eventually be fought will utilise the fine Twilight of the Sun King (ToSK) ruleset. The lists for the two armies (Denswe and Siarus) has been developed by Nick Dorrell who also wrote the latest set of the ToSKrules. The key design philosophy was to create two armies that had a similar composition on the table but being totally different in terms of play. The armies developed are in this sense at a high level reflective of the fragmented information we have about the actual battlefield tactics of the two armies. Nick has done extensive research at the Military Academy of Burgothen studying the drill manuals of the period, the King of Denswe’s (Markus Backhus) diaries and the writings of Repet Rerby after the war. The collected writings of Field Marshal Exas who then served as a Cornett in the Barnov Kuirasserse regiment has been an invaluable source in assessing the battlefield performance and composition of the Siarus army. The writings of the Siarus Commander Drevesina that to date has been the common account for these wars has to a large extent been disregarded in line with Professor Drallop’s damning conclusions in his book about him (I know some wargamers will miss the Burning Denswean Pigs, the Siarusian Battle Hounds and the magical skills of the Tsar).
The Denswe army has a number of powerful trained charging units, but also an element of more traditional units that are wavering (i.e. lacking loyalty as allies) and an element of raw units (the fanatics) facing a more traditional army as we would expect in a Horse and Musket battle between say 1680 to 1710. I think the stats and general gist of the army could be easily translated to whatever your rule system of choice is for the period. (Note: we will play the rules with only one base per unit, as opposed to the more common 2 bases per unit as the armies are relatively small).
The guide also contains the coat and cuff information for each regiment that was finalised before the units were sent out to the volunteer charity painters. Some changes have been made to this list and some bonus units added.
It also contains infantry standards for the regiments, these were developed with the help of our expert consultants Mark Backhouse (Denswe) and Sidney Roundwood (Siarus).
The main sources for the uniforms and flag information for the Denswe army comes from Archives of the Military Museum in Holmstock, that I had the pleasure of visiting on several occasions during 1987 and 1988. I fondly remember the cold mornings rummaging through the collections and then spending the rest writing and referencing following by the wild evenings of dancing, drinking and singing. Some further reference material, especially on the Siarus army, has been found from the city of Cowmos official Library of War. The collected work and the drawings of Major Nevscire on the Kuirasserse (unpublished) at the Tavapol State Archives, deserves a special mention and has been invaluable in terms of detail and to validate some earlier (often false) assumptions from the more popular Denswe sources.
Later updates of this guide will contain a picture of each unit with the name of the painter who brought it to life. It will also contain a little bit of a geographical overview
A Guide to the Army of the Tsar of Siarus
The Tsardom of Siarus has undergone great changes in recent years. The new Tsar has reformed and modernised the army from what in essence was a feudal arrangement with nobles providing foot and mounted units, to a more modern army in line with those developed in the wars between Great Tainbri and the Kingdom of Necfra. These changes have been pressed into service and has led to some problems within the army but should provide a solid platform for military success in the forthcoming campaign.
Leadership: Command of the army is entrusted to General and Field Marshall Kruglaja Drevesina. Drevesina is a flamboyant and masterful strategist and his skill in logistics in secondary to none, but he is only an average battlefield commander.
Twilight of the Sun King rating: 1
Generalnyj Bogatyj Koži (Left Wing Commander) is an able commander but his flexibility on the Battlefield is limited due to his physical health. People who do not fear losing their head say he is a Too Fat Lardie.
Twilight of the Sun King rating: 1
Generalnyj Čempion Šuk (Right Wing Commander) was recently promoted to General following a successful charge against the Horde. Unstructured and inexperienced of high-level Command.
Twilight of the Sun King rating: 0
The Tsar’s Guard: Under the command of three of the closest childhood friends of the Tsar the three Guard regiments of the Siarusian army are the premier units of the army. The Plaudetski, Carraletdinov and Kenatonov regiments are the oldest units in the reorganised army and are armed with a 1/6 ratio of pike just like the normal line units. Only chosen men are enrolled in these units and the Tsar himself often accompanies one of them in action.
Twilight of the Sun King ratings: Foot: Elite, Infantry, ‘p’
The Nobles: The Count of Xam-Denbro leads this elite regiment of cavalry in the army (Hussari). The unit is the only surviving unit of the old style of cavalry and originated from a mercenary unit raised from the heroes of Andpol after the Siege of Navien. The Tsar has a nostalgic attachment to the unit but there are rumours that once the aging Count retires his commission the unit will be scrapped. The Count is committed to show the Tsar, and his young cronies, that he has made an error converting the old-style units. Armed and equipped in traditional fashion, with heavy armour, lances, and flapping wings, and very eager to engage the enemy and prove their value.
Twilight of the Sun King ratings: Count Xam-Denbro Regiment: Elite, Cavalry, Galloping Horse – impetuous[The unit must attempt to move into contact with any enemy unit that it can reach within its movement allowance. If more than one is available, it must contact the nearest.]
The Horse: The 7 regular Horse regiments of Garetsimov, M Hunvicnikov, Hiscyshkin, Barnov, Dorrenev, Baldiliev and Princess Andralex are the backbone of the Siarusian cavalry (the Kuirasserse). The units represent the first wave of reforms and consists of a mix or foreigner and Siarus nationals, they are well trained and experienced cavalry. The Garetsimov’s regiment was originally raised by the Gueseportu émigré Jose Di Maio. Later made a Prince of Siarus and was instrumental in helping the Tsar in building his navy including the introduction of the Man o’ War ships.
Twilight of the Sun King ratings: Cuirassier Regiments: Trained, Cavalry
The Dragoons: The new Tsar insisted that the old-style units were reformed as Dragoons and there are 6 regular Dragoon regiments of the army: the regiments of Bailvin, Earparov, Ripelev, Davisirikov, Bowtiak and Simmutov. Although the units are trained, they are still not very competent in the new tactics they have been told to use. This has also led to them having lower morale as they lack confidence in their new role.
Twilight of the Sun King ratings: Dragoon Regiments: Trained, Cavalry, Poor
The Regular Foot and artillery: The 5 regular foot regiments are the Naylosov, Blakrutov, Nillionov, Fulvukhin and J Hunvicnikov. These units are steady regular units relying on solid defensive tactics using fire power to defeat their opponents. Thus, whilst they retain pikes in the units for security against cavalry and infantry attacks the emphasis is more on firepower than shock action.
The Fulvukhin, Nillionov and J Hunvicnikov regiments are classed as Large units. These come from the most populous regions of Siarus and are larger than the others
The artillery led by the reformer Count Melepev has the latest field guns compared to the heavy artillery of old. The Count is more than sure that he can outshoot the arrogant commoner Colonel Jakgöta in charge of the Denswe Artillery.
Twilight of the Sun King ratings: Foot Regiments: Trained, Infantry, ‘p’, (3 regiments are large) Artillery: Trained, Field Artillery
Overview of the Siarus Army
Overview of the Siarus Army
A Guide to the Army of Denswe
The dynamic King Markus Backhus has introduced new aggressive tactics into the regular army that has proven successful in many of his battle. These tactics emphasises the shock element hoping the enemy will flee the field of battle instead of prolonged fire fight. The King and his advisors are confident that these tactics will give the steady troops of his army the edge in the coming war against Siarus. All the Denswe mounted and foot units, from the homeland provinces, are using these aggressive charging tactics. The tactics is commonly referred to as Go Punching (GP)– referring to the hand-to-hand emphasis.
The small main Denswe main army are supplemented by units raised from the newly acquired Niasca province and the fanatical followers of Repet Rerby.
Overall, these troops provide their leader with a formidable army that have been the victors of many battles, albeit against smaller countries. The army marches to war confident that further victories will be achieved against the heretic Siarusians.
Leadership: King Markus Backhus is an excellent tactician who was born to rule. He can be reckless but is very stubborn and loves to win.
Twilight of the Sun King rating: 2
The left wing is Commanded by Prince Olaf Saylind Backhus, the Kings uncle. He is a solid and experienced Commander but currently lacks the skill and nerve of his nephew. His fondness for the bottle is well known in the army and often carries out his inspections being drunk.
Twilight of the Sun King rating: 1
General Repet Rerby (see more about Rerby’s Fanatics below) is untested in Battle but the King believes in his leadership.
Twilight of the Sun King rating: 0
Denswean Homeland Horse Grenadiers: The elite of the Denswe army is the Horse Grenadiers, or the Trabants, led by Duke Heinrich von Hyde. This unit is the de facto Royal Guards. Their charge has been the main cause of many of the Denswe victories to date. A sight to behold on the battle field with their tall Mitre Grenadier hats with golden front plates reflecting the sun light as they gallop in with their charge. The Duke’s resilience, resistance, and resourcefulness in the face of danger is legendary. He fought for the Siarusians at the Siege of Navien repelling the Great Horde.
Twilight of the Sun King rating: Horse Grenadiers: Elite, Cavalry, GH, Small, Determined
Denswean Homeland Cavalry and Dragoons: The only difference between the cavalry and the dragoons in the Denswe army is how they are funded. The Cavalry units are raised by the Three Chalices church and are in general better paid. The Dragoons are raised by the Burghers are in general seen as less prestigious than the Cavalry. However, on the battlefield their role and performance are identical.
The Dragoon units have provided drafts for the newly raised Rerby’s fanatic units, see below. This has provided some much-needed experienced personnel but it means that the regular units are understrength.
Horse Regiments: Åhlheterén, Petersson, Viskin and Mäshitalo
Dragon Regiments: Hoblund and Matthjälm
Twilight of the Sun King rating: Horse: Trained, Cavalry, GH Dragoons: Trained, Cavalry, GH, small
The Infantry: The foot units are aggressive and the success of the initial push of the infantry will be important in achieving victory, about 1 in 6 carries pikes and most an axe or a saber to use in the charge. Jakgöta’s artillery is, when it can keep up with the King’s rash decisions, a well drilled unit. Colonel Jakgöta’s steady firing at the Battle of Duln was a key moment in the rapid breakdown of the advancing Markden Army.
Foot Regiments: Matlund, Rotdin, Teijler and Polmörth
Twilight of the Sun King ratings: Foot: Trained, Infantry, GP Artillery: Trained, Field Artillery
Niascan Units (Horse and Foot): The province of Niasca has only been part of the Kingdom for a few years. The Kingdom gained control of the province in the last war and it has yet to fully reconcile itself to the province’s new circumstance. The province provides 2 Horse regiments and 3 Foot regiments to the army. These units are well trained, experienced units, using traditional tactics not the aggressive approach of the other elements of the army. However, their commitment to the army and their new commander is doubtful. The Crown Princess (who is the regent of the Province) Guard regiment has recently been renamed for the campaign and is only a Guard Regiment in name.
Horse Regiments: Freltin and Johan
Foot Regiments: Klarkling, Tomqvist and Crown Princess Noraeleo’s Guard
Twilight of the Sun King ratings: Horse: Trained, Cavalry, Wavering Foot: Trained, Infantry, P, Wavering
Rerby’s Fanatics (Dragoon and Foot): Denswe is a deeply religious nation and with the prospects of a war against the unbelievers in Siarus the nation has become inspired. The teachings of the fundamentalist preacher Repet Rerby swept through the nation and lead to many new units being formed for the upcoming crusade against Siarusian heretics. Rerby argues that the scales that God uses to balance the powerful in the world are tipped in favour of Denswe. They are convinced that they are the measuring instrument that god will use to change the balance. With their rallying cry “Gods own Scale” these fanatics will surge forward against the Siarusian unbelievers.
The followers of Rerby have formed 5 Dragoon regiments and 1 Foot regiments for the crusade against the Siarusian. These volunteers are largely untrained but are fired up by their beliefs. As loyal Densweans they are committed to using the new tactics of the regular army. Unfortunately, shortages of ammunition mean the cavalry are limited to only firing when faced by cavalry. In other circumstances they will face to charge and rely on God’s help.
Dragoon: Melblom, Milomberg, Hodgvén, Benelin and Karström
Foot: Grovgren
Twilight of the Sun King ratings: Dragoons: Raw, Cavalry, GH, Determined Foot: Raw, Infantry, GP, Determined – may only fire on mounted units.
A background to this project can be found here. And a number of painting guides has been produced, a good start is this one as it contains links to the other ones.
Following on from last weeks update (link here) were we had about a 25% completion we are now well over 60% there, with 26 of the 44 entries sent in and there are many more on the way. The Denswe side is in the “lead” with 15 of the 22 units returned vs the Siarus Army at 11 of 22. However the Siarus miniatures was sent out a week after the Denswe ones so this would be expected.
The Denswe Army to date (the small bases are Commanders) and there are two bonus bases there the Horse Grenadiers and a Foot Unit (more about these in a future installment)The Siarus Army to date (they are still awaiting their Commanders) and there are two bonus bases some Hussari and a Cavalry base (as before more later)
I said last time the small notes that have come with the models have been fun to read and put a smile on my face (thank you all for these).
Some of the notes so far…
A few of the painters has written about their experience on their blogs and here are a few I am currently aware of (let me know if I have missed or forgot any):
This weekend I started putting the flags on the infantry and based all the other miniatures that had arrived to date. The flags were designed with Sidney and Mark for their respective Imagi-Nation. We will publish a little booklet supporting the project later that will contain information on all these flags, painting guide etc.
The booklet will also discuss the particulars with the two armies for playing them with the Twilight of the Sun King rules that Nick Dorrell has developed. Nick is one of volunteers doing a units (see the picture below).
The key design philosophy is to create two armies that may look similar in terms of composition on the table but being totally different in terms of play (remember that we orginally based this on two identical starter army sets). The Denswe army has a number of powerful trained charging units, but also an element of more traditional units that are wavering (i.e. lacking loyalty as allies) and an element of raw units (the fanatics) facing a more traditional army as we would expect in a Horse and Musket battle between say 1680 to 1710. I think the stats and general gist of the army could be easily translated to whatever your rule system of choice is for the period.
Here are a few of the units completed this weekend (we will do a full presentation of all of them once the armies are complete, this is just a random selection).
Someone asked me last time how I add the backgrounds to the pictures, this old blog (link here) will show you the very high tech rig I am using.
Dorrenev’s Kuirasserse by Nick DorrellMatthjälm’s Dragoner by Matt SladeMatlund’s Infanteri by David MathiesonKenatonov’s Infaneri by KenGrovgren’s Infanteri by Colin Snelgrove
And I almost forgot, what about the Siarus management team. Well Sidney tells me they are on their way and damn fine they look too.
/ Hope that was of some interest, Great stuff all around!
A background to this project can be found here. And a number of painting guides has been produced a good start is this one as it contains links to the other ones.
So all the models has been sent out to the brave painters and I have had the pleasure of receiving 14 of the 44 batches of models already. I will do a presentation of the units in a special blog update once the armies are completed, so today is just an overview of where we are at. So the project is now about 25% complete with 7 entries for the blue Denswe army and 6 for the red Siarus army (sent out a week later). The Denswe king has a arrived and I know Sidney is cracking on with the Siarus Field Marshal. To say that I am proud of the painters would be an understatement.
Some of the many progress shots from the painters, this one from Jan Karrman. – The Karlstroms Dragoons.
I have been delighted to get the different small packs of models with small notes that has really given me some good smiles …. (just a good example below).
Thanks David for this one!
I have had some helps from the Middle One in making sure I do not mix everything up in getting on with basing them all.
The Box system was her idea and worked really well for the basing organisation!
I got my sand, paints and grasses out and got on with the basing.
Aerial photo of the bases so far
I find basing someone else’s models like holding a little baby the first time – it freaks me out. But I got over it.
Here is a shot of the models so far – I think it looks excellent. The smaller bases are the Denswe Commanders.
Ok I said I would not do a presentation of any specific units, well I changed my mind, here are 3 of the mounted ones and the Denswe King (I will do the flags for the infantry in a batch when I have more).
First out the Freltin’s Horse by Dave FrenchThen the Viskin’s Horse by Paul WiskenGaretsimov’s Cuirassiers by Gareth BeamishThe Denswe King by Mark Backhouse
/ Hope that was of some interest, Great stuff all around!
This is the fourth painting Guide supporting the 6mm Charity project that has now started (you can read more about it in a previous blog here). There will be a total of 4 painting guides, covering Horse, Dragoons, Foot and Artillery of the Baccus Wars of the Sun King Range. Here some links to the other ones.
We will start this one at Step 5 – which is the painting stages (I highly recommend that you read Step 1 to 4 in the First painting guide as it covers some things that are important in preparing the miniatures and yourself for the challenge, a link is provided here).
It is fairly straightforward and it is my favourite type of unit.
Step 5 – the Painting (depending on how you access this you may just see one picture, but it is a slideshow with the steps)
First start painting the coat, in this case a Denswe unit, with its blue base coat. You may want to go with a different colour for the drummer (perhaps are reverse cuff colour/coat colour), or the officer having a different coat colour.
Do not overfill the model with colour – gently and enjoy yourself!
Next the skin – again gently,
Next the Cuff colours
That left had cuff can be a little bit tricky, try to hit it.
I then used some additional cuff colour to add some further detail on the coat (you may not want to do this).
It adds a nice touch though…
I decided to for white socks
Pikes, rifle butts and the belt in light brown
Flag pole…
Adding some gold to the top of the flag poles, the officers hat brim. and the cuff colour for the drummer hat brim.
White for the soldiers hat brims and the top of the belt and some detail for a scarf, but the two last details being optional. After all hats are done freshen up the colour of the hats, you can go black or grey (most common) or whatever you like.
Same to pike, belt detail, scarf and hat brim.
Done with a Nutbrown ink wash
Done with a Nutbrown Ink Wash
Small note, I did paint the hair as some point – use a few different browns.
Based, this is a step to far at this stage.
Nice unit, I will show how to put the flag on in a later blog post…..
/ Hope that was of some help, moving on updates on the project will focus on units as they get completed. In writing this I know that two painters have already completed their miniatures.
This is the third painting Guide supporting the 6mm Charity project that has now started (you can read more about it in a previous blog here). There will be a total of 4 painting guides, covering Horse, Dragoons, Foot and Artillery of the Baccus Wars of the Sun King Range. Here some links to the other ones.
We will start this one at Step 5 – which is the painting stages (I highly recommend that you read Step 1 to 4 in the First painting guide as it covers some things that are important in preparing the miniatures and yourself for the challenge, a link is provided here).
Starting with the Dragoons that is very similar to the Horse in Guide 1 (the main difference being a drummer instead on the trumpeter and the troopers are holding their muskets not the swords).
Step 5 – the Painting (depending on how you access this you may just see one picture, but it is a slideshow with the steps)
As before the grey with the inkwash gives a nice balance for your shading and depth.
Paint the coats in the base colour, this being a Denswe unit with blue coats.
I also did the Pistol holsters and the drum blue
Next the Cuff colour (yellow), I thought the standard (flag) would be nice in yellow too. Some units have some hat lace (this one has yellow for the Troopers, I brass (or gold) for the officers and a blue and yellow braid for the Trumpeter (he also go a a few dots of yellow to represent a more elaborate coat.
The saddle blanket also got some yellow
View from my helicopter
Some metal on the officer sword and the drum
Skin colour
Brown for standard and muskets
A little bit of red for added to the standard, some on the officer cutt and the saddle blanket border for teh troopers.
Paint the rhythm stick
And teh drum skin
Some white for horse socks and face.
Metal for the muskets
and sword details,
added some white to the blanket roll
The final wash bringing it all together..
Done…
/ Hope that was of some interest, oh and by the way, here they are on their base.
This is the second painting Guide supporting the 6mm Charity project that has now started (you can read more about it in a previous blog here). There will be a total of 4 painting guides, covering Horse, Dragoons, Foot and Artillery of the Baccus Wars of the Sun King Range.
We will start this one at Step 5 – which is the painting stages (I highly recommend that you read Step 1 to 4 in the First painting guide as it covers some things that are important in preparing the miniatures and yourself for the challenge, a link is provided here).
Step 5 – the Painting (depending on how you access this you may just see one picture, but it is a slideshow with the steps)
Grey primer and black ink wash (diluted).
This is the Siarus Artillery that has Straw uniforms.
Paint facings red, socks and the officers hat (or silver). Also the wood on the artillery piece will be red (note this is the big Siege Gun and the painters in the charity project will be given smaller Field Guns).
Skin colour, not too thick…
Paint wood in light brown and some different browns for hari. Also some white to symbolise smoke.
Belts in Buff colour
Base in chocolate brown
Gold on metal for the cannon or yellow (but gold looks excellent!)
Add some Silver on top of the Cannon Ball.
Wash the models
Let dry… Basing (which will not be done by the participants of the Charity Projects) is shown in Part 1.
The finished article (basic paint job, will look brilliant on the table)
This is the first painting Guide supporting the 6mm Charity project that has now started (you can read more about it in a previous blog here). This is the first of 4 painting guides, covering Horse, Dragoons, Foot and Artillery of the Baccus Wars of the Sun King Range.
I was invited to Sean of the God’s Own Scale Podcast to talk about this project, you can listen to the podcast here. I am really happy to have Sean back on air and his back catalogue has some really inspiring stuff not just from a 6mm perspective. It was also great to listen to Peter Berry about Baccus dealing with the current situation and about things to come.
GENERAL NOTE: There are many ways to paint 6mm miniatures, I believe this approach is a realistic level for painting large batches at a table top standard that when they are presented on your wargames table en masse will look great. I very rarely do any more elaborate work on any of my miniatures and you may be able to get away with less and there are people whose painting is far exceeding this level. It is matter of pitching yourself at a level where you can achieve your projects in realistic timescales.
The painters of each set of horse will be given a coat colour and a cuff colour (in this example the coat will be red and the cuff blue).
This is the picture from the Baccus catalogue (link here).
Step 1 – mount the miniatures on a Lollipop stick or similar – I use blue tac but some pva glue works as well. The blue tac allows me to jump to Step 1 without waiting.
Step 2 – prime with a grey spray paint or paint the miniatures grey (you could use white or black too, but this example uses grey) – let dry.
Step 3 – use a light wash with diluted ink, I use pledge floor polish with some black ink added. But you could use any black wash, you want the black to be in the recesses and add some shadow. As you will see this approach lets us get away with not painting a few elements that can be tricky (as we just leave then black), it also creates a nice shaded effect if we do not overload the model with paint.
Step 4 – Start painting, but lets us talk about a few things I have found useful for painting (6mm):
– Brush, make sure you have a good point on your brush. I used a size 1 brush for all element of this project. You can use smaller brushes but I find then are not able to carry much paint and wear out quickly when you paint in batches (that is normally the case for 6mm).
– Paint – shake your paint well. I tend to use the paint directly from the pot. I clean the brush often in the paint cup then drag it carefully over some tissue paper (check the point) so I pick up new paint with a moist not soaking wet brush – I want to paint sharp colours once not having the paint flowing all over the miniature. Forget the milky consistency approach, paint sharp and once.
– Light – make sure you have good light. You will be able to see clearly and your eyes do not get tired. I used to use all kind of magnifiers and googles to paint in the past – it may help you but what I really needed was enough light.
– Gentle – paint as carefully as you can, but you can always repair any too obvious issues with some black.
– Mood – be in the right spirit of mind when you attempt painting these – especially if you have not painted in the scale before. Listen to a podcast and close the door – try to get into the Joy of Six!
Step 5 – Painting Steps
First paint the coat (in this case Red), I also painted the pistol holsters red.
The troopers has a belt over their shoulder leave it unpainted..
Next the cuff colour, in this case blue, I also went with a blue standard, saddle blanket/cloak and detail on the pistol holster. I then added some red to the fringe of the saddle blanket.
Horses next…
I try to avoid painting the horse harness and leave it black.
If you are careful you do not need to paint that harness detail at all…
Flesh colour…. Be easy on the hand. I paint bare hands not gloves – this may not be correct but then it allows the full visibility of the cuffs.
Upfront it looks sloppy but from a distance the black unpainted part will trick your eye better than a solid blob of paint.
I use a light brown for standard pole (this colour may vary, use what you fancy)
Musket … wood details same brown
I use the same light brown for the saddle blanket leather strips
I add some white to the Officers Cuffs…. and some white on the grey horses.
Optional horse facings and socks
Silver on Trumpeter hat lace and top of standards.
Silver on musket and sword.
Silver on Scabbard top and bottom.
Gold hat lace on ensign and commander, fringees of the standard and the trumpet.
Tidy up the hats with some black (you may want to add hat lace to the troopers, but I did not).
…and almost done, add some buff to the belt (I used bone white).
Some detail to the standard…..
Apply a wash, I use Winsor and Newton Nut Brown Ink straight from the bottle (you could use agrax earthshade or AP Soft Tone or not wash at all).
It will look less dramatic when it dries but this is a nice reward for a very straightforward paint job.
Step 6 – Basing (this will not be done by the painters in the charity project, but I show it here for completeness).
Glue the miniatures to the base
Apply sand (I used coloured sand, because I am lazy)
Paint the sand, or in my case the edges (also any metal that may be seen from your bases)
First drybrush
Second drybrush some terracota
Third drybrush some yellow
Add static grass, I do about 20% dark and 80% light green.
JUST A NOTE TO SAY THAT ALL SLOTS ARE NOW FILLED FOR THIS PROJECT – THANK YOU ALL WHO HAS VOLUNTEERED FOR THIS. MINIATURES WILL SENT TO YOU SHORTLY AND I WILL GET BACK TO YOU WITH FURTHER DETAILS.
Let us build some small armies together..
This is a long post and in summary it invites you to participate in a community effort to paint one base of 6mm miniatures to support the building of two opposing armies in 6mm – provided free by Baccus 6mm. You will then send back the painted miniatures and they will be based up in a unified manner and a few battles fought with them and then they will be sold-off and the proceeds given to the Combat Stress charity. Whether you painted 6mm or not previously is not important and I will provide some painting tutorials in future blog posts. With this I hope to share some of the Joy of Six I have had over the years (unfortunately you can only participate this time around if you are based on the UK – Sorry!).
A lot of us, assuming most people visiting this blog are wargamers, has had a few hobby outings this year that have been cancelled due to COVID-19. I have been looking forward going to the excellent Lardy Event in Evesham, showing off the Poltava 1709 Battle at Salute and a few others. However my favourite show in the year is when we all go up to Sheffield and share the joy of six at the Joy of Six. This is the annual show focusing on the 6mm scale and was scheduled to take place in on the 5th of July this year. It was recently cancelled for the right reasons, but will be back next year.
I was going to take my old Fraustadt 1706 board this year, with a few modifications, and play the example scenario in the Twilight of the Sun King rule set. It was the first big 6mm project I completed and still one of my favourites.
The Fraustadt 1706 as laid out at Joy of Six in 2012
I have had so much fun with the 6mm scale in doing my various projects over the years and all the other positive aspects I have had as a result in terms of meeting some great people, seemingly inspired some of them as well to get into 6mm, been invited to podcasts to talk about this passion, etc.
Here the podcasts I have had the pleasure of sharing my love of 6mm with:
Contrary to popular belief I am still very much doing 6mm projects, and I wanted to do something to share the Joy of Six, so I had an idea. I would like us as a community to paint up two 6mm armies and I need your help. I do not care if you are a hard core 6mm fan or just want to give it a go for fun.
I would like you to either paint one base worth of infantry (24 No. miniatures), cavalry (9 No. miniatures) or a set of 4 Artilley bases (16 No. miniatures and 4 guns). These will be from the Baccus Wars of the Sun King range, that I have used for my Lund 1676 Project – they are some fantastic models. Here are some of the ones I painted (more pictures from an earlier blog here).
Each army will consist of (pictures from the Baccus home page): • 8 units of foot – 8 persons
This is a unit of Foot – 24 small models to paint per person.
• 6 Horse – 6 persons
This is a unit of Horse – 9 small models to paint per person.
• 6 Dragoons – 6 persons
This is a unit of Dragoons – 9 small models to paint per person.
• 4 artillery bases – 1 person
This is base of Artillery, the persons doing these will be asked to paint enough for 4 bases – that is 16 miniatures and 4 guns.
Times two, that is a total of 42 available slots.
The picture below show these kind of bases in relation to a 28mm (from Crooked Dice) and 15mm (from Peter Pig) model.
A base of Foot, Cavalry and Artillery with a 28mm and 15mm model.
This is the look of each army (this is a Saxon army from the Great Northern War/WSS range).
It works like this:
(i) You will register your interest by contacting me on this blog rollaone.com – use the contact form (there is a link on the top), leave your e-mail address and state that “I want to paint some 6mm” (unfortunately you can only participate this time around if you are based on the UK – Sorry!). I will contact people on a first come first served basis and ask for your address so the miniatures can be sent to you, either 24 infantry, 9 mounted or 16 artillery men with 4 guns (this will be random to make things easier). Please read and understand the “A few notes” below.
Once I have a full list of people and addresses I will share this with Baccus who will be sending out the miniatures. Hopefully this should not take too long.
(ii) You will be sent a pack of 6mm miniatures (at no cost to yourself), paint them based on some general guidelines, you will then send them to me (at your cost) and I will base them up in a uniform way, attach flags to the infantry, and we then have two small armies ready for the table top.
(iii) I and the Little One will play a few battles with these armies and report the outcome on this blog.
(iv) We will then offer up the armies for sale on ebay (or similar) with the full sale price less the auction site costs, going directly to Combat Stress Appeal. Not because I necessarily think, but do hope, it would bring a substantial amount of financial gain, but because it is a good thing and also because this is not done for any personal gain but for the Joy of Six.
A few notes:
It would be great to have you onboard, but please only do this if you intend to take the time to paint up the miniatures and send them back in a reasonable timescale, say maximum 4 weeks from receipt. Even if you do not participate in this you can still get into the fun and follow the progress on the blog and/or twitter.
This is not a painting competition, this is about painting the units and building the army. I know that styles, skill and approaches vary but one of the things I hope this will prove once and for all is that when these 6mm armies are put on the table with uniform bases and we take as step back it does not matter who painted what – it will look like a battle is ready to commence.
I will, in further blog updates, provide generic guidelines for the two armies, they will be imaginary and the idea is that you will be given a coat colour (say red or blue) and a cuff colour (each being different). You can paint the hats, brims, socks, pistol holsters, etc, in any colour you like, perhaps your officers have different coats, etc. This to make some uniformity to the armies but giving you some freedom in making your own choices.
There will also be painting tutorial for each of the elements (horse, dragoon, infantry and artillery) and make it available on this blog in a few weeks time (in line with the miniatures being sent out), this will be a simple straightforward optional approach that you may want to adopt in doing your set.
In addition I have asked Sidney Roundwood and Mark Backhouse to paint the leaders for each army. Mark and Sidney are both well-known profiles in the hobby and I am delighted to have them onboard. Here some links to some of their many contributions to the hobby.
Also a very big thanks to Peter Berry of Baccus who is providing the miniatures for free and will be sending out all the small packages at his cost.Link to Baccus Home Page
I have initially published this here on my blog, but also on the Wargames Website and the Lead adventure forum and on twitter (Per at RollaOne, @roll_a_one). I decided to go for a more generic audience to start with and depending on uptake, I may share this is on more 6mm specific forums later. I am not sure what the interest may be and I am sorry if you wanted to have a go but it was too late. You can still follow the progress on the blog.
This is a very short-worded blog, but instead I hope the pictures will be of some interest, perhaps the “winteriness” will give you some relief in the heat. This is the Danish and Swedish armies for my Battle of Lund 1676 project. I finished them earlier this month and the next step will be to make some specific terrain for the battle. More about this project later, all models are from the Baccus Sun King range (link here).
/ That was all for now, a closer inspection of the units in the next update!
