40mm Napoleonics, The First French and Spanish Figures

 So I have put the French off a little bit, I really dont like all that piping. I have however bitten the bullet and made a start. I also managed to get some Guerillero's and some more 60th Rifles done. Happy days!

The French have either habit, sleeved waistocat or greatcoat so I started with one of each and a Spaniard. Happy with how they have come out so dig into some more.

This weeks final output then looks like this with 5 French, 3 Spanish and 3 Rifles complete. Pretty happy with that, its a side project afterall and very much about enjoying the painting.

For the Spanish I am hoping to have something of a theme with many of them being ex-regulars taken to the Mountains and ideally from the same unit. So wherever possible I will try include some uniform elements. Two of these chaps still have their uniform bicorne, the chap on the left having retained his jacket which is not really that white any more, the kneeling figure also has his Bicorne along with his uniform waistcoat. The chap on the end has no such luck and simply wears his civilian clothes.

Three more firing rifles, most of these firing figures will be surplus to requirements so I intend to pick through them when they are all finished and decide which I keep and which I ebay. I am enjoying painting them though so getting through them quite quickly.

Here are the first of the French, like the rest these are all Perry figures, there is a little conversion amongst these but not by me, I am not much of a modeller. I am reasonably happy with the outcome of these.

The first two are in habit, I struggle with this coat it has so much piping, the end result does look ok though, I will be bit happier to do try my hnd with a few more of these guys now.

This chap is one of the figures converted by the chap I bought them from on ebay, he has done a cracking job turning this one from a light infantryman in sleeved waistcoat to a greatcoat, you would never know. With the limited number of castings available these conversions are invaluable. The face is slightly clunky as the wash it came with was a bit heavy and had covered some of the features, overall though pleased with this guy. I think there is just one more of them in greatcoats a shame as they do make  a nice addition.

Lastly the chaps in sleeved waistcoat. These are the easiest to paint and I quite enjoyed them. The waistcoats are very off white here, I will do others that are a bit more Persil when I get into it. The firing figure was missing an arm so chum Chris Charlton pressed a British arm into service which looks really nice. I intend to have a fair bit of variety in trouser and shako cover colour to make these more campaigny.  

I am reasonably happy with these and have a few more on the painting table. I still need to decide on basing, do I use my European dark/mid brown my Indian tan or a new basing colour scheme entirely? I am undecided. 

The figures I have so far are all Perry's and I will be getting more, I am however looking at picking up some Sash and Sabre to mix in and add variety. The jury is out for me on these, I much prefer the style of the Perrys but S&S will give me a lot of added variety. Its personal taste and I know a lot of folks prefer the S&S. I will make up my mind when I have some painted side by side with the Perry's. I have Guerilla's, French Hussars and British centre companies coming so lets see.

Hopefully you like this break from the norm for me. See you soon.