More MDF Napoleonics

Next up on the painting table is a test unit of the British Infantry from Commission Figurines MDF range of 6mm figures.  Unlike the French figures these are not cut with shouldered muskets.  I prefer the shouldered figure outline as it gives more shape for the eye to grab hold of at arms length but it probably makes the figures a bit more robust.  My British unit will have less figures than the 30 man French one.  I'm going with 20 figures in two ranks to show the 'thinner' British line formation.  It also makes the pack go further!

These figures are trickier to paint than the previous French offerings as I have to paint in white cross belts on to the contrasting red coats.  The nature of the MDF figures means that there is almost no relief for the paint brush to follow, so that needed a steady hand and a good eye, which at my age is a big ask!  I had to go back with the red to tidy up in some cases but eventually I got them as I wanted.  OK lets be honest, almost as I wanted.  The picture in my mind's eye is always neater than I achieve in reality but I long ago learned that the difference between the two is what drives me to improve (and should be ignored when necessary).  Next time I might try to add the cross strap for the back pack as these look very 'chocolate box soldier' like.  It's probably the lack of anything which suggests the lace across the coatee's chest area that is the issue but I can't think of any way to paint them which wouldn't end in a messy splodge!

You can see the blockiness of the figures in this shot

I went with a white undercoat and first painted in the red coatees.  This stage can be as messy as you like, as everything done after this stage will tidy it up.  Grey trousers for the majority came next with the officers getting white to help set them apart.  Remember that these are painted in right up to the waistline as the coatees were cut short at the front.  This was followed for black for shakos and boots.  Then it was time for the detail.  Black backpacks and cartridge box, mid blue canteens, light grey blanket roll. brown muskets and (gulp) white cross belts.  Last was flesh to the faces and hands, your choice of turnback colour and the plumes.  It sounds a lot but other than the cross belts it is just a dash or a dot of colour where required.  The only other thing left was to paint in any shoulder straps.  It was at this point I realised I hadn't painted a drummer in reverse colours (oh buggah) so back to the painting table had to go.

It's an OK paintjob I'm sure I can do a better job with practice.

A little bit of tidying up  on the shoulder straps might help with the overall look.  I did think about adding Skirmishers to the base but decided against it for two reasons. Firstly that having a separate narrow strip that could be placed in front of the base as required might be useful in some rules and second, I haven't bought any skirmishers yet.  MDF bases are going to help with the survivability of the figures so an order will be on it's way to Warbases in due course.

For reference I found the Baccus 6mm painting guides helpful along with several painting blog posts I found online (especially Steve's Balagan).

MDF Napoleonics

So after my trip to the Joy of six show, I promised to show you my attempts at painting Napoleonic infantry.  Specifically some French infantry.  So here they are.

You can easily see the difference in colour between the undercoats used.

I had to change my normal painting style for 6mm figures as these are laser cut MDF.  Because of this, they take paint in a different way to metal castings as it soaks into the MDF.  I tried two different styles of painting, one was undercoating in white and the other in black.  I then block painted the flesh, clothing and weapons. I also added a home drawn and printed flag.  I  know this is oversized but I think recognising the flag is important at smaller scales.  I picked out some of the laser engraved detail using a very fine indelible black ink pen to give definition.

If you look carefully, you will see some of the blue coats are darker than others. Those are the figures which were undercoated in black. I'm unsure which undercoating style gives the best result, especially at anything more than close range viewing. The figures were fairly easy to paint. For those under the coated in black a stripe of white up the centre of the front of the body for the vest and turn backs and breaches with blue added to the edges is the bulk of the figure painted. It's the same system for those undercoated in white but without the need to overpaint the areas which will end up white.   I think I will stick with the white undercoat system and buy a bottle of Vallejo Prussian Blue to offset the lightening effect of the undercoat.

What really makes them pop is adding the fine detail. This includes things like turn backs on the sleeves, shako plates, pom-pom colours, backpacks and blanket rolls.  Unlike metal figures, I have not given them an ink wash as there isn't sufficient sculpted detail for the ink to pick out. At the moment these figures are not varnished but I am considering using a spray on varnish to give some protection.

Picking out some detail really helps bring them to life.

I have based the figures on cardboard (as a test) and used my normal texturing system of fine sand topped with patches of flock.  Currently, these are on a 6 cm x 3 cm base, but I’m still unsure as to how I will base them going forward as I am not yet sure which rules I will use.  That said I prefer the large unit look of this batch to the smaller base I tried first.  I think these are rather nice given that they are essentially 'thick' flats.  There is enough detail from the laser engraving to help show the edges of clothing so that gives a guide for where colours will change.  At arms length they look very little different to their more 3D metal cousins, unless you squint along the lines where they look more 'blocky'.  However, at the price point these little chaps come in at they are hard to beat.  the unit shown above consists of 30 figures and I estimate it cost under 50p including basing materials!