Tuesday 20 February 2018

Off the Work bench - Mike W, 19/02/18

Tuesday 20th February - what's ON MY WORKBENCH?

Dutch 28mm Infantry Regiment awaiting completion
Well sad to say that the 28mm North Star Dutch Infantry Regiment is not yet completed and ready to leave the workbench. Made some good initial progress with this 28mm unit - really all that is needed is the detail such as hair, buttons and sword handles etc as well as touching-up of 'spoiled' areas on each figure (where I have splashed paint where it shouldn't be!). Finally there is the application of Army Painter Dark Coat and then basing. Maybe 2-3 days work, elapsed time, to get completed.

The unit is being painted in a dark-ish grey coat, dark pink cuffs and linings and various shaded trousers and socks, all highlighted by orange sashes and garter ties.

Why were these figures not completed - well that's because my order from Colonel Bills arrived last Tuesday and I got distracted by an influx of Texas Revolution figures that I'm painting to meet a deadline I have on putting on a game for this era in April.

19 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Mexican Peons, with various weapons
Amongst the new arrivals were 19 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Mexican Peasants who I will paint-up as local militia companies, these will be bolstered by the 6 peasants I painted earlier this year - making 2 companies of 12 figures plus an officer to lead them. Reassuringly difficult to control on the tabletop and at risk of running away if the officer is killed....

10 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Mexican Irregulars
The other unit that I chose to paint up this week was a group of 10 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Mexican Irregulars that I can use as Tejanos or as Irregular Mexican Loyalists. These figures have pretty much all got the same basic pose but each with very different attire and weapons selection. Unit includes a trumpeter to use as a musician and officer. The officer is armed with a sword and has what appears to be a revolver in his holster - only the handle is showing - if I were being pedantic, I would have removed this from the figure to be in period for 1830s but as I'm already considering expanding collection out to the US -Mexican War of the 1840s, I have left this in place.

So what's OFF THE WORKBENCH?

Basically its the Peasant Militia and the Tejanos Volunteers!

Two Companies of Mexican Peasant Militia
The militia were painted in a basic white dress - shirts and pants - with a little variation to break-up the appearance. Pretty easy to complete in a couple of days.

Tejano Volunteers
The Tejano Volunteers are a little more colourful, I've stayed wit a predominantly brown palette to represent the amount of leather on show but added a number of jacket colours,decorative lace and neckerchiefs.