Thursday, August 9, 2012

Le Regiment de Berry


Once again posting and commenting has ran away from me, but I have a small excuse in that my computer has been down for a few days preventing me from doing so.
My interest in the French and Indian War is twofold in that I both have an interest in the skirmish fighting(little wars)with Indians, Coureurs de Bois etc. and the more formal fighting between the Regulars of the British and French. I'll start with the French and then move on to the British over time.
I would probably have started with the skirmish aspect first, but my friend Mike at http://dreispitz.blogspot.de/ is an absolute fan of the Seven Years War and wants to start gaming Maurice. While I don't much care for the Seven Years War I want to support him so I started the formal French and Indian War battle material first, because the regiments I will be doing while based in North America/Canada for French and Indian War look exactly the same as the ones fighting in Europe. In fact the battalions serving in North America had their parent regiment/HQ stationed in Europe.

The figures are from Front Rank and where quite nice miniatures to paint with nicely raised detail and easy access to parts. My critique the poses are bit limited. Typical of French units of the time I went with a light grey and white combination and then added a red which are the regimental colours. I used army painter followed by highlights except the white gaiters were I used no AP on as I like my whites very clean. I didn't save much time with painting as I added so much highlights to the AP that basically it became more another step in painting rather then a complete process.  The banners are from the fantastic GMB designs. I also used the same banner design twice as the solid white colonel's colours were left in Europe and never deployed to North America.

I know I swore off AP , but I wanted to try once more and was once again not completely happy, but the washes also don't make me completely happy either.....as both leave a brownish residue in places that I don't like at all so thought why not. While I'm reasonably pleased with the outcome it took too  long! To be honest I'm quite frustrated with painting at the moment as I can't seem to find my comfort zone. I'm searching for a way to economically paint my figures, but still have them reach the standards that satisfy me and I just can't seem to find it. I'll have to keep using the same method for the rest of the French Regulars, but on my next project I'll be trying something else out which hopefully will pay off in regards to time in and results both making me happy.

I also had time enough to add both white and scenic backgrounds to cater to preferences. Please forgive all the pics as I get carried away!!
 
Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Front Rank