Sunday, March 24, 2019

Russian Napoleonic Officers



About a year ago I traded some miniatures for a large collection of Front Rank Napoleonic Russians and just finally got around to trying them out. I've never painted any Napoleonic miniatures before as the period was always pushed aside for other periods for a variety of reasons, but I've always liked the look of Front Rank Napoleonic figures and thought it would be nice to try some someday.


I do not own any LOTR miniatures for Curt's Fellowship entry fee for the AHPC, but I knew Curt was a fan of the Napoleonic period so I sent him an e-mail asking if he would accept some Napoleonic figures instead and he happily said that would be fine. Now to my shame I didn't send him a figure last year because I forgot due to other distractions(weak excuse I know) so instead of doing one figure I did two to make up for that shortcoming.


Full disclosure I've never delved into Napoleonics generally preferring the North American period, but was always curious. So how did painting my first set of Napoleonic Front Rank figures go......I enjoyed it! I think a great deal of that has to do with the sculpting style of the figure itself which made it a pleasurable experience. Also, they do look rather eye catching with all the braid work and sashes. I feel because the sculpting was so nice it made that fun to do whereas anything less well sculpted would have turned it into a chore.


So am I now going to turn out hundreds of Napoleonic figures and plunge head first into the great black hole of Napoleonics you may ask. That's hard to say as I'm a horrible butterfly making any kind of prediction difficult to say the least so for now I'll just say I'll paint some more as I both enjoyed the experience and really like how they look and see where it goes.


Since I'm  new to painting Napoleonics I had to decide on the approach I'll take in that will I worry about getting everything right or paint things how I prefer them to look while retaining the impression of the period. Well since I take liberties in almost everything I do I won't make an exception with Napoleonics and will continue to paint things in the impression I want while still retaining a legitimate period feel. If it's accurate then that's great, but if not then that's also fine as long as I'm happy with the final look which is what is important with our personal figures.


Napoleonics has a lot of white and if you have too much bright white imho it can overpower things so I decided a more subdued white was the order of the day. I've seen Russian uniform coats painted in a a dark green almost black and others medium bright which neither work for me so I went for what I feel is a medium dark green and liked how it turned out.


Hmm.... what next to do....more Russians, Texas War of Independence or perhaps something ancient ....I'm curious to find out what I'll do.






Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Front Rank


30 comments :

  1. Welcome to Napoleonics, Christopher! Curt will be very pleased to receive these fine Russians. Well done!

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  2. Great looking Russians, Christopher. Your talented brushwork betrays these as being your first Napoleonics. Looking forward to seeing future battalions and regiments.

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  3. Excellent brushwork Christopher

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  4. Those are very nice Christopher. For white try Foundry Boneyard Light over Arctic Grey shade, it gives a more subdued look.

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    1. Thank you very much David. Foundry Austrian white has the same effect in giving a subdued white very effectively, however this time I went with Vallejo to get a cold subdued white if that makes sense.

      Christopher

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  5. Excellent brushwork Chris. I'm sure Curt will love the figures.

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  6. Lovely brushwork Christopher! Front Rank have some great Napoleonic ranges.

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    1. Thank you very much Cyrus and indeed Frank Rank does!

      Christopher

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  7. I feel rather honoured to have this pair in my, albeit temporary, care. They're simply gorgeous and I'm sure Curt will love them.

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    1. Thank you very much Nick for the comment and for the delivery.

      Christopher

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  8. Great looking Russians Christopher, well done!

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  9. Excellent. Just simply, excellent paint work.

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  10. They look absolutely superb Christopher and I hope they are just the tip of the Napoleonic iceberg for you. :)

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  11. Superb painting Christopher, the later Russian uniform with the kiwa shako is one of the smarter Napoleonic uniforms in my opinion, the bases are particularly smart as well.

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  12. Christopher... The Russians are breathe taking. Well done sir!.. I can hear them shouting commands to the troops.

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  13. Great work Christopher! Napoleonics are so much hard work but they really do look superb when finished. I agree about the better sculpts being more fun.
    Best wishes,
    Jason

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    1. Thank you very much Jason and indeed the sculpting of a miniature makes a big difference.

      Christopher

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