Here are a couple pics of a French Command Stand. The figure manufacturer is AB. I'm now working on some more command stands for Shako II. As I mentioned earlier, I'm thinking of rebasing everything for Age of Eagles.

French Command Stand

Here's another plug for AB. One thing I really like about this line is that the horses really look like horses. Here's a sample - a French command stand. These are very nice figures. It's hard to find really nice horse figures in 15mm - as far as I'm concerned, these are the best.

Thinking of Switching Rules Sets

I'm thinking of switching from Shako II to Age of Eagles. I'd just use the same bases, but the OOB and the play system are different. Does anyone have any experience with this? One problem I can see is that I haven't found any AOE scenarios specific to the Penninsular campaign.

General Cotton's Command Stand

I didn't put a whole lot of time into the other figure, and you can see that when I snapped the photo, the glue was still wet on the ADC figure. Anyway, here's a shot of the command stand without any terrain added to it.

Update of Sorts, Sir Stapleton Cotton

I was hoping that my cyberbuddy, Paul, could offer some direction, but he's busy with his family, I'm sure. Here are some more pics of General Cotton after having fussed with the figure all day. I'll never get this one right. I'm thinking of just giving up and making a command stand as he is. I think I'll order another figure and see what I can do with a second try. Here goes:

A work-in-process: Stapleton Cotton in 15mm

Some figures are just not made for Quickshade, or quick anything. This is one of them. I intend to use this Sir Stapleton Cotton figure for my cavalry command stand. I've been working on it for three days now, and I keep messing with it. The thing is that the sculpting is so fantastic, that it is possible to paint a miniature portrait of General Cotton - Mr. Barton even sculpted in the long curved nose! I know I can be a perfectionist, but this one is a real challenge. I just can't get the gilded hussar braid down. I'm running out of gold paint! Anyway, I'll be sure to post the finished command stand, once I have the figure down.

QuickShade Horse

This is the latest installment in my wash technique foray. This is a French Chausseur casualty marker for Shako II. The horse was done simply with Army Painter Quickshade, instead of deep shade tones and thin successive highlight tones. This makes the rendering of the horse quite simple. Base color, QuickShade, then highlights with more of the base color. I'll be fooling around with more wash techniques to see if I like any of them enough to finish my Peninsular armies with it.

More French Hussar Pics

I figured that I'd post a few more pics of the French 3rd Hussars - here they are. These were painted without the AP treatment, but in the style I had been painting in. It looks to me that the only part I have down pat is the horses ass. I wonder if that says anything about me. Hmm.

Wash Techniques

I'm also considering cooking up my own "magic wash," which consists of future, water, and acrylic paint for pigment. I could be wrong, but I'm just guessing that a solution like that is what this guy uses:

http://www.jonspaintingservice.com/

Still working with the AP on some Old Glory skirmishing stands:

I'll be sure to post a full report when done. I will say that I like AP as a wash for white/ivory colors, because I prefer the warm shade tones. We'll see what happens with this bunch.

An Army Painter/Quickshade Test Figure

For this figure and horse, I used Paul Alba's technique of blocking main colors, applying AP, and touching up with highlights. It sure is faster than painting at least two color shades for every color. I'm considering whether I like this enough to switch for my remaining figures - but I'm also in the midst of using AP on some Old Glory figures, to see how the sculpting comes out with AP.

I still need to finish the horse and horse furniture, put a final dose of flat lacquer on it, and add the static grass. I figured that a casualty figure would be a suitable test figure.

Some pre-Army Painter Hussars

As said earlier, I'm experimenting with Quickshade/Army Painter. Here are the French 3rd Hussars (photographed in hand to show the scale). Next pics will be of post-Quckshade/Army Painter. Stay tuned!

After seeing the many blog posts and write-ups, I broke down and ordered a can of Army Painter, just to see if it speeds up my painting. I'm hoping it would also help me with details. I have a few figs primed, once it shows up, I'll be sure to post pics on the results.

With the command stand completed, here is a Spanish "division" for Arroyo Dos Molinos. There were a limited number of Spanish troops engaged, and this is their OOB. Special thanks to Michael Hopper for excellent references regarding uniforms and orders of battle.  I understand that Michael is writing a scenario book for Shako II, which I intend to pick up as soon as it is available. Also, there are four miniature manufacturers represented here: Old Glory, Battle Honors, Fantassin, and AB.

Command Stand For A Spanish Division

Here it is - a command stand for a Spanish division in my Peninsular OOB. The horse faux-pas was a big one, but hopefully it's been covered up a bit.  At least the horses don't look like horse-shaped bananas any more!

I Found Some Pics With Better Light

British Dragoons

 Here is a look at some of my figures with better light. I just don't have the best lighting equipment for taking pictures, and a number of the pictures on the blog are a bit dark.

What the figs look like on a game table - British Line and British Light Infantry w/command

Portuguese Line

Horse Hell

It has been such a long time since I have done much painting, that I forgot how to do a number of important things. Painting horses would be a prime example. I had to scroll through my own tutorials just to figure out what colors I used, how the paint was applied, and how much contrast to put in the colors being used.  I tried to paint a Palomino horse, which was a DISASTER. It looked like a horse-shaped banana, so it was scrubbed. I should never let so much time go by again, otherwise, I'll forget how to paint anything.  Even a barn. Wow.  I'll post pics of the Spanish command stand as soon as I remember what I do with horses.  As a great Hebrew man once said, "oy vey."

The Cazadores, Finished and Based

Well, here they are. This rounds out my Portuguese division for a great Arroyo dos Molinos scenario. Next, I'll be doing some command stands - Spanish, British, and British cavalry command.

Oops, I forgot an important detail!

Figure with successive layers on the right leg.

One important detail I forgot to mention in my post about folds and wrinkles in clothing is this: the best effect comes from successive passes of diluted paint! If one looks at the right leg (to your left as your are looking at it), you'll see softer transitions between the shade color and the highlight color. If done well, it will look like a wash, but it isn't a wash.  It's just a judicious use of paint, thinner, and a finely pointed brush. What I do is dip the brush in thinner (with acrylic paint, that would obviously be water), then dip in paint, and then make brush strokes accordingly. For major areas of a 15mm figure, this would take about 10 minutes per figure, which is why this technique isn't for everyone. If you like the style, that's how it is achieved.  Happy painting!

The light's gone to crap, but here are some British Hussars. Enjoy!

Not much to say, still working on the ligts. These are some Hussars for your enjoyment :)

AB British Dragoons

Not much to say, just a few pics.