SYW Austrians & Prussians

[nikharwood]

Right - I've decided that I will do my SYW Austrian & Prussian armies as fast-paint - mainly because:

- it's summer
- I'm playing & coaching a load of cricket (again)
- work is manic
- cider / lager / wine is nicerer in summer  

Fast-paint means I will get them done & on table in decent time - rather than obsessing over these until my eyes bleed  
It also means I'll cut some corners, but still try to make them look lovely  

Right - here's the force composition:
Austrians:
General & commanders
1 x Light Infantry - Grenzer
6 x Infantry
2 x Grenadier Infantry
1 x Light Cavalry - Hussars
1 x Cavalry - Dragoons
2 x Cavalry - Cuirassiers
3 x Medium Guns

Prussians:
General & commanders
6 x Infantry
1 x Grenadier Infantry
1 x Light Cavalry - Hussars
2 x Cavalry - Dragoons
2 x Cavalry - Cuirassiers
4 x Medium Guns

They're all based on 50 x 25 MDF bases, 3 bases per unit (inf/cav): 8 figures / base for Grenzer, 10 / base for infantry & 4 / base for cavalry. Here they are in prepped & based state:
Austrians:


Prussians:


Ready for spraying:


Sprayed [with final pass to come]:


Elapsed time to this point from unpacking them from bags: 3 hours

All have now had bases painted & overbrushing done:
Stage One: Bestial Brown - everything including figures:


Stage Two: Leather Brown - bases only:


Stage Three: Bleached Bone - bases only:


Only difference is that Austrian infantry is overbrushed with Grey rather than Brown at this point...


Elapsed time to here: 4.5 hours

[kustenjaeger]

Greetings

Nik - what do you undercoat with?

I'll be prepping my SYW Allied starter force over the weekend and am tempted to try your methods in part after my first test battalion was less than totally successful.  I probably won't base them first as mine will be on smaller bases and more tightly ranked and filed (6 infantry on a 25x20 base and 3 cavalry on a 25 x 25 base, guns tbd) so I'd have difficulty getting a brush in between.

Regards

Edward

[nikharwood]

These are spray undercoated using Army Painter Matt Black Primer

I have spaced these quite widely - I'd have no hesitation in employing the same technique on yours though - it's what I did with my ECW / Napoleonics & ACW [where I've got 14 figures in two ranks onto 40x20 bases] - no problem re painting as you paint what you can get to with your brush - the overbrush & lighting takes care of the rest....

Have a look here & see if you can see where I've not painted 

http://nikharwood.pbworks.com/ACWarmaster+-+Union+lines

http://nikharwood.pbworks.com/ACWarmaster+-+Confederate+lines

http://nikharwood.pbworks.com/Union+ACWarmaster+army

http://nikharwood.pbworks.com/WIP+Confederate+ACWarmaster

[nikharwood]

Where does the time go, eh?!?!!

Having mucked about with far too much research etc etc on trying to find uniform detail sources etc I've decided that I'll go with simplicity for my source:

http://www.juniorgeneral.org/load.php?Period=4#Seven

Great resource & will give me more than enough detail / accuracy for what I want to achieve with my SYW armies. I'm hoping (cricket & imminent World Cup shenanigans permitting) to start making a serious dent in the Austrians in the next few days...watch this space!

[Grenadier]

That's quite a project there Nik!  Good luck, I've never painted more than one regiment at a time, but having no one to game against gives me plenty of paint time! Hoping my Malburians come soon so I can try my first mass painting of 10's.

Cheers,
The Grenadier

[nikharwood]

To be honest, I always paint like this...I'm a 95% solo-gamer so inevitably end up getting both sides of any conflict...I also can't bear to go back to any army & add to it - would much rather decide at the planning stage the largest force I want to do & go with that - and once it's done, it's done 

Work is manic at the moment so I've stalled a bit on this one [& have picked up a couple of commissions too which is coolio] - so I'll get to this when I can...have done most of the planning though so I'll post more detail on my chosen colour-schemes soon...

[jchaos79]

Hi Nik, I do not really understand how do you overbrush... could you explain like you are explaining to a 11 years old children (or for dummies as you prefere  )

And what is the advantage of overbrush?

Is overbrushing the same as dry brush? (if the answer of this question is YES forget the other questions)

thanks in advance

[nikharwood]

No worries...here you go:

Drybrushing: take your brush, load with paint & then wipe off until it is *dry* and you're getting the faintest of colour-application on the raised-edge highlights...

Overbrushing / wetbrushing: take your brush, load with paint & then wipe off about half - then when you brush that across the figure you're hitting all raised surfaces...

So if you think about trousers:

- drybrush - you'll hit the top of the creases
- overbrush - you'll hit the raised cloth areas

Does that make sense? Let me know if not & I'll do some painted pic examples...

[republic of tolworth]

Hey Nick!
Thanks forth info on juniorgeneral.

It's given me loads of insiration for my 'fantasy' syw armies. Hurrah for the Grand Duchy of Fenwick!

[jchaos79]

Does that make sense? Let me know if not & I'll do some painted pic examples...

Thanks very much, it make sense.

your doing a good good job around here with a lot of very nice armies,

looking forward to see the SYW finished

[nikharwood]

Right - here's my planning painting notes...these are base colours - basetones will be darker & most will be lightened with Bleached Bone / White for highlights. Apologies in advance if I get the 'technical' names wrong  

All flesh: Dark Fleshtone highlighted with Dwarf Flesh

Austrian

Musketeers:
Uniform: White
Tunic: Ultramarine Blue
Cuffs / Facings: Regal Blue
Collar: Blood Red
Tricorne: Black / White piping
Cartridge Pouch: Grey
Gaiters: Black

Grenadiers:
Tunic & Trousers & Cuffs: Blood Red
Mitre: Grey / Red

Grenzer:
Tunic: Regal Blue
Trousers & Cuffs: Blood Red
Crossbelt: Leather Brown

Cuirassiers:
Trousers, Turnbacks  & Saddlecloth: Regal Blue

Dragoons:
Coat & Saddlecloth: Blood Red
Trousers & Facings: Light Blue

Hussars:
Uniform & Saddlecloth: Sky Blue
Detail: Red
Hat: Earth

Artillery:
Uniform: Leather Brown
Cuffs: Red
Officer: White trousers

[nikharwood]

Prussian

All flesh: Dark Fleshtone highlighted with Dwarf Flesh

Musketeers:
Tunic & Trousers & Crossbelt: White
Coat: Regal Blue
Cuffs / Facings & Collar: Blood Red
Tricorne: Black / White piping
Cartridge Pouch: Grey
Gaiters: Black

Grenadiers:
Coat: Regal Blue
Tunic & Trousers & Cuffs: Blood Red
Mitre: Grey / Red

Cuirassiers:
Uniform: Buff
Collar, Cuffs & Saddlecloth: Ultramarine Blue

Dragoons:
Trousers & Tunic: Buff
Everything else: as Musketeers

Hussars:
Trousers: Buff
Tunic: Blood Red
Hat: Black / Blood Red piping
Saddlecloth: Scab Red

Artillery:
Trousers & Tunic: Ultramarine Blue
Coat: Regal Blue
Tricorne: Yellow piping
Officer: White crossbelt
Gunners: Buff crossbelt
Gun furniture: Ultramarine Blue

[nikharwood]

Quick pics: Austrian test stand: Musketeers (20 mins)

[Steve J]

Very impressive for 20 minutes work mate .

[kustenjaeger]

Greetings

Nik - what do you use for groundwork on your bases?

Also which order do you paint different parts of the figure?

Regards

Edward