Wednesday, 31 December 2014

From TamsinP - 15mm Russian Grenadiers (74 Points)

For my 6th entry, I present two regiments of Seven Years War Russian grenadiers. The figures are 15mm from Essex.



I discovered two things I hate whilst painting these:
1. painting the backs of mitres
2. cast on flags which you can't remove and so have to paint.



Admittedly, I'd already discovered (2) when painting the cavalry, but the grenadier flags were much more complicated to paint, even impressionistically (is that a word?). This is what the flag looks like (pinched from Kronoskaf site):



But on with the pics. Here are the 1st and 2nd Grenadier regiments. As all four grenadier regiments had identical flags and uniforms, how do I know they are the 1st and 2nd regiments? Simple - because I say they are! The 3rd and 4th regiments (when I can eventually face painting them will be distinguished by the simple expedient of reversing the positions of the drummers and standard bearers.



Now the more knowledgeable among you (and those able to remember my earlier entry with horse grenadiers in tricornes and artillery with black lapels - the 1760+ uniforms) will be wondering why my grenadiers are still wearing mitres which were swapped for tricornes in 1760. The answer is simple and in two parts:
1. The mitres make it easy to spot which are the grenadiers on the table (although those bleedin' complicated flags would also do the job quite nicely)
2. Those were what I had bought

1st Regiment




2nd Regiment




Close up of the flags:



It's amazing what you spot when you're processing the pictures. That weird blob on one of the drums? Well, that's some of the basing gunk which must have got splatted on. I've since removed it and repainted the drum. I also spotted that I hadn't painted the moustaches on the officers and standard bearers. Oh, well, those aren't important.

Summing up, that's 36 figures giving me 72 points as a base. 2 hand-painted flags should give me another 2 points, making this entry 74 points in all.

From Curt:Another cracking Seven Years War entry from you Tamsin. Beautiful work.  I think you've done a wonderful job on their mitre caps and I know that many Russian units were loath to give them up (I seem to remember reading that in 1917 the Pavlov Grenadiers still had their mitres from the Napoleonic period!). AND you've done a great job on hand painting the flags.  Bravo!

32 comments:

  1. Lovely stuff. Really impressed with the life you bring to 15mm figs. Flags are always a pain, I cut them off, where possible, and either replace with a paper cut out or the foil from a take away tray.

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  2. Excellent work but I am docking you 5 points for saying Mustaches aren't important ;)

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  3. Moustaches are important!

    Very nice Tamsin.

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    1. Mine is incredibly important. It's put forward demands for its own salary and a business card. Cheeky thing. No wait, those are sideburns right?

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  4. Those are great looking figures. It's always a shame when you find something that you hate painting, and have to keep painting it.

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  5. Nice figures and I think you did a wonderful job on those flags. But missing those mustaches, that's tantamount to treason :0)

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  6. A crackingly fine bunch of figures. Nice job.

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  7. Great work! Those are some complicated flags to replicate.

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    1. You commented as I was replying to the ones above, so I'll reply direct.

      Thank you - they were a bit tricky but I think I made a reasonable approximation for freehand painting in this scale :)

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  8. Crikey Curt - I wan't expecting this to go up until Saturday. Should we take this as a move towards giving us two posting slots a week to heat things up at the top?

    @ Martin - thank you. I wish I could have cut the flags off and replaced with paper ones, but it just wasn't possible with these sculpts.

    @ Adam - that's a touch harsh. Perhaps I should amend my statement to "moustaches are not as important as life and death" ;)

    @ Phyllion - OK, so they are important. I'll add them on as soon as possible. Satisfied? ;)

    @ Aaron - it was just the mitres, and I won't have to paint any more for a while :)

    @ Anne - I think the officer class were participating in Nomovember ;)

    @ Clint - cheers old bean :)

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    1. Sorry I'm bleary eyed and trigger happy today...

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    2. No worries. My other entry can wait a few days.

      Mind you, maybe moving to two slots per week each would generate a bit more excitement.

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    3. It would be good but I'm afraid I'm *just* keeping up as it is. The final week will be pell-mell, no-submission-restraints so people can go nuts then.

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  9. Excellent work - I think the free hand flags are worth a bit more bonus point wise

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  10. Excellent work, Tamsin, my days of painting 15mm are long past, but these guys make me want to give it another bash!

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  11. @ Miles - thanks. I'm happy with the point per flag :)

    @ Evan - thank you. I find 28mm harder than 15mm to paint :)

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  12. Very impressive, they look great all ranked up.

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  13. Aah, looking good.. Can't wait to see a mass of these

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  14. Although you hated the mitre caps, they look really good! Very snazzy grenadiers! The flags are very nice too. I prefer printing my own banners too, but your freehand effort is very fine!

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  15. as always very well pleased flag

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  16. Some very neat and clean painting! Well done.

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  17. @ Chasseur - thank you :)

    @ Tea Urn - they are definitely impressive :)

    @ Dave - another 2 regiments of grenadiers doesn't really constitute a mass. Add on the musketeer regiments and you might be getting there :)

    @ John - thank you :)

    @ David B - it was the backs of the mitres that were a pain to do as the detail was a bit too soft for dry-brushing (as I discovered). I'm pleased with how the freehand flags came out :)

    @ Alex - thank you :)

    @ Moiterei - and thank you too :)

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  18. Excellent Tamsin, those free hand flags are much better than just printed ones and they should add a pip to your rolls ;-)

    Ian

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  19. Very nice work Tamsin. I did some Front Rank 28mm SYW Rus Grenadiers a ways back and I am sure if I dug them out hiding in their box they would look inferior to yours. Bravo. The flags are quite amazing too.
    I think the takeaway from this entry is threefold.
    1) Tamsin remains the Esoteric Army Heroine
    2) Moustaches are cool
    3) Ditto mitres.

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  20. Great painting work. My first SYW command was a Russian Grenadiers Brigade so I love these miniatures!

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  21. Lovely work.
    I'm being more restrained after the Aliens comment I made (I still love their paint job mind, and on the day, I even went so far as to go and bore the rest of the family with my obsessing on how you'd managed to create the look).
    I have an understanding family (thankfully) :)

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  22. @ Ian - thanks. I can live in hope that the flags will act as a boost to the dice rolls :)

    @ Michael P - thank you Padre. I'm glad you like them :)

    @ Juan - what's not to love about grenadiers?

    @ Roy - thanks. Gush all you want. Your family sound very understanding indeed :)

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  23. well done Tamsin!
    the Pavlov regiment is mithyc!
    a have in a Russian army!

    Warm regards

    thefrenchjester " rocks?beards?"

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  24. Your hand painted flags really are quite good. That's a complex design to paint that small.

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  25. Yes, kudos on the flag-painting! And the mitres too. I feel you pain, having done some Napoleonic Spanish infantry as a commission a few years back. ::shudder::

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