From IannickM - 28mm Napoleonic Austrian Artillery (100 points)

Well it's been a while since I posted a 'regular' entry, as the bonus rounds have kept me busy! Today we go back to my first love, the Napoleonic Austrian army, more specifically the artillery arm, with a battery of 6pdr guns. These will come in handy when we play LaSalle, which requires big 4 gun batteries. Anyways one can never have too many Napoleonic guns. I did myself no favour in the competition though as it always takes me forever to paint Napoleonic artillery!

I said it before and I'll say it again; the Austrians just knew how to look good in the field. No exaggerated fluff, no looking like Christmas trees, just a simple and smart dress, and the artillery was no exception. The guns are Sash & Saber, which are by far my favourites and really the only one I use, and the figures are Perry Miniatures. I must say I cursed a lot while cleaning the Perry figs, and it reminded me why I avoid them these days (heresy, I know). The sculpts are great, but the castings were horrendous. Anyways, I'll admit painted and finished they do look pretty good! As usual with the Perrys, the animation makes the figures.

The guns were painted using Foundry Ochre triad and finished with AP, and I really like how they came out. After many experiments in the last few weeks, these were also the first unit to get my new way of painting whites for cloth, using Andrea white paint set. It's less pure white than what I used to do, but I think it's more subtle and more realistic.

If I can muster the courage, and if Curt keeps the madness going next year, I'd like to paint a caisson and some limbers for my guns during next year's challenge! But not this year, I can only manage painting artillery in small dosage!

I believe this quatuor of guns adds 100 pts to my total. Not bad.


From Curt:

Beautiful great guns Iannick! You're right about the austere Austrian military aesthetic which is interesting as they usually get historically stereotyped by their frippery and showy artifice. That being said I love the ochre of the gun carriages. I have a bunch of the Foundry 'triads' and so will have to pick this one up. I also really like your basework. It has a vibrant impressionistic feel that I really find pleasing - it sort of reminds me of how Sidney does his Great War bases but, of course, in a different colour palette. Again, well done Iannick!