ORBATS after player allocation
Now, the total number of men shown probably isn’t 100% accurate but as with most historical research of this period it depends upon what you read and a lot of it is subjective so if you like we can agree to disagree.
There isn’t that much solid information concerning what units were present at vinegar Hill so I’ve worked things back and looked at the forces involved in previous battles such as New Ross, Arklow, Tubberneering, Foulksmill etc and then hypothesised on what reinforcements could have been sent after these battles. For example we know that Needham’s force was reinforced from Dublin after the battle of Arklow and that reinforcements were sent during the battle of New Ross from Waterford, albeit they retreated back to Waterford as soon as they saw that Johnson had been booted out of the town but they turn up again after the battle.
As for the UI forces, again we know that on the eve of New Ross politics interfered and half of Bangel Harveys force decided to quit the field due to the fact that they didn’t like his plan. Even though we’re not sure where these men went they could easily have gone back to either Wexford or Enniscorthy.
So on that basis I went for the higher numbers I’ve read of if nothing more than to give more of a spectacle on the table.
Crown Forces
General Gerard Lake and Major General David Dundas (5,500 men)
10 units of Line Infantry
4 troops of Yeomanry
6 pieces of Field Artillery
4 battalion Guns
Major General William Loftus (1,200 men)
2 units of Line Infantry
2 troops of Heavy Dragoons
2 Pieces of Field Artillery
1 battalion Gun
Major General James Duff (1,300 men)
2 units of Line Infantry
4 troops of Light Dragoons
2 Pieces of Field Artillery
1 battalion Gun
Major General John Moore (1,900 men)
4 units of line infantry
2 troops of yeomanry
2 Pieces of Field Artillery
Major General Henry Johnson (2,150)
4 units of line infantry
3 troops of Yeomanry
2 Pieces of Field Artillery
1 battalion Gun
(Off table)
Major General Francis Needham (4,450 men)
8 units of line infantry
7 troops of Heavy Dragoons
8 troops of Fencible cavalry
Total = 16,500 men
United Irish Forces
Note: Captured field artillery is that captured at the battle of Three Rocks on 30th May.
Anthony Perry - 2nd in Command (5,200 men)
6 units of pikemen
2 units of guns men
1 Piece of captured Field Artillery
1 Curricle or improvised gun
Father John Murphy (5,400 men)
6 units of pikemen
1 unit of guns men
1 Piece of captured Field Artillery
1 Curricle gun
Myles Byrne (5,200 men)
6 units of pikemen
1 unit of guns men
2 Pieces of captured Field Artillery
1 Curricle or improvised gun
William Barker (5,300 men)
6 units of pikemen
2 units of guns men
2 Piece of captured Field Artillery
1 Curricle or improvised gun
Father Mogue Kearns (4,300 men)
5 units of pikemen
1 unit of guns men
3 Curricle or improvised guns
Off Table (Umpire Allocated force)
Father Philip Roche - Army Commander (7,100 men)
7 units of pikemen
5 units of guns men
Total 32,500 men
Objectives
Victory conditions were in the hands of the United Irish players and I gave them two options to choose from to try to simulate the historical point at which the United Irish leaders were making their decision to either leave the battlefield or carry on fighting.
Mandatory Objective
Stay on the table until a minimum of 6 of your Pike units are beyond the point of rallying then commit yourselves to ONE of the options below:
Option 1
Stay on the table and continue fighting. However to ensure complete victory you will need a kill ratio of approximately 3:1.
Option 2
Start to withdraw units off of the table through any favourable exit to the south. Every unit of Foot or Artillery that is under control and gets off of the table will help offset your losses and therefore increase your chance of victory.
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
The Battle of Vinegar Hill 21st June 1798 - Part Four
The Rules
The rules that I used were home
grown because none of the Commercial of The Shelf Sets gave the right feel to
the period and there were many specifics that weren’t even considered. They’re an amalgamation of ideas taken from
Shako, Principles of War, WRG 1685 – 1845, and some period specifics thrown in
by myself.
I’ve called them “She’s stopt
boys….” after a famous incident during the battle of New Ross when an Irish
rebel supposedly put his hat over a cannon that had been impeding the Irish
advance shouting “She’s stopt boys….”, upon which the gunner put lintstock to touch
hole and blew him away!
They work pretty well, give the right feel to the game and they flow well. Vinegar Hill took around 11 hours to play out and had 127 units (435 elements) and 2034 figures, so not bad for a game of that size.
Each unit is broken down into elements and apart from Artillery each element is the same width and depth, 1 ½”x ½” the ground scale being 1” to 20 yards. The depth is over scale but is necessary to accommodate the figures.
The number of figures on each element is purely aesthetic as these rules don’t work to a figure scale. Much like POW, casualties are recorded on a casualty sheet which in this case each box representing 25 men.
UI Pike elements represent 200 men in four close order ranks
UI guns men elements represent 50 men in skirmish order
Crown infantry elements represent 100 men in two close order ranks
Crown Cavalry elements represent a troop of 50 men in two close order ranks
Field Artillery which is 1” width x 3” depth, represent one 6lb cannon or one
5½” Howitzer, the accompanying limber, ammunition wagon and the 36 servers and crew. In the case of captured Artillery used by the UI the crew are untrained and a lot less in number.
Battalion guns are 1” x 1” and represent 1 gun with four trained infantry crew.
UI Curricle or improvised artillery such as the many swivel guns that appear to have been used are as above but with untrained crew.
The Battle of Vinegar Hill 21st June 1798 - Part Five
The Battle
Instead of me writing reams more I shall instead show the battle in map form at various stages of the game because as they say “a picture paints a thousand words”. As you look at the maps it may appear that the Crown had the better of it but after looking at the casualty returns Lakes wing was on the verge of collapse. The game lasted 32 moves with each move representing 15 minutes of real time.
Photo’s of the game will soon be available <here>.
Overview of the battlefield.
For the topography I’d scanned in the area of the battlefield from an Irish Ordnance survey map of county Wexford. I have many such maps covering the main theatres of operation during the conflict. The size of Enniscorthy was deduced from looking at the Irish Ordnance survey – Historical mapping section on their web site. They have maps going back as far as 1830. I’d encourage anyone interested in wargaming Irelands turbulent past to use both of these forms of media to get a good idea of the terrain that these battles were fought over.
Initial deployment
3am to 4am The UI come off of the hill to engage Lake realising to late that Duff and Loftus are approaching from the North. Johnson and Moore attack Enniscorthy where murderous street fighting ensues.
4am to 5am After severe hand to hand fighting Lakes left flank collapses with his centre and right coming under intense pressure from Byrnes and Murphy with reoccurring melees all along the line. He loses two pieces of artillery from accurate and sustained fire from UI Guns men. Duff and Loftus keep Perry at bay by deploying their cavalry to threaten his rear allowing their Artillery and muskets to tear into his stolid ranks. Sustaining heavy casualties Johnston and Moore slowly push Kearns out of Enniscorthy.
5am to 6am After nearly breaking Lakes centre Murphy’s now spent troops collapse allowing Lake to bring his remaining artillery back into action. These along with withering musket fire tear into Murphy’s remaining troops stopping them from closing. Barkers troops remain on the other side of the river unable to deploy due to a lack of room. Much to the annoyance of Lake Bynes manages to overrun his Brandy cabinet ensuring that after dinner cigars will not be part of this evening’s entertainment. Perry continues to take a terrible pounding from Loftus and Duff but refuses to budge. Having taken the western part of the Town Johnston and Moore try to dislodge Kearns remaining men by bombarding the east side of Enniscorthy.
6am to 7am Infuriated by the loss of his Brandy Cabinet Lake brings up his other two pieces of Artillery. Along with the remaining troops on his right flank he begins to tear holes in Byrnes command. What’s left of his centre continues to hold Murphy off with sustained volley fire. Having expended nearly their entire stock of canister, but much to the relief of Loftus and Duff, Perry’s command eventually collapses. Cacking their pants the UI artillery realise that Needham’s cavalry has turned up in their rear. However, to thwart Needhams plans Roche also makes an appearance.
7am to 8am After a hard fought fight what remains of Murphy’s command breaks giving Barker the opportunity to get to grips with Lake. Needham’s Cavalry chop half of the UI artillery to dog meat with every intent of finishing the job as soon as they can. Needham’s infantry turn up forcing Roche to split his command in two and negating any further advance. Byrne continues to poke the eye of Lake by drinking yet more of his Brandy whilst his men frustrate Lakes attempts to force them off the hill. Johnston and Moore continue to pound Enniscorthy. Loftus and Duff start their advance into the rear of the UI forces
8am to 9am having had enough of Lakes Brandy and his fill of “grape” quits the field. Having finished off the UI Artillery Needham’s cavalry inhibits Roche’s advance any further. Taking sustained artillery fire Roches men hold their ground allowing what remains of the Wexford army to retreat in good order.
9am to 10am It’s all over for the UI who head back to Wexford to plan the next phase of their campaign against the Crown whilst Lake licks his wounds and drowns his sorrows in what’s left of his Brandy.
Instead of me writing reams more I shall instead show the battle in map form at various stages of the game because as they say “a picture paints a thousand words”. As you look at the maps it may appear that the Crown had the better of it but after looking at the casualty returns Lakes wing was on the verge of collapse. The game lasted 32 moves with each move representing 15 minutes of real time.
Photo’s of the game will soon be available <here>.
Overview of the battlefield.
Initial deployment
3am to 4am The UI come off of the hill to engage Lake realising to late that Duff and Loftus are approaching from the North. Johnson and Moore attack Enniscorthy where murderous street fighting ensues.
4am to 5am After severe hand to hand fighting Lakes left flank collapses with his centre and right coming under intense pressure from Byrnes and Murphy with reoccurring melees all along the line. He loses two pieces of artillery from accurate and sustained fire from UI Guns men. Duff and Loftus keep Perry at bay by deploying their cavalry to threaten his rear allowing their Artillery and muskets to tear into his stolid ranks. Sustaining heavy casualties Johnston and Moore slowly push Kearns out of Enniscorthy.
6am to 7am Infuriated by the loss of his Brandy Cabinet Lake brings up his other two pieces of Artillery. Along with the remaining troops on his right flank he begins to tear holes in Byrnes command. What’s left of his centre continues to hold Murphy off with sustained volley fire. Having expended nearly their entire stock of canister, but much to the relief of Loftus and Duff, Perry’s command eventually collapses. Cacking their pants the UI artillery realise that Needham’s cavalry has turned up in their rear. However, to thwart Needhams plans Roche also makes an appearance.
9am to 10am It’s all over for the UI who head back to Wexford to plan the next phase of their campaign against the Crown whilst Lake licks his wounds and drowns his sorrows in what’s left of his Brandy.
Sunday, 26 April 2015
Painting 28mm 17th Century Lowland Scots - Part Three
Stage 6
There re many other places in the internet where you can read-up on the Army Painter 'Shading' products, so I'll not bore you with a rehash of all those. <try here as a start>
All I can say is that after experimenting with the product for a number of years and becoming more and ore familiar with it - I love it!
I have a couple of tips that I'll share - I always use 'Dark Shade',my preference,this is the one that uses black as the pigmentation - the other two uses browns.
Next always keep it indoors and the lid well sealed, the product doesn't like the changes in temperature it'll experience out in ashed or garage.
The product is Oil based - so it smells and requires 24 hours to dry. Tempting as it s to fiddle with the figures before it is dry - don't! You'll also need white spirit or similar to clean your brushes.
This leads to my final tip - the product is described as a dip, don't dip your figures! Paint on the product with a largish brush and work a generous amount into all the nooks and crannies of your figure.
When satisfied move on to the next figure and then the next.
After the third figure, go back to the first, you'll see the shading product will have started to do its magic - with a critical eye - look for whee the product has started to pool or is obscuring important detail on the figure and correct this with your brush. Then put the figure aside to dry for 24 hours....
Stage 7
You're on the home leg now, before applying the dip you'll note that I glue the figures on to their final wargaming bases, any dip that flows off the figure will help fix it to it's base! These bases have been scored with a modelling knife, prior to fixing figures to help glues and paint 'key' to them.
Once the Amy Painter Shading product has dried, I will then start the basing process - use filler applied with those small wooden coffee stir-sticks found at McDonalds or other such places. this will take a couple hours to dry but gives a good even surface to apply the next layer of paint.
I use emulsion paint than can be obtained from any DIY store, usually from sample pots which come many colours - though i use a brown based paint for earth - which seems the obvious choice for me. When first opening the pot, I'll immediately top it up to the top with PVA wood glue, to make it better for sticking basing materials to. I regularly top up the pot with more PVA glue as I use up the paint.
I paint the whole base and whilst still wet I cover the surface with fine sand and leave to dry. Next I'll apply patches of the same paint to the base and then cover base with electro-static grass, before shaking off the excess - again leave to dry.
Finally apply various grass tufts and other ground vegetation to taste.
I'll now add the unit's flags to the officers - maybe a separate article on how I make these sometime (pretty much always print out on my home printer and apply with PVA wood glue).
The final step when all is good and dry is to spray paint the whole unit with Mat Varnish, use Army Painter Matt Varnish as it is easy to find. I spray on sunny days only after a good shake of the can. Weather does effect the final finish of the spray varnish as does lack of shaking...
... Cover the figures from each direction - I do four sweeps to get each side, front and back and again leave to dry and stop smelling.
In my opinion the figures turn out pretty well ...
 |
| Figures after dip has dried,very glossy and not looking that good! |
 |
| You'll note I glue figures to their final bases before applying dip. |
All I can say is that after experimenting with the product for a number of years and becoming more and ore familiar with it - I love it!
I have a couple of tips that I'll share - I always use 'Dark Shade',my preference,this is the one that uses black as the pigmentation - the other two uses browns.
Next always keep it indoors and the lid well sealed, the product doesn't like the changes in temperature it'll experience out in ashed or garage.
The product is Oil based - so it smells and requires 24 hours to dry. Tempting as it s to fiddle with the figures before it is dry - don't! You'll also need white spirit or similar to clean your brushes.
This leads to my final tip - the product is described as a dip, don't dip your figures! Paint on the product with a largish brush and work a generous amount into all the nooks and crannies of your figure.
When satisfied move on to the next figure and then the next.
After the third figure, go back to the first, you'll see the shading product will have started to do its magic - with a critical eye - look for whee the product has started to pool or is obscuring important detail on the figure and correct this with your brush. Then put the figure aside to dry for 24 hours....
Stage 7
.jpg) |
| Sand and electrostatic grass added to bases, Sergeant & Musketeer plus Pikeman Base |
 |
| Same treatment for command bases. |
Once the Amy Painter Shading product has dried, I will then start the basing process - use filler applied with those small wooden coffee stir-sticks found at McDonalds or other such places. this will take a couple hours to dry but gives a good even surface to apply the next layer of paint.
I use emulsion paint than can be obtained from any DIY store, usually from sample pots which come many colours - though i use a brown based paint for earth - which seems the obvious choice for me. When first opening the pot, I'll immediately top it up to the top with PVA wood glue, to make it better for sticking basing materials to. I regularly top up the pot with more PVA glue as I use up the paint.
 |
| Grass tufts and other scenics added to bases |
I paint the whole base and whilst still wet I cover the surface with fine sand and leave to dry. Next I'll apply patches of the same paint to the base and then cover base with electro-static grass, before shaking off the excess - again leave to dry.
Finally apply various grass tufts and other ground vegetation to taste.
I'll now add the unit's flags to the officers - maybe a separate article on how I make these sometime (pretty much always print out on my home printer and apply with PVA wood glue).
 |
| Figures after final Matt Varnish spray |
 |
| Not only does the Matt Varnish finish ff the figures it sets the scenics in place as well. |
The final step when all is good and dry is to spray paint the whole unit with Mat Varnish, use Army Painter Matt Varnish as it is easy to find. I spray on sunny days only after a good shake of the can. Weather does effect the final finish of the spray varnish as does lack of shaking...
... Cover the figures from each direction - I do four sweeps to get each side, front and back and again leave to dry and stop smelling.
In my opinion the figures turn out pretty well ...
 |
| Figures en-mass, representing Grant of Grants' Lowland Regiment. |
Saturday, 25 April 2015
Painting 28mm 17th Century Lowland Scots - Part Two
Stage 3
So here's where things start to get interesting, the colour 'red' has always been a challenge to me in painting terms. It may just be me but I have found it difficult to find a good red paint that covers the surface of a model,giving the right amount of vivid colour and the capacity to provide opaqueness and pigment in enough depth to avoid having to do several coats of paint.
 |
| Musketeers and Pikeman in Scarlet Coats |
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| Officers and Sergeant in Red Coats |
After the red coats are painted in then I add in a dark brown for the musketeer's weapons and a light
yellow paint I got from Army Painter to represent the pike, flag and Halberd shafts which would have bee stripped ash or similar wood in real life. The dark brown, I also used to paint the handles of swords and any bayonets modeled on the figures.
Finally at this stage I add in flesh tones for faces and hands, using a fast running out supply of Citadel 'Dwarf Flesh' paint. This flesh colour does dry to distinctive shade, but as I will be using the Army Painter shading varnish,this colour will be toned down to a more natural colour.
It is also worth pointing out that the same is true for all colours used on these figures, once the shading varnish is applied all colours will be muted somewhat, so what appears to be a very bright scarlet coat will be less in your face once shaded....
At this point I put the figures to one side to dry over night. Another thing about red paint is that it tends to bleed into colours painted over it, 24 hours drying time prevents this from happening.
Stage 4
Once thoroughly dried It s now time to paint in the buff leatherwork on the figures. For musketeers this is the hardness for the 'ten apostles', bullet pouches and leather straps for the powder horn. For most other figures this is limited to scabbard fobs, waist belts and shoulder straps etc.Again the key here is to take a little time to be neat and tidy.
Next on the list is to paint in the metalwork,musket barrel, matchlocks and pike & halberd heads etc. I use a Citadel 'Mithrel Silver' paint for this and rely on the Amy Painter to tone this down appropriately when this is applied.
The biggest chore ranking alongside the 'ten apostles' for this period is the coat buttons, upwards of a dozen to do on some figures. The answer is to take your time, use a fine brush and ensure you have enough paint on the brush to get each button first time. I find I make most mistakes on buttons when I have to go back to complete a partial button or I have too much paint on the brush to start with. You will miss some, you will get silver on the coat but just correct it later and relax.
On the officers I painted their braid Gunmetal - to give it a contrast to the silver buttons, for teh sergeant and the drummer I did their braid in white to reflect their lower rank.
 |
| Wood is coloured in for musketeers and pikemen |
Finally at this stage I add in flesh tones for faces and hands, using a fast running out supply of Citadel 'Dwarf Flesh' paint. This flesh colour does dry to distinctive shade, but as I will be using the Army Painter shading varnish,this colour will be toned down to a more natural colour.
 |
| Officers and Sergeant with pole arm shafts painted |
At this point I put the figures to one side to dry over night. Another thing about red paint is that it tends to bleed into colours painted over it, 24 hours drying time prevents this from happening.
Stage 4
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| Men with Buff Leatherwork and dark brown shoes & Scabbard detail added |
Next on the list is to paint in the metalwork,musket barrel, matchlocks and pike & halberd heads etc. I use a Citadel 'Mithrel Silver' paint for this and rely on the Amy Painter to tone this down appropriately when this is applied.
 |
| Sam stage for Sergeant and Officers |
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| Buttons and other metal work added and 'fixes' applied to earlier mistakes1 |
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| Again same stage for Command Group |
Stage 5
So having stressed the need to be neat and tidy when applying paint all the way through these articles, being realistic paint does stray...
.jpg) |
| Painting pretty much finished... |
You get splashes of one colour on another, your hand wobbles and the paint for the straps ends up on the coat etc - well we're all human!
So this stage is about going back and correcting all your mistakes as best as possible, take your time, one colour at a time the more accurately you apply the colour the better the finished product.
 |
| ... and ready for the shading and scenics stages |
The detail makes the figure so again spend time here, you 'll be surprised at how quickly such detail can be added and it pays dividends once the unit is completed.
Next time I'll talk about applying the Army Painter shading products, basing the figures and adding the final detail - the unit's flags
Saturday, 4 April 2015
Painting 28mm 17th Century Lowland Scots - Part One
I thought it might be fun to record the steps that I typically go through to paint up a unit of 28mm figures for my current favourite period - the Late 17th Century Wars...
In this case the figures are Front Rank Lowland Scots in bonnets, as such this article will discuss some of my thought processes,hints and tips and hopefully provide inspiration to others wanting to dabble in these larger figures but worried that their painting skills are not up to it.
Lets be clear from the start - I do not rate my self as a great painter,however, I can apply paint fairly accurately onto figure and then using the available products, I think these can be converted into passable wargames figures.
The other point to make clear is that I'm also not a photographer, so apologies for the quality of my pictures!
For purposes of my games I like to have big regiments - 28 figures - 2 blocks of eight Musketeers each side of a central block of 12 Command and pikemen. Yes I know this is a little over the top but the usual 18 or 20 figures per regiment just don't seem to look right to my eye.
For painting purposes I usually paint-up each block separately in batches of 8 to 12 figures it meas a manageable number of figures in each batch, you don't get too bored painting each batch and you get to see the end results at regular intervals!
Stage 0
So before you even get your pints out the first thing is to spend time cleaning up your figures. These Front Rank figures are very crisp and have great detail, applying paint to them is really a process of drawing out that detail. It is vital that any flash or other blemishes are removed form the castings before going any further.
A small needle file and patience is all that is needed, removing mould lines and snipping off any unwanted flash, it should only take you 4 or 5 minutes per figure. Once this task is completed I attach each figure to a 2p piece with some Blu-Tac and leave overnight for the Blu-Tac to 'set'.
Sounds like a silly detail but stretch and kneed the Blu-Tac until soft,use a small piece to attach figure to the 2p piece and overnight the Blu-Tac hardens and will hold the figure in place for the whole painting process.
Stage 1
All paints that I use are Acrylic, made by different manufacturers, typically Citadel, Foundry, Vallejo as well as generic artists paints picked up from Hobby Craft or the like.
For undercoating I use generic artists acrylic paint, applied with a fairly big, flat ended brush, and worked so that the paint gives a thorough covering to the case metal and gets into every nook & cranny of the figure, without clogging-up any of the figure's details.
I again leave the figure overnight to allow the undercoat to dry and take the coloured paint without any 'bleed' into these colours....
Stage 2
So now to the colours, in this case the unit I am painting is going to be representing Grant of Grant's lowand infantry regiment,they were typical of many such Scots units of the time so I can use these as generic Scots units on the wargames table.
That said there is some debate over how many units wore the bonnet by the late 1680s as there is evidence to say that many regular units preferred to wear a hat rather than bonnet to distinguish themselves as 'proper' soldiers.
Anyway - I have other Scots regiments in hats so I fancied doing one in bonnets ..
First colour - grey for breeches and socks, simple task, apply the paint with a 'No 2' brush
Stage 3
This is really hard to show on my photos, I use good quality white paint to do cuffs, shirt sleeves, cravat & sashes. This provides a much more opaque and 'clean' white than can be achieved with the generic white paint used to undercoat.
Again there s a debate over the exact colourings of sashes for many regiments,or even how common the practice was as we moved later in the period. I have chosen to have pikemen in white sashes with a blue fringes. I'm currently thinking that the offices will have blue sashes but want to check this out against my reference books before committing paint to brush!
So next posting we'll start adding real colour to the figures, coats, flesh and equipment...
In this case the figures are Front Rank Lowland Scots in bonnets, as such this article will discuss some of my thought processes,hints and tips and hopefully provide inspiration to others wanting to dabble in these larger figures but worried that their painting skills are not up to it.
Lets be clear from the start - I do not rate my self as a great painter,however, I can apply paint fairly accurately onto figure and then using the available products, I think these can be converted into passable wargames figures.
The other point to make clear is that I'm also not a photographer, so apologies for the quality of my pictures!
For purposes of my games I like to have big regiments - 28 figures - 2 blocks of eight Musketeers each side of a central block of 12 Command and pikemen. Yes I know this is a little over the top but the usual 18 or 20 figures per regiment just don't seem to look right to my eye.
For painting purposes I usually paint-up each block separately in batches of 8 to 12 figures it meas a manageable number of figures in each batch, you don't get too bored painting each batch and you get to see the end results at regular intervals!
Stage 0
So before you even get your pints out the first thing is to spend time cleaning up your figures. These Front Rank figures are very crisp and have great detail, applying paint to them is really a process of drawing out that detail. It is vital that any flash or other blemishes are removed form the castings before going any further.
A small needle file and patience is all that is needed, removing mould lines and snipping off any unwanted flash, it should only take you 4 or 5 minutes per figure. Once this task is completed I attach each figure to a 2p piece with some Blu-Tac and leave overnight for the Blu-Tac to 'set'.
Sounds like a silly detail but stretch and kneed the Blu-Tac until soft,use a small piece to attach figure to the 2p piece and overnight the Blu-Tac hardens and will hold the figure in place for the whole painting process.
Stage 1
 |
| Two Muskeers and a Pikeman, undercoated in white |
For undercoating I use generic artists acrylic paint, applied with a fairly big, flat ended brush, and worked so that the paint gives a thorough covering to the case metal and gets into every nook & cranny of the figure, without clogging-up any of the figure's details.
 |
| Sergeant Ensign and Officer undercoated in white. |
Stage 2
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| Grey beaches and socks added |
That said there is some debate over how many units wore the bonnet by the late 1680s as there is evidence to say that many regular units preferred to wear a hat rather than bonnet to distinguish themselves as 'proper' soldiers.
 |
| I debated having red breaches and socks for officers but went for grey i the end |
Anyway - I have other Scots regiments in hats so I fancied doing one in bonnets ..
First colour - grey for breeches and socks, simple task, apply the paint with a 'No 2' brush
Stage 3
This is really hard to show on my photos, I use good quality white paint to do cuffs, shirt sleeves, cravat & sashes. This provides a much more opaque and 'clean' white than can be achieved with the generic white paint used to undercoat.
 |
| White cuffs,shirt sleeves, sashes and cravats |
 |
| Feathers in Officer's hats also white |
So next posting we'll start adding real colour to the figures, coats, flesh and equipment...
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