I entered pics of a base of French line grenadiers into the competition’s Pre-
20th Century Foot category.
It did seem that I spent more time painting the grenadiers’ cuffs than any
other part of the figures. The cuffs of French line infantry had white piping
which at larger scales is usually painted on. One of the advantages of 10mm is
not needing to paint all the uniform detail and, in reality, the piping on
French coat cuffs was pretty threadlike. I didn’t intend to paint this piping on
any French line infantryman – however, I did on the fusilier sitting on the
supply wagon featured in the last post. But, then, he was kind of special – and
the cuff piping was actually modelled on the figure!
I painted a couple of the grenadiers with striped trousers, in vogue during the
Revolutionary wars and still in evidence during the 1807 campaign but not
associated with later uniforms – but grenadiers could be traditional types and,
I thought, the trousers added a nice bit of colour and character. I couldn’t
resist making some of the white trousers just a bit dirty.
To be honest, this was my first regimental base. That’s to say that my mind
was definitely made up (see Post 37) and I was committed to using 25mm-
square bases for infantry and cavalry and this was my first 25mm-square
base. Even though I could see the benefits of 20mm-square bases, it had been
a more or less a forgone conclusion – for lots of good wargames reasons, of
course!
I deliberately mounted the marching grenadiers with space at the front of
their base so that they would line up with firing figures that would be
mounted set back from the front of the base to protect their fragile muskets.
One good reason to use 25mm-square bases and the real estate they provided.
Another Shot at the Pendraken Painting Competition
POST 72
72
