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| 3 squadron Abo och Bjorneborgs in action in Poland |
Toggy, Gerry and I had a conversation recently about painting miniatures and our attitudes to the task. A visit to various fora focusing on the subject will tell the story in full. At one end of the scale you have the block paint and dip brigade who just want to get the figures on the table. At the other end of the continuum are the artists who take 5-6 hours+ over one 28mm miniature. Of course they'll never build a regiment let alone an army but we marvel nonetheless at their skill with washes, glazes, dry and wet brushing, et al. You've got to ram your stake in the ground somewhere and although I greatly admire and aspire to the craft so expertly exhibited by these masters it conflicts directly with my need to have large quantities of painted figures available at short notice for article photo shoots, Warfare Miniatures range promo shots, rule books, wargaming weekender and home gaming.
Add in the complication of a travel heavy and time sucking day job and the equation does not balance. So my painting for many years has been a compromise between juggling mass production with the little touches I have always enjoyed when creating something for the table.
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| I've used the infantry officer as a dismounted cornet here |
Have limited options focuses the mind and when I decided recently to get the jump on the Swedes I prepared to paint 4 x 24 man regiments of Horse. The catch is, I was going to do this with only the single available trooper model as the bulk of the force. The officers and trumpeters were easy. There are many legitimate options from the extensive Cuirassier range. There are 11 different command sets and about 7 of these are usable for senior cavalry officers and trumpeters.
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| Gabion from the large gabion set WLOA928 released now |
Of course, we're bringing out lots of Swedish cavalry but I wanted to get a start as 50% of my Swedish Army will be Cavalry and Dragoons so painting needed to begin now.
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| No conversions on the trumpeter and officer. Arm option on NCO |
This post highlights some of the individual bases and squadron shots. The next post(s) will show how these have built into regiments each of 4 squadrons.
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| Cuirassier Command used for these Livgarde till Hast |
I like the look achieved even with a single casting option. It is interesting to remember that when the bulk of my fairly substantial Grand Alliance/GNW collection as composed of Foundry figures there was only a single trooper option offered. So, from that point of view we are only revisiting ground very successfully covered for many years. Well, for now. Soon the options will open up exponentially.
