Here are two shots of Warlord Games boss John Stallard’s 1st Foot the Royal Scots. Also called ‘Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguard’ as they were of such a venerable pedigree, claiming the oldest regimental status in the British army – although that is hotly contested by several others!
John has fielded 32 men in this regiment to match his earlier armies – you actually get 36 in Waterloo British Line Infantry box! He used the step-by-step technique shown by Dave Lawrence in a recent article, of assembling them first (minus backpacks) which takes no time at all due to the arms being integral to the figure. They are then sprayed all over with the Army Painter red undercoat and left to dry for just half an hour.
Next paint the trousers grey, the faces and hands flesh, hat and boots black. Pick out the brown bess musket in, er, brown and the barrel and pointy bayonet in gunmetal or silver (the British Army likes shiny guns).
The backpacks are painted separately as its tricky to get a brush between the back of the hat and the rolled greatcoat on top of the pack.
Then the fun bit – paint the facings (i.e. the collar and cuffs) a royal blue. As you wait for the blue to dry, start painting the crossbelts and backpack straps. John used an ivory colour rather than pure white as it covered better. Painting straps is satisfying but does take some time John doesn’t worry about getting slightly imperfect lines – he finds it easier correct a bit of over-splashed white on a red tunic at the end…
Paint the hair with a variety of colours. Sideburns were very common at the time but all the lads should be clean shaven.
Finish off your models by gluing on the backpacks..
The two flags were cut out from the flag sheet included in the box, coated in PVA and mounted on the very sharp flag staffs. John decided not to use the metal finials in order to match his previous regiments.
Then on to the bases. John only needed 32 men to the unit, but he still tried to have the Grenadiers and Light companies on either wing.
The models were then lightly painted in Army painter dip and matt varnished. Whenever you matt varnish, always do a sample model first, as the result can vary due to temperature/humidity/batch/the price of fish. You don’t want to ruin all your good work. Nor do you want to pick up the can of white undercoat by mistake either…
John used the Army Painter scatter and flock for the bases, adding some small grass tufts to finish them off.
It took John just seven hours of painting from opening the box to final spraying. That’s what happens when you get everyone else to do all the work…
As with all John’s efforts, they won’t win a painting prize, but they will win the battle he is having next week against the mail order lads who have managed to paint up precisely 12 French models in 3 months!
As a very nasty man once said, “Quantity has a quality all of its own”…
Tom Mecredy
Dan Hewitson
