More Danish Infantry, step by step.

This is my Danish Army thus far: all the cavalry, 9 bases, 7 Infantry regiments on 12 and 2 guns on 3.

The long waited box of Mars GNW Saxon Infantry is finally arrived. When I opened the box, I get a pleasant surprise: the plastic is a nice medium grey, not the abysmal bottle green of the first production (see the review at PSR for a full appreciation of the original color).

This time I’ll spend some time to describe the process of painting I use. First of all, after washing the miniatures in lukewarm water with dish soap, I spray a coat of cheap hobbyst matt white, brushing some spots with acrylic white (I generally use LC01 Matt White by Lifecolor). Then I mount the figures with white tack on ice sticks, three each, already organized by bases.

A liberal wash with GW Devlan Mud (which now is called Agrax Earthshade!) and they are ready for the “mass painting”step.

First of all two passages of dry-brushed white, for all but the Drottingen regiment which is instead coated with Vallejo Scarlet 70817.

Then face and hands with GW Kislev Flesh and Vallejo Chocolate Brown 70872 for hair, gun, poles, partisans etc. (notice that my soldiers, aside for an handful of Officiers, all has dark brown hair. The belts and any leather detail are painted with Vallejo Desert Yellow 72073. Finally, black tricorne, scabbards, hair tie and cartridge/grenade pouches.

All these parts are washed with GW Gryphone Sepia. The mass production stops here: at this point I take any single unit (6 miniatures) and finish it before proceeding to the next one.

I begin with Fynska regiment, that with green facings and uniquely, a red collar: for the green I use GW Warpstone Glow (sic!) whereas the red is the same as before. First the facing colors: cuffs, breeches, gaiters/socks, waistcoat and only in this case the collar.

After this passage I correct all the mistakes done in the previous phases with white, used also to highlits the shirt around the hands and the neckcloth. The hat lace and the shoes are painted at this stage, as well as the base which is painted in the color of the unit base (I paint most of my unit bases dark brown: I choosed to leave those of the Danish of the natural color of the stone texture to add some variety).

The metals: gunmetal, silver and brass. The flag is done completely at this stage (I draw and paint with brown ink the parts which are then painted with brass and highlighted with gold): having no idea at all of the flagpole color, I paint it in a contrasting color, in this case red. Some final finishing touches (for instance Gryphone Sepia on the neckcloth which, according to Snorrasson, was also used as a towel…..) and details and the unit is ready to be mounted on the bases, made with thick cardboard and painted with the same sand as the miniatures base.

The terrain is made with the Vallejo Stone Texture “Brown Earth 26219”, unpainted and liberally sprinkled with hamster litter.  The bases are then sprayed with a matt transparent varnish.

The next step will be to wait 24 hours and add some static grass; the following day the grass in excess shall be removed and then we shall be finished. It the next post I’ll present all the regiments which completes the Danish Army at Helsinborg.