Cascadia Brigade

I painted these figures on commission for my friend and gaming buddy Kevin.  The figures are all Wargames Foundry for the 1st Opium War.  Kevin opted to mix a little history with local geography and named all the units after local places.

1st Foote, "Selkirk Highlanders"

All the infantry units got black facings, but I made an attempt with these highlanders at the Gordon tartan.

The flags were from Kevin's own design, printed on my home printer.

I used three tone shading on most surfaces.  You may not see it on these pictures, but the figures have a nice color depth.

2nd Foote, "Fort Hood Guard"

This regiment got grey trousers.  All the private soldiers are the same pose, which gives the unit a nice, disciplined look.

I had trouble finding a definitive color for the canteen on top of the backpack.  Some sources showed tan, some showed black, and some showed the old Napoleonic light blue.  I opted for tan to provide a nice contrast with the red coats and black leather.

3rd Foote, "Astorias Regiment"

This regiment got the regulation blue trousers.  It is a smart looking uniform.  The three tone shading worked especially well with the blue.

I tried to make the ground work look like Afghanistan, with more muted colors than I usually use for North America or Europe.

4th Foote, "Cascadia Regiment"

This last infantry regiment got brownish / khaki trousers.  This is a color combination that I have been using more often over the past couple of years.  The shade is Delta's "Dark Chocolate."  For the main tone, I mix Dark Chocolate with Delta's "Territorial Beige," about 1:3.  The highlight is straight Territorial Beige.

In this shot you can clearly see the pink highlights I sparing applied to the red coats.

Mounted Officers

Kevin used figures from a variety of periods for his mounted officers, figuring that British officers were an eccentric lot!

This poor fellow misplaced his arm at some point.

This guy is the very picture of a dashing officer.

The horses also got three tone shading.

I painted this officer in the uniform of the 1st KGL Hussars.

This is probably my favorite pose of the officers.  The coat also got the Dark Chocolate / Territorial Beige treatment.

This is my favorite paint job on the horses.  Each horse got a black acrylic wash from fetlock to knee.

Royal Foot Artillery

These figures were the quickest to paint.  While the crew are all Foundry, the guns are 6-pdrs from Sash and Saber's ACW range.  I do love those Sash and Saber guns!

The 6-pdr barrels got a base coat of Delta's "Brown Iron Oxide" followed by an enamel, Testor's "Gold."  Once the enamel was dry, I sealed it with a coat of acrylic flat clear.  If you miss that step, the enamel paint may run when you dullcote the figures.

The wood work was a simple drybrush of Delta's "Liberty Blue" over the black primer.  It looks good without being overdone.  I painted the metal fittings black, then mixed my own gunmetal paint from Apple Barrel's "Pure Silver," Delta's "Dark Burnt Umber," and Delta's "Tangerine" in a ratio of 5:1:1.

These figures were a treat to paint.  They had great facial detail, and the sculpted folds in the uniform made these rather plain uniforms pop.

This period is not one of my usual ones, but the uniforms are close enough to Napoleonics that the same techniques apply.  There were 112 foot figures, 6 mounted figures, and 4 guns in this collection, and I took about two months to paint them.  It was a fun commission, definitely!