Minifigs SYW French Infantry

With my friend itching to try some Seven Years' War gaming, we placed a joint order for some Minifigs packs to sample their range. I bought a pack each of Prussian musketeers and Austrian grenadiers, and he bought a pack each of French musketeers and grenadiers. My friend primed his French grunts and even painted a stick before deciding that he didn't like the sculpting style of his Minifigs. He gave me the remains of his primed French musketeers yesterday, and I tried my hand at them.

Normandy Regiment, front view (click for larger image)

I decided to start with an easy uniform, that of the Normandy Regiment. I'm a Minifigs fan, and these figures really delivered for me. I cranked out this 12 man regiment in just under two hours of painting.

A bit of a side view

What can I say? They're Minifigs, which means that they have that classic toy soldier look. I have five poses here: musketeer marching, grenadier marching, drummer, officer, and color bearer.

I usually go for more of a minimalist style with Minifigs, foregoing any shading apart from the flesh. But with an all-white uniform, I felt that black lining would be too stark. I used the same technique here as on my Napoleonic Austrians (described elsewhere on this blog), but I used Quaker Grey rather than Mudstone as my base.

Rear view

The figures were very easy to paint. I'm finding that shaded white uniforms are faster to paint than anything else. I just glop on the basecoat and pick out the highlights in white. Because of the shading effect, I don't have to be as neat with straps and such. With these figures I was even able to dot on the regulation three buttons per cuff.

Field grade officer

One common complaint about Minifigs is that they lack character. I think this figure has loads of character. The pose is very interesting, and the face is well defined.

My Paints

I often get asked what paints I use. Here's the answer. These are all available at my local Michaels', and the usually cost around $1 for a two ounce bottle. I only used these eight shades, plus Dark Forest Green for the bases. From left to right they are: white, quaker grey, pure silver, metallic gold, autumn brown, brown velvet, flesh basecoat (my own mix, but similar to territorial tan), and medium flesh.

When I start my SYW armies in earnest (a project that is probably more than a year in the future), I'll be using Minifigs for the bulk of my army. They're well proportioned, they're easy to paint, and they really look the part for Lace Wars armies.