"Hey, You Knew It Going In..."

You hear that phrase said about marriage sometimes but I think I've heard it more often about collecting Napoleonics. This new project with Victrix is giving me a few flashbacks (some good some bad) of my past forays into Naps—(15mm...sold, 20mm...sold, 6mm...still have, and now 28mm).

To reduce some of the formidable painting challenge (as well as a more fiddly prep required for the plastic multi part figures) I'm proceeding a bit differently than my normal painting process.

First after getting 48 figures partly assembled, I decided to do 2 smaller units of 24 with the option of using them as a bigger battalion by adding some command figures. Second I think the light plastic figures will not like being tacked to my usual painting sticks (tongue depressors) and then removed for basing without risk of breakage so today I experimented with basing up 4 unpainted castings and painting them in situ just to see if it would be possible to reach in with the brush to get all the figures painted on the base.

The pic shows the result of a basic paint job of one base. The 4 figures took me 2 hours to paint and for me did not pose too much of a problem being on the bases. The base offered a good handle for painting and having them based up helps with the "inspiration" to finish the whole unit.

This particular madness will no doubt be a long term project as I am already itching to get back to my 18th century stuff...especially a wonderful Coach and Four for the Duchess (Blue Moon Castings) still sitting in its box.

(BTW, I'm using a 4 figures to a 40x40mm (5/6 bases to a battalion) basing scheme. this seems to work with a wide range of rules...and this works for the rules in the Victrix box... that look pretty good...a nice balance between "old school" and more contemporary rules like "Shako")