Off the Painting Table (Oct 2015)

Last month I painted some Perry French Napoleonic Dragoons to use in games of Sharp Practice. I now needed to paint their British counterparts, the Hussars.

I have not painted Hussars for many years and had forgotten how flamboyant their uniforms are, so much lace, piping and cords! I have not painted anything so intricate since the large Perry samurai armies I purchased a decade ago. This time I had only 14 figures to do rather than the 100’s of samurai, which left me drained by the end. I have not wanted to paint another Japanese figure since!

I choose to paint these figures as the 15^th Hussars purely on the basis of the red shakos which are so distinctive.

The sculpting on the figures is so good that every loop detail is so clear that it has to be picked out and highlighted. I must admit that I’m very pleased with the results and cannot wait to get them on the table (where they will face disaster like all my newly painted units do!).

I think my Sharp Practice forces are now nearly complete. I am tempted to add some Spanish and Portuguese units, but these can wait.