Getting the Most Out of Your 15mm 18th Century Army

Painting an 18th century army can be a daunting task for even experienced gamers (who frequent other eras). What follows is some (hopefully!) helpful advice on how to get the best from that beautiful 18th century army you have always dreamed of building. It is one man’s observations and lessons learnt over twenty years of painting, some of it as a full time professional. This advice is certainly not meant to be taken as the only way of achieving good results. Just my way. I hope some or all of the advice contained will be of help to my fellow gamers. For those who want to improve their armies in the quickest way possible, I suggest going straight to the ‘Basing and Generals’ section where there are some simple little tricks to jazz up your army.

		Left: my French Seven Years War army was painted using all the techniques detailed below. The artist prepares for a serious session of top quality painting (no I don’t always wear a “Willy Nelson” wig!) (Webmaster: Yeah right, who do you think you are fooling Greg?)

Whenever I start an army, I always recommend a small army as the aim. A few brigades, a cavalry regiment, Generals, and artillery – then slowly build from there if you desire a larger force. Many gamers realise over time, it is better to enjoy slowly building up a few well painted armies, than to have 12 armies that are a visual blight on the gaming tabletops of the world!

I well understand the problems of time management in busy modern lives, so the following advice assumes the above view of starting out small and going for quality rather than ‘mass’.

I am not going to go into detail here regarding basic painting techniques; dry brushing, ink washes, etc, there are a million articles to be found on these on the net. I would, however, suggest that as a basic principle, if unsure, always use less paint on the brush rather than more (I make an exception to this when using ink). If you are trying to pick out the nose and cheeks of your army general, many more strokes with the side of the point of the brush to build up colour are usually better than plonking a large ‘dab’ of paint all over his face!

I tend to paint in lots of 24 figures – a French infantry regiment at a time if you like! I line my guys up in 3 rows of 8 on a piece of A4 paper with a board under it, and I change the paper every time I start a fresh batch. I use the bottom of the paper for a pallet (for small mixes), to wipe brushes, and to unload extra paint when I have too much on the brush – it’s very important to be able to do this quickly and easily.

I need to mention that I am in no way affiliated, in the employ of, or are being paid by any of the companies listed here. They are simply the products I personally use.

A note on paint: I think it can be a mistake to get tied down to using a single manufacturer of paint. While it is good to have a single brand to suit the majority of your needs and to give a relatively uniform look, don’t be afraid to go for other brands when they do certain things better. These days I find myself using an awful lot of acrylic artists gouache (thanks go to my old friend Andrew Fog who put me onto this years ago). It’s just regular paint that comes in a tube like anything else, nothing to be frightened of! The brand I use is Jo Sonya Artists Colours which are readily available in Australia (from Spotlight, Bunnings, and art stores, etc) and is remarkably cheap and gives a unique finish (they call it a ‘velvet finish’).

Matt, matt, matt, is what artists gouache offers the painter! The more flat it is, the more I have found the eye is drawn to models on the table. Colours are brighter, and stand out better. On the down side, sometimes coverage isn’t as great as it could be and a second coat may need to be applied (see colour below) particularly when working with white. Unlike some other eras, an 18th century army is not one to be toned down to make it more ‘realistic.’ Colour and how an army stands out on the table are the key.

I expect there are many other manufacturers around the world who make gouache, so it doesn’t have to be Jo Sonya, but that’s what is local to me. Of other ranges, I have heard said the Vallejo range can be sharp, but what I have personally used has been very matt indeed, and very easy to use. Looking at their results, I suspect the Foundry Paint System may also be suitably flat (though don’t quote me, as I have yet to use them!). The main thing, is the finish, regardless of who makes it, so if you have a favourite range that delivers a very matt (almost velvet) finish, simply substitute it in whenever I mention Jo Sonya below.

A note on prep-work: at the prep stage try not to skimp on time – if possible, do the whole or most of the army at once if you can. Wash, de-flash with a sharp knife, black spray undercoat. The undercoat is a very important stage. It allows you to ‘cheat’ by providing the deepest layer of shading without you having to do anything (don’t cheat too much though; black undercoat should not be an excuse for failing to shade and highlight models correctly). Give them a really good blast of black. I have been known, after spraying but before I start painting, to go through and ‘stuff’ a little black paint into arm pits, etc, with a brush where the spray has not made it, and it is typically most needed! If sprayed correctly from all sides, however, this should rarely be necessary. It is a popular habit for people to glue 5 or 6 models onto ‘paddle-pop’ sticks to give them something to hold onto. This is a terrible idea. It waists time and you need to be able to pick individual models up and turn them around to look at them from all angles (just paint or retouch the boots/gaiters last if worried about handling the bottom third of the model during painting).

Varnish: this goes against popular convention, but I don’t like it and I never use it. I would rather take good care of my models. I have never yet found a brand of matt varnish, and I have tried many, that doesn’t change the quality of the finish in some way. Worse still, normally good metallic's are completely ruined by matt varnish and go pasty and dull. My advice…stay away! Models lasting the test of time is usually more an issue of storage and not banging around the models when you use them. Keep them in an airtight container, Tupperware is a good choice as dust is the main killer over time! Put your bases on magnets and line your containers with sheet metal. If they don’t move during transport, they can’t get hurt! ‘Sheets’ of magnet are usually available from good art supply shops and can be cut to shape using scissors. The sheet metal usually requires a pair of tin snips to cut to size.

Faces

I always paint faces and hands first on a model – completing faces and hands totally before moving on. To repeat the above sentiment, it is the place where all of a model’s character comes from, so starting from a blank canvas helps the process a great deal. Note: though I DO NOT recommend games workshop paint for all parts of a model, but I do still use GW paint for faces and for metallic's (see ‘mitre helmets’ below) for which I think they are unbeatable.

Steps:
1. Paint all the faces and hands Elf Flesh (leaving the black undercoat visible in the eye sockets and any open mouths/slits)
2. Once dry, give face and hands a very heavy wash of ‘Flesh Wash’ ink (little to no watering down of the ink at all; though you should start with the brush wet). Don’t worry if ink goes everywhere, it should. You will paint over it later anyway.
3. Once dry, carefully go back over the face and hands with the original Elf Flesh (I use a kind of ‘careful dry brush’ to achieve this quickly) to lighten up the cheeks, nose and chin and forehead. Use as much paint as you need to carefully get these raised areas back to the original flesh colour.
You can stop here but the next step delivers outstanding results.
4. Mix 3 parts ‘Skull White’ with one part Elf Flesh. Apply to the end of the nose, a tiny bit to the most raised areas of the cheeks, and dab to the chin. Depending on the model, sometimes I add a dab on each side of the chin to create a ‘bum chin’(!) which can be very effective.
Most people will stop here and that is fine. Though this next step is so much quicker than people believe! I would certainly recommend it for generals, etc.

Eyes: Sharpen a toothpick (come on people its not that hard and you only need one!): Add a small blob of Skull White to each eye socket. Once dry add a tiny dot of Black Ink. Finito!

Colour

I will say this a number of times in this article, and I’ll say it again here – avoid ‘sharp’ paint. Top of the list would be Games Workshop and of course any gloss paints on the market. While glossy or sharp paint may intuitively seem to be the way to get your guys as colourful and ‘standing out’ as possible, it has, in fact the opposite effect. The more matt, or the flatter the paint is, the more armies and colours tend to stand out.

In addition, don’t highlight too much! When I was a bit younger I used to like to show off my painting prowess/command of technique, by applying 5 progressive layers of highlights to every jacket (each coat adding progressively more white, for those not in the know) to get ‘an amazing illusion of depth.’ The net result is the colours get washed out, red becomes orange or pink, blue becomes baby blue (!) yellow becomes cream, etc. Apply highlights certainly, but don’t go crazy (thank God I hear you all say!).

Recently, a technique I have been using to good effect to get vibrant red, uses two different paint manufacturers together. I start with Games Workshop ‘Blood Red’ (yes I know what I just said about GW above, but stay with me!) which is thin and changes to a nice dark maroon colour over black undercoat, and then apply a very heavy (not sloppy) dry-brush of gouache: in this case Jo Sonja’s Cadmium Scarlet. For fantastic blue, I start with Games Workshop Royal Blue, then as above add Jo Sonja’s Cobalt Blue Hue and then the tiniest scrape of Jo Sonja’s Aqua on the most exposed edges. The sharpness of the GW gives a good foundation and the warmth of the gouache gives vibrant colour and attracts the eye. I have found the results to be brilliant.

This may be good time to talk about ‘the order’:

This is primarily advice for inexperienced or first time painters.

As a general principle, painting in 15mm is about production lines. I do 24 at a time painting one colour and fully completing one part of the model at a time; then move on to the next step. All models are different depending on what they were wearing historically, but you will soon get the hang of what the best order to paint things in. When you do, it becomes far more logical, and seems a lot easier to get going.

The traditional rule is paint from the inside out. Needless to say, this is to help you avoid getting paint on bits you have already done as you progress though the stages!

As an example, below is the order I used for the completed British infantryman above (it can be adapted to any model):

  1. Paint faces and hands completely (see section above).
  2. Paint the coat, waistcoat and trousers red, then add a layer of highlights (see colour above).
  3. Paint the ‘facings’ (facings usually refers to the cuffs, lapels, turnbacks and sometimes collar).
  4. Paint the hair and any mustaches.
  5. Paint officers gloves and powdered queue’s (hair) cream/often buff for gloves.
  6. Paint the belts and straps.
  7. Paint any black areas: hat, sometimes gaiters (if not white), boots, sword scabbards, cartridge boxes (if black), hair ribbon (bow), black dots for buttons.
  8. Highlight black areas lightly with blue grey (see above).
  9. Paint anything that’s gold (butt end of sword scabbard and hilt, buttons, belt buckles, officers hat lace etc).
10. Paint musket brown.
11. Paint musket barrels and metal work gunmetal (I highly recommend Games Workshop ‘Chainmail’).
12. And finally, ‘the dreaded white step’ (as I call it!). Paint all white gaiters, any white crossbelts, lapel/cuff and waistcoat lining, highlight gloves and powdered queue’s (see step 5), paint hat and wrist lace, musket straps, and neck stocks (if they happen to be white and are visible).

Finito! Now all you have to do is base them (see below).

	The vivid blue of the Grenadiers De France was achieved using multiple ranges

Highlighting black: As a basic principle I always highlight black with blue-grey. Straight mid-grey, to me, washes out black and looks...well, grey! The shade you are looking for is Games Workshop ‘shadow grey’ which is perfect from a colour point of view but way too sharp. I mixed my own, by simply mixing up a straight grey using Jo Sonja’s Titanium White and Carbon Black, and then dumping a whole lot of mid blue into it. If it is too dark or light simply add white or black to taste. I made up a big batch, it has a velvet finish, and it has lasted me years.

A horse and hat highlighted blue-grey		Fine Detail: Mitre Helmets, lace, braid, buttons, lining etc etc etc! You can’t have an army from the Lace Wars without any lace! What follows is a very simple ‘how to’ guide on the adding the little details that can make an 18th century army truly magnificent. Lace, braid, neck stocks, and waistcoat/lapel/ cuff lining are all pretty simple. I bring attention to them here, more to highlight their importance, than to show any great trick to painting them. On any even remotely decent brand of 18th century miniatures, there should always be that little bit of lace spilling out from the wrists, between the hands and cuffs. It is important to not miss this detail (and sometimes you have to go looking for it). Once added, there is something about that particular piece of detail that really gives the miniature its 18th century feel. The same could be said for those units who have lining on the waistcoat, lapels, and cuffs (see the British infantryman above). There is no real tip here, simply get a 000 brush and, as the last thing you do on the model, go through with the appropriate colour (often white) and very carefully line them in. It really doesn’t take that long when you get the hang of it, and the results are very impressive. Drummers lace, like French royal chain lace, while looking hard are actually just as easy. Trace out the lace on your drummers sleeves in white as normal. Then, with a 000 brush or the toothpick mentioned in the ‘faces’ section above, go through and put red dots down the lines. Very simple, very effective.

Buttons are another great addition to your models to ‘18th centrify them!’ Whether gold or silver (or white if you like) it always pays to put a small blob of black under each button before painting them. This helps them to stand out, particularly if the models don’t have buttons detailed on them (though they should) or if, in the moulding process, they have not appeared.

Mitre Helmets:

The Mitre helmet is one of the most distinctive things about our era. They can look hard, but when you understand the logic of them they can be easy to represent on your models.

Look at this picture of a Scots Grey helmet.

Quick, and not bad for 15mil!		It is tempting to say ‘too hard’ and simply paint the face plate red and leave it at that, but 15 minutes of work can make them really shine. Lets face it, your KK army is probably only going to have 8 figures of Scotts Greys in it, so there are not very many to do! Obviously how much work and detail you want to put in is up to you, here are some very quick steps to paint this helmet simply in 15mm (other types of helmet follow a similar logic): 1. Paint the plate a good bold red (in this case Jo Sonja’s Cadmium Scarlet). 2. Paint the blue box at the bottom of the helmet and edges of the helmet yellow, add a yellow blob for the circle in the middle of the plate. 3. Fill in the yellow box at the bottom with blue, leaving the yellow ‘rim’ and put a slightly smaller blob of blue in the middle of the yellow circle on the plate. 4. Add a tiny yellow dot to the blue circle in the middle of the plate. 5. Add some white ‘squiggly lines’ around the outsides and in the blue box. Finito!

		Painting brass helmets: Gold, brass, bronze, or whatever it happens to be (I use the same technique to represent them all!), is vastly improved with three easy steps. This technique is also excellent for cannon Barrels (left), brass drums and trumpets. Steps: 1. Paint the front plate white. Leave no black undercoat showing. 2. When dry paint with Games Workshop ‘Burnished Gold’. 3. Dry. Heavy wash with Games Workshop Chestnut Ink. Finito! Units like Highlanders (left) can seem like ‘a bridge too far’ in 15 mm, but good results can be achieved with little effort. Easy tartan, as is the case with this fellow from the 87th Highlanders, can be achieved by painting a number of small black lines horizontally on the base green, and then simply adding few more vertically to get checks. The socks are painted red with simple white dotes added for the detail. This may seem just too simple or crude but on the table they look great!

Horses:

With mounted figures, I always have them glued to the horse and prepped as a single model. I paint the riders completely (the horses give you something solid to hold onto!) before going on to do the horses last.

Painting horses puts the ‘production line’ into production line!

The quickest method to do a number of horses of varied colour quickly and well, is to arrange your colours logically. Painting in the right order means less colour changes, less brush cleaning, less stages and faster results. This particular piece of advice stands for all miniature painting.

I exclusively use Jo Sonja’s paint on horses. Though it is tempting in this case to paint them a little sharper, as horses have glossy coats in real life, as is typical in miniature painting, the more matt they are, the better they seem to look. This is a lesson I learned the hard way over the years.

Note: when you block in the main colour of a horse, don’t be tempted to leave a little of the black undercoat to come through around the bridles, etc (to ‘black line’ them). The bridles will be painted in black afterwards so all this achieves is very thick bridles that look messy and wrong. Cover the entire horse with colour; it may seem obvious, but you can’t black-line black.

		These are the basic colours needed and the order they are used. For those using other ranges the ‘Burnt and Raw Sienna’ are simply red brown and orange brown/buff. The mixing pot in the middle is a ‘sand/cream’ colour I mixed up myself.

Steps:

The basic process: start with the darkest colour first, then progressively move down the line getting lighter as you go. Before beginning, first put aside 2-3 of the horses.

1. Paint half the group ‘Burnt Sienna.’ (the top row in this case. You will need to look carefully here as this photo came out very dark!). Also note the 3 I have put aside.

2. Dry brush highlights on the top row using Raw Sienna. Then keeping the Raw Sienna open, paint another 25% (the 3 on the second line) of the group Raw Sienna as their base colour (note: RS can be a little weak over black and often needs a second coat).

3. Open a sand/or cream colour (in this case one I mixed myself, but any sand or cream in your range of choice will do) and highlight the Raw Sienna group. Keeping the sand colour open, then do the final 25% (or in this case the two on the end of the row) of the unit.

4. Highlight the ‘sand group’ white. While the white is open add some ‘socks’ and occasional blobs of white on the noses (this is very effective and important). Remember the two I put aside? At this stage, usually I have painted one of them grey (often for the trumpeter who in this era tended to ride greys) which I then highlight by dry brushing/dabbing white.

5. I paint the final horse I put aside, black. While the black paint is open, I go back and add some black manes and socks to a few in the main group. Lightly highlight any black, blue-grey.

Finito!

When the horses are finished add your bridles ( this is one of the few cases when I use a sharp paint for contrast (GW Chaos Black), finally add some silver dots to put in the metal buckles and fixtures. All done.

As always more detail can be added if you like. Hooves and eyes for example.

As you can see, painting horses quickly and well is all about getting your production line logically arranged. You can certainly deviate from this program, I often do, as there are many different shades of brown out there to mix up your horses - but as a basic system this works very well.

I have put the two topics together, as one directly relates to the other (command stands are usually the stands with the most room to add that extra detail that makes all the difference – 3rd edition of KK will specifically increase the standard size of General’s bases for this reason). Needless to say, giving your Generals more painting time and attention to detail than usual, is also recommended.

So someone once wrote 50% of how good an army will look comes down to how it is based. This is not too far from the truth.

Basing for me is about light-and-dark and about detail. It may seem obvious but I tend to find armies based in lighter/medium shade, stand out more on the tabletop than the dark ones (though I have seen a few ‘white armies’ like Austrians stand out very well on darkish bases; the white coats can contrast well).

Care needs to be taken, though, that light bases don’t become ‘sharp’ and are so bright they drag the eye away from the miniature. I again find using artists gouache to be the solution. As previously mentioned it’s about as matt a finish as it is possible to get, and the rich flat finish draws the eye rather than repelling it (as sharper or gloss *shudder* paint will).

Detail:

For me, static grass is still the way to go for horse and musket, but finding the right shade is very important.

Too dark, and once your miniatures get to the table, you will have done them no favours; too bright, and it has the same effect as too sharp a shade of paint. I use a medium green which seems to work well..

Here is a little tip I picked up recently regarding PVA glue. When you glue your static grass on, mix a small amount of whatever base colour paint you are using into the glue. PVA tends to go shinny when it dries which you don’t want coming through the grass! A little paint tones everything in together nicely.

Extra base detail: How much, is a subjective thing, but I think the addition of more base detail to at last some stands in the army achieves great results for very little effort and is very easy to do.

People often don’t realise what a gold mine their own garden or back yard is when it comes to realistic looking base detail! I once had an amusing conversation with a gaming buddy:

I said to him: “wow that wood looks very realistic mate! What’s it made out of?”
Hi looked at me dryly and replied:
“wood”
Ahem….

Twigs out of the garden make excellent fallen branches.		Small twigs and branches make excellent fallen logs, and small rocks can be found almost anywhere, and so on… This is the absolute easiest way to improve the look of your bases! (and if used in conjunction with the basing method below the results are well worth the effort). Everyone, however strapped for time or inexperienced in modelling can get out the tube of superglue and the tweezers and glue a few rocks and fallen branches to the stands of their army! The fence for my army general (see pic below) was made from all natural material. I picked off a large splinter from an old piece of wood from under my house. Then trimmed it into long ‘beams’ with a modelling knife. Cut them into posts, and crossbeams, and laid them flat on the cutting board and superglued the posts across the crossbeams. Finally, once dry I added a little super glue to the post bottoms and plonked it into wet filler during the basing process (knocking one crossbeam down like it had been kicked by a horse).

Artificial material: Kitty Litter has become the new war gamers favourite as an easy source of rocks and rubble – I tend to get the Mrs to buy a different brand each time, to find different colours and consistency, and then raid the bag before she uses it! Available from the company that makes a simply staggering amount of useful products, Woodland Scenics Fine Leaf Foliage is unsung and fantastic stuff! They are actually large bushy trees, but by ripping smaller pieces off they become, quite simply, the best shrubs, fallen braches, hedges and small trees around. They look quite ‘real’ compared to a lot of alternatives. A small tree or two can really improve an otherwise plain base. In addition, I still use small pieces of the ‘Clump Foliage’ which are also very useful for bushes of a different texture. Small clumps of ‘Field Grass,’ which comes in about 3 inch long pieces and has a very fine ‘course hair-like’ consistency, can be used to form clumps of long grass or reeds. This can be a bit painful to use but it looks great. My process is to get a small bunch, trim one end, and then dip it some super glue. Put aside and make some more. I then trim the top off the bunches to the desired height and glue it to the base before I add my filler (see basic basing technique below), then, when I am adding my miniatures to the base, I mould the filler around the bunches to help keep ‘em stuck in there. I often wash the bottom of the tufts brown with runny paint or ink to give them more depth (see General pic below).		Fine Leaf Foliage Field Grass

Spare models! Spare models are the great unsung and often ignored source of material for better basing. Spare models are a gold mine and are often free.

Often you find yourself with a spare drummer/officer/standard bearer or two left over. The average Generals base will look all the more spectacular for having an officer on foot dramatically looking to him for advice!

Cut their heads off! The occasional tricorn hat or mitre that has flown off a head (or been blown off a head!), or drum, can really add interest to base – simply chop/clip them off a spare model with your craft knife/clippers. Dropped muskets, sabres, or any other paraphernalia is also apt to be put to use. The classic broken gun carriage is always a winner too: if the base size permits!

	Above: This French army General illustrates many of the tips listed here. A leftover Grenadier Officer has been added to the numerous ADCs on this base, a few rocks have been added, the red tree is Woodland Scenics Fine Leaf Foliage (Fall Mix), a small piece of clump foliage is placed on the very front of the base (hard to see in this picture) and tufts of long ‘field grass’ have been added. The fence is made from a ‘whittled’ piece of wood! Left: For that little extra base detail you can chop a tricorn hat off a spare figure.

Standard basing technique: I use ‘Plaster Mate’ all purpose filler to hide and set miniatures in the bases. It’s cheap, and one tub is enough to last a lifetime! Steps: 1. Apply filler onto the base. Push models into the filler and then push filler in, to cover the edges with an old brush (add a little more filler if there is not enough already on the base). Dry overnight. 2. Paint base with PVA glue and scatter dirt from ‘the yard’ (I add a little sand from the beach to the mix too). Allow to dry. 3. Paint with a very neutral brown (I use Jo Sonja’s ‘Fawn’). Be careful here, as painting around feet and hooves etc can be tricky. Dry. 4. Dry brush the base with a sand/cream or beige colour of your choice to bring out the texture and small rocks (I often then do a final highlight on the small rocks and higher ridges with an off-white, but this is not strictly necessary). Dry. 5. Add static grass (amount to taste). See ‘adding paint to the glue’ above.

Note: between stages 4 or 5 (before you put on the static grass) you may want to glue on your extra rocks, fallen branches, blown off hats, etc. But I tend to do that last.

It is also sometimes necessary to add things like fence lines, rock walls, and reeds at stage 1 so they are ‘stuck in the filler’ (I superglue them in and lock them in with the filler so they don’t fall out later).

Flags I have probably seen more flagless horse and musket armies than just about any of the other heresies I have mentioned (avoiding) above. The reason being that the army is based and ready to use before we think about flags – as the last stage of the process – so it is all too tempting to get straight into battle! This is a bad choice because often once an army is in the field the owner never goes back! I stop after I have painted each brigade and do their flags then, to avoid this phenomenon. While I understand how much work has gone into an army up to this point (and though I have said this many times in this article) an 18th century army is just not the same without its flags! They are almost always often magnificent. While here is nothing quite like hand painted flags, cheating is fine at this point. The best way to do this is to find some of the million full colour 25mm flags on the net, copy and reduce them in size, print them on a colour printer and superglue them on. Tip: superglue (just a tiny bit) is a good choice as it is easy to ‘mould’ the flag into shape as they instantly dry – in seconds they can be waving in the wind!		Flags are essential!

It is also perfectly fine to purchase one of the many commercially available ranges of 15mm 18th century flags out there. If you decide to go with either of these options it is important, once you have cut them out, to go around the edges and paint out (with the appropriate colour) the ‘cut lines’ once they are glued on. It also greatly improves them and reduces sharpness to add a few highlights to the main areas of colour, but this is not essential. A good tip: for a standard 12 figure KK battalion I like to position two standard bearers (usually the regimental and colonels flag) on the front and back corners of the middle base on the battalion (see right) so each are both easily visible.

Hand painted flags are beyond the scope of this article but the best advice I can give is, to think on the ideas in the ‘painting of the Scotts Grey helmet’ section above. That is the kind of logic needed to get the order of things sorted, and to work out easy steps for going about it. Being able to draw certainly helps when it comes to the basic design. Some armies like the French, will have a lot of flags with the same basic design (the cross in this case – see French pic above), so it is possible to do up a page with 20 or so of the basic design, then all you have to do it fill in the colours and extraneous detail.

Tip: if you are ever hand painting a complex flag, if you have one side perfect but then you make a mess of the other, when super gluing it on the pole, simply manipulate the flag ‘from the wind’ so that the flag bends around the mistake and ‘sucks it out of view’ (which also has the bonus of highlighting the good side on the reverse!).

‘Casualty caps:’ this is not really painting or modeling advice but a tip on how to make your battlefield look better. Most people use casualty caps to represent casualties on multi-figure bases. This is fine, but why not use proper casualty figures instead?! Most manufacturers make them, and in the case of Old Glory you get 50 in a pack which is all you will ever need. Just paint them to match the colours of the army. In my case, for my French army I did about ten each of white, blue, red, and sky blue.

Mistakes: We all make them. I certainly do! But the trick is to fix them.

When you are working on your production line sometimes you can splash or blob red all over your nice blue coat (or whatever); not wanting to go back and open the blue paint in the middle of the ‘red stage,’ it ends up getting left that way.

Here is a good little tip: if you make an error you can often wipe it off straight away with the tip of your finger, and then keep going. Another option is to have a clean brush handy, if you make a mistake on an adjoining area quickly grab and dip the brush in your water and scrub the mistake out. Then throw the now dirty brush in the water and continue without loosing your flow.

Sometimes there is nothing for it but to re-open the colour you have already finished with and correct the mistake. As you make any mistakes, simply put them to the end of the row and come back to fix them as the next thing you do. Always fix mistakes straight away or you’ll forget about them – particularly if they are small errors.

Recently I painted down a whole row of Prussians and managed to get pink from the lapels on every jacket down the line! I simply finished the pink facings and went back with the appropriate blue and fixed it before moving on.

Final thoughts:

If you have taken the time to read this article all in one go, it all may seem a huge amount of work to create an 18th Century army and ultimately not worth the trouble! But truly, it is not.

It is all about methodically and carefully going through the steps to create one terrific regiment for your army at a time – and there is no rush, particularly once you have a couple of brigades to play with. It’s a very enjoyable process to do up an army you are really proud of, invested in, and can keep on using for years to come.

I hope the ideas outlined above can be some help or inspiration to all those who wish to, or have already delved into this fascinating era, and who would like to paint magnificent 18th century armies of their own.

Philosophically, I come from the point of view that wargaming has a very large and important aesthetic component to it (otherwise why not just put a few pieces of card on the table to represent units and not bother at all?) and that the very best of the hobby, and the most enjoyment of the game comes from a combination of a good game system, beautiful models, terrific terrain, good company and good competition. Wargaming is greater that the sum of its parts, taking the time to paint your own 18th Century army will fulfill one of those components in fine style!

Very best wishes and good gaming,

Greg Perry 2008