Last Redcoats

This took twenty-two months.

That was a lie. I am getting better at telling them. In reality, it has been about twenty-two months since I first ordered the Wargames Atlantic Afghan Tribesmen kit. In practice, actual painting time has been much less. For one, at least four of those months were spent travelling or moving, and definitely more time was lost to other projects. Many of those same projects have made their way onto the blog in one form or another. Still, I like the number twenty-two and will stick with it. Even if the figures still need to be based and varnished. And there are also the older ones who still need their collars blackened, and buttons painted, and there are still unbased Afghans lying around, and so on and so forth. I am nothing if not persistent.

This is one of the two leader figures. The flag is a bit of a placeholder until I can photoshop up a regiment flag with the correct numbering on it. His head is from a Victrix kit, the same one used for Turnips. I think that the sculpting on the Perry Brothers heads leaves a little to be desired. Especially the clean-shaven ones. They tend to lack really defined cheekbones, which while probably realistic makes it tricky to properly highlight them. The hair is Mournfang brown washed Agrax, to stand out from the darker brown of the others. The yellow flag tassel is Averland Sunset washed Agrax too. The gold is Retributor Armour washed Reikland.

When a proper flag is added I will go over the edges with paint to deal with the white. Trying to completely cut off those little slivers is a fool's errand.

The scabbard could have been brown, but I made it black. I believe this is closer to how it would have been on the NWF, even if Red coats remain somewhat dubious.

Here is another Officer, this one wearing a cap. The zenithal priming I do smudged out the numbering on the cap, which would normally be 66. This suits me well since it anonymizes the figure somewhat. His leg wrappings and holster are done in the same leather pattern as on the original redcoats from last year.

The Binoculars are Corvus Black with touchups of Iron Warriors and Ironbreaker to give them a slight sheen. I considered doing them in brass, but I do not have the proper paints for it and did not care to mix anything.

Notice how his scabbard is empty. I cut out the hilt within to show that he had drawn his sword. This makes me prouder than it probably should.

When I mentioned that the Perry Miniatures unshaven faces were hard for me to highlight I meant it. This drummer is not the best example I have produced, but it is pretty good by my standards for an unshaven redcoat. The extra straps were a pain as well, I am aware I missed at least one sliver on this figure. The drum was XV-88 for the outside, washed Agrax, and Ushabti Bone, washed Agrax, for the skin. I am not proud of the sides, but the front looks alright.

So many straps to paint, so little understanding of which ones connect to each other.

All the detail on these two figures meant that I forgot to do the handles of their bayonets. This is something I may return to fix, but I may just leave it to eternally taunt me.

These figures are not meant for Afghanistan alone. I intend to use them for the Second Veruzian war as well. Their equipment only partially works for this. Their weapon, the Martini-Henry, had been introduced a year before the war began, but their uniforms are a little in advance of where they should be. Nonetheless, I believe they will suffice for the purpose at hand.

As for the Veruzian forces, I have been working hard to try and get an appropriate uniform. Several test figures have been worked with, but efforts continue to find a good baseline.