Tuesday 5 June 2018

First of the Polish

As I mentioned last month, I have now made progress on my latest painting project, the Polish or Duchy of Warsaw.  These figures are based upon the 1812 V Corps and specifically those present at Borodino on Napoleon's right flank, attacking the village of Utitza.

I initially looked at Front Rank but these do not go well with Foundry/Perry and so when I saw Murawski these looked perfect and I have to say they are a joy to paint.  Very clean in respect of mould lines (almost none) and flash (minimal) and excellent detail, especially trims and buttons.  I will probably break the painting up with an initial rush to get figures ready for Mockern 1813 (game on next month), comprising the Uhlans, 3 battalions of Line infantry and a foot battery.  This will expand significantly for Utitza with 4 regiments of cavalry, 10 battalions and two batteries.

I started with the Uhlans and an officer Group.






As I previously mentioned, my preferred method of painting mounted figures is to do the horse first, then fix the man to the horse and then paint him.  But in the case of the Murawski figures, the fit is tight and thus after some judicious filing, the man and horse were glued and then painted as a whole.

The Polish Crimson/Pink is a an undercoat of Games Workshop Khore red, Foundry Wine Stain shade and finally Hues Polish Crimson (with added white for the final highlight).

The flag and pennants are GMB (as are virtually all of my flags).  I cannot recommend GMB highly enough and were applied to the figures after basing and varnishing with a PVA wash to protect the flag from heavy hands!  I am not sure how long it will be before a lance is lost in action.  At Partizan, the Grenadiers a Cheval lost their flag during the battle, somewhat a reflection of their performance on the day.  Now safely restored I hope they perform better this week at a section of Austerlitz.

Next to be finished, the 1st/6th Polish Line battalion.