Perry and Warlord Russian Napoleonic infantry

It seems a bit strange to be posting pictures of my latest efforts from an hotel room in Amsterdam but its better than falling asleep.

We arrived here 2 days ago and the jet lag is quietly receding though I seem to have spent most of my time to date dodging speeding cyclists, so rather than have another nap this afternoon before dinner I thought I might compose another blog post. After a couple of glasses of red in a wine bar, a rather nice Grenache from France and a blended red from Stellenbosch in South Africa, I ask for your indulgence on any typing errors

Before we left NZ I’d planned to paint a battalion each of some plastic Napoleonic 28mm Russian Napoleonic infantry. Part of the reason was to help me to decide as to which of the two manufacturers I would use to expand my collection. To date I have 3 boxes of Warlord’s figures, (enough for 4 battalions of 32 figures each as I’d bough some extra metal command) along with 2 boxes of the Perry Plastic boxes.

I enjoy painting but I’m a rather poor modeller I’m afraid.  I can’t say that I enjoyed trimming the sprues and glueing them together but in truth this is not at all onerous and well worth the cost saving with plastic compared to metal. Some people seem to delight in using this time with plastic figures as an opportunity to make all sorts of unique conversions but it holds nothing but frustration for me as I seem to glue everything to my fingers. So apart from confining myself to the odd turn or tilt of the head I just stuck them together using the 1812 kiwer and occasional forage cap.

Its this aspect rather than anything else about the figures that have already helped me make up my mind which I prefer already – The Warlord Command figures are metal and I really did not enjoy putting the metal figures together – I found the arms did’t align too well with the shoulder straps on some officers but in all honesty it was the overall effort of getting epoxy and bluetack to behave that was the issue. It probably didn’t help that I was trying to stick a battery of their metal artillerymen together at the same time.

I undercoated the metal figures with black Humbrol enamel as I usually do (but after meting some Perry plastic French a few years ago trying the same) I used Vallejo black primer for the first time ever and I was pleased not only by the coverage, but also the short time  and ease in which this was done.

I completed the Perry Battalion first, choosing the summer uniform with white breeches.The figures were  blockpainted with VJ Russian Green tunics, pale sand breeches then tackling the black packs etc before finally being given a black wash and the highlighted as needed when dry. They probably took around 10 days to finish.

Next onto the Warlord figures doing exactly the same, except that I gave them black or winter gaiters so  I think these took marginally less time to finish.

These are slightly bigger as you can see in the first picture below with the Perry command on the left as you look at the picture and the Warlord Command on the right. Unfortunately I don’t seem to have a picture showing both battalions together from the front. In the second picture showing the backs, the Perry figures are on the right

 

Either way I enjoyed panting both, having no particular preference for either manufacturer and feel when finished they both look good.

The one drawback I think for me are the Warlord Command figures, the pose of the officers being almost hunched forward is less pleasing I think and in the end probably means that the bulk of the infantry when complete will end up being from the Perry range.

An additional drummer is present in this battalion because I used one from a metal command figures blister I’d bought

Both manufacturers deserve credit for the flags, the ones illustrated with the battalions came with each box.

For some reason I like my finished battalions to have additional officers and more than the one drummer that comes in each  box. I see that its possible to get additional command sprues separately, so I’ll go down that road and who know, rather than throw away the extra standard bearer this generates I might get out the knife and miliput or green stuff!