Painting guide! With side order of Voltigeurs

We have had a busy weekend with a lot of painting and table building. When it comes to painting I'm a firm believer in that you should aim for being a smart painter instead of a fast one. In my experience, the way I paint results in the same amount of time spend on each six figures as someone who speed paints.

I feel that the biggest challenge with  the french army in the Napoleonic wars are the vast amounts of white everywhere. I had to try a couple of different ways of doing before I found one that I was happy with. For blue color i wanted it to be a bit lighter than what I seen the usual way of doing it is, but keeping with the purplish tint.

Painting guide for Line infantry in Bardin regulation uniform:

When painting the french line I divide it into three parts: Black part, brown part, White part and finale.

I always start with white primer use any brand you comfortable with, I have tried the army painter one and it almost ruined an entire battalion so I'm staying with GWs.

Black part:

Second part is the basecoats. I start with GWs Regal Blue for the jacket, use any black for the cartridge case and shako. After that I use GWs Blood red for the cuffs, I leave the red piping for later. For the musket and any water bottle I use Vallejo Gunmetal metal Using GWs Codex grey I lightly dry brush the shako taking care to highlight the shako brim cartridge case, I also use Codex grey  to paint the rolled greatcoat.

When that is done I use GWs Enchanted blue to highlight the regal blue parts. Vallejo Silver for the musket highlight.

I then use the GW Black to wash all the painted parts including the cossbelts and lapel.

Brown part


Using Vallejo Beasty brown I paint the musket, bayonet case, backpack and water bottle cord. I then take Vallejo Polished gold for the shako ornamentation and chinstrap.

I then use the GW Brown Wash on it.

White Part

I change to a detail brush as I find it to give better coverage. I then use Vallejo White to paint the cross belt and the lapel. I'm try to be tidy and get a good coverage but there is no need to waste a lot of time on it..

I them mix 3 parts Vallejo White with 1 part Vallejo Cold grey add some drops of water and give the pants a wash with it.

When the white have dried I use Vallejo White to highlight the pants and tidy up the crossbelts and to the white on the cuffs.

Finale


I begin with Vallejo Polished gold as an highlight for all the shako ornamentation and then I paint all the buttons with it. After that I change to GWs Blood red and highlight the cuffs and paint in all the red piping.

I basecoat the face with Vallejo Dwarven flesh, give it a highlight of GW Elf Flesh, a wash of GWs flesh wash and then a highlight of elf flesh.

Any hair I paint black as otherwise my OCD would force me to spend to much time on it.

Last thing I do is to paint the cow hide pattern on the backpack using Vallejo Bone white.

And there you have a finished line infantry man! I usually do then in groups of six but if I have time and the willpower I try to do the basecoat on 30 at a time.

Also as promised here are some Voltigeurs painting using this technique. I have two bases like this for each battalion in my division using a mix of perry metal and plastic.

Voltigeurs on 50mm warmachine bases

Regars,

Anders the elder