Author Archives: steve wood

Well, having finished my first unit of Caribbean figure, the Chasseurs de Irios, I thought that I would carry on and paint the Chasseurs de Ste Domingue, also based in Haiti and of course  from Trent miniatures. The uniforms are very similar, except that the coats were red and the headwear more like a traditional shako with a white plume.

Rather than go through the stage by stage painting, I’ll just give you the colours that I used, as the process is very similar. All the paints are vallejo as usual!  The flesh is mahogany brown, 846, red, 957 for the coats, equipment  & hats were painted in black, 950, muskets were painted with flat brown 984 for the wood, 801 brass for the gun details & belt clasp  & steel 864 for the musket barrel & buttons. the facings were painted in green 968, which is probably a bit brighter than it should be but my preference is for the colours  on the facings to show! Finally the trousers were finished with off white, 820.

The other difference was that despite my previous comments, I decided to paint over a white under coat and I used the Vallejo matt white spray, which I find gives a perfect base coat to paint over provided you are patient and build the undercoat and not ‘drench’ than models to start with. The reason I usually use a coloured undercoat, is to save on painting when using quick shade. Of course, I am used to painting Redcoats with grey trousers, so it made sense to undercoat in grey. As these figures have white trousers, I’ve reverted back to a white undercoat.

Once the figures were painted, I gave them a coat of Army painter quick shade, the dark tone or black variety, and when this was dry, I sprayed them with matt varnish to get rid of the gloss effect. The quick shade does tend to ‘dirty down’ the white too much for my taste so I have repainted the plumes with a pure white, 950 and used the off white 820 to highlight the trousers.

I also used the base colours listed above with a bit of Off white to give some extra highlights on the muskets, facings & hats & straps. Once again, the basing will follow exactly the same procedure as the previous unit. So here’s a picture of the finished figures just before the final touches on the basing.

 So that’s two units of twelve ready for the gaming table. The next unit on the paint station is the 60th rifles!

The products used are available in my shop and are as follows:

Trent Miniatures Chasseurs Ste Domingue Car06

Renedra 20 x 20mm bases

Vallejo Paints & white under coat

Army Painter Dark Tone Quick Shade & Matt Spray

Basing Sand

Having finished painting the figures it was time to get on with the basing. This part of the project can be as important as the actual painting, the mantra being concentrate on faces, bases & flags for the best results! The main purpose is that as well as finishing the individual figures, you can give the whole unit a cohesive look by ensuring that they are consistently based. As I have previously mentioned, I wanted these troops to look as though they were fighting in the bush, so I will add a bit more vegetation than my usual basing.

The first job is to paint the sand on the bases. I used the same colour as my gaming table, which is actually an emulsion from B&Q called delhi bazaar. It might seem a bit unusual, but the advantage is that buying a tin of emulsion means that you have plenty of paint at a very good price! Ideal for basing & terrain work. Once the base coat had dried, I lightened it with Vallejo off white and dry brushed the bases to bring out the texture. Vallejo and emulsion mix suprisingly well! I then gave the bases another dry brush with an even lighter mix to get the effect below.

Once the paint was dry, it was time to add the vegetation! I used some plastic plants that I had in my spares box & cut them down to fit onto the bases. To ensure that they stayed fixed, I drilled the bases & used Expo super glue. I also used Army painter jungle grass tufts and for a bit of colour, the flowered fields tufts.

At this point, I felt that I had finished, but looking at the picture, I decide that the bases just need something else, so I added a few dabs of Flowered Field Static Grass and then finished off by edging the bases with Vallejo Chocholate Brown 872.

So that’s finished my first unit – next up, the Chasseurs Saint Domique!

The items used in this article:

Trent Miniatures Chasseurs de Irios

Vallejo Paints- 872

Super Glue

Expo Static Grass

Army Painter Tufts

The dehli Bazaar emulsion is available from B&Q stores in half litre tins. If you would like some of the plastic plants, I have plenty and will be happy to include a few FOC when you order anything from the Trent Carribean range, just put a note with your order.

I thought that I would have a bit of a change from painting the troops at Waterloo, but I still fancied something from around the same period. So just to be different, I’m going to be painting a small group of Chausseurs de Irois. These are black troops that fought for the British out in the Caribbean – Haiti specifically.  The models are from the Trent Miniatures range – They’re  fairly straight forward to paint and I’m using a uniform reference from Osprey books.

I’m hoping to make a small skirmishing force from the West Indies as it will allow me to play some interesting battles as well as putting together a small ‘What if?’ campaign. If all goes well, I can add a bit of variety to my collection, both in terms of scenery and troops!

 The actual men that formed these units were originally slaves and as I understand it the British government paid the plantation owners £3k per slave, who were then conscripted into the army for five years and at the end of their service, given their freedom. They were  treated as per ‘normal’ troops during their time in the ranks, although this may not have been much of an improvement on their previous circumstances in some cases! These Black Battalions were vital in providing manpower for the British Empire to defend it’s Colonies. Not only was there a shortage of troops to garrison the islands but the casualty rates amoungst Europeans through sickness was appalling.  The white troops that were sent out would have to endure  a very long sea voyage  and then within six weeks many would be  dead of yellow fever. So £3k might seem  expensive for a ‘recruit’, but it was  cheaper than the alternative.

And so to the painting!

1. The first colour that I used was a mahogany brown, Vallejo 70846, to do the faces, hands and feet. You will have noticed I am painting over a grey undercoat, I quite prefer a coloured undercoat to black or white and as usual with my figures, I am going to use army painter quick shade to speed things up. However, I think I will go back over the figures and add some highlights to give them more definition.

2. Next coat of paint is Vallejo german extra dark green 70896. It’s a really dark green and seems to match the Osprey picture. This has been used to paint the coat and hat plume. Next will be the black 70951, to paint the hat, belt and scabbard.

3. The picture above shows the figures a bit further into the painting process. I have used flat brown, 70984 for the musket stocks and the handle of the machete natural steel,70864,  for the buttons and musket  and brass 70801 is used to paint the belt buckle and details on the musket.  I’ve painted the trousers in off white 70820, I think it gives a nice white without being overpowering, and unusually for me I have painted the eyes of the figures using off white, and also,  the cartridge that the figure is biting. Finally, I used Vallejo light brown 70929 to add detail to the stocks and machete handles.

4. the picture above shows the figures after the quickshade & matting have been done. I always paint on Army Painter Quickshade rather than dipping it, so that I have some control over how it looks. Make sure that the quickshade is left overnight so that it really sets nicely, and then it can be matted down with army painter anti shine matt spray. I have used Vallejo 70994 dark grey to give definition to the belt and machete cover, and I did go back and highlight the plume, and also the cuffs and arms with a bit of the original green, lightened with off white. I also redid the trousers as the dip had ‘dirtied’ them down a bit too much.  On the face around the eyes and nose and on the hands and fingers, I have used mahogany mixed with  white to highlight these features.

For basing I am planning a totally different basing scheme, As they’re fighting in the Caribbean, I’d like something a bit more jungle like. So at the moment I’ve just covered the bases in sand ready for a bit of scenic work. In the next post, I’ll show you the finished figures along with details of the basing.

The items used so far:

Trent Miniatures Chasseurs de Irios

Renedra 20mm x20mm bases

Vallejo Paints- 801, 820, 846,  864, 896, 951, 984, 929, 994

Army Painter: Matt, Quick Shade

Basing Sand