The Floozy has gone off the deep end. This month instead of painting Sci-Fi or Fantasy miniatures, she has painted figures for the Seven Years War. And in a different size – 10mm! Oh, the heresy!
I’ve always admired the uniforms of the 18th century – lace, three-cornered hats, and the colors. But collecting figures for the period in 28mm was out of the question for me – it would totally blow my budget to have enough figures for a mass battle to look right. I first looked at 15mm, but it was nearly as expensive as 28mm and would take up a lot of room on the table. In other words, the largest gaming surface I have available in my home is 6′ x 4′. I looked at 6mm. The Adler sculpts are gorgeous, but are only available for the Prussian and Austrian armies. Baccus sculpts are ok, but like the Adler range, a bit incomplete.
I settled for Pendraken 10mm. The range is fairly complete and the price is good. For the price of two 28mm figures, I can get thirty 10mm figures – enough for an entire battalion. Thirty figures for a battalion? Yes, by mounting infantry figures 6 to a stand, I can scale the battalion from one to five stands of musketeers depending on the rules I am using. For massive battles where there are hundreds of battalions per side, I can use one stand and a set of rules such as Might and Reason. For the many small battles and skirmishes I can use 5 stands for a battalion (7 stands if I include attached grenadiers and battalion gun) and a set of rules such as Two Hour Wargames’ Muskets and Shakos available from Rebel Minis.
The Project
I’ve chosen to concentrate on what was called the “kleinkrieg” of the Seven Years War. These are the many small battles and skirmishes which were often the preludes to the massive battles. The work “kleinkrieg” has often been translated into English as “small war,” “guerilla warfare,” “harassment,” and “running battle.” According to the excellent Kronoskaf website The Seven Years War Project, the master of irregular warfare was the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick. By focusing on the Allied Army under the command of the Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg, I can field units from several German states including Prussia and Great Britain. Opposing the Allied Army is mainly the French with a few Austrian units. And curiously, the Swedes make a few appearances in this area of operations.
The best source book for these accounts is free & online, though it has a very long title – The Operations of the Allied Army, Under the Command of His Serene Highness Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswic and Luneberg, During the Greatest Part of Six Campaigns, Beginning in the Year 1757 and Ending in the Year 1762 . Of course it has a long title, it was written by a British Officer at a time when writers were paid by the word.
Painting the Figures
You really can not paint 10mm figures the same way as you do 28mm figures. Though I’ve seen videos where painters have used the exact same techniques, but the figures look muddy and drab to me. The best 10mm online tutorials, in my opinion, are from Mickey Sims of Mickey’s Minis .
Basically, I prime the figures white, paint the mid-tones, do a really good brown wash, and then add highlights and accents. To me, the wash and highlights are absolutely necessary to bring out the details and make the colors pop.
Oh, I used size 0 brushes and cleaned the brushes with soap and water between each color to help keep the point sharp on the brush.
As always, thanks for reading and comments are certainly welcome.
Atomic Floozy Adventures 