Army Painting: 10mm Mid-Late War French Infantry

I like to paint the bases with a neutral color, I used Ruddy Leather. Staring with the pants, paint the crotch area with Misty Grey. Paint all of the faces with Fair Skin.  You can paint the hands now or later. Painting the hands later is recommended.

Back to the pants, paint the pants Linen White. Paint the turnbacks Pure White.

The collars and cuffs are painted Blood Red. (Note that Voltiguers get a yellow collar).

Paint the jacket Dark Prussian Blue. This will probably result in some over painting. This is evident in this turnback picture. The first figure from left has the turnback repainted, the second figure from left requires it. Repaint any turnbacks that get paint on them now.

The reason the turnbacks get painted early is to preserve the white primer for the bright, white color. If the whole jacket is painted and then the turnbacks, the white needs to be built up again in several layers to overcome the dark blue.

Paint the pack Earth Brown and greatcoat Cloudy Grey. Also paint the eagle a convenient brown.

Paint the musket Beige Brown and the barrel and bayonet Honed Steel.

Wash the dark part of the figures with Army Painter Soft. Don’t get this on the pants or the turnbacks as it will dull them down.

The Army Painter Soft goes on the face as well.

Use Pure Black to paint the shako, boots, gaiters, scabbards, and ammo box.

Use Pure White to paint the shako cords, ties on the bedroll, and cross straps. Lightly paint the officer, drummer, and standard bearer shako plumes with white.  Note that the voltigeur, grenadier, and officer shako cords are not painted yet. Paint the cross straps and fix up some of the lapels using Pure White, leave the grey showing through between the lapels and cross straps/belts.

Paint the drum, shako plates, eagle, and hilts with New Gold. The officer shako should receive a gold band around the top and paint the gorget and the epaulettes. (Note, I completely missed the epaulettes on my photo! – ed.)

In this example, the models are painted one per company with two Sapphire Blue. The numbers of each company are listed above on the paints. Note that the first and second companies are exempted in my example, as are the grenadier and voltigeur companies as we already handled them in a previous step.

Use Oiled Leather to pain the drum apron. 

Paint the drum skins using Aged Bone.

The drum hoops are painted Dark Prussian Blue.

The drum cords are painted using Pure White. There is a hanging strap which should be painted white as well.

Paint the national pompon (aka cockade) with a coat of Pure White. These are found at the base of the plumes or company pompons.

Paint red into the national pompon. Make a small dot so that the white shows all around the red. 

Finally, paint a blue dot into the center of the red. This is an even smaller dot so that the red shows all around the blue.

Use Pure Black to correct any errors in the shako cords. Painting shako cords without overpainting on things like the bed roll means over painting on the shako. Fix the shako at this time.

Rough cut out the banner. Fold it at the staff line, then cut it squarely. Use white glue to moisten the flag and then put it on the staff. Crumble and work the flag so that it does not hang squarely form the staff. Add some folds and let it dry.