The Battle of Waterloo in 6mm: Figures and Terrain

During the course of reporting on Waterloo I received a number of queries on facebook and TMP about figure painting and my terrain. It seemed sensible therefore, to provide details on the blog addressing these issues.

I would firstly point out that I am not a natural artist and will never be able to paint figures that win competitions. Neither am I a talented model maker, so what follows should be achievable by all including novices.

The figures and terrain are specific to this game. I will in due course add my techniques to other scales and periods. 

FIGURES

All the figures used in the game were Baccus 6mm apart from a handful of Generals and the French cannon, all of which were Adler. The reason for using Adler artillery was that when I started the project in 2009 Baccus cannon were not up the standard of their figures. They have since resculpted their French and the cannon are a good deal better.

If you are new to 6mm you will find that you need a different approach to painting your figures from larger scales, particularly 15mm and upwards. For the larger scales you paint the figure. In 6mm you paint the unit. By that I mean that the level of detail on the figure will not be anywhere near as much as that depicted on the larger scale. You will simply not be able to see it and will be a waste of painting time. You will also need to use a shade lighter for most colours. The way I painted my Napoleonics is not the fastest method but for me was the most satisfying and I obtained the look I wanted.

My paints are a mix of Vallejo, Coat d' Arms, Foundry and Games Workshop.

After cleaning the figures and mounting them on lollypop (popsicle) sticks I sprayed them with black primer. I use Army Painter. The black will act as shade and saves time with shakos etc. I paint jackets first followed by breeches. You will soon get into production line mode. e.g. when painting jackets on those figures in marching pose (pretty much all for Baccus apart from skirmishers) I work along the line running the paint brush down each right arm which will only slightly include part of the right side of the body up to the straps. I then work back along the line painting the left arm which will be bent holding the musket. Turning the figures around I will repeat this process which consists of one quick stroke of the brush down each arm and a quick dab around the turnbacks.

I will then paint facing colours which I normally confine just to the cuffs and where possible, turnbacks. I do not normally bother with collars. Blanket rolls and knapsacks follows. Always remember to leave a small amount of black primer showing between colours which then acts as a natural shade. I initially paint any straps over blanket rolls and knapsacks black which will be slightly wider than the moulded strap. Any straps are then painted (normally white) keeping it as neat as possible and remembering to leave thin black stripes either side of the straps. Muskets are then painted followed by flesh. For faces it can be effective just to dab a small amount of paint on the nose and either cheek followed by chin. I got a little lazy and just painted the whole face which is quicker.

I then paint the base Coat d' Arms 529 Beige Brown which saves time later when basing. Finish off with metallics. At this stage I check over the figures painting in black where appropriate to tidy up any areas I may have strayed.

This may sound finicky for 6mm but you soon get into the flow and find that most stages can be completed relatively quickly. It is worth taking time when painting straps keeping it neat as these stand out. If painted cleanly with black shading either side it can be extremely effective in a unit.

Having completed painting and flags attached, I then spray them with gloss varnish. I use Rustoleum from a local shop which is cheap and does the job. This adds the first and toughest layer of protection on the figures prior to basing.

My bases are dark brown coloured artists card cut to size. I began by using 2mm mdf but felt that it was too thick for this size base. The card is a little over 1mm thick and more to my taste. Infantry our mounted 6 to a base 15mm x 15mm. Cavalry 3 to a base 20mm frontage x 15mm. Artillery 1 cannon and 4 crew to a base 15mm frontage x 20mm. Command bases are on circular 2mm thick mdf bases. For some time I intended rebasing these on card and on smaller bases. Waterloo cemented my feeling that the bases were too big taking up too much room on the tabletop. I am now in the process of rebasing them on square bases with Army General 7 figures to a 30mm square base, Corps C/O 5 figures on a 25mm square base, Divisional C/O 3 figs on 20mm square, and Brigade C/O's including ADC's mounted singly on 10mm frontage x 15mm bases.

Baccus infantry are on strips of 4 with each figures occupying a frontage of 5mm. So some clipping is required if using this size base but not too onerous. I use PVA glue to attach figures to the base.

Over the years I have used several basing styles but with 6mm I have settled on using the Baccus basing system https://www.baccus6mm.com/catalogue/Basesandbasingmaterials/BasingMaterials/.
Not only is it nice and simple I feel it is highly effective. With 6mm it is important that the bases do not overwhelm the figures drawing your eye to the base rather than the soldiers that adorn them.

So with the figures attached to the base, I firstly paint over any part of the base where metal is showing due to clipping and then glue on the basing material (or sand), again with PVA glue. For the infantry the basing material is glued on the small strip of card showing on the front and back. For cavalry, artillery and command bases it is glued on any areas of exposed card but do not bother between figures, only concentrating on the outer edges. Once dry I use an eyedropper to drop on heavily diluted PVA glue mixed with a couple of drops of washing up liquid onto the basing material. This cements down any lose particles and prevents shedding of the material leaving bald patches.

Next I brush on the brown wash provided by Baccus. Then 3 layers of drybrushing using the 3 pots of Coat d' Arms paint again by Baccus. I paint the edge Coat d' Arms 222 Horse Tone Roan and finally glue on the flock which also hides the figure bases. The dark brown card showing through any gaps in the flock is inconspicuous. I have seen suggestions that filler is used to level out the base with the figure bases, but I felt that this was unnecessary as the flock did the job pretty well.

My Napoleonics were originally based on mdf 60mm x 30mm bases but the technique in which they were based was the same. If you prefer larger bases this is an example of what mine looked like before rebasing:

Once the flock is dry I give the completed figures 2 coats of Army Painter matt spray varnish. This also helps prevent flock from shedding from the base.

If you are a novice or new to this scale, my advice is do not get hung up over detail. e.g. I do not paint hair unless bareheaded and footwear. You will soon get used to production line painting and you will be surprised how many of these you can churn out. With a 28mm figure you will gain satisfaction on the quality of figure you complete. In this scale it will be the battalion or cavalry regiment. And believe me it can be just as satisfying.

I will finish this section off by just emphasising that in Napoleonics especially, keep it neat and black is your friend. I have frequently seen comments such as "I am too old now to have the eyesight to paint such a small scale". Do not let that put you off. I am in that 'old' bracket (will shortly be 61!) and wear glasses all the time. I use an Optivisor which allows me to see the detail on a 6mm just as much as any other scale.

TERRAIN

I will not go into great detail about how I constructed or painted terrain as each would need a posting in its own right and with photos! This is something I intend to add to the blog over time. Also, again this only relates to Waterloo.

I may well be repeating some of what I included in the introduction to the game but for completeness I will include it here. Starting with the terrain tiles. I purchased these over 20 years ago from a now defunct company 'Purbeck Terrain'. They are 18" x 18", 18" x 9" and 9" x 9" hence why my board is 7'6" x 4'6". I acquired a good number of these tiles which include coastal and sea tiles. They feature in all of my games now and in this game I have just used the reverse side which is completely flocked.

All the hill sections are made by myself and flocked to match as closely as possible my terrain tiles. The hills are cut from 10mm thick polystyrene foam sheets in 6" and 3" squares and oblongs. I cut the slopes with a hotwire cutter. A thin layer of filler is then skimmed over the top surface which smooths out and fills any unwanted indentations, holes etc. It also has the benefit of strengthening the tile and sealing it reducing the risk of warping. Or at least that is my theory! I paint all sides with cheap green emulsion paint from tester pots. Here in the UK Wilko sell quite generously sized tester pots for £1. I get a few raised eyebrows from checkout staff when I hand them several of the same colour! A layer of undiluted PVA glue is painted over the top and sides. Two shades of flock is mixed together then poured over the tile. You will get some shedding for a while but none of mine have exposed the paint underneath to a noticeable degree. 

All the buildings are from the Total Battle Miniatures '100 Days' range, and this includes the bases for Plancenoit and the hamlets http://www.totalbattleminiatures.com/. I will not go into detail about painting here but suffice to say, drybrushing features heavily.

The fields are a cut up old earth brown bath towel. Cheap artist acrylics are used to brush on the yellow colour. Several coats are needed with the final coat being more of a drybrush. I will be making more of these soon in different shades which will be posted on the blog.

Hedgerows are made by myself. Bases are strips of artist card (same as used for figures). I spray both sides a gloss varnish to reduce warping. The Baccus basing method is used again with basing material and flock applied leaving a thin strip down the middle. Using 2 or 3 different shades of green Woodland Scenics clump material is then glued using PVA glue along the middle section. I build these up gradually using various sized pieces until I am satisfied with the height. The edges of the base are painted green and then the whole lot gets a spray of matt varnish to seal everything down. Some hedgerows gain a tree. I build up a small amount of filler in the area the tree is to be planted. When dry I drill a hole into which is inserted the tree. This is done before the hedge is constructed which is then built around it.

Loose clump foliage was placed around the board to make rough hedgerows. It looks pretty good but the downside is that it develops a mind of its own especially when figures are nearby. They have an uncanny knack of attaching themselves to figure bases!

The trees are all the cheap variety purchased from China over ebay. They come in 100 tree bags of various sizes and colours. Unfortunately I have found the colours to be fairly gaudy which need to be toned down. I have created a 'dip' in an old paint pot with heavily diluted olive green acrylic. I add a small amount of washing up liquid which helps the paint spread over the tree. Once dry the tree is attached to 15mm round 2mm thick mdf bases (mine are from Warbases) using the same method as the hedgerow. I need to do more of these (you can never have enough trees!) and intend cutting down some of the trunks to add to the variety of sizes. I deliberately based mine singly which allows me to create any size and shape of wood or copse that I need, space them apart or close in to represent open or dense woods, and they can be moved easily to accommodate troops.

Roads are made from brown Decorators Caulk. Once trimmed to size the topside is covered with sand. Painting and drybrushing follows and job done. At some point I will include this on the blog in more detail but there are tutorials on Youtube and various forums.

Stream sections were purchased from Baccus.

Well that concludes Waterloo. I hope you all enjoyed this rather protracted Batrep.