Seven Years War: Austrians

[nikharwood]

Austrian army:







Commanders:



Grenzer:





Grenadiers:





Musketeers:













Artillery:





Hussars:









Cuirassiers:









Dragoons:

[Steve J]

Look great, especially when all drawn up for battle. So, when's the battle going to happen ?

[nikharwood]

Good question 

At the moment I've still got the SS v US Paras still set-up...tempted to pack that one away though & give these a run-out cos they're so pretty 

[Leon]

Cracking stuff Nik, I'll be sending people this way whenever they ask about the SYW range!

[Blaker]

They look great Nik !  Are the Inf and Cav mounted on 40mm frontage bases?

[nikharwood]

Thanks Blake - everything is based onto 50x25mm

[Blaker]

Really, 50x25??  I thought the warmaster variants use 40x20?

I still cant get my head around you painting the army(s) in the equal of a day's time!! That is awesome, because they look so well done. It seems you got the method down pat.

I have tried speeding up my painting but the finished product looks like I speeded up my painting 

I really need to figure it out since I have sooo many 10mm periods I need to get painted and hopefully have them all done before my son goes off to college 

cya
blake

[DanJ]

Truly inspirational

My 7YW French are coming along slowly but surely, I'm in awe that you can paint that well at that speed.

[Aart Brouwer]

Bloody nice, Nik. And you have a painting signature all of your own; I would never mistake these bases for someone else's. I believe there's a word for it: character. And the insane speed at which you seem to be able to muster entire armies is intimidating to both procrastinators and perfectionists (I must plead guilty on both counts, I am afraid).

Cheers,
Aart

[lentulus]

give these a run-out cos they're so pretty 

Darn tootin'

Silesia awaits, your majesty.  Austria will not always be in such disorder as she is now.

Anyone recommend a biography of Maria Theresa for Nik's daughters?  I bet they would love to beat an army obedient to a mere male.

[nikharwood]

Really, 50x25??  I thought the warmaster variants use 40x20?

They do - but the important bit is the proportionality of width v depth: providing both armies are based the same, it's not a problem...I went with 50x25 because:

1) it allows for a bit more space
2) I had a load knocking around 

Truly inspirational

Thanks Dan 

Bloody nice, Nik. And you have a painting signature all of your own; I would never mistake these bases for someone else's. I believe there's a word for it: character. And the insane speed at which you seem to be able to muster entire armies is intimidating to both procrastinators and perfectionists (I must plead guilty on both counts, I am afraid).

Ditto Aart 

Darn tootin'

Silesia awaits, your majesty.  Austria will not always be in such disorder as she is now.

Anyone recommend a biography of Maria Theresa for Nik's daughters?  I bet they would love to beat an army obedient to a mere male.

Hahaha - true enough...although, being the mad Pony Clubbers that they are, they are both fascinated by, and critical of, my cavalry at all times 

[Inkerman]

Bloody nice, Nik. And you have a painting signature all of your own; I would never mistake these bases for someone else's. I believe there's a word for it: character. And the insane speed at which you seem to be able to muster entire armies is intimidating to both procrastinators and perfectionists (I must plead guilty on both counts, I am afraid).

Cheers,
Aart

Yes, I agree with Aart here.  Having looked carefully at the bases of these figs, I've decided to give up flock altogether and move to tufts of static grass on only about half the base. I  have already moved to Nik's system of mounting the figures on the final base first, then sanding, then priming, then applying layers of earth-colored paints to build up the proper look.  But I need to use only static grass, and only on about half the base.

David

[nikharwood]

On a related note, I've been toying with the idea (for a couple of years now) of re-doing my permanent table: as you can see from most of my pics, it's a GW mat glued to my tabletop, which means that, in essence, it's static grass all-over. It's tempting to rip it up (in patches) and apply the sand / earth texturing etc...just to match my bases.

I've bottled it so far though 

[Inkerman]

Nik,

How do you get the metal bases of the figures to disappear?

Mine don't disappear easily.  I have to use a thick layer of white glue, topped with fine sandbox sand (with a bit of bird cage gravel mixed in).  And even then all too often I have to go back and do the whole thing again to prevent the metal bases of the figures from sticking up and detracting from the illusion.

Do you have some simpler method from covering the bases?

Thanks.

[nikharwood]

My technique here is pretty-much the same as yours by the sounds of it...I'll use [slightly-thinned] PVA glue on the bases, bung 'em in the sand mix & let dry...I also give them a [more-thinned] glue 'wash' once dry to seal the texture before undercoating.

I guess I do take care to make sure that I get coverage over the figure bases while taking some care to avoid getting gloop up figure legs etc...but it's not a meticulous process by any means!

Oh - and if I really want to work fast, I'll use my not-for-the-faint-hearted method: nicely liquid [cheap] superglue onto the bases & straight into the sand tub. Job done.