I’m on a business trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for the next month or so. So it is unlikely I’ll have any particularly exciting updates over that period.
Please don’t lose interest in this blog while I’m away, however, as on my return I’ll be back reporting on my painting, and maybe even some gaming, with luck. Who knows, I may see something of wargaming interest over there – though I’m not holding my breath!
I’m taking my copy of my Black Powder wargames rules away with me to read it from cover to cover a couple of times, and so be ready and rearing to play a game on my return.
I’ll just leave you with a couple of progress photos on my Seven Years War French battalion. I’ve done a test paint job on one drummer so far. The lace on drummers is usually a pig to paint. But on the Minden fgures, it is very precisely sculpted. All that I had to do was paint all laced areas red overall (the first thing I did after the usual black undercoat), then dry-brush with white, and finally edge in to the lace with the blue coat colour. I am very pleased with the result – much tidier and more realistic than any other drummers’ lace I’ve even achieved.
Minden faces, too, are very easy to do. Just paint with a straight light flesh, let dry and then wash with GW sepia wash, then use the same light flesh paint to highlight nose, chin and cheeks, and finally dab some devlan mud wash into the eye sockets and mouth – hey presto … done! I have finally, after many years, ditched painting eyes with these figures, and it really works.
So there, one drummer painted … only a dozen or so other drummers/officers/NCOs and 48 rank-and-file to do once I get back!!
DRESSING THE LINES 
Your drummer looks great, sir.
— Jeff