I recently painted this pack of 28mm metal civilians by Ratnik Miniatures to populate the towns and villages of my 18th century ‘imagi-nation’, the Barryat of Lyndonia.
Whilst probably not that useful in wargames as such, they will add some interesting little vignettes from an aesthetic perspective.
I used my current preferred painting technique of a white undercoat (as above) followed by GW Contrast paints.
A gentleman in green and scarlet doffs his hat to a passing lady. Her sedan chair (with a demure hand poking out of the front window) is carried by a pair of liveried servants. A boy scurries ahead with a lantern to light the way once dusk falls.
In the market area a burly old woman pushes a barrow of bread buns, another woman carries her wares in a basket on her head, and one more pours some liquid from a jug.
Meanwhile a young man munches on some fruit that he has piled inside his upturned tricorne.
A couple of workmen are repairing the road. The chap on the right is in great danger of doing himself a back injury – ‘don’t use your back as a crane!’
Here’s another view of the whole group, bring the street scene to life.
The civilians bring me to the bottom of my lead pile, so I have thought long and hard about what to do next.
My decision is to add to my one existing unit of Landsknechts. I’ve now bought a further box of Warlord Games plastic miniatures to paint up, and have also ordered a few metal Landsknechts from Steel Fist. Watch this space for the results in due course!
DRESSING THE LINES 