HIstorical Note on Andrea's Old Guard Grenadier, 1812

We meet our Grenadier mere seconds after he dropped the hammer of his musket on an approaching Cossack cavalryman. His grim determination to reserve ammunition on the legendary French retreat from Moscow means that he probably held his fire until his quarry was nearly on top of him. Facing oncoming cavalry charges would have been nothing new to our Old Guard Grenadier, a title reserved for only the most battle-hardened warriors in Napoleon’s Grande Armee as not only was he a member of the prestigious Old Guard but he belonged to one of the venerable Grenadier companies; the biggest, strongest and most combat hardened warriors in any fighting force at the time. The Russian campaign up to this point had been,for Napoleon, disastrous to say the least. His forces had fought their way into Moscow and in mid-October were forced by loose and distended supply lines and a fear of the oncoming Russian winter to withdraw in the face of a well-stocked, competently led Russian army which had, up until that point avoided major conflict with the Grande Armee leaving it largely intact and battle ready. This specific warrior would possibly have been assigned to Marshal Ney’s gallant rearguard action. Ney's fight was a rather nasty running battle; initially with the intention of allowing the main body of Napoleon’s forces to escape Russia but eventually would have deteriorated into a pell-mell struggle for survival as the soldiers struggled to maintain cohesion and fighting capability with dwindling rations, ammunition, mounting cold and the constant and deadly harassment carried out by the Russian Cossack Cavalry. While researching French line and Grenadier uniform colours for this figure I came across a fantastic etching of two French soldiers in combat. One, the possible inspiration for the figure, an Old Guard soldier taking aim and instructing the shorter, Young Guard soldier on the manual of arms.

sources: Picture, Griffith, Paddy, “French Napoleonic Infantry Tactics 1792-1815.” (Osprey Publishing, Botley, Oxford, 2007), 51 Historical Background Riehn, Richard k., "1812: Napoleon's Russian Campaign." (R.R. Donnelly & Sons Company, Sloan St., Crawfordsville, 1990.) Hical, James

Grenadier of the Old Guard, 1812

Subject: Andrea Miniature’s 54mm Old Guard Grenadier in Russia.

Assembly: As with most metal figures, Andrea Miniature’s Grenadier requires some basic cleanup before assembly such as clearing away flash and removing any lumpy metal hunks which were left behind in the molding process. Once this is accomplished, I took a piece of paper towel and cleaned off the individual pieces as many still had grimy mold releasing solution on them which would cause the paint to chip later on. The first pieces to go together were the torso and left leg. To this end I made use of the base section provided by Andrea to ensure that the feet would stand properly as the glue dried. Once this piece was in place I pulled out my MiniArt round bases (an inexpensive and effective way of making your figures look just a little more professional!) and traced an outline of the metal ground section. The reasoning behind this is so that I could accurately score the inside rim of the etched outline; the scoring allowing for more surface area and thus a greater grip between the two butt-jointed pieces.

Undercoating: The figure was given a solid base of Mr. Metal Primer before any colour was added. Once the primer was dry, I mixed up a thinned coat of Citadel Chaos Black and Vallejo Flat Blue at a ratio of 3:1 with water as a thinning agent. I took care to apply this coat to all relevant (soon to be blue) sections without removing detail through excess paint, I achieved this by occasionally adding droplets of water to my brush if the paint became too thick which allowed for a very smooth and thin application of paint. All extra detail: backpack, musket, head, side arms were undercoated with Chaos Black and Vallejo Burnt Umber at a ratio of 4:1 taking care to apply the coats thinly. The base was undercoated with Citadel Codex Grey and Chaos Black at a ratio of 3:1 respectively.

Initial layers: The first things to be painted on the body of the figure were his overcoat and trousers. I began by mixing the same colours used in the basecoat, Chaos Black and Flat Blue, yet this time I altered the ratio to Chaos Black: Flat Blue 1:4 to allow the blue to take form without being too stark. My initial reckoning when researching this piece was that the Grenadier would have been on campaign for many months and have marched across Europe into Moscow and would be on his way back west when we meet him. With that in mind his uniform is in less than crisp condition and is significantly less vibrant than the one he wore out of the depot. With that in mind, I would be adding intermittent drops of Codex Grey and Bleached Bone to the highlights with a preference on the Grey in order to show wear and fading. Once the highlighting layers are finished, save the final peak of the tone, I undercoated the cross belts on his chest with a mix of Codex Grey, Skull White and Bleached bone at an initial ratio of 3:4:1. The highlighting of these prominent straps was achieved through gradually phasing out the grey in favor of the white and tan. I was careful not to make the cross belts too squeaky clean or brilliantly white as they would appear freshly ‘pipeclayed’ on a parade ground in France through making sure that the white did not overpower the Bleached Bone. The base of the figure was highlighted with a mix of Burnt Umber, Codex Grey, Skull White and Bleached Bone at an initial ratio of 1:4:3:1 respectively. With the base I interrupted the build up of highlights on their eventual march towards a solid final coat of Skull White with washes and pastels which I deliberately applied in small ‘pools’ and perpendicular lines.

This was done to create an eventual, subtle randomness to the overall look of the groundwork. Directly under where the figure would be standing I applied a thin wash of Warpig Faded Panzer Grey and water which I applied as a shadow.

Final Touches: I will omit describing the specific details of this figure in the interest of keeping this entry brief! What I will discuss is the simple weathering I applied to his coat and skin which were intended to add to the campaigning appearance. Once all details had been separated with a dark wash, I thinned down Warpig Faded Panzer Grey until it was a very runny consistency on the pallet. Using a small brush I applied the wash to various sections of his coat, cross belts and kit using a square of paper towel to smudge away the raised areas hit by the wash. His feet were given a thick wash of Chaos Black in order to bring the boots back into reality as they had been thoroughly whitened in the basing process. His flesh was somewhat unconventional compared to my usual techniques as I wanted to portray grime from constantly pouring powder into his muzzle and pan, muck from the well-trodden roads and a general pallid feel caused by the intense cold. To this end I mixed in a measure of Codex Grey in all flesh highlights and made sure to run several dirty washes of various tones of brown on his face and hands.

Look forward to the next entry on this figure Wednesday when I discuss the history behind the subject! Hical, James