Painting 3mm Napoleonic Cuirassiers

One of the iconic units of the Napoleonic Wars was the heavy cavalry, armed with swords and protected by metal breastplates- the Cuirassiers. If you've ever watched Waterloo (1970) then these are the French cavalry that Ney commits to attack the Allied army when he mistakenly thinks they are retreating. These heavy cavalry are one of the terrors of the battlefield, and so we must have some in our army!

It should be noted that not everyone had armoured cavalry. The British only armoured their cavalry after Waterloo and from what I can see the Prussians did not have regiments armoured after 1790, but as I am collecting Austrians and French, this will work just nicely for both. Russians also armoured their Cuirassiers, so this technique will work for them too.

The guide below is for my beloved French (of course), but it's mainly due to the fact that Cuirassiers are on the Order of Battle for Abensberg for the French, but not the Austrians. A quick change of colours would be required, but the colours are fairly easy to find (hint, Austrians love white). 

As ever, with my cavalry, start with undercoating in black and then drybrush in brown. I use Gorthor Brown from Citadel for mine, but remember you can drybrush in whatever colours you want. Drybrushing will pick out details and give the horses a decent colour.

Aim to drybrush mainly the horses, but essentially you're painting everything, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Next up, the main details. Paint the crests on the helmets a nice bright red, and then the helmets, swords and backplates with a bright silver. I used Mephiston Red and Runefang Steel, both Citadel, to keep in line with my other troops. Now, even though the front breastplate is the main focus of Cuirassiers, on a 3mm model you can't see the breastplate. The helmet will draw the eye, so focus on this. The black is really useful here, as it helps crate a shadow between the helmet and plume. If you want to do French carabiniers (technically only after 1809) you can replace this with a brass/bronze colour as the units are fairly similar.

Your eye will be drawn to the helmets due to that primary colour and the silver. Take your time and if you can leave that black line

Next up, paint the clothing. I went bright, so you can see them so for my French it's Temple Guard Blue and Dawnstone for the arms and legs respectively. Bright, yes, but at 3 feet away, you can make out the arms and that was my aim. Don't aim for anything fancy. One stroke, nice and functional, for each limb. At the same time, I did the scabbards in Rakarth Flesh - they are clearly visible, but in a nice neutral manner.

See the small castings on the crest? Neither did I until I painted them. Honestly, it's not worth ruining the paint job to clip them off, as you'll never see them from three feet away. Of course you could pay more attention and clip them before undercoating, but where's the fun in that?

Finally, add some flesh. Faces are blobs of colour, I like to do hands too, as I feel it's generally worth it on cavalry. For me the flesh is where the model comes to life, so it's always the most rewarding part.

Colours seem bright, but it works en masse and from a distance. You could also paint the saddles, but again, why make your life hard for very little gain?

After this, paint the flag. With the red of my Tricolore being the same as the crest, I aim to paint the red away from the crest, just slightly. You can, of course use different reds, but since we're aiming at that 3 feet rule, I find it's not worth it.

After this, base in your preferred style.

See the flag is barely red on this side? It's a much clearer Tricolore on the other side, which is all you need. 

These are very quick to paint, and as with most 3mm, look fabulous en masse. If you've checked out any of my other guides, hopefully you get that I'm aiming at speed rather than any sort of amazing paint jobs, but they do look good. Just look at my French and Austrians clashing below:

So, grab your paintbrush and get that heavy cavalry on the tabletop. Just don't let Ney make your tactical decisions....

Painting 3mm Napoleonic Uhlans

 Well, what a few weeks it's been! Two deaths in the family from Covid, a lot of work and a general icy feeling outside has meant that I haven't done half of what I wanted.

Still, this week I grabbed a half hour to spray my models, and got set on painting Uhlans. These particular ones are part of Regiment 3. Archduke Charles, and are Polish Uhlans in the employ of the Austrians as part of the 1809 campaign. If you are painting Uhlans, or any lancers, then you can follow this guide for a bit of help:

Once again, I'm starting from a black basecoat. At some point I might try grey, wash in Nuln Oil and then base from there, but I'm aiming for speed. I got three squadrons (45 men) painted in a single evening, so I'm confident of this working fast!

Firstly, drybrush with brown. I use Gorthor Brown, from Citadel, and this time the lances are an integral part of the unit, so drybrush the whole model. You'll be painting over anything that isn't brown anyway, so make your life easy. If you want, you can use a different colour for the horses, or even vary the colours if you're looking to lavish some time on them, but in Et Sans Résultat, cavalry is more of a one shot weapon, so I'm happy with speed.

Drybrushed. My models are always slightly variable when drybrushed, but I like the horses to be slightly darker

Next is the uniform. You'll want to research your colours, but in my case I've already looked them up - the Uhlans of the Audtrians wore dark green uniforms, with their hats (czapka) denoting the different regiments. The pennon echoes the Austrian Flag, with black and yellow, so that's nice and easy. As I've mentioned (and learnt through hard experience) choose brighter colours than reality. My uniform colour will then be Skarsnik Green from Citadel, as it's nice and bright. Paint the legs, back and arms. Don't worry about the front, as it's impossible to see.

You can see the green standing out. The black basecoat really helps here to define the figures. Most are two brush strokes at most

Next, paint the Czapka (hats remember!). As I'm doing Regiment 3. I need red, so a nice bright red is called for. I'm using Mephiston Red from Citadel. This is nice and easy, and really adds a lot of colour to the unit. In order to not take away anything from the model, I use Rakarth Flesh on the scabbards, but you could vary this if you wanted to.

The czapka look bright, but I think that's the point! At this point, I felt the models really start to come together.

The model is actually nearly completed. The rest is very much touching up. Use a bright silver for the lance tip (I use Runefang Steel), paint a yellow stripe on the Pennon and add the flesh. With the Uhlans, I think it is important to do the hands, but it's not vital. Blobs of paint on faces and hands gives a very good impression. At this point, you may be tempted to touch up the lances, but I would not, unless you've slipped with your flesh or yellow. The focal point for your unit will be the pennon and czapka, certainly if you're painting Austrians, so why waste time?

The final steps took very little time, but they elevate the model. You can see the "hands" and hopefully appreciate how they add a lot to the models. Also, it's a blurry picture, but horses are fast - it's not that I'm incompetent with a phone camera...

Finally, paint the flag and base to match your army. I haven't based mine properly on the photo below, but I'm going to do a mass basing at some point, so that's my excuse.

Ignore the blu-tack... Hopefully this gives you a great idea of the squadron.

I'm really happy with how they turned out. Once I base them, I have a hard hitting cavalry core, than is only slightly hampered by the Austrian decision to have infantry in the same formation. Ultimately though, they add a dash of colour to the army, much like the Hussars!

So add some colour and sweep away those cavalry that would dare challenge the might of Austria - even if you are actually employing Poles to show the might of the Austrians!!

Painting 3mm Napoleonic Grenzer Light Infantry

 The Austrian army was quite varied in it's composition and part of that army were the Grenzers - light infantry from the border with the Ottoman Empire. Fierce and possessed of the qualities that made excellent scouts, they make a interesting addition to the Austrian army.

Tactically, the Grenzers often formed part of a "light brigade" and so are often found in Orders of Battle alongside cavalry - in the case of Abensberg, they are alongside the Hussars and Uhlans.

So how do I paint mine? Well, the uniforms are distinctly different from the main infantry, so we're aiming for a brown uniform, with light blue trousers, so I used the following paints:
                    Jackets:                             Steel Legion Drab (Citadel)
                    Trousers:                           Hoeth Blue (Citadel)
                    Wood and Backpack:        Gorthor Brown (Citadel)
                    Bedding and Bandoliers:   White (Vallejo)
                    Bayonets:                           Runefang Steel (Citadel)
                    Flesh:                                 Barbarian Flesh (Army Painter)

We're following the same idea as with the French and Austrian Line Infantry, so if you've read those, this will be very familiar!

Start by basecoating in black. This does darken the model down, but it hides a multitude of sins if you miss things out. Remember that you are aiming for the overall effect of massed figures, so if you mess up a figure in rank 3, you probably won't notice!

Next paint the jackets. You want the brown to be different from the wood, so I went with Steel Legion Drab. You might want more of a terracotta or red-brown depending on what sources you look at, so amend as necessary. I've seen some depictions of them looking much closer to Austrian Line Inantry, so you could also do them in that style.

The covering on this is a bit patchy I notice when photographing them. Remember that in life these are 3mm high and you'll be looking at them from several feet away, so minor mistakes don't matter!

Next is the legs. You are painting them with quite a light colour, so you may need a couple of coats, or merely a "thick" one. Usually a "thick" coat is the equivalent of blasphemy, but in this case it's probably justified, given the size of the models. At larger sizes, you couldn't get away with this, but that's the joy of 3mm!

You can see that some models only have one leg painted. It's the same on the back and it gives the impression of marching. 

Next up, paint the muskets and the backpacks. The brown is close to the uniform, but it is distinctive enough so that you can see the difference. Thin your paints and use single brush strokes where you can can, so that you don't need to make too many touch ups.

Already starting to come together.

Next is the white. You are going to be painting the bandoliers and bedding, so it's single brush strokes again. Take your time, but don't sweat over minor mistakes. 

Final steps now. Paint the bayonets with a bright silver. I use Runefang Steel, but as long as it's bright, it'll work. The bayonets are a focal point and look impressive if they are eye catching. Then dot on the faces, and the hand of the standard bearer if you're feeling brave. Clean up the shakos with black, and paint the flag as with the Austrians - I use Black and Flash Gitz Yellow.

This is clean enough, though I did neaten some of the shakos up. The blue pants are very faint, but since these are in the middle of the unit, I'm not bothering doing more blue.

Base as per your army. I have 60 men per unit, so they come out looking something like this:

A bit blurry, but actually illustrates my points. The silver of the bayonets, the flags and the general impression of the units matters more than the neatness.

Grenzers add a flash of colour to your otherwise uniform Austrians and are an integral part of the light brigades in many cases, certainly in 1809. They are fierce troops and in concert with your cavalry can help push those French back to where they belong!