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....