As those who’ve followed this blog and its predecessor (http://apocalypseearth.blogspot.co.uk/) will know, I’m all about the cheaper side of wargaming.. So a couple of years back I scored a major haul on eBay and wound up with several boxes of old Airfix plastic 1/72 minis. Several of these are now serving with my Holy Soviet Army force, and more are earmarked for the sinister FutureCorp and Brotherhood factions, as well as my planned 1/72 Imperial Guard OPFOR for the Skooderia, but also in the haul were several boxes of miniatures I had no immediate use for..
But I figured, what the hell – you can always find a use for a toy soldier. So I cracked open my first box and decided to use them to get my eye in. As it turns out, we have a set of Napoleonic Prussian infantry.
And very nice they are too. The poses are pretty realistic – we have a few guys running, some charging with muskets to the fore, riflemen kneeling and loading, a couple of very well done standard bearers and an officer at attention with a sabre. A good mix of poses – plastic is a little soft compared to the Caesar Orcs I’m working with for the Skooderia, and there is a fair bit of flash on the “running” pose – which does look a touch ungainly – but on the whole a very impressive set.
I’ve painted 18 of the 48 up so far using a mix of Vallejo paints and some cheap acrylics from a paintset I bought at The Works, a discount art supplies shop.
White primer (Vallejo)
Tunic – Ultramarine blue (Works), wash with blue/black ink mix, dry brush with Cerulean (Works) blue
White harness and trousers (Vallejo Dead White)
Brown utility pouches (Vallejo Beasty Brown), washed with Vallejo Brown Ink
Skin tone hands and faces (Essentials Flesh Tint), washed with Valejo Skin Wash
Black ink/ paint mix for caps, rifle, blacklining, boots
Strip of white around the cap, (Vallejo) then coloured in yellow (Works)
I then washed with a very faint brown/black ink mix, and when the figures had dried faint drybrush with Works Ochre Yellow for a weathered look.
Final touch was Vallejo Matt Varnish, followed by basing on 20mm x 20mm square of cardstock – painted the edges brown and covered with flock. Enjoy!
Skinflint Games 
7 thoughts on “Plastic Prussian Power!”