A Grand Redoubt

Well I squeezed a few moments in at the painting table recently and painted up the resin redoubt I picked up at Hotlead this past year. It's an Imex 1/72nd scale piece. I think I got it for a reduced price at $25. I don't know if that's a great deal or not. But it is a nice piece and I think it fits my 15mm SYW figures even better than the plastic 1/72nd figures it was designed for.



Painted redoubt, front view

It came cast in a terracotta colour. Some of the sculpting seemed a bit crude, with earth slopping over the duck boards and the tree stumps seem a bit primitive.

I gave it a wash in soapy water and then an all over coating of pretty runny burnt umber. Dirt was dry brushed "Mississippi Mud" (my favourite dirt colour). Logs and planking were dry brushed grey and then the wicker work on the gabions was dry brushed a golden brown. The ruts of the wagon track were given some dilute chocolate brown to make them stand out more. The stacks of stores were painted khaki. The broken wheels were given the ochre colour I paint my Austrian artillery carriages.

Back view

My mix of flock was then glued on in a rather patchy way since I figure the ground would be heavily trampled (especially between the wheel ruts) and scored by round shot. But I also know from my back garden that weeds will start popping up within a week or two, so I even have some patches on top of the gabions and the earth fill between them and the log walls.

Austrian artillery train tries out the new digs.

I'm quite pleased with the results and now just need to find time for a game. Perhaps it can cover a bridge that the Austrian baggage train must retreat over? Or the Prussians must break a siege?

I've also read the two Ospreys I picked up for a couple of songs at the Hotlead Bring and Buy, so I have now actually dealt with all of the small amount of stuff I got at the show. Within 2 months too, I think that's a record of sorts.