Monday 14 December 2020

Painting the High Vault Guards

I have painted up the first four members of my Notpoleonics Imagi-Nation. At the moment, I don't know much about the nation, but I do know that these guys are members of the 1st Battalion, High Vault Guards. This regiment grew out of the guardians of the royal treasury (the 'High Vault'). The 3rd Battalion still fulfills this original role, while the 1st and 2nd are active line units. The 3rd is mainly made up of veterans who have earned a slightly easier posting. The regiment is generally considered an elite formation, as the king is rather careful about who guards his money.

One of the tips I got from reading Armies & Legions & Hordes was to keep a painting journal - specifically to make note of the colours used for specific units in case I want to add more figures to it at a later date. This seems wise, and I was curious to know how many different paints I used on one figure. The answer in this case is 22.

So, here's my painting instructions for the High Vault Guard. I haven't mentioned every little buckle and belt, but this should get me close enough. Where I have separated colours with a '-' that means a 50/50 mix. A '/' means 'layered on top of'.  'Wash' refers to a a thin wash of 1 parts black paint and 3 or 4 parts water. Most of the colours listed are Vallejo Model Colours.

High Vault Guards Painting Instruction

Flesh: Beige Brown / Beige Brown - Beige Red / Beige Brown / Mid Brown / Beige Red

Jacket: Cavalry Brown - Flat Red / Flat Red / Wash / Flat Red

Cuffs: Medium Blue - Black / Medium Blue

Belts: Cold White

Buttons: Old Gold

Trousers: Pavement - Sea Grey / Sea Grey / Wash / Sea Grey

Scabbard: Mahogany Brown / Mahogany Brown - Cold White

Hilt and Scabbard Caps: Bronze

Sword Tassel: Dark Sand / Lemon Yellow

Backpack: Leather Brown / Leather Brown - Dark Sand

Bedroll - Brown Violet / Brown Violet - Cold White

Musket Stock - Leather Brown - Flat Earth / Flat Earth

Musket Barrel & Bayonet: Gunmetal Grey / Gunmetal Grey - Chainmail Silver

Crest: Black - Pavement / Pavement

Base: Jungle Green


7 comments:

  1. Those chaps are looking spanking in red. Bravo, sir!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looking good. Always nice to see a new ImagiNation being born. Especially in a not quite so traditional period for them. Looking forward to following it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brilliant inspirational thanks for sharing 👍

    ReplyDelete
  4. They're great. Especially liking the helmets.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ooh, more red-coated goodness! I am really liking these.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Notpoleonics and Notpolean are very good ImagiNations title puns

    ReplyDelete