Colin Hagreen

BAVARIAN ARMY

First, my thanks to Peter Berry (owner, sculptor and general dogsbody for Baccus) for his offer of a free 6mm army. I was one of the lucky 20 who received a DBR Spanish Succession pack through the post, on the proviso that we sent him a write-up of how things went.

My first impressions on opening the packet were ‘Oh my word, what have I let myself in for!’. I have painted many 25/28mm figures for tabletop, skirmish and RPGs, a good few 15mm DBA armies and even some 75mm and 120mm models, but nothing quite like this. Fortunately Peter also sent his catalogue which contained a paper version of the painting guide from his website and gave me something to check off the stages against. So, in for a penny, in for a pound – this is my attempt to paint a 6mm DBR Bavarian army.

I decided to start with infantry; sixteen strips of four figures each; and followed the painting guide ‘to the letter’. After undercoating, I was already in trouble. They had changed from silver blobs to black blobs, and I was afraid I had buried any detail so deeply it would be impossible to bring out. I need not have worried – the first colour onto them was a blue drybrush, and all of a sudden there was hope. A fine brush, a steady hand and very slightly thinned Humbrol acrylics were the order of the day. The turning point came with the flesh (stage 6 on the guide) when they started to look like figures rather than abstract art. I stuck precisely to Peter’s guide, even working in exactly the order of painting, which is pretty much the reverse of anything I’ve done before. Two hours later, I had 64 recognisable little men.

Once the flags were added, I was really pleased with these, and ready to go for the cavalry.

The cavalry consisted of ten strips of three figures; 24 pistoliers and 6 dragoons. I started with the dragoons, then the pistols. I didn’t find these as straight forward as the infantry, but they came together well in the end. Again, surprisingly fast, only taking about two hours for all 30 figures.

I have scanned a regiment of foot and a regiment of cavalry; I’m a little disappointed by the scans as they look a lot better in real life, but that’s showbusiness. All I can say is, have a look at them reduced to 6mm high on screen before you make a judgement.

So; what is the final judgement? Well, I was surprised how quickly they painted up, and how effective they looked at the end of the process. I have to say, I’m unlikely to buy any more DBR figures from Peter, but that’s more to do with the period than the figures. What I will do is to order some of the Romans and Celts, probably the DBA packs, and have a try at those with the intention of going for the 25mm based versions if these paint up as well as the Bavarians. So – another convert, Pete! Thanks!