Thursday, June 26, 2008

Napoleonic artillery & cavalry: a preview

As promised yesterday, I can finally share a preview of the napoleonic cavalry that has been on my workbench for a while.
DISCLAIMER: these miniatures look good on the table, and they are fine at my eyes. But when I am taking picture with my new, wonderful camera, there are dozens of tiny details that become very apparent, and I have issues on the way the figures look. I have at least four major retouches I need to apply, and this was just by a simple look at the pictures posted below. That said, I still believe they will look terrific during an actual battle, looked at from a distance of a few feet.



This is the French foot artillery of the line, with three nice 12-pdr guns. Heavy stuff.



The Austrian hussars got a little over-exposed, but a little adjustment in sharpness and contrast makes the picture decent. There isn't much else in the pipeline in terms of Austrian cavalry, so I guess these guys will have to work hard!



French chasseurs. There is an additional stand due to this unit, plus two other full units that will be ready soon. On the table, French chasseurs will be a force to reckon with!

3 comments:

Bluebear Jeff said...

Adolfo,

If I might suggest . . . in the future you might want to take photos of cavalry from an angle of 30`-45` off center instead of from directly ahead . . . that allows us to see more of the horse and figure.

I too paint for the table top and not the display case. Yes there are "problems" when we click on the photos and see them many times their real size . . . but as you suggest, they'll look perfectly fine on the table top.

Don't ever let the "painting Nazis" get you down.


-- Jeff

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

Adolfo - wise words from Jeff - one of the first things you notice when you start seeing cloesups of your troops is that they never look as good as they do when you see them on the tabletop - but you will see them on the tabletop far more than you will in closeup! :o))

If you are happy - that's good enough...

DestoFante said...

Thanks Jeff - very good point on the angle from which to take a picture! I think I will experiment around your ideas this weekend.

Steve: I am not going to spend too much time in making my 15mm look like 25mm... but I think I can make a few, quick improvements just by some easy retouch. The mustache on the face of the commanding bersagliere in the post a few days back is an easy one. Even these Napoleonic minis could be straightened up just a bit, now that I looked at them up close. What is important to me is keeping the pipeline moving, without getting bogged down in never-ending rounds of revisions. Thanks for kind words!
~DF