Saturday, January 18, 2020

BLUE ON BLUE: DANISH 18TH INFANTRY REGIMENT (NORTHSTAR 1864)

Northstar 1864 Danish Infantry in Shako

Greetings, dear readers.  In this post, we return to earth in the form of an infantry unit (as opposed to the steady diet of horse of late).  A combination of wishing to make my Danish contingent a bit more robust and the relatively recent release of a specialty set of figures in the Northstar line (above), caused me to produce a one-off unit: the Danish 18th Infantry.  The 18th retained the shako after the rest of the Danish infantry had gone to kepi.  
My Danish Infantry in Kepi: Converted Perry Union Infantry in Sack Coats

Truth be told, the 18th infantry are a bit of an anachronism.  The overall look of my Danes is more in keeping with the 1848 1st Schleswig Holstein War, the infantry in particular being in the earlier transitional uniform.  The 18th in their greatcoats are in keeping with the timeframe of the 2nd S-H War of 1864.  A minor niggle, and one that could easily be overlooked given the greatcoat (which transcends eras, really).  Anyway, what respectable miniature gamer would let such a thing stand in the way of adding such a unique unit to their force? (Not me, obviously!). Anyway, here is my study of how I rendered these figures (as usual, you may clix for BIG PIX).
 Like some of my other units, each of these stands delivers a small vignette in itself--an indulgence made possible by doing these small figure-count units. 

The Officer with raised sword arm (As shown with the Northstar Command set)
The sword arm of the officer was detached.  Experimenting, I was quite taken with the determined stride this figure delivers with the sword arm lowered (it couldn't have been that I got it upside down by mistake).  

 Bringing out the distinctive lower sleeve chevrons of Danish NCOs was one of those points of emphasis that this NCO figure seemed to call for.

I like to do a few extra figures on individual stands: these come in handy as markers or to represent pickets in some scenarios. 

These figures were a study in blue. My base for the distinctive Danish Dark Blue is Humbrol Matte Oxford Blue (104).  The greatcoats are a base Humbrol Matte Oxford Blue (104) highlighted with Humbrol Matte Blue (25) followed by Matte Mid Blue (89) and then a touch of Humbrol Matte Aircraft Blue (65).  The trousers are Humbrol Matte World War 1 Blue (109) highlighted with Humbrol Matte Aircraft Blue (89) and then a touch of Model Master Flat Light Gray. Getting the pompoms to stand out against the black shakos presented a bit of a challenge.  Sticking with the Oxford Blue would have been too dark.  So I underpainted them black and then heavily highlighted them with Humbrol Matte Blue (25), which is a shade lighter and more vibrant than Oxford Blue. I then highlighted them with Humbrol Matte Aircraft Blue (65) and a touch of Model Master Flat Light Gray.  The shakos are flat black highlighted by Model Master Gunship Gray (a combination that I find works really well for things like black headgear and similar features). For those following along, these are enamels--so you kids don't try this at home!

 Excelsior!

16 comments:

  1. These troops really look great, Ed! I appreciate your extra work on these small count units. Nice study in blue!

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    1. Thanks, Jonathan. The exceptional Northstar sculpts certainly provide a return on the efforts.

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  2. I totally approve and agree of the philosopy and attitude that led to their inclusion and like the result!

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    1. Having been in the hobby for so long, I had imagined that I was speaking to a like minded audience :)

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    1. Thankee, Stokes! A very business like panoply, but I’m happy with the results.

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  4. I entirely agree with your reasoning, it sounds very sensible to me!
    It's funny, when I was a kid one of the few uniform books I had access to (in my pre osprey days ) was uniforms from about 1660 up to the present day, so late 1960s when this was written, fair enough and not unusual but it was translated from Danish so it wasn't so Anglo centric, schelswig holstein wars,great northern wars were all in it, I picked up a copy recently in a fit of nostalgia and its still a very nice book. Sorry to rattle on, but nice conversions and lovely painting!
    Best Iain

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  5. I believe that I picked up a used copy of the same book (Kannick translated by Carman), printed originally in Danish. The illustrations have the look of another era and place, charming and informative at the same time!

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  6. Great job on these miniatures. You created a nice mix of blue shades. These Danish had a good looking uniform. 😀

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    1. Thanks, Stew. When you make pastries so good that they name them after your country, you have to be prepared to defend the place--in style!

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  7. Lots of great opportunities to re-purpose ACW figures. Nicely done on the paint jobs.

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    1. Indeed, my earlier projects involved several ACW conversions (the Perry Carlist War line is another good option for re-purposing, I've found).

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  8. Lovely toys as always Ed...
    The shakos really make the unit stand out...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks, Aly: the shakos really do help to elevate them above what one usually gets with figs in greatcoats.

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  9. The 18th regiment was new designation for the old 2nd Jagers. Hense they would have worn a green uniform in the first was with a kepi, the shako being adopted after the first war. You are right about the greatcoat however as there is evidence of the Danes wearing this in the first war.

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    1. Thank you for the added information. Very interesting to hear that these were originally jagers--and that they adopted the shako as opposed to simply retaining it (most references that I have, such as they are, imply that this unit kept the shako). Always good to know more!

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