I’ve collected a sizeable amount of Silver Bayonet models, but I have not had the time to sit down and work on them.  After some heavy-duty surgery, I found myself on 30 days of convalesce. With the excuse that it was doctor’s orders to take it easy, I poured myself into some work into some Silver Bayonet models. First out of the gate, I started with my Prussian warband.

I am not a Napoleonic expert by any means, so ‘correct’ uniform colors are not something I was too worried about.  I opted to generally follow the painted examples on the box art to the best of my ability.  The models I had based and primed a long time ago so I wouldn’t be able to use my Geek Gaming Scenics as they already had a primed layer of sand.  Overall, the sculpts on these models are fantastic!  Relatively simple but full of character.  The model casting was generally good except for two areas. First, my doctor’s face was not cast very cleanly and no matter how lightly I painted the skin the details just looked awful.  

Second issue was with the sword on my occultist.  Since the models were shipped together in a plastic zip lock inside the box, her sword hilt was mashed and only holding on by a weak piece of metal.  I removed it and replaced the end with a plastic sword hilt, which worked, but at some point, it got knocked off.  I guess now she is just drawing a dagger so not a big deal at all.  

I scrounged around for a replacement head for my doctor from my collection of Victrix medievals.  I liked the look of the un-helmeted Normans, but good god, they have some of the worst haircuts in the history of war!  In the end I opted for a Saxon head.  He ended up looking a bit wild for a doctor, but hey, Herr doctor has seen some sh*t in the wilds of Europe. 

The painter that NorthStar keeps on staff does a phenomenal job, and he had painted the models wearing glasses to have the skin tones visible through the glasses like a gem affect.  I attempted it, but its currently not something I was able to pull off.  Instead, I opted to keep the glasses metal and call it a day.  

The overall painting went relatively quickly.  Like I said earlier, these models aren’t dripping in detail like modern GW designs so even though I was mostly painting one figure at a time I made good progress.  There is something about these models that is just simple yet characterful.  If you are on the fence, I would certainly recommend painting some.  

My crazed doctor is carrying a torch so I thought I would give another go at doing an OSL effect on it.  I last attempted it when I painted up an Underworlds warband years ago, but I wanted to see if I could do it again.  

Overall, I feel that it turned out well.  His dark Prussian blue jacket hides a lot of the glow effect.  Although it isn’t too noticeable, I at least got a rep in on doing the effect with an airbrush.  

A simple but fun project finished in almost no time at all.  It was rather nice to not have to work and to just work on a project all day.  Is this what retirement is all about?  If so than I am looking forward to it!  I was so pleased that I even knocked out some terrain to go along with my new painted models. 

And that wrapped up a couple of days of dedicated painting.  All that was left was to put together some quick glamour shots.  Up next will be some nasty creatures for this band of Prussians to fight against.  Until then, take care!