This Old Guard: Refurbishing my Victrix 28mm Napoleonic Old Guard Chasseurs
by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish’ Campbell
Everyone has that model or unit that is just… well… it’s not your best work. For my Napoleonic French army in 28mm, that unit is my battalion of Old Guard. Here is the story of how they are my worst unit and how I fixed the situation
First of all, in preparation for a big game of a while back, I had decided that I needed an Elite unit to back up my glorious Line infantry, and so painted all 24 figures in one day. Naturally, the plan was to come back later and re-work them.. so its very basic.. main colours then a wash over the whole model with GW Nuln oil. My pot of Nuln Oil was bad so that it left pools of white residue everywhere and a super gloss finish.
I still used them for the game. On my way back, I had to slam on my brakes for some lady in a white SUV who cut me off, and I could HEAR my boxes of miniatures in my trunk tipping over. I could only imagine the carnage. Almost every single model that had rifles facing forwards were broken, and I had to re-glue so many bayonets, that I only used them in one other game after that,
So with this COVID thing keeping everyone indoors and working from home, I figured now is the time to fix them up and make them my BEST unit. First of all, here is my paint list that I used… I had to use what I had on hand since no FLGSs were open:
Vallejo over black basecoat:
Trousers: 925 Blue highlighted with 930 dark blue. yes it makes no sense, but there it is dark blue is lighter than blue in VJ’s twisted world
Greatcoat:965 Prussian Dark Blue, then Panzer Aces 309 periscope then 965 Prussian Blue
Boots, bearskins, cartridge box, scabbards: 995 German Grey then 862 Black Grey (again black grey should be darkest, it isn’t)
Skin: VJ Game Colour Dwarf Skin 041, Army Painter Soft Tone, then VJ Game Colour Rosy Flesh 100
Hair / facial hair: 822 German Camo Balck Brown, Army painter Soft Tone, 989 Sky Grey
Reds:814 Burnt Red (hull red works too, I had Burnt red on hand) then 957 Flat Red
Rifle Wood, pouches, backpack: 822 German Camo Black Brown, then 983 Flat Earth
Metals: 865 Oily Steel, or for brass fittings and plate on the bearskins: 822 German Camo Black Brown then 801 brass
Whites: 989 Sky Grey then 951 White
Step one, as I was going to re-do them almost entirely, was to get rid of the broken ‘aimed rifle’ pose arms and replace with marching pose guys. Victrix plastic is more brittle than Warlord or Perry. Figured a new officer would do as well as a Sgt with Fanion for the flank company. Here all the pieces are laid out.
All assembled. Time to work on a test model to nail down the process.
Test model on the right – over-painting the new on top of the old paint job (old on left). Quite a difference.
Rear quarter view of the same models… I correctly did more brass fittings on these guys than my Line infantry would have.
Brass on the rifle, and brass button work for the sleeves as well.
First 4 fully repainted models
The Grenade symbols on top of the bearskins really stand out now, as well as the bright white straps
2nd base fully complete
Fanion bearer rear quarter view
3 bases complete.. my eyes going nuts for the grey highlights on moustaches and all the finery.
I decided since this was half-way, to also re-do the Guard Field Gun. Look how glossy the Nuln oil turned out and the pooling. Huge flash on the gun too.
It looks like I lacquered this model when its just bad Nuln oil…
Bored out the gun barrel
And now it’s complete with the new paint job.
I’m not happy with the way the brass on the gun turned out, but until I come up with a new solution for all my guns, it can stay as is.
A few more work ‘conference calls’ later, here is the completed battalion of 24 figures.
I find the officer looks a LITTLE like Charles de Bronson “Eyy Ohhhh”
Drum turned out great too, the original was terrible! Mixed brass with platinum paint to make a shiny look to it.
Last closeup of Officer, Sapper, and Drummer. It’s easiest to see in this shot the actual difference in blue of the trousers and overcoats.. I wanted them to be slightly different as they would have been made of different materials and presumably, dyed differently as well.
Well, they are finally done and more importantly, I am happy with them. Now I need to turn my attention to my next badly painted unit.. a unit of Light Infantry (again quickly painted to combat Scott’s Cacadores and 95th Rifles)
Matt Varnish, AKA Dennis Campbell, plays Team Yankee, Flames of War, and Black Powder and now Ancients, in the frozen wastes of Canadia. Check out my youtube channel for hundreds of :