Step-by-Step Imperial Troops

For my first batch of "for real" Imperial Habsburg infantry I used troops from the Strelets "big box" of Tsar Peter the Great's army and court.  These figures are quite close to what the Habsburgers would have looked like in the matter of clothing.  Their equipment, too, is quite accurate.  This makes sense, as these figures were designed for the Great Northern War, which started less than fifteen years after the Siege of Vienna.  Also, the figures are for Russia which, despite Peter the Great's attempts at modernization, was still more backwards in many respects than the other combatants during the war with Sweden.  Many of the musketeer figures actually have plug bayonets, which is accurate, but sort of rare in 1:72 plastic.  As such, all they really needed was a different paint job.  I started with a base coat of Citadel white primer.

After they were fully dried I started painting proper.  I generally paint from the inside out; so areas of skin first, then uniforms and such, and then cuffs, turnbacks and lapels and so on.  The observant reader will note that mustaches of yore were apparently quite formidable.

After I finished the skin and hair, I moved on to their uniform coats.  As per most of my sources on Habsburg uniforms, I used a light gray.  On my next batch, I will most likely use a darker grey, as it looks a lot better; from too far away the light grey looks like white primer.  For their trousers I went with a simple brown, and their gaiters I painted white. 

After the skin and major items of uniform clothing, I finish the uniform by painting the facings, buttons, and other items, as well as shoes and hats.  For this regiment, I chose blue facings and gold buttons. 

After the uniform is done, I move on to the weapons and other equipment, and the base.  I haven't decided on how I want to base these guys yet (since I haven't decided on the rules set to use yet) so I simply painted their stands green.  Also, in the above photos it can be seen that I at first attempted to paint a blue facing stripe down the front of the uniform coats to represent lace around the buttonholes.  However, it simply wound up looking like a painted stripe on a tunic, so I painted back over it and just picked out the buttons. 

I've never really used drybrushing or washing on any of my 1:72s.  I like how the techniques look when they're done right, I've just always thought 1:72 was too small for it to be effective.  I may try it on some figures later, but I don't think it is useful on the Strelets figures.  Strelets are fine, but their finer details are always a little grotesque, and it's not the best idea to highlight the flaws with drybrushing and inking.  Zvezda has a range for the Great Northern War, however, and I may try to do some fancier work on those.