Artillery Barrage at the Ready

The 6pdr’s lure was too much for me. The intention was for me to finish the first Militia unit chronicled in numerous Painting articles. I would paint the remaining militia for the first unit, including the unit leader with his accompanying musician and standard bearer, and then reward myself by painting the artillery battery. That plan didn’t last very long.

The problem resulted from laying out the militia and the artillery battery side by side. Everything was primed with Chaos Black and then I picked up the cannon. Examining each detail was as transforming as holding the One Ring. I knew that the evening would not end without my painting the cannon. Still, I had a plan to follow so I struck a compromise. I would paint the cannon but not its crew. That seemed fair.

Looking back at the comments on Painting AWI American Militia Update provided a partial paint scheme. Cort N and Henry Hyde suggested a historically accurate look produced by using Shining Gold as a basecoat, Devlan Mud as a wash, and Burnished Gold as a highlight. That covered the barrel but didn’t do anything for the carriage.

Luckily, I found two great examples from Giles Allison (see his blog Tarleton’s Quarter and in particular American artillery (6)) and Tilman’s Conquering the Lead Mountain (in particular Royal Artillery 6pdr (2nd ed)). Giles should be familiar because his models have been depicted in Warlord Games’ Black Powder rulebook.

Both Giles and Tilman adopt a historically accurate paint scheme. Instead of travelling that road I decided to go my own way but keep it historically plausible. A very important thing to note is that the entire cannon was painted before assembly. There are too many parts of the model that will be obscured and difficult to paint after assembly. Do yourself a favor and paint this before you put it together.

The carriage, wheels and all, would be brown. GW’s Foundation Paints are a joy for all basecoating. Calthan Brown did the job nicely. An ink of Devlan Mud, keeping things uniform, followed. The carriage was finished with Desert Yellow, with my thanks to Adrian for mentioning it the other night. This covered the wooden portions but there remained some metal areas. Bracers, rivets, bands, etc needed to be covered. All of the non-barrel metallic areas were basecoated with Boltgun Metal, inked with Devlan Mud, and then drybrushed with Chainmail.

Two coats of ‘Ardcoat and then one coat of Testor’s Dullcote finishes the model. This is perhaps my favorite piece I’ve painted, but the FoW Fuel Dump objective marker is a close second, and I’m very happy that I rewarded myself in this manner. Now I can finish the Militia necessary to finish the first regiment. They’re already primed and have all of their trousers basecoated.

Adhering to my rule of not buying anything new until I’ve painted models already in my possession is working out nicely. In fact, Neil Catapano received an order from me for 1 blister of Southern Militia firing line in shirt sleeves and bayonets (AW134), 1 Southern Militia marching in shirt sleeves and bayonets (AW136), and 1 blister of Continental Mounted Infantry (AW037) to serve as my army general. Those models are on the way and I anticipate finishing my existing militia sometime this week.

I hope you enjoy the below pictures, some are not of great quality, of the 6pdr cannon. They were taken before it was varnished. All paints used were Citadel Paints.