First Pike & Shotte model done

I sat down and did a test model for my ECW Scots this weekend. It's always exciting painting the first model of any unit or army... before the excitement wears off and the tedium sets in is where the real fun is.

The first step was to come up with some ideas for what colors I wanted to use for "Hodden Gray." I had always thought it was a neutral or bluish gray, but after doing some research it turned out it's actually more or a brownish gray color, with a tinge of purple! Which is funny since it's supposedly made from undyed black and white wool. Oh well.

Here are the paints I chose to experiment with:

Reaper Master Series have been my "go to" paints for the past year or so. I still find myself reaching for a bunch of Vallejos and GW Foundation paints every now and then, but I do like the RMS paints. I'm a slow painter and I don't use a wet palette, and I love the fact that these stay workable on the palette for a bit longer because they already have flow improver / retarder mixed in the formula.

I like the uniform look of Hodden Gray but I'm not sure I want to use these guys as Covenanters, so I may decide that they are part of the Strathbogie Regiment at the last minute! I guess I can make up my mind when I paint the standard. 

In any case, I chose to start with a pack of loading musketeers. Here is the first musketeer:

Here he is after some flock and with different lighting. I think the shadows were too harsh though.

Now to paint the rest of his buddies! I'd like to paint the rest of this pack and also get a Character/Hero model done for these guys this month.