Tuesday, 12 April 2022

Le Roi Soleil : Louis XIV command base for Franco-Dutch War 1672

 Hello guys

I have just finished a new command base for my French army 1668-78 , this time, the King of France, Le Roi Soleil Louis XIV on horseback, with another two miniatures, from North Star 1672 range.

The miniature is a conversion of Wargames Foundry's Louis XIV and North Star 1672 Monmouth miniature, that is for the rider, the horse is from 1898 miniatures. 

I roughly sculpted a sash with green stuff, in order to hide the seam/joint of the two halves of the body (upper part Louis XIV and lower part Monmouth). 

I got my inspiration for the colors from contemporary paintings and other painters/wargamers like Mark Allen, who is a real master of the conversion works on miniatures for this period.

I also added a sergeant or officer from the Gardes Françaises in its early uniform (prior to 1685 blue and read coats), and another officer using D'Artagnan miniature from North Star 1672. I personally don't like very much the size of his swords and it is not the most beautiful miniature from that range, but I used it anyway.

Although I have several commanders for my French army, I wanted to have Louis XIV in 28mm as he was common in the sieges during the War of Devolution 1667-1668 and also during Franco Dutch War 1672-1678 in Flanders.







I used mostly Wargames Foundry and Vallejo paints, I particularly like the "Conker Brown" triad for horses, I used for the first time here on the horse. Also the Scarlet triad is great for red coats, in the case of the sergeant.  I also repeated the new matt varnish by Greenstuff World, this product is top notch ultra matt varnish, applied by brush.



Helion's book by Rene Chartrand "the Armies and Wars of the Sun King  Volume I The Guards of Louis XIV " was also an invaluable source for information about the uniforms and equipment of the miniatures involved in this command base.

some more pics:









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