"Vallejo Paints" Topic

I am just starting to paint the Napoleonic era in 15mm.
I am starting with Waterloo, British and French (Infantry and Officers) Will also be doing British Rifles and Kings German Legion as well. Can someone suggest the Vallejo paints I need for my two armies.

Thanks

This is my "recipe":

Napoleonic French Line Infantry Uniforms

Fusilier:
Coat and cuff slashes, shoulder flaps: Dark Prussian Blue 899 (050)
Backpack straps, cross-belts,gaiters (full dress), lapels, musket straps, pants, shako cords and raquettes, turnbacks and waistcoats: Foundation White 919 (002)
Collar, piping along lapel and turnbacks and cuffs: Flat Red 957 (031)
Boots, cartouche, shako, gaiters (marching dress): Flat Black 950 (169)
Rolled coat on backpack: Neutral Grey 992 (160)
Backpack: Beige Brown 875 (135)
Canteen, goard: Mahogany Sand 846 (139)
Bayonet scabbard, musket stock: Flat Brown 846 (140)
Musket barrel and metal parts: Gunmetal Grey 863 (179)
Buttons, musket butt, shako plate: Brass 801 (174)
Cockade: White, red and blue
Company Pompoms on shako:
1st Coy: Flat Green 968 (083)
2nd Coy: Deep Sky Blue 844 (066)
3rd Coy: Light Orange 911 (022)
4th Coy: Blue Violet 811 (046)
Grenadier:
Add to Fusilier uniform above:
Epaulettes, plume on shako, SOMETIMES shako cords and raquettes: Flat Red 957 (031)
Sabriquet (small sabre): Flat Black 950 (169) with Brass 801 (174) tip and hilt
Voltigeur:
Add to Fusilier uniform above:
Epaulettes: Flat Green 968 (083) with Flat Yellow 953 (015) crescent
Plume on shako: Flat Yellow 953 (015) with Flat Green 968 (083) tip
Collar: Flat Yellow 953 (015)
Sabriquet (small sabre): Flat Black 950 (169) with Brass 801 (174) tip and hilt

If you paint any horses one of my favorite Vallejo colors is leather red.

JD:

One thing to take into account is the poor quality of dies back in the 1800's and that uniforms are not always going to be the exact color with each new batch of die. Also during a campaign the uniform's color will fade. Rain and sun take their toll. So if you want to have a little variety, you may paint some units lighter or darker shades. This is your choice, but if you're tired of repeating the same color you can be justified in selecting a different shade just to add some variation.

How ever you decide, enjoy placing your army on the table;
Traveller

May your army have high moral and their powder dry.

Are you planning to mix your colours or are you looking for base and highlight shades neat from the pots?

For the Brits you have a nice choice of reds. For highlight and mid in flat red and an extreme highlight in vermillion that has a lovely pigment. The burnt cadmium red mixed with flat red will give you a strong base shade.

With the french again there are some cracking blues. I have been using them mixed with black for my french command figures. Both intense blue and dark blue give a rich blue when mixed with black then highlighted with more of the colour added. The excellent painter archiduque (Rafa) uses a different blue vallejo combination that can be found somewhere here in the gallery section in the comments of his painted 15/18mm naps.

I can't recall the Val numbers off the top of my head.

I've not done rifle green so sorry on that, I have done dark rich greens on my mounted Chasseur a cheval guard for napoleon that maybe of use with the rifle uniform? If you would like me to list them let me know.

Hope this helps.

Good luck
Paul

Also I'd recommend purchasing the vallejo pale sand, Ivory and off white for light buff to white shades. All 3 have lovely pigment and are very useful highlight colours for small sacks and belts.

For more of an idea on the shades you can have a look at a video I did on napoleons command base. I've just started using vallejo more recently:

link

If you want an appearance of uniformity while having a lot of uniform variation, you can achieve this by having standard base sizes, I find.

The figures can then be a complete mess individually but the assembled unit still looks quite sharp.