Victrix Highlanders Have Arrived

And they must've beat the volcanic ash by a close margin. The box is post-marked as leaving the UK on April 14th - about the time that whole volcanic ash thing kicked off. I wasn't in any rush to get them anyway, as I won't start on these until after Enfilade.

The two regimental colors in this set are the 79th Cameroon and 92nd Gordon Highlanders. Both very distinguished units, having served in the Egyptian Campaign, as well as the Peninsular and Waterloo. The colors in this set note that the 92nd's colors are *Peninsular*. I think the Center Company Highlander box has the 92nd colors with the Peninsular honors on it.

Here is a Tartan painting tutorial that I plan to try out. This is the pattern for the 79th:

And the one for the 92nd:

The bonnet:

The hose - although it doesn't appear to have much showing above the gaiters on the Victrix figures:

 Looks easy, huh? Ha! We'll see after doing it 60 times over!

I also ordered the mounted Highland officers and sapper metal set. The plan is to build units for both the 79th and 92nd - but the primary one I want is the 79th. I will attempt to scalpel away the wings for the Center guys. The majority will be mounted four to a base of 40mm X 40mm ,in mostly marching or positions without their arms & muskets extending too far out in front. It'll be interesting to see what can be made out of them.

Oh, and I just got an email from John at the Panzer Depot letting me know the Front Rank figures I ordered just arrived. He's offered to mail them to me since I may not be able to make it up there before Enfilade. There are a couple more Spanish Guerrillas figures in the order. If not, no problem - they are mostly nice to have, but not a show-stopper for the Sharp Practice game. Which reminds me, I need to get back to finishing the Sash and Saber French Artillerymen for, hopefully, another play test this weekend

ADDENDUM: Here is the tutorial provided in Greg's comment below of another way of doing tartans. It looks similar to the Cameron pattern with it's red stripes. I don't know if I can manage that thin lines though - the thinnest brush I have ever used is 00. Anything thinner would seem to have the paint dry on the brush before it can make it to the figure. Maybe it's because the brushes I've been using for the last five years were all bought when I was stationed in Korea and were about a $0.50 a piece. My wife bought them at a factory where they were made. She bought a lot of them, but I now only have about 10 left.