I finished the bases on my Risk-figure Cossack conversions last night.
I also tried the same basing on a few units of Swedes, just to see how it looked. I'm pleased with the results, so in between painting Russian units I will start on the rest of them.
The Cossacks are a hard plastic, as are all figures in a 'proper' Risk set, but the other figures I have painted so far (from a cheap Chinese clone copy of Risk) are a softer plastic which is easier to cut and bend. I have made all of the pikemen from the softer plastic, for example; the process I used wouldn't have worked with the hard plastic. The hard plastic takes a file better, though; this may allow me to do a couple more Swedish regiments, but in caps rather than tricorn hats.
Brilliant work. I too have a set of these all painted up. Love your conversions. I will have to look closely on that and see what I can try with mine. Thanks for the inspiration.
The only thing to watch when ordering Risk figures is that they have done tricorn ones (great for SYW and GNW) and Napoleonic ones. If you find any on eBay or similar it's worth checking which ones are up for grabs. The Napoleonic ones have shakos, and the cannon don't have an attached crewman. Years ago I used to have an article on using the Napoleonic ones for the South American Wars of Liberation.
I learned that the hard way. (I think - don't hold me to this) that the current version has the better sculpts and colonial figures, and the 1993 version had the Napoleonic figures. The Napoleonic figures are less dynamic -- the soldiers are kneeling and the cavalry pieces are smaller and (for lack of a better term) less dynamic. I have found some work-arounds. The kneeling figures have a shako with a raised panel (feathers?) in front. By clipping the corners off of the raised part, I can turn the shako into something that looks more like a grenadier's mitre hat. If I clip the shako in half, and then paint it black, I get something that isn't really a tricorne hat, but looks a lot closer to one than the shako. I can cut the feather off of the cavalry hat and turn them into reasonable-looking hussars. Its worth remembering that at this scale, there is less detail, and you can get away with paint effects (like painting on the chest plate for the cuirassiers) that you couldn't get away with on 28mm figures.
I completed an Austrian army of entirely the old pieces before I found out there was a difference. Now I do three bases of colonial figures and one of "grenadiers" for each of my regiments.
Superb!
ReplyDeleteLooking good.
ReplyDeleteWhat type of plastic are the figures made of? Soft or hard plastic?
Curious.
Ah silly me missed the previous post. Must put my glasses on, oh wait they are. :)
DeleteThe Cossacks are a hard plastic, as are all figures in a 'proper' Risk set, but the other figures I have painted so far (from a cheap Chinese clone copy of Risk) are a softer plastic which is easier to cut and bend. I have made all of the pikemen from the softer plastic, for example; the process I used wouldn't have worked with the hard plastic. The hard plastic takes a file better, though; this may allow me to do a couple more Swedish regiments, but in caps rather than tricorn hats.
DeleteBrilliant work. I too have a set of these all painted up. Love your conversions. I will have to look closely on that and see what I can try with mine. Thanks for the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteOh, this is really cool. I've purchased a bunch of Risk figures for Seven Years War battles as a way to save money. Your effort gives me inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing to watch when ordering Risk figures is that they have done tricorn ones (great for SYW and GNW) and Napoleonic ones. If you find any on eBay or similar it's worth checking which ones are up for grabs. The Napoleonic ones have shakos, and the cannon don't have an attached crewman. Years ago I used to have an article on using the Napoleonic ones for the South American Wars of Liberation.
DeleteI learned that the hard way. (I think - don't hold me to this) that the current version has the better sculpts and colonial figures, and the 1993 version had the Napoleonic figures. The Napoleonic figures are less dynamic -- the soldiers are kneeling and the cavalry pieces are smaller and (for lack of a better term) less dynamic. I have found some work-arounds. The kneeling figures have a shako with a raised panel (feathers?) in front. By clipping the corners off of the raised part, I can turn the shako into something that looks more like a grenadier's mitre hat. If I clip the shako in half, and then paint it black, I get something that isn't really a tricorne hat, but looks a lot closer to one than the shako. I can cut the feather off of the cavalry hat and turn them into reasonable-looking hussars. Its worth remembering that at this scale, there is less detail, and you can get away with paint effects (like painting on the chest plate for the cuirassiers) that you couldn't get away with on 28mm figures.
ReplyDeleteI completed an Austrian army of entirely the old pieces before I found out there was a difference. Now I do three bases of colonial figures and one of "grenadiers" for each of my regiments.