Thirteen Models on the Drum (spring clean ’25)

The year is 1997. It’s summer, I’ve just finished GCSEs, the Spice Girls are ridding high in the charts, and I’m starting to visit Gaming Clubs for the first time. I’ve played warhammer since my early teens but I’ve been introduced to different games. I’d bought my first Magic the Gathering deck, and a man at the club was teaching people a game called Flintlock. I thought this game was brilliant, it was fantasy and it had Sharpe, and it was skirmish. Growing up with a mass battle game like warhammer, playing a skirmish game was a revelation. I couldn’t afford the starter set at the time, so I picked up a couple of models and that was it. I never played it again after that summer.

Time moves on, and the world turns (quite a few times). It’s now 2012, I’ve money and I’m at Salute. At a stand I come an old copy of Flintlock, so quick as a flash I purchase it. I plan to play it again encourage others to play the best game I’ve ever played (my memory may be rose tinted here), and that was it. Other games took over, the little one was born, and the book ended up in the airing cupboard.

So it’s now 2025, I was thinking about napoleonics and the Spring Clean Challenge has been announced, and flintlock comes back in my memory.

I’ve never tried to film anything, never mind making an unboxing video… And let’s be honest this isn’t even remotely up to scratch. But the little one did teach me how to splice bits and add music.

It turns out I can’t upload the video.. So you will just have to use your imagination. There’s dramic music, rifles, orcs, and bubblewrap. Oscar winning I’m sure.

If anyone know how I can upload the video please get in touch.

I don’t have a special place to paint. No desk or room. I have a blue tray, the type of one you buy from IKEA. And this tray is covered in stuff. Old project bits I started but got no where with. There’s carnivale models, an old malifaux crew that never kind of went anywhere.

So start afresh. Box everything I’m not using, bag up the models that aren’t finished in hope that one day I will. Off to the airing cupboard with them.

So before I start painting them, what colours do I use.

The first big decisions is the flesh colour, is the classic fantasy green skin or human colours. The art work on the box gives them a human look so I have decided to go with the more human skin tones. Giving the orcs a darker rudder look, and the elves a lighter pailer look.

Next is uniforms. To ground the models as much as possible I want to make them look as historically accurate as possible. The set is a mix of regiments so research is needed, and since the two figures I have on the table are rifleman I will start there.

So what do napoleonic riflemen wear. In Sharpe (TV show) they appear to wear black, but is this true. Well it turns out I might have issues with my memory and eyesight, as it turns out they are both black and green.

According to the the rifleman museum, there uniforms are a mix of black and green velvet panels with green trousers, black boots and a black shako.

I’ve stolen this picture off the Internet (apologies to whoever took it. ), this is the only original uniform left. It’s an officers dress uniform but you can see the green/black cloth. So now that the undercoat has dried it’s tile to crack on.

My intention was to photo each part, but I ended up just doing it. So anyway may I introduce Major D’kless

I’m rather happy with how he came out

The rifleorc in the background is wearing glasses, which were a challenge.

I’ve made a error, although one in happy with. The Flintloque models come with square bases,  and I’ve put them on round ones.

Im not 100% sure why they come on square. Although not knowing the rules might have to form lines. If I need to change at a later date it shouldn’t be a problem, but I’m going to stick with the round bases going forward

At the top of my parents house is an and old cupboard the water tank use to sit. In this cupboard there are loads of old stuff filed away under too precious to throw away but are unlikely to be used again. There’s are six to eight silver boxes filled with models that I will never use again but for some reason still have. First edition bloodletters, a guild ball team, bits of models I don’t even know when I got them.

So if you read the first post, you might remember that I said I’d bought a blister of figures for Flintloque before. Black Orcs fighting for the elves, so in theory they should still be there.

So I went looking, and I found slightly more than I thought. So there I found the orcs in French uniform, a nice looking elf officer, also completey randomly a Russian/undead officer. Also a elf cannon including crew, which may effect dynamics of the set, but they can be added too.

Next thing is to buy some nail polish remover and strip the painted models.

If anyone know. Is this a Flintloque figure or is he just a random French figure

I’m kind of happy how these have turned out.

I still need to base them, I just need to get some static grass.

Also with the models been lead, I think they should been varnished.