Review for TundraWorks 15mm Austrian Line

Full disclosure: I’m writing this review of the painting process of the Tundra Works Austrian line as an insider at Tundra Works. I work on production of the molds and models, but only offer some opinions relating to the design aspect. As such I thought I would write up my initial experience with these models as they are relatively "new to me."

First off, painting these things was bloody easy. I can’t overstate that. They were designed to be that way but it’s great to see it come together. Being a true 15mm scale we did very little in the department of oversizing accessories and other features; meaning that you spend a lot less time detailing than you would on other lines of models. The other reason these paint so quickly is that they are more or less 2d models. Some lines are posed with musketmen mid-stride and muskets held at present arms. This creates 3/4 distinct “sides” to the model that all require attention. On the Tundra Works Austrians the poses are very simple, rifles down and men standing at ease or at attention depending on the pose. You paint the front, then the back and that’s it. 

For the process I followed this 
(link) 
guide for the most part. I did a pure white base coat with a spray can to start. I did the 
muskets, hair and backpacks with Vallejo Beige Brown. After that I painted the skin 
tones with VallejoFlat Flesh. The boots, ammo pouch and shako were painted using a 
mix of 1 part Formula P3 ironhull grey and 4 parts Army Painter matt black. 
I then did the bayonets and bedroll with Vallejo Dark Ghost Grey. I specifically 
chose not the detail the metal parts on the musket other than the bayonet. This is 
because with the more or less true scale of the accessories you simply 
won’t see these at table height. You could definitely still paint them but I 
am very much not a stickler for details. 

Anyway, with the base colours done I hit all the models with a light to medium coating 
of Vallejo Umber wash. I tried my best to not over do it since it can easily make it 
look like your men slept in a pigsty. I wanted a brown tone, not a mud bath. After 
that I hit the white highlights, strapping on the front, white buckles on the kit on 
their backs and a bit of white on the back of the collar using Formula P3 Morrow 
white. I did the back of the collar since the wash had a tendency to pool there 
and adding a touch of white seemed to make the models pop a bit more at a 
distance. After that I did the coloured turnbacks and cuffs as per this guide 
 https://www.baccus6mm.com/_paintingguides/NAP_Austria.pdf 
This is really useful as well for seeing the different regimental 
colouring (mine are Schroeder’s regiment). For that I used Vallejo Blue. I very 
intentionally overstated the size of the turnbacks simply because it was 
easier than painting the very small truescale details. It also makes the
 pop way more at table height.  After that it was just a matter of getting 
the green and yellow highlights on the shako. I used Army Painter Daemonic 
yellow and Flames of War camo bright green.

A few extra steps were there for the officers but it was mostly just for the drums 
and swords. For the drums I did a brown outside and a beige ochre for the skin. 
After washing I highlighted the strings on the drum with white. For the swords 
I just did with a Gold handle and grey scabbard, although I’m not actually sure 
if that is the right colour for swords in the Austrian army, so check that one 
out yourselves. It looks good to me though.

There are a lot of details I intentionally left out. They are quite small on the true scale model and definitely do not need to be done for gaming at this scale. Although they are still there and if you are a perfectionist you can get them. I also decided to base these guys at 10 per base. Since these are smaller than heroic 15s/18s you have a lot more room to work with, and a big unit of Austrians with 60 men is just so much more imposing. I think they came out great for gaming quality and at 10-12 minutes per model for the painting (not including basing, although that wasn’t hard either) they are very suitable for large armies with lots of models to be painted.

Overall painting these was remarkably easy and fun. I haven’t enjoyed myself this much ever while painting historicals. The only thing I like painting better are my custom urban rubble based sci fi space Soviets.

Product Page Link:
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