This is the first miniature that I have ever painted. It is made of plastic and its skin and clothes are of acrylic paint. It hasn’t been blessed with the best painting skills or techniques as my first miniature. It’s about the length of a finger. It is supposed to be a grenadier from the Prussian army of the 18th century. If this plastic man were alive it would be on a campaign with Frederick the Great, fighting in the gruesome Seven Years War.
Its uniform most closely resembles that of the 1st Regiment, which took part in the most famous Prussian victories of the Seven Years War: the Battle of Rossbach (1757) and the Battle of Leuthen (1757). According to legend, after the Battle of Leuthen, a single Prussian soldier started singing a well-known chorale called “Now Thank We All Our God”, and the whole victorious Prussian army joined him in singing. After the battle the chorale became a triumphal song named the Leuthen Chorale. I like to think that this plastic man is the one who started the singing.
The idea to start painting miniatures came from a trip to Suomenlinna in Finland, where I bought a miniature of a grenadier from the Swedish army. Now I have been painting miniatures for about five years. It really goes to show that traveling can introduce you to new concepts and ideas that can change your life, as minipainting has become an integral part of my life and I have spent many hours doing it.
Minipainting and miniature board games actually originate from 19th century Prussia, so it is fitting that the first miniature that I painted was from that same time period. At that time miniatures served a militaristic purpose and helped the officers of the army prepare and plan military campaigns. Over time miniatures attained an entertainment purpose. Nowadays, people paint and collect miniatures for either the purpose of playing board games with them or just to make art. Whilst I have played miniature board games, for me the main joy of the hobby is in painting.
I paint whenever I have the time and the desire to paint. Usually there are periods, like a few months, when I don’t paint much at all and then there are times, especially during summer, when I paint every day. Minipainting is also a good hobby to combine with listening to music or podcasts, which is something that I often do. I have also taken my friends with me to my local hobbystore’s group painting events, but as a result of that only one of my friends became more seriously interested in the hobby.
There are two general categories of miniatures that people paint and collect – fantasy or historical ones. Fantasy miniatures are probably more popular than historical ones and the most popular fantasy world for minipainting is Warhammer 40K, which is set in the far future, where there is only war. As I am a history enthusiast I am naturally more interested in painting historical miniatures. By now I have also painted miniatures from the Second World War and from the ancient world. I am most proud of my Roman legionaries, on which I have spent hundreds of painting hours and used my very best knowledge and skill of minipainting.
In my home country of Estonia minipainting and miniature board games are relatively unknown. It might come from the fact that Estonia was part of the Soviet Union for the better part of the second half of the 20th century and thus cut off from the west, where minipainting in my opinion is way more known and popular. In that sense you can see in this hobby the cultural divide between east and west during the Cold War, which effects can still be felt to this day.
If you want to see pictures of the miniatures that I have painted and the miniatures to be painted in the future, check out this link: www.instagram.com/niithor_minisÂ
