People who see the armies on the table ask two questions. The first is "How long did that take?" The answer is twenty-eight years, so far. The second is "How do you paint something that small?" This page is my answer to the second. It is not the only way, or the best way. It is the way that has worked for me since 1971, with some improvements forced on me by age.

I have kept to the two armies I own most of and that met at Quatre Bras and Waterloo: the French line infantry and the British line. Facts about uniforms are for 1815. Uniforms changed constantly through the wars, and a French fusilier of Austerlitz does not look like one of Waterloo.

1. Wash the figures in warm soapy water with an old toothbrush. The metal comes from the maker with a film on it that paint will not stick to. Let them dry overnight.

2. Mount them for painting on a strip of wood, eight figures to a strip, with a dab of white glue under each base. A whole battalion goes on three strips. You paint every figure's coat, then every figure's crossbelts, and so on, in a production line. It is the only way to paint 2,400 of anything.

3. Undercoat white. Younger painters in the club have gone over to black undercoat, which hides the places you miss. I have tried it and my eyes cannot find the figure. I stay with white and do what we used to call black-lining: after the colors are on, a fine line of black or very dark brown between each one, where the coat meets the belt and the belt meets the trousers. At arm's length on the table it is what makes a 15mm figure look like a soldier and not a smudge.

4. Paint from the inside out. Flesh first, then the coat, then the things that lie on top of the coat, then the things that lie on top of those. Belts are last but one. Metal is last.

5. Varnish with a satin or flat varnish. A gloss varnish protects better but makes the regiment look like a tray of candy.

Brushes: a good sable No. 0 and a No. 00, and a cheap one for the bases. Clean them every evening. Paint: I used model enamels until about 1985 and have used water-based acrylics since, mostly the inexpensive kind sold at the craft store in little squeeze bottles. They are fine.

By 1815 the French line wore the uniform laid down by the regulations of 1812, the ones associated with the name of Bardin: a short-tailed coat, the habit-veste, with the lapels closed down to the waist. In the Hundred Days, with an army raised in a hurry, there was plenty of variety in the ranks, and that is a gift to the painter, because no one can tell you you've got it wrong.

The elite companies. Each battalion had a company of grenadiers and one of voltigeurs. Grenadiers: red epaulettes and a red pompon or plume. Voltigeurs: a yellow collar, green-and-yellow epaulettes and a plume to match. Both companies carried a short sword as well as the musket. On the table I put the grenadiers on the right of the battalion and the voltigeurs on the left, which is where they stood, and it makes the battalion look like a battalion.

The British infantryman of 1815 is the easiest soldier of the period to recognize and one of the more satisfying to paint, because the regiment is in the facings, and the facings are a small patch of bright color you can actually see.

A red-faced regiment like the 33rd is easy: the facings are simply red on red, and you are done. My advice to beginners is to start with one.

The Highlanders. The 42nd, 79th and 92nd fought at Quatre Bras in kilts and feather bonnets, and they are the hardest and most rewarding figures in the British army. The bonnet is black, with a checked band at the bottom. The hose were checked red and white. For the tartan, do not try to paint the sett. Paint the kilt a very dark green, run a few thin lines of dark blue and black across it both ways, and stop. From three feet away, it reads as tartan, and nobody is going to get closer than three feet without being asked to roll a die.

When a stand is finished I glue the figures to cardboard, brush the base with brown paint, sprinkle fine sand into the wet paint, and when it is dry, drybrush it lighter and add a little green flock. Every stand in the club is based the same way, so that our armies look like they are standing on the same ground. Write the regiment on the bottom in pencil. In twenty years you will be glad you did.

How long does it take? A battalion of French line infantry takes me about two weeks of evenings, one hour a night, more with Barbara's crossword going on in the same room.