Extraordinarii

I have been rather lax of late in the write of this blog. This has been due to a number of real world factor converging with my innate laziness. Nevertheless, despite this over. The last week or so. I have managed to paint up a set of Roman ally medium foot, Extraordinarii for my developing mid-Republican Roman army. 

These guys are from the Mirliton range from Italy. They are really excellent figures , beautifully proportioned and cleanly cast. Once the get a lick of paint the spring to like. 

A further advantage is that since their spears and shields are separate it is possible to get a range of poses. 

I must add that I feel the colours on the Italian style shield has worked well with these figures. Although I would not claim any historical accuracy.

Next up for the painting table will be some triarii.                                         

Hunnic Command Groups

I finished these Hunnic command groups sometime ago and was not over joyed with the way they turned out its all a bit monotone and undefined.  I suspect it all started to go wrong when I inadvertently created a Hunnic elf by painting a red hat on green coated figure. 

I feel I struggled with these command groups because I did not fully visualise the completed look figures prior to starting  to paint. 

    

After a break  I went  back  to the  figures and restarted on the command groups.  and this is what  we see now.  

The Lurkio starter army provides  three command groups with it's FoG starter army  added to this is a Germanic  which  once mixed up are passably  Hunnic command group which offers a touch of variety to the command bases. 

Worth noting at this juncture that  these Lurkio Huns are of a really high standard. The horses and men on the are beautifully sculpted to include a high level of detail. The figure are split at the waist  which allows you  to get a real variety  of poses.

By Popular Demand

Please allow me to introduce another project, this has been languishing on my work bench for far too long.  Over the last few years I have been working this figure on and off. Nevertheless, I am determent to put the finishing touches to this figure before the winter sets in.  In an effort to inspire on to yet greater exploits with the paint brush I have taken some progress pictures.

The figure is from the Romeo 90mm range and is cast completely lead. He has been painted  with acrylics with exception of the face which was done with oils. With the complexion I have been attempting to represent a northern European face which has been weather beaten a sunburned in the harsh climes of the Holy Land.  The face should convey a mixture of discomfort and zealotry in keeping with a Knight Templar and his environment.  In terms of inspiration for the characterisation of the figure I used Brendan Gleason’s performance of Raynald of Châtillon in the film Kingdom of Heaven. 

The clothing and equipment has all been done in acrylics with a very light oil wash on some of the leather items in an attempt to give them a sight sheen.  The most challenging part getting  the white right.  Naturally when you paint something white you never use white.  Starting with a black primer I slowly built upwash after wash of off-white and ivory for the iconic Tunic.  

               Opting for bright yellow to paint the scarf tied around the figure’s waist, serves a couple of purposes, firstly to break up the monotone mix of whites, browns and reds. It is also representative of a looted item from an enemy. The bright colour is to indicate the comparative cultural superiority of the Muslim society of the time. This concept is also to ties in with the head garb the crusader is wearing, which imitates the local keffiyeh. 

'Malatesta' Continued ...

…Using acrylics I've attempted to create a fine leather, but worn doublet with a golden silk lying over a pair of red hose. I've attempted to build the colour up in repeated coats of glazes.

I feel that the creases would benefit from a slight darkening of the recesses. I am hopeful this would add to the contrast particularly on his trousers.

 Additionally I feel the lining of the sleeves would benefit from a touch more depth to illustrate   this part is almost totally in shade. Shadows on light colours can be challenging in many respects.

Anyhow I am enjoying this project. Do let me know what you think.

'Malatesta'

Has you've possibly gathered I am much better at starting projects than I am at finishing them. Well with predictable constancy here's another start , in fact truth be told  its a restart.

Image from Elite Miniatures via Historex Agents http://www.historexagents.com

When Elite Miniatures ceased production I rushed to buy this figure, being enamored by the fluid all action pose.

Last week while away I had a second go at painting him. It is my first attempt at a 70mm figure. Although I've had plenty of practice with 1/35 and a bit with 120mm figures.   In any case I am really enjoying giving this guy a lick of paint. I used acrylic to paint the face and feel that I could do with a couple of fresh glazes over the face to bring the various shades together.  

I See Dead People

How long have I wanted to use that line from the film The Sixth Sense in a post title !

Since starting to play Field of Glory at the beginning of the year I have been slowly building a collection the various gaming accessories required such as measuring sticks, dice, scenery and markers. It was at this juncture that I decided I needed to develop a system to illustrate cohesion of units. Thankfully, the Field of Glory rules go to the trouble of explaining the different ways of illustrating cohesion with helpful pictures. The three options they suggest are; offsetting and turning bases to show the level of cohesion, also the counter method placing coloured counters down  next to the  relevant battle group.  The third and preferred option in my case is to paint up dead figure markers.  For these guys Donningtion came up trumps with their wonderful collection of causality markers which I have been dutifully painting up in between battle groups.  Furthermore Seb at the CLWC contributed to my body count by gifting me an selection of Celts and Spanish casualties by Xyston.

The Donnington Figures were mounted on some disk bases with their edges painted green, red or black  to indicate the cohesion level a bit of flock was added after as wash with Paines gray oils to define the lowlights.   I am hopeful that these dead guys will add to the look for the look of the table along with simply demonstrating to me the level of catastrophe I have managed to get my army in to! 

Alternately, I went to all the trouble of painting up these dead guys so I could compose a blog post entitled I See Dead People!    

The Last Units

Well it’s been a long time coming but last weekend I finally finished the last two battle groups in my Early Imperial Roman Army. This part of the army is the shoot and scoot elements, with four bases of horse archers to provide a flexible flanking force. These equites sagittari are Donnington figures and look great now they are painted up, although I did have some reservations about the level of detail when I first got them.

In addition to the equites sagittari I completed a battle group of Numibian Light Horse to chase down Light Foot and deal with any nellies which might show up. The Numibian figures are by Corvus Belli. These figures are some of the most beautifully animated in the scale no two are in the same pose, a beautiful representation of irregular troops.

Tonight I want to finish painting the three command stands which will complete the army. So a little less talk and a little more painting is the order of the day me thinks...

Painting Priorities

Amongst the bits and bobs I have collected over the last month one will find an eclectic mix of different figures, rules, wargaming tools and ephemera.

Nevertheless, the thing that should have the highest priority is to finish painting and basing my Imperial Romans so I can do battle with my very own army.  Currently the painting production line is full of the second cohort of legionnaires who must be feeling slightly neglected by now.

In addition to this, I am in the process of cleaning up my newly acquired Donnington Miniatures horse archers which arrived this week.  I need to give a bit of thought on how I'll paint these chaps up. Assuming they originated from an area of Roman's eastern European conquests, possibly present day Hungary or Romania and seem to be quite lightly armoured  I wonder if a brown cream palate would suit them?  

In any case I have plenty of time to think about this while I slog my way through all those legionnaires.

Saluting Salute

Photocredit: Phil

Well after the slew of blog posts on the subject of Salute I felt it would only be right to jump on the band wagon a write something myself. Albeit if slightly later than most.

On arrival Phil, my companion for the day and I felt a little like royalty, having advance tickets we were whisked past the queues straight in, a benefit of advance booking. I was pleased my moment of organisation in an otherwise chaotic life paid off.

I never fail to be astounded by the huge variety of games on display and the very high standards of painting and building being exhibited. A portion of those that caught my eye can be seen below. 

 It was nice to bump into some CLWC members including Tamsin while I was getting some more dead guys from the Donnington stand to add to the ones that Seb gave me before Easter, thanks Seb. I expect they'll get plenty of use considering the way I am playing currently!

Furthermore, I got myself set of long hankered after Blitzkrieg Commander rules and some more 6mm stuff to inspire me to renovate the bits I found in the back of the cupboard recently. I was impressed by seeing some of the Cold War Commander games that have been going on at CLWC recently to motivate me to get my 6mm stuff painted up and ready for action once I have finished my Imperial Romans of course.

 

In any case, it was a very enjoyable outing a delight to be able to see so much inspiring stuff. Of course, many thanks to the organisers, exhibitors and traders whose contributions made it a most enjoyable day.  

A 6mm Discovery

Look what I found lying in the back of a cupboard. I load of old micro armour.


I can't recall who manucatured the vehicles but the figures are Irregular I think, handily pre-based in groups of four.

I suspect they all might appreciate a bit of a repaint to spruce them up a bit.

I am not sure there is enough here to build anything more than a late war ad-hoc Kampf-Gruppe, but we have something to work with, possibly a copy of the new edition of Blitzkrieg Commander might be on the cards?

(Not) Painting Figures

I am attempting to make a concerted effort to write for this blog and not bore myself at the same time. Currently I am painting up a 15mm Imperial Roman Army by Corvus Belli. These figure are fantastically detailed and a joy to paint. However, I am some what indolent when it comes to painting and the whole process is taking an internity because of my lack of motivation, rather spending my evenings watch disappointing re-runs on Film 4. Surely that film can't have been that bad first time round lets watch it again , just to check !! Generally a bad idea.

Back to figures while planning my army I got some great advise from the guys at the Central London Club. Which is the ideal club for people who don't like joining clubs.
The club's webpage resides on the Madaxeman website which also provided me with a very helpful guide to various 15mm figure manufactures which allowed me to explore the available options when choosing an army. Many thanks to Tim and all involved.