DBA n Stuff

Seleucid

2010-03-04T12:25:00.003Z

True to my chaotic and apparently random painting tradition, I have started another army! This time its a Seleucid army I have had kicking about for a year or so. I bought it to make up the II/19b list, and just never got round to painting it. I made a start, but it just kind of petered out.

I decided that I would get the 4 elements of pike knocked out, deciding to go for speed rather than beauty. The photo of the progress to date is shown below.

The figures are Magister Militum Seleucid Phalangites (code SEL007). The figures are depicted wearing trousers in the Eastern style, and Phrygian type helmets. I painted the clothing a mixture of bright colours, indicating that my phalangites have fallen under the influence of Eastern decadence! The shields have VVV shield transfers applied. Painting was in a very quick block colour, klear wash technique. Not the nicest figures I have ever painted, but they'll do.

You may have spotted that the front two elements have a gap at the ends of their bases. The reason for this is that given Magister Militum figures are quite slender, having the regulation 4 figures per element leaves them looking a little too spaced out for my liking. I see a phalanx as being much a more closely packed shoulder-to-should affair. The gaps you see will be filled with an extra figure - standard bearer or command figure, just so the front rank elements can look more densely packed. I will post a better pic when the elements are finished.

This photo shows the elements I had completed prior to starting on the pikes. From left to right, a war elephant, an element of Galatian mercenary warband (4Wb), and element of Greek auxilia (4Ax) and a scythed chariot and driver. All the figures are by Magister Militum, except for the Scythed Chariot, which is by Museum Miniatures - I just preferred it to the MM version.

Meroitic Kushite

2010-02-24T11:11:00.004Z

I have recently knocked out another DBA army in preparation for a themed competition coming up - this time it's I/58 Meroitic Kushite. The figures are all from QRF miniatures, and are quite nicely sculpted. They are very much "true 15mm", not suffering from the issues of scale creep seen with some other manufacturers. In size and style, they are very much like Essex Miniatures, and I think figures from both manufacturers could work very well together in the same army.

The first photo shows all 12 elements arrayed for battle. The spear, blade and half the bows are from QRF's Kushite range. The other half of the bow are from their Axumite range, and the elephant is from their Carthaginian range.

Here we have 2 views of the general on his elephant. The elephant, javelinman and mahout are actually Carthaginian, and the general himself is a Kushite bowman cut off his base with the legs bent into a kneeling position. Although on the whole, the sculpts for the figures I bought are clean and crisp, I did feel that the elephant has a slightly more "grainy" feel. On the right hand pic, you can see the one element of skirmishing bowmen (2Ps) that this army has.

This pic shows the five elements of close formation spearmen (4Sp), all are from the Kushite range. I did one element with zebra skin shields - I have no idea how historically accurate this is, but given their fancy hats, I thought I would jazz them up a bit. Two of them also have cheetah/leopard skin kilts on ...a bit camp maybe?

Here we have the two blade elements (4Bd). One lot are axemen and the others are sword (or perhaps more accurately machete) armed. They have been painted as iron weapons rather than bronze, although bronze may have been more accurate for the axes? These guys have very dandy leopard skin shields ... although given the scale of some of those spots, the leopard who donated the skin must have been the size of a horse!

...and finally 3 elements of bowmen (3Bw) - a mix of Kushite and Axumite.

The basing for the army has been done on plasticard, with dried sharp builders sand stuck on using PVa glue. I did sieve the sand to get the bigger bits of grit out, some of the bigger bits being stuck on after the sand to give an arid rocky feel to the ground. Patches of light green static grass were used to finish the whole lot off.

This army was knocked out very quickly, using the Klear polish and ink wash method. Although a bit more time spent on them would have produced a smoother finish, I am still pleased with the end result, which is (I think) an army painted to a passable war games standard.

Hyksos Skirmishers

2009-12-07T11:18:00.004Z

Havinh reviewed the figures I have finished so far, I decided that the bowmen I had painted up for the skirmishers (2Ps) were probably too well dressed for troops employed in that role. As a result I decided to break up the Horde element I had painted, and rebase some as the 2 elements of 2Ps required by the lists. These guys are tribal vassals employed by the invading Hyksos.

All that is needed now is one chariot element, and the full all options A list will be complete!

More Hyksos

2009-12-07T11:09:00.003Z

After a long absence from painting, I have managed to get some miniatures finished to add to the Hyksos army.

I have completed 4 elements of Axemen (3Bd), which are converted Magister Militum Hittite spearmen. Essentially, I took the figures sculpted with a spear in their left hand and an axe in their right. I then removed the spear, and added a shield I had removed from some old Essex Hittites I had.

I have no idea if the Hyksos used shields of this type, but I do know that Hittites and Mycenaean/Minoan cultures used similar shields, so it is not too much of a leap of faith to assume that it is at least possible the Hyksos could have done too. I have painted them as raw cow hide, again based on the fact that other cultures in the area - including Egypt and Minoans used hide for their shields.

Next Project

2009-06-17T20:06:00.004+01:00

True to form, and with my usual Goldfish like attention span I have embarked on a new painting project before fully finishing the Romans! This time it will be a Hyksos DBA Army (List I/17 a and b). I will be using Magister Militum figs, primarily from their Hittite Range. I have loads opf Hittite figs ready to be painted - at one stage I was thinking about doing a Hittite DBM army, but never got round to it. Most of the figures I bought were early Syrian in look, and from waht I have managed to find out, the Hyksos sphere of influence encompassed the Syrian area. It also seems that the majority of the figs on sale as Hyksos are dressed in Syrian style with the fringed, long wraparound robes.

From my reading it would appear that we don't really have any hard and fast references as to what the Hyksos looked like, other than they were, according to the Egyptians from "foreign lands", and referred to as Asiatics. It seems that for the 100 years or so that they ruled Egypt, they adopted Egyptian styles and customs. The idea of this project is for them to be in their "pre-Egyptian" period, thus the Syrian style of the clothing.

With all of these figures, I used a black undercoat, white dry brush preparation, then blocked in the colours before applying a wash of undiluted Klear floor polish mixed with black and brown ink. They were then finished with 2 coats of matt acrylic spray varnish to cover the glossy finish caused by the Klear.

This first pic shows the four elements of irregular auxilia (3Ax). They are Magister Militum's shieldless Hittite spearmen (HNH007). These figs would be good for the Hittite 3 Sp elements too, should I wish to morph the army at a later date.

These guys are the one element of regular auxilia (4Ax). Theses are a very basic conversion. I took four of the shieldless spear figs, bent the left arm in front of the body, and added the shields which I cut off of the figures I used for the miracle wash experiment referred to in an earlier post.

This is one of the skirmishers elements (2Ps), in this case Syrian bowmen (HNH014).

Finally, a horde element (7Hd) - only 6 figs on this base, a mix of various M M figures, representing tribal levies. A mix of SUA005 Irregular Javelinmen, SUA009 Martu Guti Bow and SUA011 Martu Guti Javelinmen. A nice irregular looking mix.

More Auxilia

2009-06-10T15:41:00.003+01:00

Two more elements of auxilia done. This now means I only have to finish one more element of light horse.

These guys are Magister Militum figs, the bare headed version of the Auxilia I painted first ... although you will notice one of them has a helmet - he was left over from the first batch so I thought I would include him for a bit of variety. They have been painted up as the Defensores Seniores, a Pseudocomitatensis unit from the Western Empire. The stars are VVV shield transfers. I went hell for leather with these chaps, and got the whole unit finished, including basing in just over two hours.

"Miracle" Wash?

2009-06-09T14:29:00.003+01:00

I have seen several discussions on the Fanaticus Forums regarding the "Miracle Wash" or "Miracle Dip" so I thought I would do a bit of experimentation to see how the process works for me. I took 5 of the same figure and painted them all white - a matt white spray primer then a coat of white acrylic. When they were dry I tried different washes over the top to see how they turned out. The results are shown below:

From left to right I tried
1. Brown ink diluted with water.
2. "Klear" floor polish with brown ink added.
3. A 50/50 mix of "Klear" and water with brown ink.
4. A 25% "Klear" and 75% water mix with brwn ink.
5. Brown acrylic paint diluted with water.

(To get a better idea, click on the pic, it will get bigger!)

For me the results were very interestig. I had been led to believe that the 25%/75% would give the best results, but for me, and I think the pics show it the best results were using 100%"Klear". Klear seems to induce a capilliary action, drawing the pigment into the recesses quite nicely. I could see this happenning as I was putting the wash on with 2, 3 and 4. Interestingly, when the washes were being applied, the paint mix looked really goog, but as it dried, the effect looked very messy.

With all of the washes, there was some tainting of the original white colour, but more so with the ink and paint mixes. I think I will do some more experiments with different pigments, and maybe even try some of the specifically manufactured washes. I will report back - watch this space!

Another Element

2009-06-09T14:25:00.003+01:00

One more element for the Patricians, another Psiloi element. This time Roman equipped rather than foederati. I now only need 2 more auxilia and 1 more light horse to have all options for both East and West Patrician.

Makkan

2009-06-06T15:01:00.005+01:00

Here is another army I did a while ago, I/8b Makkan, again for a themed tournament. I like the idea of themed tournaments because they give an impetus to get armies painted that I might not otherwise have chosen. The army consists of 6 x 3Wb (incl. general), 2 x 3Wb or 3Cm (I chose the camel option), 2 x 3Bw and 2 x 2Ps. All figures are Magister Militum.

This shows the 6 warband elements. I have not been able to find much out about the Makkan, so chose general purpose shielded javelin/spearmen. The general's element is identifiable from the red edges to the shields and the fact that two of them have swords. I made the swords by trimming the spears down, hammering he remains flat, and filing to a blade shape. I know that the swords should probably have been painted in a copper or bronze colour rather than the iron colour I did them in, but I didn't think of that at the time!

...and here is the rest of the army, all fairly generic figures - as I said earlier, I could not find out much on what these guys looked like! Also I can use the figures for other Middle Eastern biblical era armies should the need arise.

Parthians

2009-06-06T14:11:00.006+01:00

Whilst I had the camera out I thought I would post a few pics of the first specifically DBA army I painted for myself. I had painted several which were sold immediately on eBay, but this lot were done when I decided to get back into gaming again. I did it about 3 years ago to play in a Parthian themed tournament - I didn't do too well as I recall!
Army consists of 4 x 4Kn, 7 x 2LH and 1 x 3Ax.

Here are the knights. The figures are actually Magister Militum Sarmatians, but they do the job - close packed, fully armoured hooligans on horses.

These guys are the Light Horse archers, these figs are again Magister Militum Hun figures. Not particularly Parthian, but my argument is that they are Chionites, who were a Hunnic related people who came within the Parthian empire. The auxilia element is made of Essex Cuman javelinmen. Again, not especially Parthan, but look OK for Kurdish Hill Tribes, who also fell under the Parthinan sphere of influence.

So there you have it, and entire Parthian army with not a single Parthian figure amongst them!!!

Complete so far

2009-06-06T14:05:00.006+01:00

...and here we have all the Patrician elements completed thus far - 18 in total:

1 x 3Kn (gen)

1 x 3Cv (gen)

1 x 4 Kn (Cataphracts)

3 x 3 Cv/3Kn (foederati)

4 x 4Wb (foederati)

1 x 2Ps (foederATI)

4 x 4Ax (Palatina and Pseudocomitatensis)

1 X 2LH (Equites Sagitarii)

2 x 4Bd (Legio Palatina)

Some Roman additions

2009-06-06T10:15:00.006+01:00

My wife was out at a Hen Party last night, and my daughter was in bed early (for once!) which meant a few hours uninterrupted brush time!! As a result, some more recruits have been painted for the Patricians....

First up, two more elements of barbarian horse. Fairly generic, again Magister Militum figures (code DARK004). Unarmoured spear and sword armed cavalry - would do for 3Cv or 3Kn Foederati troops. Just need the bases finished now.

So here we have all three completed Barbarian horse elements. I have enough figures left to make several more elements. I will get them all done at some time so that I can use them for Vandal/Goth or whatever, but at present they are mercenaries in Roman service!

I also completed a second element of the Pseudocomitatensis auxilia (4Ax). Painted in the same colours as the first. Only two more auxilia elements to complete to have as many as I need for any Patrician Roman option, East or West. I have the figures, all I need is the time to paint them.

... and finally, two Early Saxon warband figures. I will be knocking out a couple of elements of these, not that I plan to have an Early Saxon army, but I do feel that they would serve for any Germanic type foot and as such would be useable in a wide range of army lists. I like the figures (Magister Militum's SAXN002 Saxon Nobles), there is a lot of variety in the poses, weapons and shields - very warbandy! I have to say that I am impressed with the variety with all of Magister Militum's Dark Age foot figures. But then, as you will guess, I am a fan of M M - and no, they aren't sponsoring me to say that!!

Video Fun and Games

2009-06-02T20:13:00.004+01:00

A bit of fun I had with Windows Video Maker - not very polished or professional, but fun nontheless

25mm Celt

2009-06-02T14:33:00.005+01:00

A new venture for me, just for a bit of a change. I recently picked up the Warlord Games Celtic Warriors Boxed set, so I thought I would have a go at painting one. The set contains enough hard plastic bits to make 30 Warriors, including command figures. I have to say I am impressed with the quality of the figures, which fit together well.

I wanted to see how quickly I could paint a 25mm figure to a half decent wargames standard. For speed I decided to rely mostly on drybrushing. Here is a blow by blow account of how I painted the first one out of the box:

First, I started with my trusty tried and tested method of a black undercoat with a white drybrush over the top to pick out the detail. Next was a thin dark brown wash over the flesh areas. The next stage was a dry-brush of Citadel Bronzed Flesh with a touch of dark brown added. Once that was dry, a light dry-brush of Elf Flesh to lighten and provide highlights.

Once the flesh was complete, I painted in the moustache with a dark gingery brown, and touched in the gold torc at his neck and the bracelet on his right wrist. When the moustache was dry I highlighted with a lighter brown. I also painted a wash of thinned dark green over the trousers, which when dry was drybrushed using Citadel Goblin Green, followed with a very light drybrush of a Goblin Green and White mix. I also painted in the sword blade with Citadel Chainmail, with a touch of black added, and when dry highlighted with pure Chainmail.

The next stage was to paint in the hilt of the sword with a bronze colour, and aslo the hilt and pommel of the dagger on his belt. The belt was painted in with a light leather colour, and the dagger scabbard with a darker leather colour. His feet were given a wash with dark brown, which when dry was drybrushed carefully with a lighter brown.

Basing next, I firstly put some basetex on the base in patches which I left to dry. Once dry, a wash of dark brown went all over the base - carefully avoiding the feet! When that was dry, two successively lighter dry-brushes went over the basetex. The final stage when all the rest was dry was some dabs of White PVA glue onto the untextured parts of the base, and a sprinkling of static grass.

The set comes with 15 shields, which I think is a little on the low side for 30 warriors, I appreciate not every one would have had a shield, but I personally would have liked a few more. Also included are 15 self-adhesive shield designs. Very attractive designs they are too, but you have to cut them out yourself - very fiddly, and for me a right pain in the backside! Needs a very sharp knife and a steady hand. Above shows the prgression from unpainted shield straight out of the box to completed masterpiece in all its glory. Took a total of about 15 minutes painting time, and easily as much again to cut the design out!!

Roman Progress

2009-05-10T10:54:00.007+01:00

First up is the completed barbarian cavalry/knight element. I am quite pleased with these, just a fairly average paintjob overall, but I spent some time and effort on the shields which I think has lifted the element. I will get a few more of these done - maybe even enough to provide a barbarian enemy for the Romans. For the time being, these guys will be a Foederati 3Kn contingent for the Patricians. The figures are by Magister Militum - DARK003.

Next up is another Auxilia element. Less well equipped than the Auxilia Palatina I have already done. Their equipment is more suited to the 3rd and 4th centuries, so my argument is that these guys are a unit of Pseudocomitatensis, hastily recruited and equipped. I have painted them as a rough approximation to the Transtigriani, which according to my (albeit limited) research were a unit of Persian exiles, forming part of the forces of the Eastern Empire. Having said that, the hair and skin colour I have used don't really fit with the Persian Exiles theme ... I have to admit I hadn't thought of that till I finished them!! The figures are Magister Militum SPQR26.

Barbarian Horse

2009-05-07T19:59:00.004+01:00

This is a Magister Militum "Buscelarii" figure from their Goth Range. The original figure had a big plume sticking out of thr top of his hat, and was holding a javelin. I decided to takethe plume off, and add a longer spear/lance. I also added an Essex Miniatures shield (because I lost the original ones that came with the figure!!) The reason for changing the weapon was that in the Patrician lists, I believe the 3Kn reference relates to indiginous barbarians working for the Romans. It just doesn't work for me, the thought of a javelin armed knight!! The addition of the lance is in keeping, I think, with the Knight designation. I am very pleased with the endr result, and when his two mates are added, will provide a generic dark age horse element, suitable for everything from Goth through Lombard to Gepid.

Latest additions

2009-05-07T19:52:00.003+01:00

I have been busy again, and two more elements completed. The first pic shows the second element of blades, same legion as the first lot. Now I have 2 x 4Bd completed, that brings me closer to being able to morph to an Eastern Patrician (although I know the legion I have depicted actually belongs to the Western Empire!)

... and here is an artillery element, for when I want to use the figs as a Late Imperial rather than a Patrician. I have some more figures on order, which should arrive any time, mainly more auxilia, some legionaries in mail, and some barbarian horse. I have a feeling this project may begin to grow uncontrollably!! I may even end up with a matched pair of both Eastern and Western Armies.

Patricians Finished

2009-05-05T20:59:00.003+01:00

So, here we are ... 12 elements of Patrician Romans complete, painted and based in what must be a record time for me - just over a month!

The make up is as follows:
1 x 3Cv (Gen)
2 x 3Kn (although one is actually a 4Kn!)
1 x 4Bd
2 x 4Ax
4 x 4Wb
1 x 2Ps
1 x 2LH

The army arrayed in all its glory

The 4 elements of Roman horse

The regular foot - one element of Legoinaries and two of Auxilia

The Foederati, four warband and one Psiloi

Same Army, different angle - cummin atchya

I will paint up a couple more elements of warband, four more auxilia, another light horse two cavalry and some Psiloi I think. That should give me enough to be able to field all options East and West Patrician, but that will be for a later date.

I might knock out some Donnington Dacians next, or shall I finish my half-done Hittite Empire .... then again there is always that bunch of Seleucids in the box ...... not forgetting the Etruscan League ......... mumble mumble .........................

Bases - one down, 11 to go

2009-05-05T13:40:00.004+01:00

I always do the basing of an army in one go once I have finished painting it. A good base can make an extraordianry difference to the way a figure or element looks. I really do believe that even with a very mediocre paint job, spending a bit of effort on the shields and bases can improve the look significantly. Conversely, a superb paint job can be spoiled by sloppy basing.

I tend to use Basetex, produced by Standard paints for most of my basing. I don't know who retails it I am afraid, I usually pick up a jar when I go to Wargames shows, and never take note of which stand I bought it from! It is esentially a water based paint with grit in it - I guess I could probably make my own, but at £2 a jar, it's just not worth the effort.

I use 2mm thick plasicard for my bases. I have never had a problem with warping or splitting, and it is easy to cut.

Before the figures get stuck onto the base I score the surface, this is to make sure that whatever I am going to stick on there - Basetex or whatever - has something to grip to. I have never tried it without scoring first, but I suspect the surface would be too smooth. I also paint in the edges of the base at this stage, it makes the whole thing look so much tidier when its finished.

Once that is done, I slap big dollops of basetex around the figures using an old tatty brush to work it up to, and onto the figure bases. I use enough to fill the gaps, and even out the overall surface, using a stippling motion to retain the grainy texture. Once that's done, leave it to dry out completely. This will ruin a decent brush, so make sure you use one you don't care about. Stiffer bristles are better.

When it is dry, as in the top left picture, I then dry brush the whole lot with a colour a couple of tones lighter than the Basetex, as shown top right. I then follow up with another dryer dry brushing using a lighter tone. This really accentuates the texture of the base (bottom left). The last stage is the static grass. I put irregular patches of slightly diluted PVA glue on the base - usually including the area around the figure's feet, then scatter the whole lot with static grass. Give the glue long enough to dry - about 10 minutes or so - then tap the excess grass off. A final blow to get the last of the loose stuff off, and there you have it one element totally finished.

Static grass is magic stuff, as I understand it, the synthetic material it is made from builds up a static charge (especially if you shake it before you use it!). When it is sprinkled onto your chosen area, the static causes the strands to repel each other, causing them to stand up. Thus the very realistic grassy look - clever aint it? I get my static grass from model railway shops, it's not too expensive. Games Workshop also sell it, but with an apparrent squillion percent mark-up, my advice is to stick to the model railway shops.

12th Element

2009-05-05T11:17:00.006+01:00

Here is the last element needed for a full Western Patrician Roman army. Clibanarii based as a 3Kn, with the option to use as a Kn general should the mood take me. The standard bearer is a Magister Militum figure (SPQR64), with the original flag pole removed, and a wire one added for resilience. The general, his horse and the other rider are Essex Miniatures figures, left over from an earlier project. I have replaced the lance with a wire spear, and bent the arm a bit so it can rest on the rider's shoulder.

The army is not all-options yet, but at least I now have a DBA legal 12 element army I can field. I will continue adding to it to cover all options for East and West.

All I need do now is complete the basing - more on that soon.

Forthcoming competition

2009-04-28T21:08:00.006+01:00

I am hoping to be able to go to a DBA competition in Alvechurch (West Midlands) in a few weeks time ... I have the time off work, I just need to work on getting a Visa from my wife! I am thinking of using this army, see how it goes ... I will keep you posted.

Then in June, the Portsmouth and Allied Wargames Society are having their Quarterly themed competition. From the list of allowable armies, I am toying with using Patrician Roman (thus the rush to finish this project) or possibly Alan, which I can knock together combining Sarmatian Knights with Hun Light Horse, both of which I have already painted, plus some of the Gothic foot from this project. Decision decisions!

Warband Complete

2009-04-28T20:55:00.008+01:00

The last two elements of warband are complete, shown here as the front rank with the already completed elements behind. I like the variety of the figures - all from the same product code (Magister Militum DARK005). So, all the Foederati Warband I will need for any of the Late Imperial/Patrician lists.

One last element of Knights to paint, and that will be a 12 element Western Patrician Roman DBA army complete - albeit with some extra elements to do for the all-options version. Then a few more to be able to morph to an all-options Eastern version. Oh, and some more still to be able to morph to all-options Late Imperial. Best keep painting then!

Another element done

2009-04-22T13:15:00.008+01:00

I have completed the second Auxilia element - colours the same as the first, so here is a pic of all the Roman regular foot completed thus far. Two more elements of Auxilia do for the all options Western Patrician. I think I will go for a different unit for those two elements.

...and just for the hell of it, another pic of the warband. There are two more of these elements to do too for the Western Patrician to cover all options. I think I will do those next.

Roman Reinforcements

2009-04-22T12:40:00.006+01:00

An element of Catafractarii complete. I know that the Patrician list only includes 3Kn options, but I do like the look of cataphracts, and it would be a sin not to base thm 4 to a base - they would not look like a big solid mass otherwise.

I note from the DBM lists that Clibanarii are allowed in the Patrician Eastern list and that both Cataphracts and Clibanarii are included in the Late Imperial lists. Although I said earlier that this project is a Western Patrician I am hoping to paint enogh figures to morph all options for both Patrician and Late Imperial, so I will find a use for these guys somewhere!

The figures are Magister Militum SPQR63. I replaced the original kontos lances with wire spears for strength. Unfortunately in doing so, two of the riders' hands broke off, so they are holding their lances with stumps! (I decided against making new hands with Miliput ... just too fiddly). The shafts of their kontos are painted red - don't know if this is historically accurate, but it makes them more colourful.

Here is the Psiloi element - more foederati tribesmen. The figs are Magister Militum Goth Bowmen - DARK010

More Romans

2009-04-20T11:49:00.003+01:00

So, here is the 3Cv general option. Painted in the colours of the Equites Batavi Iuniores. The stars are VVV shield transfers.
The Vexillum is supposed to be in the style of Constantine's Labarum.

The general and standard bearer are Magister Militum code SPQR51. The right hand horseman is actually an Essex Miniatures figure that I had in my spares box, but I find that Essex are very compatible with Magister Militum. His horse is Magister Militum.

This is one of the Auxilia units (4Ax) - a few more to paint, but I will get round to those later. Painted up as Auxilia Palatina - one of the Celtae Units. VVV shield transfers were used, touched in with yellow paint to brighten them. Figs are Magister Militum SPQR33.

Here are two elements of the Foederati Warband (4Wb) - Magister Militum Goth figures (code DARK0005). Two more to do for the Patrician West list.

The Light Horse element - Equites Sagitarii. Colour scheme was invented by me ... I like green! Again, Magister Militum figures, but I think these are an old out of production line.

The brushes have come out again

2009-04-20T11:41:00.003+01:00

At last, I have managed to get the paints out again! ...And true to form, I have started on yet another project. This time it is Patrician Roman. I have had a load of Magister Militum Late Roman figures kicking around for ages, so I thought I would get started on them. The first few elements are now complete.

These first two pics are of the Blade element (Magister Militum code SPQR15). I bent the sword arms about a bit to inject a bit of variety in the poses, which I think has worked quite well.

They have been painted to represent the Legio Palatina "Herculiani Seniores". The eagles are VVV shield transfers.

A change is as good as a rest

2008-11-12T19:50:00.003Z

I find that my interest for a particular painting project des seem to fluctuate ...attention span of a goldfish sometimes! So I recently dug out some Corvus Belli Numidians I have had knocking round for ages, and decided to slap some paint on to get my eye in. Here are the results:

The Army Arrayed

5 elements of 2Ps

Combination of sling and bow

5 elements of 2LH

Both options for the general's element
2LH or 3CV

Roman trained Immitation Legionaries (4Bd)

6 elements of Auxilia - 5 of 3Ax,

and if you look carefully you will see one element of 4Ax

The army again

This time from a slightly different angle

I really enjoyed this little diversion. They were the first Corvus Belli figures I have painted, and I think they are absolutely superb figures. A little on the large side, but the sculpting and detail are fantastic.

Some movement!

2008-11-12T19:43:00.002Z

At last some minor progress!!
The first two blade figues painted! (woo hoo)

The blades, as stated earlier will be more uniform in appearance ... primarily to make it easier to distinguish them from the spears. I have also trimmed the plume off of the helmet of one of the figures, I don't know why .... just felt like it!!

Also, transfers have been added to the shields of the first two elements of spear.

Video clip

2008-06-08T10:33:00.002+01:00

I have had a bit of a play with some sequential photos I took of one of the hoplites to see how it turns out. I am fairly pleased with the results - so here it is a video showing the change from priming to finished article!

...slow progress

2008-06-08T10:06:00.003+01:00

Well, its been a while since the last post (nearly 6 months!) but I am afraid that life has got in the way of painting for a bit! Here is a pic of one and a half elements of spears complete . Unfortunately that's as far as I have got - that's an average of one figure per month ;). Hopefully, a change in career path will be happening in the next month or so, which will give me some of my free time back. You never know, I might be able to get the army finished before the end of the decade!!

Change of mind

2008-01-29T09:14:00.002Z

I looked at the pic of the second spearman again, and decided that he was just too colourful for the way I envision the Etruscans. The blue on the shield and plume just seemed too vivid for 300BC, so I repainted him to give a black shield and black/white plume. I am happier with the result.

Second spearman

2008-01-28T15:48:00.002Z

The second completed spearman. Technique for this one was exactly the same as the last. Now that I have painted one of each type of figure, the rest will be done in batches, and will hopefully be quicker.

Second spearman

2008-01-28T14:10:00.003Z

So here is a work in progress shot for the second type of spearman, this time with an Etrusco-Corinthian helmet and hoplon shield. The black undercoat/white drybrush stage showed up that he was wearing a scale type cuirass rather than what I thought was a linen or leather one. As a result of this discovery, I drybrushed the whole figure with a bronze colour as it was easier to do at this stage than trying to do it only on the cuirass after the rest of the colours were done. Next was the basic colour blocking-in. The spear armed hoplites will be painted in various colours for variety and visual impact. The pilum armed guys I think will be painted in a consistent, uniform colour. This is for two reasons: firstly, on a whim (!) and secondly, as the figures look so similar, this will be a way to easily distinguish between troop types during the game.

First figure done

2008-01-28T13:15:00.003Z

The first spearman is now finished. A thinned down brown wash was brushed over the whole figure, adding depth to the recesses, but still reaving the main colours showing through. Once that was dry (which didn't take long when balanced on top of a radiator whilst the heating was on!) thinned dark brown was used to pick out some of the detail missed by the wash - things like muscle definition on the flesh areas, and some folds on the clothing.Gold was used to highlight the bronze areas, belts were painted in, and a light flesh tone used to highlight areas like cheekbones, the nose and the knuckles. I also painted a couple more coats of thinned white paint to the face of the shield. I will be using transfers for the shield designs, but that will come later.

There you have it, one finished Etruscan spearman. He won't win any prizes in a painting competition, but still done to what I like to think is a very acceptable gaming standard.

..and so the paints come out!

2008-01-28T12:33:00.002Z

...And so to the first figure, one of the converted spearmen, wearing a plumed Montefortino type helmet, a bronze cuirass and carrying a hoplon shield. I usually paint in batches, but the first figure of any type I always paint in it's entirity start to finish to give me a feel for the miniature.

1. The first stage as always is to undercoat the figure, my usual technique, and the one used here is to undercoat in matt black.
2. Once the black undercoat is dry, I then drybrush with white. This picks out the detail, and the lighter colour means that the brightness of the colours painted over the top is retained.
3. Then the main colours are blocked in, leaving some of the black base coat showing at the joins. This first stage usually looks qhite rough, but the later stages will tidy the miniature up.

Cut 'n' shut

2008-01-28T10:32:00.002Z

Another thing I noticed with the pack was that there was no figure that could be easily identified as the general. The pack containd a chariot figure with a spearman driver, which I guess under v.1 would have been the general's element. For the Etruscan League army, however the general is a cavalry element, so the chariot driver was surplus to requirements. The pack contains 9 cavalry figures, which is more than enough for my purposes, but they are all the same casting, which is an unarmoured rider with a wide brimmed sun hat. Emboldened by my drilling and sticking with the spearmen, I decided that a conversion would be in order to make a general.

The picture shows how I went about the (admittedly quite basic) conversion. Picture 1 shows the original cavalryman figure with his Greek cowboy hat. I simply cut his head off with a sharp knife (picture 2), then did the same with the chariot driver, making sure the cut edges were flat and clean. I then drilled a hole in the rider's neck stump, and a corresponding hole up the middle of the charioteer's disembodied head. Next I clipped a small lenth of wire (using an off-cut from one of the Xyston spears). The wire was long enough to fit into the hole on the rider, protuding far enough for the new head to slip over the exposed end. Once I was happy with the fit, it was a simple enough job to superglue the wire into the hole and the head onto the wire, as shown in picture 3. The general is now resplendent in his new crested Etrusco-Corinthian helmet, no doubt the envy of all his mates!

Chop and Change

2008-01-28T09:45:00.002Z

The army from Magister Militum was put together according to the DBA v.1 lists, which are slightly different from the newer v2.2. There are sufficient figures in the pack to make up the v.2.2 army, but there needed to be some adjustment to the figures. Incidentally, I did speak to the guys from Magister Miltum about this, and they are in the process of updating their DBA packs to confom to the v.2.2 list. They did say, understandably, that this is quite a time-consuming task, so I guess it's not going to happen overnight! I look forward to the change to v.2.2 complient army packs because I do feel that Magister Militum's figures are amongst the best on the market, and the out of date army packs were the one fly in the ointment for me.

I decided to put together an Etruscan League army (list I/57b) which contains 4 elements of blades (4Bd) and 4 elements of Spear (4Sp). The army pack contains enough heavy foot to make up 8 elements, but in the wrong proportions. There are eight spear armed hoplite type figures and twenty four pilum armed hoplite types. I figure that the pilum armed guys would do for the blade elements, but I only need sixteen.

I decided therefore, that for the remaining eight I would remove the pilum, drill the hands and add a spear. I have some Xyston wire spears in my bits box, which I decided would be ideal. I also decided that if I was doing that for the eight pilum armed chaps, I would do the same for the eight spear armed ones. The reason for this was that the moulded spears struck me as a little short, and in any case, wire spears are more resilient.

The pic shows a before and after shot of the conversion. Picture 1 shows the pilum and spear figures straight out of the bag. Picture 2 shows one of the pilum armed hoplites with the weapon removed and the flash cleaned off. I used a sharp craft knife for this, and I have to say it went a lot easier than I anticipated. I then used a pin vice with a very thin drill bit (1.5 mm I think) to drill through the hand. Lastly, picture 3 shows the two figures with their new, longer spears added. I used some ready made wire spears from Xyston for this, cut down with a pair of wire clippers to the desired length. The spears are superglued in the holes, and also glued to the figure's base for added strength. Two down, fourteen to go!

Next Project - Etruscans

2008-01-28T09:17:00.002Z

Well, here is the next project to go on the blog. I played in the Welsh Open DBA competition recently, which was held at the Crusade 2008 show at Penarth (near Cardiff). I used my Medieval French army, and through a run of lucky dice rolls I managed to win. This was as much of a shock to me as to many of the people I regularly play against. The prize, generously donated by Magister Militum was an Etruscan DBA army. I will be documenting my progress with these guys here on the blog, for those of you who may be interested.

Final Result!!

2007-06-14T14:13:00.003+01:00

Here is a pic of the all options 14 elements in their full technicolour Palmyran glory. Overall I am please with the result. Give the choice in future, I think I would go for shield transfers rather than hand painted designs, but I suppose the hand painted version does have a certain charm to it!

At last, the army is finished, based and ready for battle!

Shown below are closer pics of all the completed elements.

3 elements of 4Kn Cataphracts including the general

1 element each of 3Cv cavalry and 2LH Horse Archers

3 elements of 4Bw regular bowmen

1 element each of 4Bd Roman legionaries and 4Ax Roman Auxiliary troops

Finally 2 elemnts each of 3Bw irregular archers and 2Ps skirmishing bowmen

Progress to date

2007-05-15T12:17:00.002+01:00

Here are all the completed elements to date: 2x4Kn (incl. general), 1x3Cv, 1x2LH, 1x4Bw, 2x3Bw, 2x2Ps, 1x4Ax - 10 elements in total. Still to do :1x4Kn, 1x4Bd, 2x4Bw

Bows

2007-05-15T12:16:00.002+01:00

...and here is the second element of 3Bw. Similar in style to the first, but with different coloured trousers. Still got the red plumes though.

Cataphracts

2007-05-15T12:15:00.001+01:00

The second completed 4Kn element. Painting technique as before - essentially a silver drybrush over a black undercoat.

Cavalry

2007-05-15T12:14:00.001+01:00

Here is the finished cavalry element, riders glued on horses once the sticks were removed from their bottoms!

Back again!

2007-05-15T12:13:00.001+01:00

I have beeen away from the blog for a while, but I have been painting ...just not photographing. Well, I am back now and here are some updates.
Firstly, a work in progress shot of the Roman Blade. The main colours have been blocked in, no shading or lining yet. There is also a vie wof the shield showing the first stage perparation for painting the shield design. The shield has been painted white, with a yellow stripe down the middle. The design will then be painted on in red leaving the white and yellow showing through where required.

Blades

2007-04-11T13:11:00.001+01:00

Here is a pic of the shield design for the Roman Blade element. The design is a bit rough and will need tidying, but I think the overall concept works.

Cavalry

2007-04-11T13:01:00.001+01:00

Progress has been a bit slow this week, but here are a couple of pics of the cavalry figures. The first is a work in progress. There are two of these figures who will both be painted in the same colours. Technique is the tried and trusted black base with white drybrush. Plus the old stick up the bum method!

The pic below is the completed third rider. (I say completed, but from looking at this pic, I see the shield needs a bit of tidying up!)He looks like an officer to me, so has been given a slightly richer colour scheme than his two outriders! The horse has yet to be painted (obviously!)

Pictures - at last

2007-04-06T20:43:00.001+01:00

Above and below are two pictures of the completed 4Ax element - better pics than my previous post. Bases have been given a coat of watered down PVA glue, then dipped in coarse sand. This is the first stage of basing .... more on basing later.

Here are the 2 elements of 2Ps. Figures are th same as the ones used for the 3Bw, and thus the techniques used to paint them are exactly the same - just different colours.

Here we have the 2LH element. Horses and riders were supplied as separate castings, so I mounted the riders on cocktail sticks prior to priming them in black. I did this by drilling up between the legs with a pin vice (ouch!!) and then jamming the cocktail stick in the hole (ouch again!!). Following that the techniques used for painting are exactly the same as for the foot figures. Horses were painted using a black undercoat with white drybrush. I then washed the while figure with a colour slightly darker than the intended final horse colour. On top of this I drybrushed the actual horse colour. Manes and tails were then added, as was a wash of thinned black on the shins. The same wash was used to black line the details. Finally straps etc were painted in, plus the hooves. Riders stuck to horses using superglue, and hey presto another element closer to a completed army.

This is the General's 4Kn element. Fairly straightforward to paint the riders. I drilled up between their legs, and mounted each on a cocktail stick prior to priming them in black. They were then dry-brushed with silver, before the details were added in. Most of the riders have full face masks, except for the guy on the far right of the pic, who has been painted with an open faced helm.

Progress report

2007-03-31T19:21:00.001+01:00

So, the count of completed elements to date is as follows:

1 x 4Kn(gen)
1x3Bw
1x4Bw
1x2LH
2x2Ps
Plus a half finished 4Kn and a partially completed 3Cv.

Pics to follow soon (hopefully) ....

Auxilia

2007-03-28T13:32:00.001+01:00

The completed element of Roman Auxilia. I am using my old camera, so the picture quality aint great!

Latest additions

2007-03-28T10:11:00.001+01:00

Two elements of Psiloi and the riders for the Command Element are now complete. Unfortunateley my camera is out of action at the moment, but pics will follow as soon as I can get it up and running (or borrow another one!).

Auxilia continued

2007-03-21T22:34:00.001Z

Another painting session under my belt, and an element of Allied Roman Auxilia complete.

The techniques are much the same as for the earlier figs. A black undercoat, and a silver dry brush. The colours blocked in, starting with the flesh and then the tunic. After that came the belts and the frilly skirt thing (the name escapes me - but I know it starts with a p!). The shield painted in white ready for the yellow main colour. Finally detail picked out with thinned black. I didn't wash the flesh with brown, because I wanted the skin tone to be lighter than the native Palmyrans.

Auxilia Shields

2007-03-14T19:53:00.001Z

The army includes an element of 4Ax - Allied Roman troops. I have primed them black and drybrushed in silver, because they are wearing scale armour. I thought I would then have a go at the shield before painting the rest of the figure, just to see if the design I had in mind works. I think it does, but will need a bit of tidying.

So far so good!

2007-03-14T19:51:00.001Z

...and here are the figures completed so far. I think I will do the Auxilia next.

First 4Bw

2007-03-14T19:50:00.001Z

The first element of 4Bw - I am quite happy with the colour scheme.

2007-03-13T13:03:00.001Z

Final pics of the latest bowman to be painted. The shots show the final stages, where belts,scabbard, bow and flesh are added. Thinned down black paint was then used to add depth to the folds in the clothing, and to add definition to the edges of belts and things. Finally a thin dark brown wash was added to the flesh to enhance the shading, and also to darken the skin to a more realistic tone.

2007-03-13T11:56:00.001Z

...and so on to the other bow figure included in the army pack. I think this figure is much better suited to a Palmyran army - looking much more "local". I guess the argument is that the other guys are Roman allied troops. 1. As before, a black undercoat with a white drybrush over the top.
2. Basic colours are blocked in. I chose a maroon colour for the tunic for a number of reasons, but mainly a) I like it! and b) I am led to believe that the Palrymans favoured it too! The red hat is to add a bit of colour, and also because I want the red to become an accent colour running through the whole army. White trousers to stop the figure looking too dull.
3. The plan here is to paint a green stripe around the hem and cuffs of the tunic. If the green was painted directly over the maroon, it would come out a very muddy colour, so I have put a white band on first as a base for the green.
4. The green has been added, and when dry I used the original maroon to go over the edges and tidy up the stripe.

2007-03-13T11:39:00.001Z

The first completed element of bow - very Romanesque looking 3Bw element. I have to say that despite my earlier misgivings about the level of detail on these Donnington figs, the more I paint, the better I like them.

2007-03-13T09:40:00.001Z

Having done the first 8 horses I thought I would turn my attention to some bow. This fella will be part of an element of 3Bw. He looks very roman to me. There are also some more indiginous looking bowmen included in the army pack - I will tackle an element of them next

1. As for the Cataphracts, I undercoated in matt black.

2. The next stage was to dry brush the figure in white. It may seem a bit of a longwinded way to go about things, but I find that by doing it this way, the detail is picked out nicely ready for painting.

3. The next job was to block in the main colours, in this case an off white for the tunic to represent undyed linen and red trousers for contrast. I am quite careful to try and leave the black undercoat showing between areas of colour, to save lining it in later. Then I picked out the more detailed parts, such as belts, etc. The flesh came next, again taking care to leave the black showing through in the recesses like the eye sockets, between the fingers, the mouth and under the nose.

4. Once everything had been given its colour, I then took a thinned down wash of dark brown to the face and hands. This has the effect of slightly darkening the skin tone, and also softening the shading in the recesses. Once that was dry I used the same colour slightly less thinned down than for the skin and touched in the folds on the clothing, and also lined in between the hands and the tunic sleeves. Last job was for a thin line of watered down black to add shadow to the helmet, where the crest attaches, and at the join between the helmet and the cheek pieces.

2007-03-13T09:37:00.001Z

So, here are the first 2 elements of Cataphract horses finished and stuck on their bases. I use 2 mm thick pre-cut plasticard bases, that I get from a supplier on Ebay. I will do the riders later.

Getting Started - pics

2007-03-12T11:57:00.001Z

Here are the pics to go with the text below ... I forgot to attach them before I posted!

Getting Started

2007-03-12T11:12:00.001Z

1. So, having cleaned up 8 of the Cataphract horses, it was time to get started. I tend to paint in batches of about 6 to 8 at a time. First was to stick the horses to a strip of wood. Then they were undercoated in black (I use Citadel Chaos Black spray - produced by Games Workshop).

2. Once the undercoat was dry, I then drybrushed all the horses with silver, using a largish brush. I have a brush I reserve purely for drybrushing, because it is a technique which will destroy a brush in a very short space of time, rendering it no good for anything else!

3. The next stage was to paint in the exposed horse flesh - not forgetting the ears! In the past I have happily painted an entire army of cataphracts, only realising at the end that I forgot the ears! Thus my own Parthian army consists of horses with silver ears!! At this stage I also painted in the reins and the lower edge of the caprison in white. I did the same for the chin strap behind the horse's face armour. The reason for this is that I planned to paint these red, and the pigment in red acrylic paints is not especially strong, so doesn't show up well against a dark background.

4. I then painted a bright red band along the lower edge of the caprison. Following that the reins and chin strap were painted maroon. I have no idea if this is an authentic colour, but it shows up a lot better than a standard mid-brown leather colour (which I suspect is more historically accurate). I also painted the saddle cloth white. This was for the same reason as for the reins etc - the cloth will be red, I wanted a white base so that it would show up well.

5. The saddle cloth was then painted using the same red as for the base of the horse armour, leaving two stripes where the white base was showing through, for decoration.

6. The final stage was to paint the horse's tail black, and with a little thinned down black paint to trace a line around places like the edge of the saddle cloth, the face armour, and other areas to add definition and detail.

...and there you have it, one complete Palmyran Cataphract horse. The rest will be done all together one stage at a time. If I am going to be painting a quantity of the same figure, I always paint one completely from start to finish first. This lets me get used to the figure and "suss out" the nooks an crannies etc. I find this makes the painting of the rest quicker and easier because I know what to expect.

Palmyrans

2007-03-12T11:06:00.001Z

This morning I received a box from Switzerland containing a Donnington Miniatures 15mm Palmyran DBA army. I am painting these as a commission, and will regularly post updates charting my progress and other musings.

These will be the first Donnington figs I have painted, so I was looking forward to getting my hands on them. The figs themselves are reasonable - not the best I have ever seen but by no means the worst! There is a pic of some of the Cataphracts to illustrate what I mean. The detail is not especially sharp, and there was a fair bit of flash and moulding lines to clean up before I got started.