Monday 2 December 2019

Alexander the Great son of Philip


Another character figure, this time Alexander the Great, from Newline Designs 20mm Ancient personality range. Much has been written about the man which I won't go into here. I will say that he inhereted a well trained, experienced and determined army created by his father Philip. It was an army fitting Alexander's leadership and ability. His campaigns drained the man power of Macedonia and in the end his army mutiny feeling they indulged the great king for too long and put a stop to his antics. 

The Oliver Stone movie got a bad rep, watching the cinema release I can see why. However Stone's "Final Cut" was a vast improvment, extended, sequenced better and the impressive battle scenes also lengthened. I very much enjoyed that version of the movie, and it was the inspiration that provided this colour scheme, based also on a plate in Peter Connolley's Greece and Rome at War. As ever from Newline a beautifully and well sculpted miniature.

1/72 ancients

Monday 28 October 2019

In Alexander's Footsteps: Antiochus the Great


An addition to my growing collection of generals and characters! This time the Seleucid King Antiochus III who earned the epitaph "the Great". 

Quelling a rebellion after becoming king his reign saw the Seleucid Empire at its greatest extent despite the set back at Raphia. After his Eastern Anabasis in which he restablished Seleucid authority in most of their former territories he returned West with an eye for Greece. This brought him into conflict with Rome and its Hellenistic allies. After being defeated by the Romans Antiochus didn't let the treaty of Apema slow him down. He was killed attempting to secure funds for his next attempt at conquest from an Elymian temple. This Livius article has a lot more detail and I very much recomend John D. Graingers trilogy on the Seleucid Dynasty. The 2nd book focuses on the reign of Antiochus III.

The figure itself is a simple head swap conversion of a Newline Designs 20mm Seleucid Companion body, a Macedonian High Command head and the horse. He will be ideal for any Seleucid leader for the hopfully many future tabletop battles.

It is the first attempt at painting leopard skin which I will write my method for future reference (lots of Macedonian cavalry to paint up!) 1st basecoat was GW Vomit brown with the edges done with GW Bleached Bone. Delvan mud wash then dry brush the orginal colours. For the spots, Graveyard Earth then edge the spots with black.

I should have took a picture with his guard cavalry! A future post maybe? I have also been working on Alexander who will be the next post and Parthian Horse Archers are currently on the desk.

Wednesday 2 October 2019

Seleucid Compainions


It has been a while since there has been an update on here. One reason is that I have been preparing a lot of miniatures with mass production in mind. Once the figures were cleaned and prepped en mass. I put away my tools and brought out the brushes for the first unit.


I chose these Newline Designs 20mm Seleucid Compainions to do first. They feature one pose for both rider and mount. During the prep I twisted some of their headsto give some variation. Also gave one rider a standard from the Macedon mounted command set and the leader is also from this set but head swapped with a spare Compainion.


This unit is meant to be a royal elite unit so the king has outfitted his troops with the finest cloth, armour and weapons! I have another set of these in the queue but they will be a shielded version of the unit, and may or may not have a uniform scheme.

They are fantastic sculpts, even the masks have eyebrows sculpted on! The intricate detail made them a bit tricky to paint but well worth the effort a welcome addition to my growing Seleucid force.

Next I'm working on some character figures. Antiochus III and Alexander III both 'the Great'!

 1/72 ancient

Tuesday 1 October 2019

Persian Slingers Comparison

Just a few comparison pics of Hat's 1/72 Persian slingers and Newline Designs 20mm Persian Slingers. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:



Sunday 28 July 2019

Light Armed


In an effort to clear the work bench I have pushed on and finished units of Roman Leves and Greek Javelinmen. Both in 20mm from Newline Designs.

The Greeks feature a new pose. The Javelinman in the chiton is newer and a great addition to the code bringing in more variety. The Roman Leves are from the Samnite and Etruscan range. Using the Class IV Etruscan infantry, leaving out the shield and adding extra spears in the shield hand I have attempted to depict Roman Leves as shown in Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars (D. Head).

For ease I kept the schemes as simple as possible and have based them individually. I am just keeping them at this stage until I 'need' them for a refight. If that time comes I will attach them to my usual choice of MDF base. I had trouble trying to get crisp pictures, poor lighting, however I had to take the presented opportunity. Also I wanted to get them off the desk to bring down the next project.

I am hoping to have a big push on my Magnesia armies and some 'Romanised' Seleucid Argyraspides. I am cleaning and preparing them unit by unit so it maybe a while before paint brushes see some action! 

1/72 ancients

Thursday 11 July 2019

Painting Interlude


As things stand any opportunity I get to do the hobby I try to paint. Usually half hour to an hour if I am lucky. This is not a bad thing as it is my favorite aspect of the hobby but I do wish I could get a bit more gaming done.

Well I took a break from painting I didn't quite have the time to set up a battle but I did have time to look through some boxes. I took a few units close to hand and set up a couple of scenes. The pics came out ok and here are the results.

Intimidating, imposing and ferocious Seleucid Cataphracts of Antiochus III assault the Roman Legionaries:




The deep and fearsome Macedonian Phalanx entwined with the powerful elephant corps present a sight even the hardend veterans of the Hannibalic War may have found daunting! 









Zama, North Africa 202 BC. Hannibal and Scipio decide that their differences will be decided by the victor of the battle:


All figures are from Newline Designs 20mm Ancients range.

Sunday 30 June 2019

Thureophoroi II


The second unit of Thureophoroi I had been working on using the other pose from Newline Designs 20mm Greek Thureophoroi code. As with the previous post it was an amalgamation of previously unsercoated and brand new casts. Again the newer casts appear to have facial hair and their hands are more open. This allowed the spear to be fitted more upright.

They are lovely sculpts as ever and very useful figures. I have plans to make a unit in open order skirmishing and one equipped with Macedonian bronze peltas at somepoint down the line. 

I have also made an accompanying post on PARADE GROUND WORKSHOP on painting Thureophoroi.

I am currently working on clearing my desk. I have a unit of Greek javelinmen and Etruscans who will be acting as Roman Leves. Although I may not base them untill I "need" them for battle.

1/72 Ancients

Tuesday 25 June 2019

Painting Thureophoroi

I had fell out of the habit of writing down my method of painting but as it will become clear below its useful having a recipe book. Mainly in my case I got mixed up with the order of steps so when I paint more in the future I can finally learn from my mistakes. If it is helpful to anyone else out there then that's even better.

My basic goal is to paint units, lots of figures at once, so I aim for a balance between quantity and quality. With that in mind I essentially use an 'Army Painter' method of basecoat wash and little bit of highlighting if neccessary. 

I undercoated these with artists acrylic guesso procured from the Works, if I was starting a whole unit I might have used a Army Painter Barbarian Flesh. The guesso however provides a great key for paint to be applied.


I usually try to start with the deepest parts of the miniature. I Started with their cloaks because from the front the cloak is in the nooks and crannies using Games Workshop Citadel (GW) foundation Tausept Ochre.


GW Tallarn Flesh for the skin including the face and helmet. I have found that this paint provides a nice base to paint Vallejo (VJ) Metallic brass. Once done I went over the boots with GW Graveyard Earth. Newer sculpts of this code have facial hair which were painted GW Scorched Brown.


Then the tunics, however in retrospect, I would do this step BEFORE painting the flesh. I think this is how I originally painted them years ago. It would have made the process easier.

One unit was based with GW Shadow Grey and the other with GW Scorched Brown then a stripe was painted down the front using GW Deneb Stone. 

I left the straps, the shield will cover them up and the Scorched Brown base is a suitable colour for the rest. I used the brown to also paint the beards which the newer of the sculpts appear to sport.


The helmet was painted next with Vallejo Brass, the plume black and spear GW Vomit Brown. The spear is washed with GW Ogryn Flesh wash. A final inspection and cleanup of any mistakes.


GW Delvan mud wash was then applied shading the figures in a quick and easy manner. It also helps I find to hide slight mistakes and wobbly painting between different coloured areas such as the cloak and tunic.


Following the wash highlighting begins. Starting with the nose, cheeks and chin with GW Elf flesh. Beards were highlighted with a lighter Brown. Then the helmet is highlighted with Vj Old Gold.

Tunics highlighting is next. The brown tunics were first highlighted with GW Beastial Brown and further highlight with GW Vermin Brown. The stripe painted GW Deneb Stone followed by VJ Off White.

The grey blue tunics were given GW Shadow Grey and a further highlight of the same colour lightened with a touch of VJ Off White.

Both then had their cloaks highlighted in the original colour, GW Tausept Ochre. Spear tips were painted in GW Chainmail and the butts VJ Brass. The main body if the figures were finished off with the base painted with some OOP (like most of my paints) wilkos tester pot coffee paint.


Next up is their shields. The backs if them were undercoated with gesso followed by a GW Deneb Stone base coat.

The shields were then glued to the figures and the same process are applied to the fronts. The shield fronts is then dry brushed VJ Off White. The boss is painted VJ Bronze with a VJ Brass highlight. After that they are ready for the basing room!


As a final note I again was happy with the guesso undercoat. It made the basecoating process quite easy. I had to water down the paint a bit, aided by my new wet palette, as the guesso appears to absorb the paint nicely. So unless there is a major benefit to spray under/base coat I will stick with the guesso. The crisp detail of the Newline Design figures work very well with a basecoat, wash & highlight Army painter inspired method.