Late Roman Cataphracts and Guard

A few might recollect a post on the newest codes from Newline Designs 1:72 / 20mm Late Roman range, well they are finally painted up below. I'll go through each one briefly below. I notice that now the pictures on the computer screen are very bright in comparison to my phone screen, something to bear in mind next time, however they are clear and show the detail of these lovely figures. 

I post also on PARADE GROUND 20mm Facebook page , then share among relevant groups, someone offered a great tip on spear tips! I wasn't able to track the comment down again but I followed the advice, squish the end and snip into a spear head. Very simple and effective! So the spears below are the usual bristles just with a bit more attention. 

Command

The command set is not new per se but newly painted and it turns out the brand new officer figure is joining the original command figures:

Guard Infatry

I wasn't sure what was on the way with this Guard Infantry Set but I was eager to see them! Going off their initial appearance they looked like the drawings of the Late Roman legionary in Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome. I posed the question on whether to paint their armour as a metallic or organic material, Peter popped out of his cave to answer the question. As you can see Peter said go for Leather, I had a good time experimenting with them, Thanks Peter!

Cataphracts

Finally the Cataphracts couple of horse poses and rider poses which can be tweaked to give a bit more variety. 

With these last Late Romans done I am moving onto both my main Macedonian and Punic war project and the Heroquest mission!

Late Roman Auxillia

A couple more codes painted up from Newline Designs 1/72 Late Roman range. This time the two Auxillia codes. I was quite pleased with the "white" tunics, I used Vallejo Beige, Citadel sepia wash followed by highlight of Beige, then I introduced Vallejo Ivory into the mix which I blended on the wet palette untill I had the desired shade. I didn't use straight Ivory like I planned but I liked the finish. I tend to apply a basecoat, wash and highlight in the original colour but since moving to a wet palette I have found mixing shades satifying and end up with a more pleasing and subtle highlight, aided by the fact that its an extra level of highlight. Just to note the swordsman came with a spear but the angle of the forearm was crying for a sword which a made out of plastic card.

Auxillia Advancing

Auxillia Standing

Altogether the two codes work well with each other: 

New Newline Late Roman scans

 I have recently received a few more new Newline Designs 1/72 Late Roman codes to paint, with only a week left on the 2022 winter sale I'll not be able to get some painted examples done, but it would be a shame if enthusiasts could not see the fresh casts at least. Apart from the rebasing that was finished late last year which have a few work in progress posts currently, I have just finished the Goth heavy cavalry that are now just awaiting pictures.

As I have stated before the Late Roman period is not one that I am well versed on so I'll just let the scans of the casts speak for themselves and hopefully get some painted examples done soon.

Guard Infantry 

I'm in the process of trying to determine whether to paint the muscled cuirass as metal or leather armour? 

Cataphracts

Late Roman Cavalry Comparison

The question often asked when Newline 20mm miniatures are shown is how do they compare with plastics, namely the traditional 20mm being a tad smaller than 1/72 scale. However Newline sets labelled as 20mm over the years have veered closer to 1/72  and these Late Romans were specifically made as 1/72 despite being located in their 20mm Ancients page (for navigational convenience). The only way to know for sure if ranges and manufacturers are compatible is to physically compare the specific figures and make your own personal judgment.

Before comparing Newline and Hat I dug out the Hat cavalry sets, medium, light and cataphracts. I noted that the Hat miniatures themselves differ in size and sculpting style with the light cavalry being slightly smaller than the other 2 sets. As a side note I love the early Hat style of the cataphracts and the equivalent legionary set and again the medium and light infantry were of a softer cast.    

Next up are the Newline casts, with the earlier heavy cavalry and some of the newly released codes lined up. Being the same sculptor throughout there is consistency through the range.

I'll let the pictures do the talking, but sizewize to me there is not a great deal of difference. The Hat medium cavalry rider matches well with the Newline riders. In general the Newline horses look slightly smaller but overall I am hoping to use them all together. 

Late Roman Cavalry II

A few more painted examples of new and older codes from Newline Designs 1/72 20mm Late Roman range. Its great to see and expansion to the range and I hope these paint jobs do the casts the justice they deserve. I'll let the pictures do the talking but I have some comparison pictures with some Hat plastics to post up shortly in the next post.

NEW Roman General and Standard Bearer

 Roman Heavy Cavalry

A look at the new Newline Late Romans

Fairly recently Sean at Newline Designs released some new codes for the Late Roman range. There seems to be quite a few new codes so hopefully there will be some more to come to cover the Late Roman era further (Horse archers for example or more enemies). I acquired a few of the new codes to add to the codes I previously had and have set about getting some painted examples of them all. 

It's been a struggle to keep on top of the online aspects of the hobby and I apologise for not being engaged as much as I would like to be on forums, groups and the amazing blogs of my fellow hobbyists. Recent times have been challenging and when the opportunity arises I take to the workbench which is overflowing with an overwhelming amount of tasks. One of which being the rest of the Newline Late Romans I have undercoated, and another task is a backlog of photographing. I am still getting used to the new camera on my phone so these and the following posts will be a bit trial and error with regards to the focus, lighting and colour of the pictures (of which I am very dependent on automatic features). I really want to get cracking with my Classical Mediterranean project and the rebasing but I also have to make a start on my friends Heroquest miniatures. The plan is to get the Late Roman examples done then work between the Classical and Heroquest miniatures.      

I still don't have much direction with regards to a Late Roman project, but I am veering towards a more fantastical "Dark Age" Britain or Europe, painting and forming armies as I feel, without much historical precedent. With that in mind these examples are just random schemes and designs if came across on search engines. Each code from what I can gather from the examples below feature two rider poses and three horse poses:

Equites Dalmatae

Moorish Light Cavalry

Light Cavalry bareheaded 

Light Cavalry in Helmets

Legionaries

These have been available for a few years now and I love these miniatures. I will end up getting quite a few more and will make up some well equipped units in the "Dark Age" project not only as Romans but by swapping out shields or some simple greenstuff work I could use them as generic Dark Age warriors, even if its just a fantasy interpretation of my own. The third warrior is wielding a sword made from plasticard, originally I was going to give him a spear but the position of the arm was calling out for a sword.   

Overall some very welcome additions to the Late Roman collection and the light cavalry are well covered! I have the brand new General and Draco bearer set part painted along with the Roman Heavy and Gothic Heavy cavalry codes so the next sessions at the desk will be about getting them finished. Then the rest of the Roman and Gothic foot codes I have here will be getting done. If you like the look of these it's an ideal time to grab some from the 28th of Janurary  there is a 25% off sale running for the month I believe check out https://newlinedesigns.co.uk/ from that date to see.

Newline Designs Late Rome and Goths

I've been rummaging through my boxes recently and dug out my Late Romans and their enemies. It's a part of Roman history that grabs my attention yet I don't have a good understanding of it and am often distracted focusing on Rome's rise. I don't really have a focus for the collection, I may just model and paint Romano-British, Roman East, Gothic migrations and they can all hodge-podge together for any battles I set up but that's a long way off.

I initially was inspired by the Late Roman Legionaries and Cataphracts from Hat, and subsequently picked up their Medium Infantry set, which I was less inspired by, but I remained distracted by other things. Later on down the line Newline Designs released some codes for the era so had to get some in to add to the plastics. Again other eras took my attention but I have a shopping list of more of the range that keeps getting kicked down the road as the classical era took precedent on the hobby funds. 

They are lovely sculpts as ever from Newline but I have heard they are slow movers, possibly hampered by the pictures, so below is an attempt to show off the miniatures, hopefully to improve the ranges chances for future expansion. It would be great to see some of those 28mm late Roman and Dark Age codes scaled down to 1/72-20mm. I'll very briefly go over the Roman and Goth codes, mostly ideas and plans for conversion possibilites rather than a review then I have then have a few comparison pictures with Hat figures. 

Late Roman

Classic looking late legionaries, ready to wield spears but the Spatha could be modeled by a skilled modeler. I might try to bodge one also! I've sometimes seen art work or reenactors wear leg wraps around the shin, the trousers are tight looking on the figures so there is potential to paint them on or file and greenstuff some if that was necessary. Also crests or plumes could be added if that is preferable but I like this stripped down look! I was also thinking of adding a few in with the Goths as better equipped warriors either through wealth or plundering Roman kit:  

Roman command set:

Auxillia Advancing, these figures have the patches of embroidery sculpted on which gives them a distinctive Roman look. They could maybe represent open order javelin skirmishers also if they still used such methods:

 

Auxillia Standing:

Cavalry:

All the Roman codes seem to come with oval shields (pictures below) which I will mention more of below in comparison to the Hat figures. Check out the webstore!

Goths

Between the standing and advancing codes there is quite a bit of variety, most seem to be in furs. There is scope for head swaps for further variety. As well as mixing in the armoured legionaries plus head swaps will bring in chainmail and helmets into the mix. Goths on Newline's store!

The Franks also hold potential for headswaps extra poses going off the website pictures. Of course it's only worthwhile if you don't end up with heads and bodies out of use! 

It seems that tunic, trousers and cloaks are a fairly generic look for the era so those poses with helmets could make good Romano British, seems like that could be the case based on the 28mm Arthurians web store pictures.

Command:

Archers:

Cavalry:

Comparisons

A few comparison shots now, there's a clear sculpting style difference between Hat's offerings even, so if that can be accepted then the Newline style shouldn't be an issue. Size wise they are all usable with each other being generally the same height. I'll end up using them within the same army but have same sculpting style on a single base which is my normal preference. 

Where there is considerable difference seems to be in the shield size. The Newline oval Roman shields are smaller than the cast on shields on the Hat legionaries. The larger shields seem to be more in keeping with other examples of Late Roman miniatures and the Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome which features quite large looking shields for the late era, one source suggested about 3.5-4ft long 3ft wide (roughly 17mm x 12.5mm in 1/72) while the Newline one is 14mm x 10mm. This seems more in keeping with a some of the inspirational osprey plates I've come across. Cavalry shields on the hat figures are roughly the same size these will mix well. When it comes to the Goth's shields I have even less of a clue but I don't have any plastic infantry to compare anyway. They measure at 10mm and give the option to give Romans circular shields if you prefer, which might give them a more post Rome look.

Essentially it's the customers choice whether your units have uniform or mixed sizes but when it come to Hat they are cast on and would take a considerably effort to change. Newline on the other hand with their separate shields gives you the freedom to swap them to match the cast on shields of the plastic Hat figures depending on what look you are after. I'm looking forward to get some bases done of regular Roman and post Roman units as well as some enemies! 

As I mentioned above I am pretty clueless when it comes to the late empire so I would love any insights on this era, historical, modelling painting or gaming please comment below!