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.

Monday, 24 June 2019

Thureophoroi


I have been working on some figures that were between painted, undercoated and fresh out the casting machine to make two units of Thureophoroi. This post will cover the first unit and the next will showcase the second.

I started with a base of figures from this old post along with the rest from that batch, that were undercoated black, as well as a few more fresh figures to get the unit 32 strong using 1 of the 2 poses.

The last few Newline Designs 20mm Greek Thureophoroi were newer sculpts. They have slight differences, the main being the newer sculpts have facial hair. At a distance they all apear the same.

Some may reconise the colour scheme. It was lifted straight from an Angus McBride plate featured in Sekunda's Seleucid Army book. However it was Jeff Jonas' unit featured on his excellent Ancient Battles page on Thureophoroi that provided the true inspiration to paint a full unit in brown tunics.

I did keep one soldier, which I had painted originally, with a round hoplite type shield in homage to the original plate. I am still tempted to paint a unit of these with round shields however I would go with smaller 'Macedonian' shields.

Next up and shortly after this post the second unit featuring the other pose offered from the Newline Thureophoroi code.

1/72 Ancients