Equites

These Newline Designs Republican Roman Equites represent those Roman citizens who were considered rich enough to be expected to bring a horse to war. This is my first cavalry unit for my Republican Roman Army that I have been trying to focus on.

This is a nice set with some good variation, featuring 3 horse poses and 3 rider poses. The command figures also add some more poses into the mix. The riders sporting the Boeotian helmets had a spears cast on so I removed them and drilled the hands so all riders had the same plastic bristle spears throughout. I repositioned the arm of the hornist and varied the angles of the riders spears.

I tried a new method for painting the bronze helmets. Following the black base coat a coat of chainmail was applied which went on nicely. The following coats of bronze and gold paint then applied smoother than my previous works. In an attempt to add some depth I applied a brown wash but I think it may have made it too dark and dull, though maybe that's ok after riding and fighting in the dust and dirt.

I again had a go at painting free hand the design on the standard I was quite pleased with the flag, it looks fine to the naked eye. I'm not a great fan of painting horses and cavalry units but I'm pretty happy with the end result.

I think I only have this Newline Roman cavalry unit, I have some Hat Roman cavalry buried somewhere and the same for Italian allies, one Newline, one Hat which will one day ride with the Legions. I am now working on Iberian Caetrati to support the Scutarii for or against Rome.

 

Heroics and Ros/Scotia Grendal AFVs

About a month ago I started a TMP discussion asking for opinions on Heroics and Ros/Scotia Grendal AFVs. Generally it seemed that it depended on the sculpt so I decided to get a few of the lines I was interested in and compare them. Below are some quick photos and a very brief overview and some sporadic observations.

 

BMP1s & BMP2s

 

The main thing with the BMP1s are that the Scotia's come with a separate turret. Personally I prefer Scotia's sculpts in this case, although there is not much in it for the BMP2s however the H&R BMP2s are 15p cheaper.



 



 

 

Chieftains and Challenger 1s

 

Between the Chieftains I prefer the H&R sculpt but I suspect the Scotia has the better proportions. The Scotia Challengers are markedly bigger so after consulting a source for dimensions I found that the Scotia to be the more accurate and I prefer the sculpting of the Scotia Challengers.

 



FV43s

Not a great deal between the companies, though there is a trend for Scotia's APCs to be ever so slightly wider than H&Rs. After measuring I found that the SG to be the correct width, both seem correct for length but I'm not too sure what is going on with the top of the SG model. It looks like the top of the hull is sunken? It seems to me that the HR sculpt 'looks right'.

 

 

LVPT & M113

With the M113s as above the SG is the correct proprtions I believe. The LVPTs are both decent sculpts but I'm not sure about the placement of the turret and other proportional details. After Looking a pics around the web I think the SG is closer to what I have been seeing.

 

 

M1 Abrams

Not much difference size wise, though I think the H&R sculpts appear crisper than the Scotia.

 

M2 Bradley

Scotia seems a bit bigger and more detailed. H&R look more to scale but I have not measured these ones.

 

Marder

H&R Marder is to scale whilst the Scotia is too big I reckon its nearly the same size as a MBT.

 

T72

The Scotia minis look a better size and proportion but the H&R are still nice

 

T80

As with the T72s above.

 

Leopard/Gepard

I can only really compare the Leopard 1s, I like the style of the sculpting of the H&R but they are too tall the Scotia have the correct height.

 

 

Challenger 2 & ZSU 23

 

I missed these whilst taking the pictures which is why most of the miniatures are cut off. Challenger 2s as the Challenger 1s above. With the ZSUs, H&R has the best proportions, the turret and the auto cannons are a bit short looking on the Scotia sculpt.

 

I hope others will find this helpful and since I'm not 100% when it comes to what looks right with every vehicle I hope others will point out anything I have missed or have misrepresented.