The Spaniard Vs Tigris of Gaul

 THOSE WHO ARE ABOUT TO DIE SALUTE YOU!

For some time now I've had the idea of creating characters inspired by one of the seminal influences for my love of the ancients era, Ridley Scott's Gladiator. The spark began when Newline Designs released a pack of 20mm Gladiators (ANR28) I thought I would love to have a miniature Tigris of Gaul there was a figure that had a similar look with cross belts. The iconic character was very striking in appearance with the silvered tiger helm and mask. To recreate this I grabbed an Alexander the Great (AP01) the figure wears a lion head helmet which would do nicely, the plumes removed and heads swapped with the intention to paint the face as the silver face mask. I didn't want to mess the figure up with poor green stuff skills so I just went for a close approximation, I did ditch the shield and drill out the hand. I used a bristle and made the axe head out of one of the Newline spearheads, flattened and shaped. I painted the padded armour as silver banded armour to match the theme.

I couldn't do Tigris without doing the protagonist, the Spaniard, Maximus Decimus Meridius! This was a more straight forward head swap using a bare head from Etruscan class IV infantry (ANI09) and placing it on a body from Mercenary Hoplites I (ANG14), the ones with pturges and Iphicratean boots may have been a closer match but I preferred the pose of the finished figure. His sword was sourced from a Hat set and the rest came down to painting to get a close approximation of the Spaniard. This was mainly painting the left sleeve as a shoulder pad, painting a short beard and the studded pturges.

These two will hopefully be joined down the line with more gladiators who will find use in a gladiatorial combat game and as part of a Slave revolt army. Although individually based I tend to go for grid based games so single figures with round bases can battle rectangular multi bases without issues! 

I'm slowly working through Roman skirmish markers, a couple of generals and two more Iberian units. I also have my Seleucid pikemen that have been debased and await spear and shield updates. There's also some finished and rebased stuff to post up when I get the chance to do so.