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Friday 30 December 2011

Roman/Hellenistic General

Whilst painting pike, I've also spent a bit of time indulging myself painting up this mounted general figure. It's not often I take time out to paint an individual figure, and I'm pleased with the results. You may notice he's snuck in as my new avatar...

Armour "fashion" from the latter fourth century BCE to probably the second or even third century CE was much of a muchness across the Greco-Roman world, so he could equally be leading Romans, Greeks, Macedonian or even Pontic troops.




Advancing pike WIP

Here's a few pics of the above.
This is the first 16 figures of my eventual 64 man unit. I find 12/16 figures is about right for me as a painting batch; many more and I get bored, any less and I don't get anything like the productivity I'm looking for.
This batch has minimal red, the next will have red infill with white borders. The third batch will have solid red and I'm still undecided on the last batch.
These have been temporarily based with blu-tack so I can get some idea of how they'll rank up. The whole unit won't get based up until all four batches are complete, when they'll be mixed up to give some variety.
Shields transfers are of course LBMS.






Looking at the images, you'll note I need to work in getting the background in the right place....

Saturday 10 December 2011

Aventine Southern Italian Hoplites Finished

Finally!

These have taken quite a while to complete, but are now finally done. Finishing touches have included "dusting up" the shields, adding a few blood smears and one or two signs of battle damaged. Hopefully it works!

I'm pleased with how they've come out, but I'm looking forward to doing something slightly different and a bit less complex.

Pictures have been taken using my iPhone, together with a new mini studio that I bought for just under £30. It comes complete with two "daylight" spots, a camera tripod and all folds away into itself. It also comes with four colours of backing cloth, white, blue, red and black. A very neat piece of design - I'm impressed. Excellent value for money.

Bases are organised in groups of 16, with a command base for each. I've used a couple of alternate standards that are also offered by Aventine to give some variety to the lovely dolphin that comes with the range. I've also set up a full 48 figure shot that I think looks pretty impressive. I had to set them up three deep to make them fit in!

Pics below.






Monday 5 December 2011

Massed Ranks of Hoplites

Basing now underway. Now need to paint, highlight, add tufts and some static grass. I'll also do a bit of dusting up of the lower parts of the figures just to give them a bit of a "lived in" look. Phew, nearly there!

Apologies again for the quality of the photo, again taken with my iPhone under artificial light. I plan to finish the basing over the course of the week and will hopefully get to take some decent shots under natural light at the weekend.

Sunday 4 December 2011

Final Stretch

Couple of quick images of the last batch of hoplites.

Apologies for the quality of the photos - taken under my painting light with my iPhone.




This last batch in white tunics. I couldn't resist using the shields as a backdrop for the pictures. They've now had a bit of highlighting on the metal rims and a blast of matt varnish, which has successfully killed the shine of the earlier image.

Saturday 3 December 2011

WIP - Hoplite Shields

Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now with my Southern Italian Hoplites (just hope it's not another train coming the other way....).

One of the most prominent parts of any hoplite is of course the shield. Thanks to Little Big Men Studios, even a muppet like me can pull off spectacular results.

Still a bit of work to do on these, least of all a coat of matt varnish to kill the shine, but I think you'll get the idea.


Just about finished the last batch of twelve, making the full forty eight up to strength. Should be able to get them assembled and stuck on bases by the end of the weekend. Then it's just a matter of another 64 pikemen....Oh no, just noticed Aventine have released some Thureophoroi.....


TH01 Thureophoroi Command

TH02 Thureophoroi

Love the officer scratching his, erm.....

Friday 2 December 2011

Pikemen for sale

In between finishing my Republican Romans (is any army ever truly finished???) and waiting for Aventine to release their range of pike, I bought and painted some Crusader figures. These are now surplus to requirements and currently on sale on ebay. Apologies for the shameless plug, but I'd prefer them to go to a good home. By reading this blog, youl've already proved yourselves to be individuals of good taste and breeding!

The listing can be found here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120819164883?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649