Seasons Greetings

Just a quick note to wish all a Merry Christmas!

A couple of pics from the Foundry range to show how the season can effect us all:

The Queue Buster

Stand and Deliver

All the best to you all

Cheers

We're back

Without tempting fate, the 5th Phalanx is now nearly complete. The re-painting of the bloomed matt varnish has been completed and in the main is a fairly good match to the original paint job. The figures have been hand varnished and at about 2 minutes a figure this will probably be the way forward from now on. Just can't face having to repaint another stand in the future.

Not sure if the remaining phalanx will be finished this year, hopefully, but with Christmas just 3 days away time is limited. The easier option would be to complete the 2 started units of skirmishers - 1 with javelins and the other with slings. Who can tell, how it will all work out.

Anyway enough rambling and here are a few pics of the 5th phalanx as the glue for basing them dries.

A little glimpse of what 2011 hopefully will be offering:

But more of that later.

Cheers for now.

ECW First Picture

Just a quick update on the ECW Late Royalist Infantry bases:

Hopefully more to follow shortly with pikes attached to the second base - if they ever turn up.

Also a few pics of some 20mm German Armour for Disposable Heroes that have been hiding out in the workroom for the last few months.

Cheers for now.

Loose ends

Well today has been a bit of this and a bit of that, but things have been done and few loose ends tied up.

The casualty markers from early in the summer have finally been flocked and varnished - by hand - along with a few more disordered markers.

Some more work has been done on the third base of the Late Royalist Army for Impetus Baroque, which means the infantry are all but complete, just needing the odd pike here and there. This however depends entirely on the Royal Mail ever delivering something of worth again; as still waiting on the wire for their pikes to arrive.

And last, but not least, the 5th Phalanx of Spartans has been dusted and the tunics and linen armour repainted where necessary. Hopefully be able to finish this base of as soon as possible and start painting the army in ernest again over the next few months. The planned finished date of the Monday before Christmas is long gone but at least the hoodoo over the varnishing mishap is gone.

Will get some pictures posted over the next few days.

Cheers for now

Starting from scratch

Well, where to begin. Still no further progress on the Spartans although the figures have been dusted this afternoon, which gives you an idea  of little work has been going on. The desk in general is a tip and after a short tidying session is now a reasonable working environment - this always helps to motivate.

Avoiding the Spartans, some work has been done on the 15mm ECW figures, so there are now nearly two bases of 15mm Royalists completed for Basic Impetus Baroque. Given the amount of time spent on washing and highlighting figures from another collection they look good on the base. The massed 15mm figures really do give a good visual effect on a 60 x 120mm base, giving a good sense of the formation of the period. Looking forward to trying this period out in the future.

Looking at the Spartans, there is little or no chance of completing this army this year, although another base should be possible.

Time now to brave the elements and walk the dog in the snow and frost.

Cheers for now

Another day down...

No progress to update on any of the projects that are currently ongoing. Infact there has been very little activity here at all, so much so that the painting desk will a require a good dusting before any work can start.

The re-reading of the Elric saga has been entertaining and might led to the purchase of a few character figures as below:

The miniatures from Hasslefree Figures do have a certain Melnibonean appeal, but may be just to heavy set but it is hard to tell without seeing the figures in the flesh. If the figures do appear on the door step as if by magic then it will really be a single figure project as entertaining as a Melnibonean army for Impetus Fantasy would be.

Hopefully the motivation and time to paint will return this week. Strange how one mishap with some varnish can really put your enthuisiam for a project down.

Cheers 

A blast from the past

Its strange how the mind works. Whilst search through a journal database the name Achilleos popped up in an article that was completely irrelevant. The name however sparked off a series of memories that led to the following:

• A web search for the Chris Achilleos web site
• A trip up the loft to dug out the old Michael Moorcock Elric books
• And ultimately this post

The image below is a favourite, depicting the fall of a decadent empire and the primary character of the above books; Elric. In many ways characters like Elric brought about this blog, as the progression from roleplaying to wargaming would never have happened without the initial impetus of reading Moorcock's fantasy works. The scale of the background in this picture has always impressed, as does the detail in the work as well.

Achilleos' work doesn't carry the same energy as Michael Whelan's cover images from the Elric books, his style being more refined. Both images however do capture Elric in two totally different ways.

The Spartans are progressing slowly, too slowly to be honest but my time is limited at present for painting. Hopefully the re-paint on the 5th phalanx will be complete shortly and when it is some pics to follow.

Thats all for now.

It's not that bad.

Well, all things consider the mishap with the varnish isn't the end of the world. Felt like it at the time though. The figures have been removed from their base and the offending areas lightly undercoated in black. This enables the figures to be repainted to match the existing colours, which shouldn't be that hard as a limited pallette has been used throughout the paint of this army.

The pallette includes the following:

• Foundry Mediterranean Flesh A, B & C shades
• Foundry Canvas A, B & C shades
• Foundry Bright Red A, B & C shades with a GW Foundation paint Mechrite base coat
• Foundry Bronze Barrel A, B shades only
• Vallejo Bronze and Old Gold
• GW Chainmail 

There are a few other colours used for belts, scabbards, sandals etc but these have varied from phalanx to phalanx as necessary.

The figures will be painted at the same time as the final Spartan Phalanx for this army and hopefully will be  complete by the next club meeting in October.

Anyway here are a few pics of the walking wounded with their black undercoated 'bandages' on:

That's all for now.

Cheers

Mishap Varnishing

Well, it is looking like the 5th Phalanx will be making their way back to the painting table. The matt varnish has bloomed - which is a first, well so far in 25 years of painting miniatures anyway.

Some parts of the figures will be okay, but the bronze helmets, shield rims and dark hair is now mottled white - not the effect that was desired for these miniatures. The sod of it all is that the figures are all based on their gaming base so will require a fair bit of work to remove so they can be repainted. The shields will be alright with a slight retouch here and there. Which is good as they have LBM transfers on them for the mora which this phalanx is depicting.

Hopefully, it won't need to go as far as nitromors. Fingers crossed anyway. Obviously, there'll be no pics to show of the 5th Phalanx unless its of the repaint as it happens.

Can anybody recommend a good matt varnish?

Cheers for now.

Time flies by...

...when you're having fun or so the saying goes and for that matter so does September, can't believe the date already.

Not much has been happening here and with college looming next week time is going to become evermore sparse for painting and gaming. That said a release is always needed and what better way than immersing oneself in painting the past glories of the Spartans and gaming in general.

The 5th Phalanx is waiting on the base being finished and the 6th Phalanx has the flesh blocked in; so still moving forward towards the finished army.

The plans for the base camp for the Spartans have been finalised with the purchase of a Dokana as a focal point for the camp. The figures are all prepped for painting, but will have to wait until the main army is completed.

Hopefully there will be some pictures of both units and various work in progress posted shortly.

Cheers for now

The North Face of the Lead Mountain

With the best intentions in the world the summit of the lead mountain has been capped at  its present level. Hopefully, with the completion of the Spartans and the projected work on the other Impetus armies and Flames of War companies a small dent will be made in the mountain over the next few months. That and a Masters dissertation to boot, no problem there really...

The Allied Phalanxes have been selected from the lead mountain, and will also be from the World of Greeks range by Foundry. The decision was based on availability of the figures, in that they had already been purchased several years ago and that they'll also double up as standard hoplites for Basic Impetus games against the Spartans - which is looking likely to be Magna Graecia or Theban. Sort of killing two birds with one stone here by doing this.

Work on the 5th phalanx draws to an end with the weapons and shields to complete before basing the unit.  Unfortunately, the basic army won't be finished for this weekend though as life and work have taken over again. That said the overall plan for the army is moving along relatively well and should be finished for the set date. A date, that hasn't been set - so based off 10 figures per 3 weeks at present and 47 figures to paint, making 15 weeks from now. That makes the date for completion December 20th, not that there isn't much else going on outside of painting and gaming. Well, can but try and the date hopefully will make this that bit easier.

Hopefully get some more pics up at the weekend.

Cheers for now

And now for something completely different.

The following are from the CiC section of the Flames of War Late War SS Infantry Company currently being worked on in between painting Spartans and re-basing Vikings.

In painting these figures it has been discovered that painting 15mm is nowhere near as much fun as painting 28mms. This is going to prove a quite a steep learning curve.

Thats all for today

Work in progress

During the past few weeks some older miniatures from various different projects - mostly WAB have been rebased as parts of various Impetus armies including Vikings and Goths/Late Germanic Tribes. The following are a few pics of the bases in various states of readiness. Some of the Vikings shown below are among the first historical miniatures painted by myself about ten years ago. These came to be after moving away from fantasy based gaming.

Vikings


Miniatures from Gripping Beast and Foundry.

Goths/Late Germanic Tribes

Miniatures from Foundry and Gripping Beast

The figure with the falcon is from an old range of Citadel figures - Warriors of the Norse.

Cheers for now.

The story so far...

Well here are some pictures of the painted army as it stands at present. 

The following are of the 4th Phalanx and javelin armed skirmishers - which are still needing varnished and flocked.

One of the problems with gloss varnishing metal items after matt vanishing is that they really pick up any flash which is used. This is clear on the shield of the hoplite next to the musician where the Gorgon face is distorted by the flash. The photography side of this blog is something which requires further work to get a consistent standard. Oh and painting eyes.

The musician figure is from the Gorgon Studio range with all other figures coming from Foundry's World of Greeks range. Both are sculpted by Steve Sahel.

The second base of javelin skirmishers is planned around 2 figures allowing the bases to be combined if necessary as a light foot base.

Hopefully more of the 5th Phalanx before the month is out.

Cheers for now.

Still Waiting...

Well another a week has passed by and it seems that life and work have taken over again. Still no pics of the finished units or of any WIP either - something which will be corrected this weekend. On the plus side the Spartan cavalry has arrived, good figures but unfortunately they are quite heavily flashed on both rider and horse, so a bit of scrapping and filing required there.

The last decision to be made relates to the Allied Hoplites, whether to use other figures from the World of Greeks range other than Spartans or to go with more of the same. At present no real thoughts but it could be a wait on the new plastic ranges to see how they will fit into the existing army. Time will tell.

Temptation Two

Not only have Victrix announced a range of plastic hoplites but Immortal Miniatures have announced a range of plastic Spartans as well. Can't comment on either range as yet but will be keeping an eye out for these later next month.

Plastic Spartans

For those of you who prefer the "spindles" then also look out for the following:

The first previews of Immortal  Miniatures soon to be released Persians.

Cheers. 

Back on track

It is strange how being back at work for a few days can motivate one to start painting again. Whilst on holiday the motivation wasn't there, but the time was and now that the opposite applies; everything is reversed. Can't explain it, it's just how it is.

So the long delayed 4th phalanx are now completed and fully based. What did people do before miniNatur Silfor was around. Certainly no looking back now that it be used on a few of the bases, the others will be updated in time.

The first stand of skirmishers with javelins has been based and is just awaiting inking and dry brushing prior to varnishing.

Work on the 5th phalanx is slow, with the base colour of flesh painted and not much else done. The same is true of the second base of javelin skirmishers.

All being well the Basic Impetus army will be completed for the next club meeting on September 12th, well that's the plan anyway. Still no sign of the cavalry due to a delayed re-stock from Foundry, so no real problem there apart from the obvious.

Pictures of the above to follow at the weekend.

Cheers

Temptation

Victrix's latest news releases have shown more images of their forth coming plastic Hoplites for Spartans, Athenians and Thebans. Each box will contain 48 figures, almost enough for 5 bases of heavy infantry in Impetus, which incidentally is nearly a complete Basic Impetus army. A great starting point if you are interested in Hoplite Warfare. Have a look at the link below

Victrix Hoplites

Work on the Spartans has been slow this week and there is nothing more to post on the subject. Motivation is a fickle creature at best, something everybody encounters from time to time.

Cheers for now.

Finishing Touches

Well, thats the last of the lead ordered for the Impetus Army for the Spartans. This being 2 packs of Foundry Spartan Cavalry, which will only be required for the Impetus 400 point army as there are none present in the Basic Impetus army. These have have been ordered from Caliver Books as this cuts down the postage necessary.

Spartan Cavalry

Been having a bit of a lull in painting at present which is likely to continue until the weekend, just been too busy with other things each day including being on holiday and turning 40. Both have been good so far.

More to follow later.

Immortal Miniatures Casualty Figures

The above have arrived with this mornings post and true to various comments seen on various fora the shields are much bigger than those on a Foundry figure. The Immortal shields measure just over 18mm whilst the Foundry shields are closer to 15mm. This would make a big difference if the figures where being used as rank and file, however as they are casualty markers it shouldn't be that much of a problem.

Overall the Immortal minis are good sculpts with clear detail and good character. On the down side there is a bit of flash here and there. Nothing major, but enough to notice on a first purchase from this line. Hopefully there'll be some pics of painted markers as soon as the minis are ready. Work on the rest of the army is moving on at a snail pace at present, but will hopefully pick up over the next week or so.

That all for now.

Cheers

Delays and Changes

The fourth phalanx of Spartans has been completed - save basing since last week, it has however been held up by indecision and changes to the initial layout for the finished figures on the base. This might sound strange but when painting the figures they are based on 20mm squares and give a very different visual appeal than when taken off these bases for the final basing.

There is normally a basic idea for each base which with a minimal amount of tweaking with the figures can be sorted out. This takes into consideration the ground space the figures take up and how they actually look when placed together on the base. Blu-tac is wonderful stuff for this, its so much easier to move than super glue...

The long and short of this is that the fourth Phalanx is finally glued down, but there are a few additions to the base including a casualty figure and a musician at the rear. These additional figures are about to be painted for the base prior to scenics being added.

The musician is from Gorgon Studio's Spartans "Gates of Fire" range and fits in perfectly. The comparison shot below shows the size and compatibility of the figures. To be honest there should be no problem as they both Steve Saleh sculpts but its always best to check. The centre figure is a Foundry Spartan whilst the other two are from Gorgon Studios, sorry about the quality of the image here.

The sword bearing figure is from the Gorgon Ekdromoi packs which are going to be used as Hoplites for the Brasideians. This decision has been based on creating a difference between the units visually, particularly in the styles of helmets depicted on the figures selected. There are no pilos helms in this unit but a mixture of more classical styles of helms. The full pack can be viewed at the link below:

Spartan Ekdromoi

A similar decision has been made with the Sciritae for this army, by using Peltasts figures from the Foundry range below instead of the more lightly clad Spartans from the Spartans:

Greek Peltasts

This may not be exactly historically correct, but however it does bring a degree of artistic licence into the creation of the army and its visual appeal on the table when complete.

Sorry for rambling on a bit, but thats all for now.

Cheers

WIP 2

The next picture is of the first unit of skirmishers which will be a part of the both the Impetus Armies at 300 and 400 points. The figures are Foundry again and are from their World of Greeks range. As you can see the figures are in the early stages of being painted.

More to follow shortly...

'With this, or upon this"

"Thucydides reports that when Spartan men went to war, their wives (or another women of some significance) would customarily present them with their shield and say: "With this, or upon this" (Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς, Èi tàn èi èpì tàs), meaning that true Spartans could only return to Sparta either victorious (with their shield in hand) or dead (carried upon it)."

This sparked an idea to create disorder markers for the Spartan army based on the aspis or shield of the unit being used. Similar markers have already been used for other armies, but they are not as specific to the individual army nor do they have such significance historically either. Here are the first four markers, but ultimately one will be required for each phalanx of the army and the other supporting units as well.

The bases are created in the same way as the unit stands are done, allowing for the marker to be placed at the rear of the unit without losing the visual appeal of the large bases in Impetus by using other counters.

Thats all for now...

Spartan Shields

The website below has given some inspiration for the last three mora of the Spartans being painted.

http://www.300spartanwarriors.com/300spartansmarketplace/spartanmilitaryart.html

A few emails later and Little Big Men Studios are sending three sheets of transfers, each with a common image rather than the normal selection of images per sheet. It goes to show if you don't ask, you won't get.
Stephen at Little Big Men couldn't have been more helpful and the transfers look great.

Hopefully the finished shields will do as well :)

Not the best picture in the world, but it gives the general impression. The 4th Phalanx will be finished later this week as there are only the weapons and shields to paint.

Cheers for now.

Skirmishers, Casualty Markers and Camp base.

Have completed undercoating the following skirmisher bases:

2 x Javelins - 1 base with 2 figures and 1 with 3 figures.
1 x Slingers - 2 figures.

Along with the archers that are already painted this will provide the skirmisher screen for the Spartans. The archers and slingers are interchangeable as they both have the same points value.

Immortal Miniatures have just announced a few additions to their expanding range including some hoplite casualty markers. The original plan was to pick up some of the Foundry range to match the existing figures of the army, however, the cost is prohibitive when compared to the deal the Immortal Miniatures are offering:

http://www.immortalminiatures.com/page81.html

Whilst not in the same style as the Spartans these miniatures will suit and maybe adaptable with a few head swaps to show the pilos style helmet favoured by the Spartans.

Plans for the base camp are coming along with the final element being a Dokana from Baueda.

http://www.baueda.com/15dokana.html

This along with the various figures from the Spartan Camp set from Foundry will complete the camp element.

Thats all for now.

3rd Phalanx

Here are a few pictures of the third Phalanx prior to varnishing and flocking.

Not quite sure about the second figure on the front rank. It has been painted with a bronze helm, however thinking of changing this to appear as a felt pilos instead. It just doesn't look right in the finished base.

Overall the unit looks good and fits well with the previous painted units. The bronze is not uniform throughout the army, which gives a feeling of individuality to each mora as well as the differences in armour and shields.

More to follow as soon as possible, the fourth phalanx is fully fleshed now, waiting on touching up the under coat before moving on the the armour and equipment.

Cheers for now.