Dance of Bronze 25

As the Thessalian cavalry stand nears completion just taking this opportunity to show a stand of Greek or Paeonian Light Cavalry. 

The figures are from Wargames Foundry and are great characterful sculpts with good detail and posing. Unlike the Prodromoi shown last month the tunics are more mundane for these figures as befits the more general nature of this light cavalry stand.

Strangely, with the horses on these and the Prodromoi the painting was less of a chore than some other horses that have been painted in the past. Could be the sculpts, although looking at the horse below in the foreground it is most likely the trappings being more defined on the horse. 

Horse trappings have been a bugbear of mine for a while and for no other reason than they are there annoy me. It's not that they are hard to paint, just time consuming and often cause a bit of reworking. So how to tackle this in the future? Keep dropping by and there will be a post on how the pain has been reduced. 

Hope you found this interesting. 

Stay safe and cheers for now. 

Dance of Bronze 24

Here are the Prodromoi or those that run before the army painted during AHPC XI. The figures are from A & A Miniatures and are armed as sarrisophoroi. The sculpts don't give the option to arm with javelin and they are for use with a Macedonian army. 

A colourful unit with perhaps the original "Nike" top on even if it is made of different layers of material. 

Incidentally, have another 4 or 5 figures that will be surplus to requirements if anyone is interested. 

What now? Thessalian, Companions or Hypaspists - they are all part painted just need to find the motivation to dust them off and continue to the finish with them.

Stay safe and cheers for now.

Dance of Bronze 23

Like all things, starting small is apart of the natural progression of the world. These skirmishers are a part of that, the seed if you will, that a fuller army will grow from across the coming months. 

These figures have not been selected randomly, as they depict Agrianians from the armies of Phillip II and Alexander III of Macedon. The later is better known by many as Alexander the Great - who coincidentally was born on the 20th/21st July 356BCE

The figures are from Wargames Foundry's the World of Greeks range and are a personal favourite for this period. 

When painting these the choice of colours was to enhance the figures visually on the table by using the brighter blue to signify a more prominent unit of skirmishers instead of beiges and buffs.

More from this period in the remaining months of 2021. 

Stay safe and cheers for now

 

How far Jerusalem 3

Continuing on from the previous post for the How far Jerusalem thread here are the other Later Crusaders from Gripping Beast during the AHPC XI. 

These figures have been hiding in the lead pile for over a decade now. Purchase as part of a WAB army which has now been split into two Lion Rampant factions and the balance sold on to new Chapter Houses. 

The figures have been painted to represent Knights Hospitaller post the papal bull of 1259  that split the uniforms of Brother Knights and Brother Sergeants to red and black tabards.  It has been said that this decision was unpopular with the Order so there will be some quartered colours on the mounted figures just started to show both red and black tabards. This is purely artistic licence however, it does look good on the table. The decision was over turned and the whole order wore red in combat later in their history and black for higher duties. 

The shields are over painted Little Big Men transfers and when possible crosses will be added to some of the tabards if I can find suitable waterslide decals to do this.

The painted helms are artistic licence and purely to break up the uniformity of the figures. This was also done by using two different triads on the reds although it is hard to see this in these pics. 

The completed twelve knights that will be used as Men at Arms in groups of six in Lion Rampant and Hearth Guards in SAGA.  

Hope you found this interesting

Stay safe

How far Jerusalem 2

Painted this Crusader in the last AHPC XI as an entry for the Chambers of Challenge - the Pit and the Pendulum bonus round. 

Whilst the figure has no relevance to a pit or a pendulum the back swing on that wee sword has a momentum all of its own. It is an impressive chopper!!

For someone who professes to not enjoy painting red, there will be a lot of coming in the future and in a variety of shapes, sizes and timescales.

 Hope that you found this interesting.

Stay safe and cheers for now. 

Fantasy Heroine 23

Dark Elves or Drow call them what you will, they have always been a favourite source of adversary in fantasy skirmish and roleplaying games here. This figure is a first purchase from a new range - Reaper Bones Black. Sold as a Dark Elf Priestess, the figure fits the generic image of this perfectly with a mixture of armour and robes. The mace and skull finishing the look of a dark priestess of Lolth.

Had great fun painting this figure as an entry for the  AHPC XI and the limited choice of colours really helped focus on the painting. 

 Hope that you found this interesting

Stay safe

All Hell let Loose 20

This was a cheeky way of grabbing a few points in the AHPC XI as it was used in the Chamber of Challenges - Hall of Traps entry. Well it is a tank trap. 

Purchased off eBay in late 2020 however have no clue on who the manufacturer is for this although there is another set of three to complete. 

 Cheers for now and stay safe

Fury of the North 26

Last month sort of passed by in a flash and here we are 11 days past the finishing line of the AHPC XI. 

This was the first entry since early January and is a single Norman Crossbowman from Gripping Beast. It's the figure on the front near corner that was painted during this challenge, the others were completed at some point throughout 2020. 

These are for use as Normans, Christian Spanish troops and mercenaries and possibly even Crusaders from the 1st Crusade. 

There will be more to follow from this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XI finished entries over the next week or so. 

Hope this was of interest to you. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 306

Arrrggghhh!!! Just realised that this year's AHPC XI finishes at 5 am on Sunday 21st in the UK. Not 5 pm as previously thought. 

Have the following to finish of between now and then:

• 48 x 15mm Spartans including, basing and fitting shields and spears
• 12 x 28mm Crusaders to be flocked
• 1 x 28mm Sorceror to be flocked
• 1 x 28mm terrain piece to be flocked
• 18 x 15mm Roman Aulixiaries to be flocked
• 2 x 18mm cannon and crew to be flocked
• 2 x  28mm Greek light cavalry
• 3 x 28mm Thessalian cavalry
• 8 x 28mm Germanic Tribesmen shields and weapons to do, then base
• Photograph the lot and post.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy busy day

Stay safe and don't panic

Imperium Fine Sine 29

Here you have a Scorpion from Warlord Games and this will be a part of a Marian/Caesarian Roman army that has been getting painting over that last year or so. The figures in the background are a part of this army and have just been shown in a previous post.

This has been completed as a part of this year's AHPC XI

The Scorpion and supporting infantry have all been painted using a block, wash and highlight method of painting. This is my version of speed painting and gives a rewarding finish for the table top. 

The highlight is normally the same colour as the base allowing the toning wash to do its work. 

Hope that you found this of interest. 

Stay safe and cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 305

Steady progress on the second group of Gripping Beast 3rd Crusader Knights. Hoping to get these along with a few other partially painted items finished for this weekend coming. Need some more points on the board for the AHPC this year. 

The red has progressed now to the final highlight, leaving the equipment and shields to do. Simples or so says the Meercats

Stay safe

Cheers for now

 

Back to the Brushes 304

Sometimes when you think that you are doing well and that your painting is improving you see another painter's work and think...

Steve Dean's work

why bother finishing these...

as they don't look like those above them. Still a few session on these Foundry hoplites to go before the finishing line and a lot of other things still to paint for this year's AHPC. 

With 11 days to go not sure the painting style is going to reach the heady heights of Dean or Dallimore however its the best you've got to give that matters. 

Hope that you found this interesting and stay safe. 

Cheers for now. 

Back to the Brushes 303

Continuing on from the previous progressive work in progress pictures of these Germanic Tribesmen, here is another pic after three sessions worth of twenty minutes each added on. 

The tunics are now completed and the trousers and shoes have been blocked then washed with Agrax Earthshade. Three different Foundry paints were used for the trousers, Rich Butternut B, Peaty Brown B and Rawhide A. May yet add a little highlight to these before moving on to the furs on three figures and equipment on all. 

Hope that you found this interesting and stay safe. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 302

In amongst everything else that is currently on the painting table, there is a little side project based on a tip seen on Benji's Hobbies There are several but for this side project it's the painting for 20 minutes a day that is being used. 

The following pictures are progressives on this unit of Germanic Tribes from Gripping Beast each session lasting not more than 20 minutes. 

20 Minutes

Base layer of the flesh tone in Foundry Flesh A

40 Minutes

Flesh mid tone and highlight added and the start of hair colourings. The flesh is Foundry Flesh B & C, the hair Foundry Ducky Flesh C

60 Minutes

More hair added with Black, Foundry Peat Brown C, Foundry Dark Leather B and Foundry Conker Brown C. All washed with Army painter strong and soft tones.  

80 Minutes

Start of the tunics with two painted in Foundry Ochre A and two in Foundry Madder Red A. The other four have now also been painted; two with Rakarth Flesh and two in Foundry Canvas A.

It's an interesting process and allows the progression to be followed easily as well as keeping the motivation for the project going well by doing a little often. 

Hope you found this interesting and stay safe. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 301

This month has flown in and work has taken its toil on hobby time. However, the paint still flows and projects are moving forward however slowly that may be. 

Below is the footprint of an Alexandrian Macedonian army in DBA/ADLG for 28mm figures. The bases are double depth for DBA and over the coming weeks some of these will turn into finished stands of figures. The bases are all from Warbases. 

This idea has been acquired from the talented Yarkshire Gamer Blog whose work in this year's AHPC XI has been inspirational. Permission was asked and approved to use this idea here and all credit for it goes to Ken for the idea. 

A similar picture for 15mm Spartans in DBA will also be here soon and this time it will be much closer to the finish line. 

Work in progress pictures to follow along with the start of this year's Challenge entries as the countdown begins to March 21 and Challenge's End. 

Stay safe

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 300

With the Prodromoi cavalry units now waiting on basing it's time to move on to the main cavalry unit of the army; the Companions. 

The elite cavalry arm of the Macedonian army under Alexander the Great, the Companions were the hammer to the phalanx's anvil. Have a look at brief overview of the Companions and other cavalry units 

The above figure is the test figure for this unit and the grey for the tunic isn't the best. The cuirass which is hard to see here is a bronze muscled cuirass to waist with pteruges.  

The flesh tone needs a bit of tidying up and reworking to soften the contrast between highlight and shade tones so its more like that of the skirmishers below. These will be used for the Agrianrian skirmishers and have been opted for to avoid looking similar to peltasts. 

A similar test figure for the Thessalian cavalry is also on the go at present.

Stay safe and interested

Cheers for now 

 

Back to the Brushes 299

In the need to get some points on the board for the AHPC XI, sometime is needing to be spent on this ramshackle collection of partially painted miniatures. 

With Spartans from Xyston, Macedonians from Foundry, Caesarian Romans from Warlord and Crusaders from Gripping Beast there is a good range of choices of things to be getting on with. 

Hoping to finish working on a fair number of these this week. 

Stay safe and keep painting

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 298

It's a slow start for the Macedonian DBA army in 28mm with these skirmishers taking far too long to get done. 

Next time they are posted - hopefully later this week they'll be finished along with a few other units to support them. 

Great figures from Foundry and over the years there have been a few painted for different uses. There are also a few more still to do to finish them off. 

Hope that you found this interesting and stay safe. 

Cheers for now.