Back to the Brushes 402

Turning the other cheek, with these Spartans from Foundry. 

After a long lull in painting Ancient Greeks and some inspiration from Saxon Dog Wargame Projects on Facebook starting to expand on the existing Spartans and their rebasing back in April 2019. 

Going for more variety in the skin tones for the newer figures, however planing on keeping the same shield imagery for each mora of Spartans.

There are a few gaps in the existing bases so will be painting a few additional figures to complete the bases off. 

The thoughts are to double the number of units to give 16 bases at 60 x 40mm. This will allow a reasonable number of Spartiates for a full DBA army and then moving towards Hail Caesar and ADLG. Depending on how the painting goes may add in a new mora as well. 

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 391

Wire spears have pros and cons but Jesus they can be jaggy little sods when gluing in place. 

The third horse is in the sidelines, waiting on it's trapping getting painted before joining in. 

When finished this will be the last stand of Spartan cavalry from Xyston Miniatures. A few more spearmen will see them finally finished leaving time for allied troops including auxiliaries and a few more phalanxes. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 388

A few more stands from Minifigs Ancient Greek and Macedonian ranges.

The front stand are for use as Hypaspists and the rear stand will be Argyraspides and the first of five pike blocks.

Will be adding to these in the near future. 

Cheers for now

Dance of Bronze 30

Recently finished these for a friend's growing collection of Minifigs Ancient Greeks. 

Generic Psiloi and light cavalry bases that will fit in to most armies of the period easily. 

Contrary to the normal rules of engagement they performed well in their first game and destroyed the Spartan general's unit caught in bad terrain.

There are more figures from this period on the painting table at present. 

Cheers for now. 

Dance of Bronze 29

Recently completed and photographed before being matt varnished, these Spartan cavalry from Xyston should provide easy pickings for other Greek cavalry if history and gaming stats are correct. 

The figures were clean sculpts and casts with the minimum of clean up required. The limited palette and equipment on the figures made for quick painting and basing. 

Still to be varnished as they have joined a small queque of figures waiting for the same. Will get round to the them all this week; real life all being well. 

 Cheers for now

Dance of Bronze 27

They say that at a beginning is a delicate time, and as this was my first post for AHPC XIII it was indeed that. 

The pictures below are of 6mm Greek Bolt Throwers from Baccus Miniatures and are not the 15mm EIR Legionnaires originally planned for this post.

It always amazes me how much detail that 6mm figure producers can show in their product and these are no exception. The actual bolt throwers are two part kits easily assembled and I even managed not to glue myself to them - it's happened before on bigger kits to be fair. 

On the tabletop these may seen as hard hitters however in terms of points for the challenge they are the first step of many. What is important is that they are that first step allowing more to follow. 

Based on 40mm squares for DBA and ADLG these will be a part of the ongoing Macedonian and Punic Wars project that has been bubbling under for several years now. 

As my first entry these 6mm warmachines and crew will net 8 points (1.6% of my challenge total). 

Looking forward to picking up some pace now on the painting front and working on both those pesky EIR Legions and some 28mm Wars of the Roses Men at Arms for future entries. 

Cheers for now, Ross

Back to the Brushes 359

RayR's recent post made me have a look at the calendar and realise that AHPC XIIII is 6 days away and I haven't started the ritual tidying of the hobby desk. The picture below shows the daily carnage that I call a hobby desk and a poor attempt has been made to start the tidy up.

More pictures to follow over the weekend - time allowing - including some of the prep work started for this year's challenge including:

• 28mm Republican Romans for SAGA: Age of Hannibal
• 28mm Carthaginians for SAGA: Age of Hannibal
• 28mm Late Romans
• 15mm Early Imperial Romans for ADLG
• 15mm Arabs for ADLG
• 15mm Thracians for DBA and ADLG
• 15mm Wars of the Roses for ADLG
• 6mm Punic and Macedonian Wars for Age of Hannibal (LittleWarsTV) and DBA

Looking forward to the off and following everyone's progress in paint. 

Cheers for now, 

Ross

 

Back to the Brushes 357

After sorting the broken shields and spears the Thracians are back on the painting table. 

More to follow sooner rather than later. 

Cheers for now. 

Dance of Bronze 26

Finished these off last night as aware that the month is rapidly moving towards the last third and there is nothing as yet completed. 

The figures are from Xyston's range of Greeks and will be used in, well, you guessed it, Greek armies for DBA and ADLG.

Xyston's figures are not to everyone's taste however, I really like them and find the sculpts suit my style of painting for 15mm. 

Back to the Crusaders this evening to progress another combined stand of spear and crossbows for ADLG. 

This takes this month's total to: 

8 x 15mm infantry.

Cheers for now

 

Back to the Brushes 334

Just a few of the reasons why this is the first post for 2022

Oathmark Skeleton Archers

15mm Sargonid Assyrians

6mm Normans

15mm Confederates

15mm Arabs and Moors

28mm Skeletons

15mm Crusaders

15mm Hoplites

Time to pick a period and complete a unit or two. 

Stay safe and cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 333

The AHPC XII is now in full swing and the entries are being posted by various challengers. Have started a few threads for this now. The pic below shows the variety in periods that are being worked on just now. 

Clockwise from the top left corner:

• Carthaginians in 28mm for SAGA
• Crusaders in 15mm for ADLG
• Hoplites in 15mm for DBA
• Sargonid Assyrians in 15mm for DBA
• Figures started before the AHPC began earlier this week
• Skeletons in 28mm for Fantasy skirmish
• Early Imperial Romans in 15mm for ADLG
• Fallschirmjager in 28mm for Chain of Command

A lot of there to keep the painting mojo going and some are parts of previously started projects whilst others are starting afresh for this challenge. 

More detail to follow shortly. 

Stay safe and cheers for now

 

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. 

Back to the Brushes 317

Started working on the Macedonians again last night. Rather than select one group of troops over another opted to continue with both the

Thessalian Cavalry

And the Hypaspists

As there eight Hypaspists to paint its looking more likely that the cavalry will be ready first.

The tunic started as Foundry Wine Stain A, a mix of the shade and mid tone were used for the layer and then the  midtone only was used for the highlight. The armour was base coated with Vallejo Old Gold, washed with AP  strong tone and will be highlighted with base coat and silver mix to suit. 

The pteryges were painted with the Foundry Canvas triad to almost white.

Hope this was of interest.

Stay safe and cheers for now. 

30 Days 30 Miniatures Painting Challenge - June 2021 Round up

As August looms it seems that July, June and May have passed in a flash. To be fair there has been a lot going on and a lot of things coming to an end at the same time, so sadly, hobby time was over powered by the challenges of real life. 

On the positive, there has been some painting done and the Spartan army is another two stands of hoplites nearer the finish line. The group shot below showing these and the Platoon 20 US Infantry from earlier in June. 

The Spartans are from Xyston and are great sculpts for 15/18mm figures. At present the hoplons have no markings on and this is only due to the fact that the decals are somewhere safe. You know, that safe place that you just can't find when needed. 

Next are the mortar teams from Platoon 20 and there will be bazooka and flame thrower teams to follow these. The difference a paint job can make to a miniature can't be under valued, especially in the lower scales such as 15 and 20mm.  

Hope that you found this interesting. 

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

 

Back to the Brushes 313

A long way from finished as the month moves into it's last third. 

A few other bits and bobs are in the sidelines; just needing a clear run at finishing them off. 

Truth be told, too easily distracted at the moment so need to knuckle down and finish a few pieces and focus more clearly on the next unit rather than the current butterfly approach. 

Stay safe and 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 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 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. 

Dance of Bronze 22

Recently posted in the AHPC XI the following 28mm figures for skirmish gaming in ancient Greece. The veteran Spartan Hoplite in centre position being this year's Curtgeld figure or entry price. 

The left hand figure is a healer from Mortal God (Footsore Miniatures), central the veteran Spartan Hoplite (Footsore Miniature) and on the right is the seer (Warlord Games)

All three have been a pleasure to paint and hopefully who ever gets the Hoplite will be pleased with the figure and the style of painting used. 

Mortal Gods was a game that I had just started to play early last year and hoping to get back to it later this year. Might even opt to try this on a virtual platform if can manage the tech. 

In terms of points these three gents yield

3 x 28mm figures - 15 points

Curtgeld bonus - 20 points 

Totalling 35 points. 

This added to the running total takes the challenge to 87 points (14.5 % completed). Looks like this is going to be a busy month as there are several items on the painting table nearing completion. 

Thanks for looking and stay safe. 

Cheers for now.