Pax Britannia 1

The legends that surround events in Britain after the Legions left are many and varied. 

Whilst not the first figures completed for this army, they are the first to be photographed as such. They are also the only two stands of light cavalry in the army.

The figures are from the War and Empire range from Forged in Battle. 

Also shown is the first command stand including a Christian priest and suitably imposing equites as the main figure.

There will be light infantry coming soon once the flocking is done. 

Cheers for now.

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 383

Made some progress last night on the first Men at Arms for the Lancastrian's in 28mm.

The figure at the back sporting the red and black colours of the Percy retinue has been added to previously painted figure in the colours of Roos. 

 Another man at arms was added to the motley crew below, the new figure again in retinue colours, although memory fails me at present in who's colours they are. 

Have another three figures nearing completion in the sidelines for these two stands; which leaves seven still to do. 

All the figures shown are metals from Perry Miniatures. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 377

No plan survives first contact and prepping for the AHPC IV is no different. 

The foot knights below were painted in a previous challenge and are being repurposed in this year's AHPC. This time the focus will be on creating a Lancastrian force for ADLG in 28mm.

The pile of shame, that way lies.

The next two pics shows a slow start on more foot knights and the first retinue bowmen; all from Perry Miniatures plastic sets. 

Don't tell them but the next lot include the Yorkist Lords

The foot knights and Lords below were prepped previously and have in a drawer, waiting...

We've been waiting for this for a while

The AHPC IV starts on the 21st, so there will be more posts sooner rather than later. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 374

A couple of test figures for the Christian Spanish re-conquistadors to give the Moors a worthy opponent. 

The figures are from Gripping Beast's El Cid range that will also morph into early Crusaders if the opportunity raises. 

Will be using a range of muted reds, yellows, warm greys and beiges across these figures. Not wanting complete uniformity in the units but will use colour to show better units from their peers.

Back to the Moorish cavalry soon. 

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 371

It's been a while since my last post here, almost three months to be fair. Could say this has been because of real life, lack of motivation or just plain couldn't be arsed. A combination of all three would be about right. 

So, in an effort to rid all three malaise I am starting a new project in 28mm: El Cid Spanish and Taifa Kingdoms.

Above, shows the first figure for the medium/heavy spearman. The red in the top left image is base coated with Mechrite red from Games Workshop's old foundation range. Each picture moving clockwise then adds a layer of Foundry Red Shade, Mid tone then the highlight.

The figures will in the main come from Gripping Beasts fantastic El Cid period range with a few here and there from other suppliers such as Artisan Design and Crusader

The four spearmen above will make up the rear rank of the first stand. The yellow, is the Foundry Yellow Ochre triad. The central red is the Foundry Madder Red triad again over Mechrite Red, which is perhaps too strong a base tone for this red. 

More to follow with these and a few older projects shortly. 

Imperium Sine Fine 34

Recently completed as a part of the AHPC XIII these Equite Cataphractii from War and Empire will soon be clumping  their way across tabletops  in ADLG, DBA and Hail Caesar. 

Each stand has a fair wee heft to them with the fourth horse fitting to each stand, even if this did involve a less than linear final appearance to the base.

The figures are good sculpts and slightly smaller than the other cavalry figures in the growing force for Early Imperial Rome in 15mm. One day there may even be a start made on the 28mm figures for the same army. 

Next up there will be other cavalry units for this army. 

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

Fury of the North 28

It has been a while since I've painted Vikings in any numbers and since rebasing those that have already been painted on to 40mm squares for Hail Caesar there will be a good few coming this way soon. 

First up are the three on the left of the conga starting with the bare chested axeman.

The other figures are all repurposed from a SAGA warband that wasn't getting any use, so rather than paint more figures yet more rebasing happened. The bases are from Warbases, my friendly local gaming store. 

The berserker winding himself up by baring his chest is from Shieldwall Figures available through Gripping Beast. The overly hairy bare chested warrior is from Wargames Foundry with the rest of the motley crue hailing from Gripping Beast. 

Painting figures for the Dark Ages allows a lot of freedom with colour,  poses and general outlook of the figures. Something that you find less of in later periods and some earlier periods as well. This allows more creativity with the painting and posing of finished figures for the final bases. 

There are a dozen or more Vikings on the painting table at present along with a few other projects that are far more regimented so it will be good to break the monotony of production painting in these guys. 

Cheers for now. 

Back to the Brushes 367

Is there ever a good time to revisit a past project; perhaps in the last four weeks of the AHPC XIII isn't the best time or maybe it is. 

Over the last few weeks have had a hankering to return to the Dark Ages, to an age of raiders, ravagers and raven standards, an age of Vikings! 

This has been promoted by the arrival of Hail Caesar 2nd Edition and a brief conversation with a gaming friend; the Dark Ages are calling. 

A quick survey of the painted Vikings not currently based for any specific rules worked out at nine fully painted bases of Hirdmen and three of Bondi; a bit of painting time required to make this a viable gaming force however, it is a good start. 

The picture above shows the start of some frothing loons for the bondi troops and a few more Hirdmen to full out the ranks. 

As none of these have been started before the 21st December 2022, any completed will count towards the tally of the AHPC. A tally, that is far lower than it should be this far in. 

Anyways, enough rambling for now. 

Cheers!

Back to the Brushes 320

First figure for September's 30 Days 30 Miniatures Painting Challenge is the lead Thessalian cavalry man below. These are a part of an ongoing project for a Macedonian DBA army in 28mm.

The rider's thrusting spear is still to be added however, it's best to let one glued piece set before gluing another piece to the same piece. 

Next in this project will be the Companions with wee Eck himself. These have already been started with the horses about finished and the flesh tones on the riders. More of these and other updates throughout the month. 

So this takes the running total this month to

1 x 28mm cavalry man

A few more to go however, will get there this month and a few extra as well. 

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. 

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

 

Back to the Brushes 307

Ever wondered why you have to dust figures before painting them, why what seemed like the best hobby purchase ever goes past its use by date and ends up in the flea market at your local gaming show? No? Well its been a frequent thought here of late, most likely due to packing items up for sale. 

It's true, that there is a stream of new shiny released every year and that games come in and out of fashion - tell that to those still playing WRG 7th ed or is it 6th ed at a local club - but why does it happen? Is it because at heart gamers are all magpies who collect shiny items or hoarders who don't know how or when to stop? I don't have the answer although I know its out there somewhere and that there will be some factual description and discussions on it.

What to do about it? Well it's simple really, ok its not in practice but is in theory:

• Finish what you start ☺
• Only buy what you you really really need ☺
• Re-evaluate your interests against your collection - not painted or played in 5 or 10 years? Not likely to do again - then its time to say goodbye ☺
• Set targets and make them happen☺
• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time bound
• Cancel your eBay account ☺
• Disconnect from the internet ☺

Joking aside the point of this does relate to a lot of things in all our lives and at the end of the day you can only play one game with one set of figures at a time. 

Be in that moment, enjoy it and don't worry about the next new game or set of figures that you don't need. Work on what you have and paint 30 Miniatures in 30 Days. It makes sense and here are a few from this month:

Twelve in fact, nine from Museum Miniatures and 3 from Minifigs (think). Based on 40mm fronts for use in ADLG, DBA and Hail Caesar to name a few. 

Hope that you found this interesting and stay safe. 

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

Imperium Sine Fine 28

 These two stands have been finished for some time now with just the basing to do. Well now that's done too. 

The figures are all from Foundry's Caesarian Romans except for the horn blower on the right unit; an old Gripping Beast figure from a range that sadly is currently out of production. The other half of this army are all from the Gripping Beast range. 

The shield transfers are from Little Big Men, although there is a fair amount of over painting on these as well. 

Painted using the block, wash and high light method that has been used to for this army and allies and mercenaries from this period. The end result is both rewarding and achievable making this army a realistic target for completion this year. 

Hope that you found this interesting and stay safe. 

Cheers for now