Back to the Brushes 397

Some work in progress pictures for the Romano Brits in two scales. 

Firstly, in 28mm Romano Brits from Gripping Beast to be used in SAGA and potentially Midgard; however that's a long long way away. 

These figures are the start of two points worth of warriors, to join the original hearthguard painted in AHPC X back in 2020; and yes, they are very much a project that have been in limbo for a long time. The shield transfers are from Little Big Men.

The second scale is in 15mm and includes light and medium cavalry for the Romano Brits in ADLG.

The picture includes horses for two stands of light cavalry, three stands of medium cavalry and a command stand. 

Lurking on the keyboard are figures from a newly started project in 28mm but more on them later in the week. 

Cheers for now. 

Imperium Sine Fine 33

Recently completed for the AHPC XIII these 15mm Early Imperial Romans from Plastic Soldier Company and Corvus Belli have been great fun to paint. 

The supporting Saggitarii figures in the rear rank are from Essex Miniatures and their older sculpts hold up well against the newer and chunker legionnaires at the front. 

Shield transfers from Little Big Men's superb range

The legionnaires are double ranked for ADLG basing although this will be getting adopted as standard for 15mm figures on future projects.

The finished figures will join the ranks for an ADLG army as well as use in DBA and Hail Caesar in the future.

More finished figures to follow shortly.

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 

Hannibal antes Portas 3

The following Ancient Spanish Infantry have been completed over the last couple of months and finally gotten round to texturing and flocking the bases. Can't beat a good flocking!

All the figures are from Gripping Beast's Punic Wars range and will form a part of both DBA and ADLG armies as allied, mercenary and core troop types.  Shown above are Iberian Scutarii on the left and Caetrari with mixed weapons on the right. 

All of the figures here have been painted using block base colours then wash and highlight with the base colour. The limited colour scheme speeds the process up and the end results pass the rule of three foot. 

Another stand of Caetrari below this time as skirmishers. 

There will be more completed pics soon along with some more work in progress after a few nights off the brushes with a swollen thumb. 

Hope that you found this interesting. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 288

 Last night was a good session at the painting table and the results are below: 

These figures are from Foundry and are the sixth of nine such stands for the Marian/Caesarian army for DBA and ADLG that has slowly been progressing here. Based on 60mm fronts two stands together will be a standard sized unit in Hail Caesar as well so there is a bit of variety in alternative systems they will be usable for. 

The shields were a pain and although they started with a Little Big Man transfers, the green Laurels above and below the boss just didn't show well enough. After playing about a bit with different positions and light decided that the best thing to do was over paint the shields to match the dark grey base. The results you see in front of you. To be honest, for the remaining figures it's looking very much like water slide transfers from VVV instead of the Little Big Men transfers. 

One other thing that has been causing issues lately is using the camera in the phone. Next month going to go back to the digital camera so can do more with settings at taking the picture instead of editing afterwards. It's swings and roundabouts however it will be interesting to see what the end results will be. 

So in terms of the 30 Day 30 Miniatures Painting Challenge these take the month's tally to:

3 x 20mm WW2 terrain pieces

2 x 28mm Norman Crossbowmen

8 x 28mm Prussian Landwehr

11 x 18mm Bavarian Grenadiers

8 x 28mm Caesarian Romans

For a running total of 32 with tonight still to paint for. 

Hope that you found this interesting.

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 279

 Just in time to finish this month's 30 Days 30 Miniatures with these eight Ancient Spanish from Gripping Beast. 

With one stand of skirmisher and one of medium infantry these will be used in several different forces in both ADLG and DBA in 28mm. Not enough painted and based yet to do so however there will be. 

Sub total

8 x 28mm infantry 

Final total

30 miniatures including 12 x 28mm infantry, 9 x 15mm infantry, 1 x 20mm artillery piece and 8 terrain pieces.

Will do a round up picture later and plan for next month to include Romans, Gondorians and a little bit of something that catches the eye on the painting table. 

Cheers for now

Imperium Sine Fine 22

For the last nine months there has been a slow and steady progress on an army of Caesarian Romans from Gripping Beast.

These figures are currently out of production which is a shame as they are in my opinion great sculpts.

The first unit shown here is actually the last to be completed and it recently appeared in the AHPC X.

This cohort depicts that of a recently raised legion or a penal legion. Transfers are from the excellent range from Little Big Men.

The figures have been painted using the "speed painting" method of block, wash and highlight.

The highlight in this case is the same colour as the base tone: Foundry Scarlet A.

Hope that you find this of interest. 

Stay safe

Cheers for now.

Reconquista 7

Long has this stand been waiting for two figures; the standard bearer and the captain type to the left. The religious zealot at the back of the stand has been all alone for as long as he has been completed. 

The figures are from Gripping Beast and are possible the favourite range that they produce. The figures just work, individually, in small groups like below and in large unit groups. Broad surfaces and good cuts for shading also make these easy to paint quickly with good results.

The standard is from Little Big Men and the triangles were all painted in Foundry Madder Red to hide the bright green that was originally there. The green just didn't sit with the red turbans and sashes.

Thanks for looking and more to follow shortly

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 227

Steady progress on the first batch of Caesarian Romans from Gripping Beast.

Pilums at the ready, the first troopers have only their shields to finish before varnishing. 

As previously mentioned these have been painted by blocking base colours and then washing with Army Painter Strong Tone wash. The bronze, flesh and tunic have then been highlighted with the base colour to lift key areas of the figures. 

Below, the first command figures prior to the final colours being blocked and the washed. 

The paints used for the are:

Flesh: Foundry Flesh B

Tunic: Foundry Scarlet A

Armour/metal: Citadel Chainmail

Bronze: Vallejo Old Gold

Leather: Foundry Dark Flesh A or Foundry Buff Leather A

Lion head dresses: Foundry Rawhide B

Weapon shafts: Foundry Spearshaft Brown B

Another eight are well on their way to being fully base coated in this style giving the project sone momentum. 

More work in progress to follow shortly. 

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 226

In amongst painting the flesh tones on approximately 60 ancient Greek Hoplites and skirmishers found a spare twenty minutes to block and wash this Caesarian Roman from Gripping Beast.

This is a test figure to see how it goes using this approach to paint a small force for ADLG. Small as there are only so many figures available in the lead pile and thankfully this will remain so as Gripping Beast have no immediate plans to re-release this range in the near future.

A few things need changed and perhaps the use of dark tone on the armour to lift it more but other than that happy with the result.

Once based with his fellow legionnairies, shielded and Little Big Man transfers who will notice the speed painting.

Back to painting flesh tones this evening.

Cheers for now.

Imperium Sine Fine 17

Rebasing or re-purposing as I now think of it can offer many opportunities and potential challenges to a gamer and painter. The Late Roman infantry below have been recently re-purposed from Impetus style bases on 120 x 60mm to 60 x 40mm bases for ADLG. 

Six of the back rank on these stands have been match painted to the rest of the unit, originally painted around 15 years ago.

A recent entry in the AHPC IX these figures were surprisingly good to paint and have sparked off a Late Roman revival and change the bulk of initial planning for the Painting Challenge.

Figures three and four from the left are the original paint jobs.

More Late Romans to follow shortly as both finished and work in progress pictures.

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 153

Some work in progress pictures for this year's Painting Challenge

This one is now completed C01 fighter from Citadel.

Two groups of Hearth Guard for SAGA with figures from Gripping Beast's Romano British. Across this warband will be using a very limited colour scheme and Little Big Man's range of shield transfers to bring some more individuality to the figures. The movement base is from Warbases just along the road.

Top left in the picture above are the last of the 16 Undead waiting to be painted and below is the Warlord from the same warband featured above. For both Warlord and Hearthguard there will be mounted versions at some point soon.

More completed pictures to follow as soon as possible.

Cheers for now.

Reconquista 5

The last from the Almoravids for a while as there are no more to base. Here there are the bulk of the army, the spearmen, with three stands out of the four required.

There is a mixture of hand painted and transfer covered shields in these stands. Felt this was the best approach as didn't want a uniform look to the units other than the head dresses which will be carried over the entire army.

The last stand is still to be painted and will be slightly different in appearance than these, but more of that later.

Once the spearmen are completed it only leaves five stands of archers to paint or thirty figures to be precise. That is a lot of spindlers.

Back to work in progress pictures for a while.

Cheers for now

Fury of the Norse 21

As promised here are the next three Viking Bondi from Gripping Beast. The central figure has a hand painted shield the other two are from Little Big Men with some additions to the colour here and there.

These three now mean that there are enough figures to build more sabot bases for Basic Impetus so the new list - of which there are four more stands in - can now be an option if played.

The final highlight on the red does not show well in these pictures and on reflection is perhaps too close to the mid tone of the tunic. You live and learn as they say.

Have recently started another four hirdmen so watch out for progress on them in the future.

Cheers for now