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.

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 341

Rebasing is the bane of many a wargamer and it's no different here which is why these have sat in their storage box over the last 2 years waiting to be textured, flocked and tufted. 

The above Late Roman Equites Primo Sagittarii where originally painted and based back in 2013 for Impetus. They have now been joined by another unit below and both are now based on 60mm fronts for use in ADLG and anything else that suits. 

All the riders are from Gripping Beast as are the unarmoured horses. The armoured horses are from Footsore although they were originally purchased from their predecessors Musketeer Miniatures. 

The colour scheme was developed from the images on the Notitia Dignatitum shown below. in the second row, second from the left:

Used the red as a spot colour to allow it to draw the eye in rather than fill the figure with large areas of red; plenty of other figures to do that on. 

Will post some pics of the finished bases when ready and now looking at stand or two as the army lists allow it and the figures are already primed. 

Hope that this was of interest.

Cheers for now. 

Reconquista 8

The recently completed Analogue Hobbies Quarantine Challenge 2020 saw some progress being made with the Almohads and Moors in general.

First is a unit of heavy infantry that will form the basis of the centre line of the painted army with this being the first of either four or six stands for this. 

The figures are from Gripping Beast and are still some of my favourites for this period. 

A common theme throughout the project is the use of a dark gray headdress to tie the units together. There is no other reason for this than artistic licence and it adds to the unity of all the units as well as the individuals on each stand. 

Next for this period is another command stand, the second of three needed for the army if used at 200 points. The figures again are from Gripping Beast and the standard from Little Big Men transfers. 

The drummer behind the left shoulder of the Iman was painted for this challenge, whilst the other two figures have been painted previously.

Here are both stands side by side.

There will be some more from the last Challenge shortly before starting the first Thirty Days, Thirty Miniatures Challenges for the summer months. 

Hope that you like these. 

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 264

To quote Bilbo Baggins "Don't adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story" Fairly sure that we can all relate to this in many different ways and 28mm Late Romans would be an example of this here.

When looking through army lists the other day for ADLG realised that the cataphracts from the previous Late Roman incarnation, that is Impetus and WAB had never been rebased. 

A trip to the loft was in order and behold the original unit of cataphracts from WAB partially painted and partially rebased on 60mm fronts. There were ten in the original unit only four of which have been completed, the others languish in states of un-readiness for gaming. 

Imagine the surprize that raised the roof when another 14 cataphracts were found in the drawer below the above. Followed by the stunned silence that there were almost another thirty Late Roman and Romano British cavalry in the same drawer. 

God knows why there are so many and god also knows how much painting cavalry is a chore to me. However, that said over the summer months there will be progress on the Late Roman cavalry as well as their ally and foe: the Huns. 

Some armies are never truly finished painting and like Bilbo's adventure there are always more to carry on the story. Rest in peace, Sir Ian Holm, may the road go ever on. 

Cheers for now. 

Imperium Sine Fine 19

Catching up with the ongoing repurposing of the Late Roman army in 28mm. 

These figures were originally painted for a WAB army, then rebased for Impetus and now are being re-purposed for ADLG or absolutely anything as they are now based on 60mm fronts.

There are two stands of light infantry here with another two of medium foot to follow shortly.

For these figures this will be the last time that they will be rebased regardless of rules or changes. Same for anything else for that matter.

Cheers for now

Imperium Sine Fine 18

The blog has been neglected a bit over the last few weeks with the start of an instagram page: @brushesnbases. Not looking to stop blogging just moving forwards with tech a bit. The real challenge with the two feeds is not to duplicate.

So it's, time to show some completed work from this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. The stand below is a command stand for Late Romans in ADLG. 

The colours picked for this figure tie in with two infantry units that are being re-purposed presently for show here. Matching in to a figure painted almost fifteen years ago was entertaining as elements of my painting style have changed over the years.

Base from Warbases as were the tufts and scenic decor.

Hope that this is something of interest to anyone who is looking.

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 218

As the last weeks of this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge start the sudden realisation that hardly anything has been submitted.

This will soon change with the first of several batches being posted this week.

But first, some random work in progress pictures of current painting.

Command stands for the 15mm Crusaders.

Some Late Saxons from 1st Corps? These are being speed painted; block base colours snd washed with strong tone. No more than twenty minutes painting on each.

The rebasing continues with all painted Germanic Tribes and Hun cavalry waiting for their bases to be textured, dry brushed and flocked. This time round all of the Late Romans, Germanic Tribes and Huns will have the same basing flock and tufts. This will enable all of them to be used as a part of the same or different armies. Simples

Thinking that starting this during the AHPC IX wasn't the best thing to do.

On top of the amp, there are some Undead, Moors, Germanic tribes and Late Romans as well.

More to follow shortly along with some completed pieces from the Challenge.

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 214

Haven't been updating on work in progress of late and really should be doing so more often.

This year has seen a major rebasing project start with all the Late Romans and allies being rebased for ADLG. 

As expected this has created a few gaps here and there which has resulted in the following. 

Heavy infantry from Gripping Beast that are so very nearly complete. A bit of work on the trousers and the spears and its off to the basing queque. These six troopers will complete two stands of heavy swordsmen protected that are core units for the Late Romans.

Next up is a Hun horse archer from
Gripping Beast. This figure will complete a stand of light cavalry bow giving five of these once the rebasing is done. Whilst fragile units these are key to the Hun army and will stand as allies in the Late Romans and Goths.

Next, a mounted horn blower from Foundry which ironically have tried to sell on several occassions and failed to do so. This figure will join one of the command stands currently being worked on.

Three more figures from Foundry above that will be used in a similar fashion as the Gripping Beast figures above; to fill the gaps left over in the rebasing. These are well on their way to being ready for basing although there will be a slight delay as the transfers for their shields are on their way.

Lastly, a composite unit with riders from Gripping Beast and armoured horses from Footsore Miniatures. These are one of three units of these on the painting table at present.

The finished figures will be shown as part of the IX Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge later this month.

Cheerd

Back to the Brushes 211

Some armies are never truly finished and when the decision is made to rebase a "finished" army gaps start to appear. 

These figures have been painted for a while now, however look a bit lost on the command stands on their own.

Currently just started is a mounted horn blower, not strictly a cornicen as the horn is not a cornu but a horn blower none the less.

When completed this will fill a gap on one of the stands however, foot standards and musicians would set the stands off perfectly. If anyone has anf figures from Foundry's LR005 spare please leave a comment.

More to follow soon on this never ending project as there are five mounted archers and eight cataprachts needing painted along with a host of other things for other projects ongoing and stalled alike.

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 206

The IX Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge starts on Friday 21st December and the prep is still moving towards completion. 

To add to the spirit of the challenge the Late Roman army currently based for Impetus will be rebased. 

Wargames Foundry Late Romans

Rebasing is the bane of many a gamer, for some the end of both system and army. To avoid selling the Late Romans and gain the most use of the figures; the frontage for the of the basing will be 60mm. Nothing new there, however this will allow ADLG, the DBx family, Hail Caesar and Impetus to be played.

On reflection, the hassle of rebasing is offset by the use it will offer in the future.

Cheers for now.