Temptation Three

Just when you thought it was safe to look about miniature galleries and websites, Gripping Beast announce yet another new range; The Timurids. Whilst not a period that carries much interest at present, with teasers like this elephant, that could change.

Please note the above pic is from a GB newsletter and unfortunately not painted by me

The trades have started to arrive and the Seleucid planned army is now complete, with few figures left over for some other bases in the future to expand to a full Impetus army.

Still working away at the Spartan cavalry and the last figure on the Odalsbondi stand for the Vikings. Pictures to follow in the next few days.

Cheers for now

Moving forward, standing still.

At present nearly all spare time is being eaten up by studies, so not really much to add from the last post. A little brush work on another Viking and some more red for the Spartan cavalry.

That aside several good games of Basic Impetus at the club on Sunday, winning and losing as well. Yet another few things learnt about the game in the process of the afternoon's gaming.

A few packs of Redoubt swordsmen have been ordered to mix the infantry units of the planned Trojan/Mycenean armies up a bit. The surplus will also make go towards the swordsmen units for the full Impetus army if the project progresses that far.

A few trades should be completed soon which will see the completion of the Late Macedonian and Seleucid plans. Not really reducing the lead mountain, more changing it to something that will be painted. The remaining surplus will be going on eBay shortly.

Hopefully, there will be a bit more progress on both studies and painting in the next few weeks. More so the studying to be honest; as the deadline clock is ticking faintly in the background.

Cheers for now.

A change is as good as a rest

Just a few pics of some alternative bases that are on the painting table at present.

Firstly, some Vikings from the Odalsbondi base for the Basic Impetus army:

The figure to the left of the top picture is still being worked on as are another 2 to complete the base. The figures are from Gripping Beasts Varangian Guard and Heroes of the Viking Age ranges with the centre figure being Harald Hardradda. The shield design is a transfer from Little Big Men and the runes to the right are hand painted.

The figures with the others from the same base; which includes Gripping Beast Jomsvikings, Rus and a giant figure from Foundry to the left of Hardradda.

The next pics are of a project that has materialised out of reading David Gemmell's triology on Troy. The Trojan War along with Greek Mythology and the Wars of the Greeks have been an interest since childhood. To be honest they really are the root cause for painting and gaming. After reading the Gemmell books' the idea of creating an Impetus army came to mind and after looking at the figures and working out that it was possible a base was started. 

The figures have been languishing in the lead mountain for some time so this will bring them out and give them a use. The base below includes a victorious Hector and each of the other bases will also include a hero from the Homer's classic. This is one of the great things about the Redoubt Miniatures range; each of the main heroes are there for both sides. 

Obviously, this base is only in the planning stages at present but the painting of the army is eagerly anticipated for two reasons. Firstly the subject is a firm favourite and secondly; the primary colour of the army will most certainly not be red. Anyway enough rambling here are the pics: 

That's all for now as its back to work and Spartans for the next while.

Cheers

Chipping away at the Lead Mountain

The decision has been made, the figures sorted and shortly there will be some less lead in the mountain. The following figures all from Foundry will be up for sale in the near future:

• Greek Hoplites - approximately 100 figures from the original range of Greeks
• Frankish/Arthurian Cavalry - 12 figures including command
• Late Roman Cataphracts - 6 figures

All of the figures are either unpainted or undercoated in  black or grey spray primer. If anybody is interested send a message.

The main reason for making this decision is due to the change of gaming systems from WAB to Impetus, meaning less figures are required to field an army. 

The second reason is purely to do with time. Based on painting for approximately 30 minutes a day and taking about 2 hours per figure - not the world's fastest painter - the figures above would take roughly 18 complete days to paint. This based off 30 minutes a day equals almost 2 and half years worth of painting time. Its quite scary when worked out like that when you add in real life and work as well, it would be closer to double that time. 

The last reason is a change in interests in gaming the Fall of Rome and Dark Ages to gaming The Trojan War, The Greek City states, Macedonia and the Successors - the above Greeks are surplus to requirements as there is the same amount of Foundry World of Greeks waiting to be painted.

All that said there has been very little paint moved about this week, although a Viking was completed the other day during a lunch break. Sort of goes against what has just been said there, but just needed a change from Spartans and red for a little while.

Pictures to follow shortly time permitting.

Thats all for now

Moving on

Progress on the Spartan cavalry and peltast bases has moved on slowly, very slowly to be honest. Hopefully work will resume at a slightly better pace in the near future.

A small purchase from Gripping Beast is moving towards its new home - just waiting on the postman arriving. They have become a rarity in the local area - but sightings have been confirmed. The package when it arrives will contain a command and line pack of Thorakites for the Late Macedonian army along with a few additional figures from the same range for variety in the cavalry bases.

A separate page outline the Basic Impetus armies for both the planned Macedonian armies has been added to the main page as well.

When there is more to show pictures and details will be posted as soon as possible.

Very brief today, so that all for now

Cheers

Bits and bobs

Here are the WIP pictures of both the Spartan Cavalry and the Vikings:

At present not one hundred percent sure of which rider will go on which horse.  Most likely, it will be the under armed figure as the central figure. This will put the armoured figures to the outside which will break the line up as well. This and the positioning of the spears will hopefully help create a bit of movement between the figures and the horses and draw the eye in to the casualty figure in the fore-ground.

The horses are painted from a method taken from the following article:

Horse Painting

This method provides good results in a reasonable time scale which will help for future projects which will contain more cavalry. The Macedonian armies for example both have 3 to 4 cavalry bases. The evil empire is good for somethings after all.

The Vikings are a mixture of Foundry Vikings and Gripping Beast figures taken from their Viking, Saxon and Rus ranges. The idea behind this is to create a non-uniform base where the common theme is Dark Age warriors with a range of styles of equipment shown to show variety achieved by successful raiding. Well that is the idea anyway. 

The bases will be made up of varying numbers of figures from 8 to 10 and will be made up in a variety of ways to show line, shield-wall and wedge. This will hopefully help depict a less organised and disciplined army as opposed to a regimented phalanx based army.

Well that is all for now.

Cheers

The Lost Post

Thought this was posted the other day and here it wasn't. The jist of the original post refers to the following:

Spartan cavalry - horses now completed and working on the base. Looking at some limited water effects here to show slightly different terrain. The riders are started with the flesh colours being mostly completed.

Slingers and Peltasts - flesh blocked in, waiting for second and final highlights.

Snuck a unit of bondi in for the Basic Impetus Viking army which has been lurking around the painting table for a while. Still to texture and complete the base but so nearly there with this unit.

Pictures of all to follow tomorrow.

Cheers for now.