Back to the Brushes 72

Well, at last that is the stand of Huns finished painting; only the varnishing and basing to do now.

As a reward a bit of time was spent painting an Elf for Songs of Blades and Heroes. The figure is from Citadel's C08 range of Elves for the early eighties and is the first of a new warband for the above game.

Next up will be some work in progress pictures of the Sassanids

Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 71

As promised a few work in progress pictures of the Huns. This is the third stand of Huns which is a third of how many will appear in a 300 point Impetus army. The figures are from Gripping Beast and are all very nearly finished.

Hoping to get some more work on these this evening and that should be them complete bar the basing.

Cheers for now

Persian Fire 2

Here at last are the final pictures of the first elephant for the Sassanids in Impetus. At 300 points two of these beasties can be fielded and this will probably happen in the distant future. The figures are from Gripping Beast and this has been a very enjoyable start to a project. Enough rambling though, here are the pictures:

The choice of colours for the crew and coverings on the elephants back has been very deliberate. The red (Foundry Madder Red) is the same that has been used for the skirmishers and will be used for more infantry stands in the near future. The beige provides a good neutral colour for the red to stand out against.

There are two reasons for this; firstly it will develop common colours throughout the less important parts of the army and secondly it will allow more personalisation to be added to the Savarin stands when they are painted.

The thought behind all of this is to set the elite cavalry apart from the levies and skirmishers of the army not just in terms of the actual units but in the use of colour as well. Time will tell how well this works.

Some detailed pictures of the crew in action above taken from both rear angles.

The last picture below shows the elephant next to a stand of skirmish archers showing the scale of the elephant against them and the start of the common link in colours.

Next up will be some work in progress pictures of the Huns.

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 70

Well, its been a quiet month so far on the painting front, with practically nothing being painted so far in September. Spent a bit of time earlier today finishing basing the Sassanid elephant but as yet have no pictures.

Hope to spend some time over the next few nights cracking on with three stands for the Sassanids. Two of which will be Daylami light infantry and the third being a skirmish stand of slingers. At the same time as this hoping to continue of the current stand of Huns gracing the painting table. Work in progress pictures of all to follow shortly.

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 69

Just a few pictures showing some progress on the Sassanids and a base of Huns that is cluttering the painting table at present. Firstly the elephant for the Sassanids shown here with and without crew in the howdah.

Its starting to take shape as finished model and the next decision to make for this figure is whether or not to included foot runners on the final stand. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Next up is the next stand of Huns that will be used for allies with the Late Romans and as a part of a Hun army in its own right. As with the elephant above still very much a work in progress, however these are also starting to take shape a unit.

Over the next few weeks there will be a concentrated effort to get both of these stands and a few other loose ends finished and the painting table cleared for the Sassanids. Unfortunately, this means a lot of horses - not the favourite for painting. Fortunately, there are a lot of armoured horses too. Suppose you can't have everything.

Lastly, a warm welcome to some new followers:

• Neil Andrews
• Maxamillian Walker
• Phil

Hope that you all find something of interest in these pages.

Cheers for now

Back to the Brushes 68

The next few pictures of the Sassanids as work progresses. Quite a bit of spare time coming up over the next few weeks so hopefully will get a good few painting sessions in and some fair progress on these guys.

These are the crew from the first elephant that will be the centre piece of the Sassanid army. At three hundred points in Impetus there will be only one but in larger games this can increase.

Cheers for now

Persian Fire

Here are the pictures of the first completed stand for the Sassanid Persian army for Impetus. The title relates to Tom Holland's Persian Fire  - a book worth reading if you haven't already - which covers the rise of the Persian Empire and the Greek Wars. Anyway enough babbling, here are the pictures.

As has been mentioned previously the approach to basing has been changed for this army. Here the base is painted with GW Graveyard Earth, then dry brushed with GW Desert Yellow, Kommando Khaki and finally with Vallejo Iraqi Sand. The flock is Galeforce Straw with Silfur Late Summer Tufts. This gives a good arid feel to the bases which was what was desired.

Work continues on the next two stands with pictures to follow shortly.

Cheers for now