Saturday 7 August 2010

Batavian Intermission


This afternoon I'm finishing the basing of the Raetians, who are looking very fine.  However, my enthusiasm for all things Auxiliary continues unabated, and I'm hoping to finish one more unit before my hols.  This will be Cohors II Batavorum Eq., comrades of Cohors I which I painted last year, and my 6th unit of auxiliary infantry.

I bought 15 minis on eBay which are painted to a fair standard.  They will need to be substantially repainted but which will give me a head start.  The other 9 minis are a mix of Black Tree, Foundry and Crusader  to add a little variety.  I also intend to do a little work on Cohors I to help it to better match some of the succeeding units.

6 comments:

Braxen said...

nice to follow you progress. 28mm has been a love and hate relationship with me as I hardly ever had a finished army and when one was done how many times could one play with the same without starting a new project?...

Do you get to play or on the whole you are more of a painter? I am very curious to know.

Gabriele Campbell said...

Aww, Batavians. :) They're one of my favourites, too. Now you need a few cavalry as well, they were equitata cohorts after all, mixed horse and infantry. And I would love some who swim a river with their horses, like they did when crossing to Mona (Anglesey) in Agricola's time, or swimming across the Weser river during the battle of Idistaviso.

Too bad I don't have a hand for such filigrane work as painting miniatures, or I'd be tempted to get me some Romans and Cheruscians as well. It looks like a fun hobby.

That one unpainted chap has some odd wings on the helmet. I don't think those were in any way authentic - any chance you can file those off?

Oh, and I have some Roman stone foundations, if you want to peek at my blog.

BigRedBat said...

Hi Braxen, I probably paint 10 hours for every one I play, which is poor. I really need to play more. I wouldn't paint the minis just for display though, I need to know they will be gamed with.

Hi Gabriele, yes I will be painting all the cavalry down the line; each unit of equitata will have 6 cavalry (as will my legion and praetorians when I get around to them). I'd love to model some swimming Batavians, sometime.

The wings on the helmets are optio's feathers. I try to put an optio in most of my units but the minis are hard to find.

I'll have a look at your blog!

Consul said...

they look like they've been painted with the army painter! they're not looking too bad. could perhaps do with a highlight or two i guess.

looking forward to seeing them finished

BigRedBat said...

Hi Consul the 15 have been armypaintered; not a bad job. I'll add a highlight, repaint the reddish-bronze with a yellow tone and add shield transfers.

BigRedBat said...

Hi Consul the 15 have been armypaintered; not a bad job. I'll add a highlight, repaint the reddish-bronze with a yellow tone and add shield transfers.