Tuesday 12 October 2010

'Arfur Legion

I mentioned last week that I'd worked out that, with a bit of judicious juggling and outsourced painting, I could knock a legion of 240 recruits together.  My rationale is that the cohorts have been recently raised in a time of crisis.  The armouries have run out of mail, and are issuing shields in whatever colour and condition they have available, and many of the soldiers are in unmilitary whites and other colours.  I rather suspect that a lot of Civil War legions may have looked like this, especially when Pompey "stamped his foot".

I'm making good progress.  Below are the first 5 cohorts, less c 24 figures that are painted (by Nick) and almost ready to add into the gaps on the bases.  I'm freely mixing armoured and unarmoured Foundry minis, with a whole spread of helmet types, and even some Aventines.

Below are the first batch of 48 minis that Nick painted, together with some shields that I've painted them to match shields on some of the recruits I finished last year. 

My plan is to polish off these 5 cohorts over the next 2 weeks, and then complete the second batch of 5 cohorts in a similar manner.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Simon you are so right about the mix and match legions during the Civil War, as so many were raised to fight on both sides, that some must have looked quite shabby.

It seems to have been a trend to repaint shields with slogans and images depending on who a legion was following and when.

Game Master Rob Adams said...

Looking really good!

BigRedBat said...

Thanks ACG, I think it's going to look quite something in about 2 weeks time.

Scullmeister said...

Great idea. I think sometimes tabletop armies look too good. I much prefer weathered looking troops and more ad-hoc regiments like yours.

Good luck, can't wait to see the end result

Caliban said...

Hi Simon - are you perchance thinking of Pharsalus? These guys would definitely make good Pompeians...

Not that I'm suggesting you start another monster project!

Cheers
Paul

BigRedBat said...

Thanks all. I'm open to auggestions re the slogans on the shields...

BigRedBat said...

Hi Paul, possibly Pharsalus, possibly Thapsus as I have a lot of Zama-surplus Numidians. ;-)

Guidowg said...

Looking a treat. The speed at which you complete your figures/units is amazing. I have 120 odd Republicans to do, which is a 6 months plus project for me.

Your blog is definitely an inspiration.

BigRedBat said...

Thanks Guidowg, my secret is that I mostly buy painted or part painted minis, finish them off and base them in a cohesive way.

legatus hedlius said...

You certainly follow Guderian's creed of "mass not driblets"!

BigRedBat said...

Yes I've never been one for skirmish!