Showing posts with label Gripping Beast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gripping Beast. Show all posts

Monday, 17 March 2014

Goths

Around six months back, I bought some very nicely painted minis from mate Redzedz.  Some I've put by for later projects, but there were enough (with the addition of a few figures I painted myself) to complete a couple more Gothic units.  All photos are "clickable".


Above are the warriors.  Several of them are deserters, or carrying captured Roman shields; I added LBMS transfers to several of the minis.  I went for a suitably irregular basing style, similar to that on the Celts.  Most of the minis are Gripping Beast, from a variety of ranges, but a few are Musketeer and one or two are possibly Westwind.  


The skirmishers (above) also came out very well.  I added coloured borders on some of the tunics Shaun had painted, to match another unit I finished earlier, but I can't paint embroidery on them, as well as he can.


Finally, here is the war leader.  I based him at an angle, so that his sword would point upwards.  The shield transfer worked very well.  I might go back and add some detail to the draco.

These give me a total of 5 units of Goths; not yet an army, but definitely the beginning of an army.  

Saturday, 11 January 2014

Martenses et Lanciarii Sabrienses


The Martenses are an auxiliary unit from the Magister Equitum's Gallic command. They are pseudocomitatenses; border troops promoted to join the field army. Both photos are clickable.


The Lanciarii Sabrienses are another unit from the Magister Equitum's Gallic Command, but of  higher status as, like the Herculiani, they are one of the dozen Legiones Palatina.

Both units are repaints of ebay purchases. They took perhaps 6 painting sessions each; I kept the basic colour scheme but did a good deal of overpainting.  I'm really pleased with the "wear" I painted on the shields, especially on the Sabrienses. The Gripping Beast figures are very nice; the large shields are excellent, and there are a huge variety of poses that I hope to use in future units.  They also work well, in terms of size  and style, with the Muskateer range.

Luke Ueda-Sarson has a fantastic site featuring the designs of the Notitia Dignitatum.  I have spent many happy hours clicking through it, and I would commend it to anyone who is researching a Late Roman army.

And finally, LBMS Steve has very kindly (and extremely promptly) created a beautiful new transfer for the Ioviani, the sister-unit of Thursday's Herculiani Seniores.  If collecting Late Romans, please go forth and purchase some, and then perhaps we can persuade him to make some more Late Roman designs!

Saturday, 6 February 2010

Elephants- Before and After

I've finished two more dead elephants, displayed here next to their live equivalents.  All the elephants are Gripping Beast resin; tidy little models.  I must say these are very nice products; very nicely sculpted; I wonder whether GB designed them for their own Zama project?  I picked up the two dead models at the Salute B&B for a fiver. the pair.  Bargain! 

 
 I've tried to make the dead elephants match live ones I painted two or three years back.

 
Transfers are LBMS, arrows are made from broom bristle.  I can make and fit an arrow inside two minutes!  Expect to see many more...

 
I tried to make the two models just a little different from each other, by adjusting the trunk position and adding a wounded crewman to the left-hand one.  I did a bit of retouching on the two live elephants I completed earlier.

4 dead nellies down; 2 to go!

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

Polemarch Cavalry- First Impressions!

I dipped a toe in the water last week, and treated to myself to a few packs of the new Polemarch cavalry, from Gripping Beast.  These have fought their way through the snow and landed on my mat this afternoon.  For a change, I've reviewed them against a seasonal red background!

I bought some of the neo-Tarantines, and also ome of the Antigonid Companion Troopers .  I'm not going to dwell on the historical aspects of the figures, other than to say they seem well-researched according to my (rather limited) knowledge.  I gather they are very closely based on the Montverts, which can't be bad.  Instead I shall concentrate on the figures, which can't be made out very clearly on the photos on the GB site.

First, here are the horses:-



I cautiously like these, with one reservation; the necks on two of the horses (the outer ones) appear fairly short to me.  I would not claim to be an expert judge of horseflesh but these are unusually proportioned, IMHO. 



Here is a Polemarch horse (centre) between an Aventine Horse (left) and a Foundry WotG horse, also by Steve Saleh (right).  The two Saleh horses have longer legs; the Aventine is broader in the belly.  In general the three would work together, but especially the latter two.



Above is the Antigonid Companion.  I've not attached his shield, but did establish that it would fit correctly.  A nice feature is that the shield hand is drilled out to take a javelin.  Less ideal is the fit of the rider to the horse; as JJ surmised on TMP, the cloak does not fit on the horse's rump and a certain amount of filing will be required if the rider is not to be pushed forward, as in the photo.  Moreover, the rider's legs appear to have been designed for a broader horse, and don't grip the mount as they should; there is quite a gap, in fact.  I will need to build up the saddle with greenstuff. 



Above is the Antigonid Companion from the side, showing how the cloak pushes the figure forwards.  It also shows an unfortunate mould line!  There is, unfortunately, a bit of flash and some mould lines visible on these models. 



Above is the neo-Tarantine.  Again the fit isn't perfect on the horse.  The left hand is held a bit close in to the horse which will make it difficult to position the shield, and will probably prevent the figure from carrying spare javelins, which I'd have liked.  The rider figure is nice, though.



Above is the neo-Tarantine from the side, leaning forwards because of the cloak.  I really do like this rider, despite the slight flaws mentioned above.

So in summary; the riders are rather fine, the horses I don't rate quite so highly but will certainly use.  The riders will fit on the horses but will need some work if you want them to sit properly.  The minis will need some preparation to remove mould lines.

Lest I give the impression that the cup is half empty, I should say that although I grumble, it is only because I care.  I am terrifically grateful that the range has come out, because it fills a huge gap in the bigger 28mm miniatures field.  I will certainly be buying more of these, and painting them, after Salute, and I await the arrival of the cataphracts with considerable anticipation!

Thursday, 17 December 2009

New Polemarch Cavalry Released

I'm cautiously excited by the new Polemarch Successor cavalry that popped up on the 'net yesterday.


The photos are alas not great, and one or two of the riders don't appear to be seated on the horses all that well.  I suspect that the photos were taken in bit of a rush, and I think that it would be worth revisiting them, as I fear that they don't do justice to the miniatures. 

Some of the riders look very nice, though, and I shall buy a few samples in order to see them in the flesh.  I aspire to a big Successor army next year.  The price seems fair, too.

Does anyone know about the square shield on the Tarentines?  I've always imagined them depicted with round shields and crested helmets, as in the AEMPW.  But I don't have the recent Osprey on Tarentines, perhaps more recent research has changed things.

Friday, 3 July 2009

Elephant Size Comparison Shots

I promise that this is the final post featuring elephants for the time being! I'm going to compare the Empire Models (Indian) elephant, on the right in each photo, with three African elephants from other ranges, in part to convey the sheer mass of the former. Indian elephants should be much larger than African forest elephants, and Empire's certainly is!  All photos are clickable.

The African elephants will all feature at the Society of Ancients Zama game, next year.First (above) we have the Gripping Beast Carthaginian elephant http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=154 . This would convert very well to become a Ptolemaic elephant at Raphia; it is very much smaller than Empire's Indian, but then it should be! The bulk of the Indian elephants at Raphia apparently gave them a considerable advantage.The second elephant (above) is an African from Essex http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/frames25mmcont.html . I feel this is the least satisfactory of my Africans, and won't be buying more; it doesn't look much like I think an African Forest Elephant should appear. It is very plump and rounded, with 'orrible thickish legs.Finally, we have a heavily converted Renegade elephant http://www.renegademiniatures.com/numidian.htm
. The basic Renegade elephant is an unhappy composite between an Indian and an African elephant, with features of each; however, extensive work with greenstuff makes it into a rather satisfactory African Forest nellie, in my view at least, and it is my favourite African at the moment (not least because it was the cheapest, at £6).

Altogether we will field 11 elephants for the Society of Ancients Zama game next April; my six, another 4 from my mate Dr Simon, and one that still needs to be sourced. In our first game trialling the battle, they managed to inflict a surprising amount of damage against their Roman foes; rather more, in fact, than they should have!