Showing posts with label Painting table. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Painting table. Show all posts

Wednesday, 29 July 2009

Aventine; Day 10

Four days since my last post and I feel have suffered for my art. It took me no less than 3 evenings (7-8 hours!) to paint the leather edging on the lammellar armour and the bands that hold the greaves in place! With the advantage of hindsight I may have been a bit anal about it, but I want this unit to be splendid.

On the other hand, last night I managed to block in the linen pteurges relatively quickly, and they are starting to look like painted minis at last. Tonight it's the red tunics, and after that it is just the shields and snagging. I have splashed out on the LBMS shield designs for these minis; morover, I have even bought the white battle-worn transfers; paying for white shield covers, utter madness!

I've also ordered most of the rest of the Italian Legion (32 Hastati, 32 Principes), and enough cavalry to finish a squadron. I couldn't resist buying a couple of units worth of the Volscians, including the splendid command pack. This is not going to help with my New Years Resolutions...

Saturday, 25 July 2009

Onwards with Aventines

I'm going to post occasional updates on the progress of my Aventine Etruscans. This (unfortunately slightly blurry) image shows progress after the 6th painting session. The first 4 were on flesh tones, the fifth tidied up edges with black and painted steel/iron, and the sixth sorted out the bronze. I guess I've spent about 12 hours in total on them, so far.

The minis are a pleasure to paint. There is quite a lot of detail, but it is in good relief. They remind me somewhat of the Saleh WotGs, which suits me nicely. I think it's going to take me the best part of 3 weeks to finish and base them (but hopefully the more simply equipped Hastati and Velites will be faster to paint).

Wednesday, 22 July 2009

Honest, I have been painting stuff...

I've regrouped after my brief holiday refurbing 1980's D&D Minis, and am back in the saddle with the ancients painting.

Above are the Tegeans, that have long been lurking on the painting table; they are all retouched and ready for varnishing. Unfortunately I have been waiting 2 weeks for the Testors Dullcoat that I need for the next step, so they are in a holding pattern! Grrr.

I'm very excited about these minis; my first unit of the excellent Aventine minis ( http://www.aventineminiatures.co.uk ), and at the same time the first unit I'm specifically painting for the SOA Zama game. They are going to be a long job, but I'll make sure that I work on them every day until they are finished.

They represent the Triarii of an allied legion; this will ultimately include 16 Triarii, 32 Hastati, 32 Principes and 32 Velites. Keith at Aventine is painting a matching allied legion; we'll need 2 Roman legions, later on. There's more information about the Zama project here: http://bigredbat.blogspot.com/search/label/Operation%20Zama

Monday, 13 July 2009

Wot I have been doing...

Alarmingly little painting, thats what! The end of the school term has led to a rash of parents evenings and social events that have cut my painting to a slow crawl. This week I've managed a little more work on the Tegeans, and I've rebased some spare fantasy miniatures for AD&D. I hope to finish basing the Tegeans by Friday so that I can start the Zama project!

On the AD&D front, we had a third very enjoyable dungeon delve last Saturday. At one stage, the entire party was staring death in the face; however the wizard managed to rescue them with his one (only moderately) useful spell "Dancing Lights". They are nearing the tail end of Hommlet and I'm toying with literally dusting off an old dungeon of my own, that I think they might enjoy...

Sunday, 5 July 2009

On the Painting Table...

It's been a slow week painting-wise, because Mrs Bat has been suffering from the dreaded lurgi.

However, the Tegean unit (Spartan allies, above) is approaching completion; I've painted 7 figures to match 20 very nicely painted minis I bought on eBay (I'd love to know who originally painted them, please let me know if you recognise them). I just need to finish the shields and do the basing.

And above, primed, are the long-awaitied Aventine North Etruscan League minis, which are also the first unit of my Allied Italian legion, for Zama!

Tuesday, 9 June 2009

Pimp my Nellie 3!

Oldbob on TMP unwittingly suggested a new title for this thread. For those (Greg) that believe I'm being too slow at painting my Empire Models elephants, here's evidence of a little progress. They look pants at the moment, but I know they are going to look great when finished.

I keep increasing the amount of time that I expect I will need to be painting these for! There is a lot of surface area, and a lot of detail, which I'm discovering as I paint. I'm very impressed with the way the straps and metal rings that suspend the armour are depicted.

I'm also toying with increasing the number of crewmen on the models to 4 each, as described by Livy for the battle of Magnesia, and adding some figures to the base as "elephant guards".

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Romans wot I am basing this week

This is my latest Caesarian recently-recruited legion; I'll write them up properly when the basing is finished on Friday or Saturday.

Two days ago I though varnishing was definitely the most boring modelling-related activity; I have to say, though, that applying base texture to 54 figures (as I did last night after this photo was taken) is right up there alongside it.

The seven primed figures at the back are fated to become Tegeans.

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

On the painting table...

These are the 2 units of recruit legionaries I've been working on over the last month; not far from completion, now. Just shields, varnishing and basing... more anon.

Monday, 18 May 2009

Wot I am Painting this Week


This (clickable pic) is what I'm up to at the moment; one of my new, smaller 48 man legions and a couple of Aquila command stands. This legion will be a recruit legion, as used in the Gallic or Civil Wars; my second.

About half the minis will be ones I picked up from Pool-of-Paint on eBay, and partially repainted (shields, weapons), and the balance are being painted by me from scratch. Should take a couple of weeks...

Wednesday, 15 April 2009

Spot the difference!

The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice that in a week's painting, I have managed to half paint a mere 7 miniatures (the ones at the front). I suppose I did also manage to do base the trees below, but it doesn't seem like a lot of progress. :-(

26 palm trees, courtesy of ebay. These are nifty products that cost £1.20 each including postage, but need basing. They stand up to 20cm high. I like the trunks and the fact they are fairly rugged; I need to buy some silfror tufts for the bases.

It has occurred to me that I now have a more than adequate selection of desert terrain, and no desert themed armies. I have started to think of ways around this...

Wednesday, 8 April 2009

Watching Paint Dry...


I'm progressing all-too-slowly with the blue-shielded cohort- it now includes 19 of the 20 minis I bought on eBay, and 5 more I have just painted to match. It'll have an aquila command stand by the time I finish. For all their dubious authenticity, the blue shields do look nice...

The veterans cohort lurks half-painted to the rear, awaiting their command minis, which I hope to start painting tomorrow.

Saturday, 28 February 2009

Galatian Progress

A quick update on my regiment of naturist Galatians; flesh tones completed, I'm starting to work through the cloaks, spearshafts and hair colours. They are moving along at a fair pace (by my standards at least!).

Monday, 23 February 2009

Desperate Times...

...call for desperate measures; and to a Roman, few measures are more desperate than arming a bunch of slaves! Still, with a horde of Germans ravaging the Po valley it is time to offer these chaps the chance to earn their freedom in exchange for dangerous military service.


These desperate heroes were painted for me by the highly talented and extremely prolific Greg Privat; I then did some highlighting and basing. They actually depict later, EIR gladiators from the 69AD Civil War. The figures are a mix of Foundry and Crusader.


This is a progress shot of my Galatian unit. There is not a great deal of progress, because I have been struggling with The Mother of All Essays; now happily vanquished, but around half have a basecoat, and all have a thin coat of Ronseal.

Thursday, 19 February 2009

Ruddy Galatians

I need units to round out half a dozen different armies, so I've chosen to paint a unit for an army I've not even started yet!


These will be a unit of Galatian mercenaries, serving in a Ptolemaic army. Apart from the fact I've always fancied a unit of these, I have accumulated a lot of nekkid figures I couldn't think of any other way of using. These are a mix of Celts and Greeks from A&A, BTD and Foundry, with Crusader, A&A and Essex shields, a lot of headswaps and some dodgy greenstuff cloaks. Apart from the bare heads, there are half a dozen each celtic and attic greek helmets; I'm assuming that some of the troops have re-equipped themselves in the markets of Alexandria.

I've decided to try to paint these quickly, and as a unit. My version of "speed painting" will probably take around a month... :-( so not that speedy. Here they are again primed rust red (part of my cunning plan):-


I'll try to snap a few pics of them during the process...

On other fronts, I finished basing Greg's gladiators and some large desert hills I've made, and hope to have time to take some nice photos in the next few days. Unfortunately I'm writing a big essay against a tight deadline, which is most tiresome and is cutting into my painting and modelling time...

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Dum de dum

Nothing very much to report. I'm trying to finish off a few odds and ends, namely:-

3 legionaries to complete a group of 8
2 ballistae and crews to feed the maw of eBay
A solitary middle Imperial Roman, kindly donated by Greg, who I need to finish my first MIR unit
3 celtic archers to complete the final 4th archer unit of my gallic army (at least 3 units of archers too many, but I had the painted figures)
3 Pictish flags for the 3 units I recently based

Finally, I need to finish a beautiful Thracian standard bearer, that I originally primed at least 2 years ago. He's such a lovely mini (and very complex to paint), that I've shied away from painting him all this time!


My intention is to finish off these odds and sods, to clear my painting table for Greg's gladiators. These lovely minis need basing, and I'll probably add a few highlights to the helmets and swords to make them shinier; I believe that helmets should be really bright. I hope you won't mind, Greg?