Tuesday, 22 September 2009

King Agis


I'm currently retouching and basing Numidians and Thureophoroi, and won't have anything to show for a few days.  So I've decided to show a few more command stands, this time from my Greek and Spartan armies.

This is King Agis, who commanded the Spartans at Mantinea (418BC).  At this time Agis, who had earlier blotted his copybook, was under the supervision of ten advisors, called xymbouloi, whose consent was required for whatever military action he wished to take.  Whether Agis was incompetent, or whether the council were slow to make decisions isn't clear, but a gap opened in the centre of the Spartan line and they almost lost the battle.

Nick Speller painted these for me; I've only depicted three of the ten advisors.

Sunday, 20 September 2009

Just a few Numidians..


These are the majority of the Numidian and Carthaginian levies  I am painting for Zama.

Greg has very kindly painted 160 (!) minis (the ones on the tray), but unfortunately they took a bit of a pasting in the post and will need a little tender working care to get them into the field.  I retouched a dozen last night, though, and I think it'll be relatively quick; hopefully I should be able to finish about a dozen a night.  As well as these, I have 28 more unpainted infantry and 24 mostly unpainted cavalry.  Plenty to do...

BTW this is my 100th blog post- thanks very much to my readers!

Saturday, 19 September 2009

Talk Like a Pirate Day!


Shipmates; avast! Cap'n Big Lee http://bigleesminipaintingblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/talk-like-pirate-day.html has remembered me that today be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Hoist the Jolly Roger! Splice the mainbrace! Oooh-argh.

Friday, 18 September 2009

My favourite troop type....

... are Thureophoroi.  I don't know why this it, I just love them to bits!

My good mate Nick Speller has just sent me 32 beautifully painted Thureophoroi, which will enable me to expand my existing 4 units of 16, to 4 of 24 ( http://bigredbat.blogspot.com/2009/03/many-completed-thureophoroi.html )


I thought people might like to see them before they are based, as they are from 3 different manufacturers and are a useful comparison of sizes.  The first four are conversions from Foundry peltasts.   The rest of the first and second lines are the new(ish) Polemarch figures, and the lower two rows are Crusader miniatures.  Most of the shields are Old Glory from a grognard mate in California, but a few are Essex with cast-on javelins.

My favourites are (very narrowly) the Foundry minis; there is something intangible about them that sets them apart, for me, even though the Polemarchs http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=327 are more appropriate figures. The Crusaders I find just a little on the short size, and I'm not a fan of their crouching poses; nonetheless they are nice enough.

These minis will be in the big Zama game standing in as Carthaginian militia, alongside a similar number of proper Carthaginian minis. I hope to base these in 3 or 4 nights, then I'll get started on Greg's Numidians.

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

Aventine Hastati Completed

Last night I finished the first of 2 units of Hastati.  With the quicker painting method, and the red primer, they took 15 painting/basing sessions, comparing favourably with the 20-odd for the Triarii.
This is another unit that looks better from behind!  I do like the active pose of these Aventine minis.

...and here they are with the earlier Triarii.  I think the LBMS shield designs set them off, nicely.

Only another 80 minis to go to complete the legion!  Gulp.

Tuesday, 15 September 2009

Aventine meets Gorgon

Hank at Gorgon Miniatures in the USA http://www.gorgon-studios.com/?page_id=2 has very kindly sent me a few more samples; this time of the new Etruscan range.  I thought it might be useful to post a couple of shots next to the recent Aventine range http://www.aventineminiatures.co.uk/


Above are two of the Gorgon "second class citizen spearmen" Etruscans, flanked by two of the Aventine Volscians.  I still know relatively little about this period, but what is apparent to me is that, as I had hoped, the two ranges are an excellent match for height and build.  Indeed, at one stage, I got the minis mixed up and couldn't tell which range they came from!  They come with a tidy rectangular shield (not shown), and are finely sculpted with very little flash, indeed.


Above are two hoplites and a phalangite; from left to right Foundry, Gorgon and Crusader (I couldn't lay my hands on a Crusader hoplite).  It is a pity that the light was poor because I couldn't catch all the detail on the Gorgon Etruscan 1st Class hoplite figure.  If you click, you still should be able to see the trim around the cheek plates on the helmet, and the scales on the composite cuirass are fantastic; the detail on this mini is exceptional.  These figures can also be used as Greek Hoplites.

So I'm delighted with my new minis; thanks Hank! It's likely that the next year (post-Zama) I'll paint up some units of mixed Aventine and Gorgon minis.

Wednesday, 9 September 2009

Hasty Hastati 6 - Mostly there!

These chaps are getting seriously close to completion!  I'm 11 sessions in and 3 more should finish them, including basing.  This is rather faster than the Triarii and should enable me to finish one legion by Salute.

In other news... Greg has kindly offered to paint some more miniatures, Hannibal's Bruttian veterans from Southern Italy.  These are going to be a mix of Aventine and Crusader miniatures.  Also, I've identified the materials for the base boards and will get on with them once I've finished my dissertation.