Thracian Cavalry

These figures are sporting a very quick and basic paint job. They only took a couple hours to do with the main focus being on the horse colors. In fact, other than being a possible option for my Later Macedonian FoG army, their main purpose is as test figures for possible horse color triads as I have a number of 28mm mounted figures awaiting pigment. If you want to see some pretty incredible 15mm Thracians, check out this thread.




16 Xyston figures, Litko bases

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Roman Commanders

Continuing towards completion of my 15mm FoG Mid. Rep. Romans, I've finished a variety of commanders. In general I've based these to represent; 1 IC (or C-in-C), 1FC, and 3 TC's. The figures are a mix of OG and Warmodelling 15's.

in order to make, at least, an attempt to do justice to the many wonderful 25mm mounted sculpts I have, I'm using 15mm mounted units and characters to test and try out different palettes of horse color.

6 Warmodelling figures, 3 Old Glory figures, Litko bases

Coming up shortly: Thracian Cavalry, Hessian Artillery and Hessians Hessians Hessians.

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Roman Legion (2nd)

Wanting to finish my 15mm Mid. Republican Roman Army for FoG, I've finished a 2nd legion.

8 bases Velites
16 bases Hastatai/Princeps
4 bases Triari

It took me awhile to decide on what color scheme I wanted to use for these before I settled on a hue of red. As I have two other ancient armies that require the use of red, I attempted to differentiate by using a somewhat unique craft paint mixture. Another goal of these was to use a variety of colors for the hastatai tunics.

95 Old Glory figures, 1 Warmodelling figure, Litko Bases, LBM transfers

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Cretans

Today saw the completion of my first set of Cretan archers. The models are of Xyston make and purchased through Brookhurst. This first set is of 8 bases for those armies in FoG that allow up to 8 bases to be used. My MRR list allows for up to 6, but I'm keeping the bigger picture in mind. The next set I do will consist of 12 bases in a different color scheme.

These minis were a real joy to paint. Simple archers yes, but the smoothness of their design, plus an opportunity to play with hues of red, made them that much more enjoyable. I stepped outside my usual Foundry and Vallejo ranges to a nice craft paint called "barn red" in order to find the top color I wanted for their tunics. I painted the models out from the concept of that color; first with the darker undercoats and then with good contrasts in the straps and bags. My general thinking on the color scheme is that they were mercs so they can afford something snazzy, not too snazzy, but better than your average LF.

After painting these, I can't wait until I get to my Antigonid and Classical Indian lists made up mostly of Xyston models.

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Triari

During the last moments of Christmas day I finished basing the completed triari for my first legion of MRRs. These are OG 15's and painted up well. These minis represent a couple of firsts for me.

Xyston Spears
I substituted the wire that came packaged with the minis with the spears available through Xyston. My first concern was attaching them as I've rarely encountered this situation aside from the odd standard bearer. After much trial and error I've decided on a method of scoring ridges on the spear and model before applying JB Weld for its fixture. During the painting process they had many an opportunity to come off but always stayed firmly attached.

LBMS Transfers
Back in '08 when I was buying lead and hatching this project I had decided that the triari in each legion would go beyond a plain shield design to further suggest their status. I quickly decided to go the way of LBMS as they offered transfers to fit OG15s. When it came time to try them for the first time I had my doubts, but having read many an endorsement I took the plunge.
At first my doubts were given validation, but only due to my own oversight and possibly some clarification needed by LBMS on their site although I do not fault them. I had purchased the minis and transfers at the same time last year and did not have the minis prior to ordering the transfers. If I had, I would have seen that the OG triari shields are of a slightly different proportion than those of the hastatai/princeps. Not only are the triari shields longer, but the center of the shield is further down the axis. This contrasts with the hastatai/princeps center being exactly that, center. The problem is of course that the transfers are made with the hastatai/princeps in mind.
Rather than withdraw I reinforced the situation and made some slight trimming adjustments and made them fit as best I could. After this I needed to touch them up considerably to match the shield colors and contours. I had a couple of areas of buckling due to the slightly different shape, but that was easily dealt with buy making a small cut and allowing an overlap which after touch ups is not noticeable. Despite the oversight and the extra touch ups I'm happy with the finished product and will use them again. If I have one tip to give any first time LBMS user, its to not get discouraged. At times it may seem like they might not look as good as you hoped, but with a little help and after drying, varnishing etc, they turn out just fine. Even the simple act of application gets easier by the time you get 16 minis done, so keep trying, LBMS has a great product.

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Hastatai & Princeps

Today I finished the 16 bases of Hast/Princ belonging to the first legion in my MRR project. Unfortunately the light I had always used to photograph with burned out and I had to send away for a new bulb, so please forgive the ad hoc lighting.







These are Old Glory's 15mm hastatai and princeps advancing figures. I painted them using the simple technique of 2-3 shade colors over a black primer. At the end of the day I'm pleased with how these turned out, but I feel I can do better on the next legions whenever I choose to take on those.







Once I finish the triari and a group of Cretan archers my next step is undecided. I may go right back into painting the next legion or take a break and do some of the Antigonid force I've collected or put paint to that mound of lead under my desk, aka. an ancient Spanish army from Corvus. There is always the repainting of the my poor AWI Hessians that were lost to an unfortunate Armory Sealant malfunction.

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Roman Velites (1)

This entry is showing the completion of my first batch of MR Romans. My general idea for putting together this army is painting 3 legions in corresponding themes along with the cavalry, optional troops and etc for the FoG list. These velites belong to the first such legion which is painted in a theme featuring a basic white as the main ingredient. I varied the tunic colors with a number of shades ranging from canvas to rawhide. The figures are Old Glory 15's and I'm pleased with how well they turned out after I finished painting.

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