David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Friday 22 May 2020

A Republican Roman commander

I wanted to paint a test figure for the small unit of Republican Roman Cavalry in my start-up force and so I chose to paint one of the three mounted officers I’d added to the starter set offer. He will lead my cavalry force as it expands beyond the one unit of three bases, or nine figures if you prefer. Initial observations when assembling all the Mounted figures were that the horses were correctly on the small side. The figures themselves fit on the horses well, which is not always the case with some manufacturers I’ve found! While I quite like the inclusion of separate heads I’m less keen on the two part bodies, but fortunately this figure was a one part body. My painting technique now is a simpler process, usually base coat and highlight from the Foundry paint triads. However, as there’s a good deal of exposed flesh on the arms and legs of these figures I opted for the same method I’d used on my Late Roman armies. The flesh is blocked in using the Foundry Flesh midtone and then, when it’s thoroughly dry, I wash the flesh with a 50:50 wash of water and the old Games Workshop Flesh Wash. {There’s a bit of a backstory to this, as I bought three jars in a hobby shop located in the small South Australian town of Moonta. Subsequently I carried these round half of Australia and home via Singapore. So they are well travelled!} Anyway, no more waffle, see what you think of the end product ~

I’ve started now on the Legion figures, two Hastati first. The shield transfers haven’t arrived yet, so I’ll wait until I’ve finished a whole base now before showing any more of this project, probably towards the end of next week I’d imagine.

12 comments:

  1. Off to a flying and cracking start and no mistake there.

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    1. Thank you Phil! Six Princepes finished now bar shield transfers, walking from N Ireland courtesy of NI Post Office!

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  2. They look very fine David, I particularly like his well sculpted helmet.

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    1. Nice figures I think so far which seem to love the brush.

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  3. Nicely done a man with a big hat. Not so sure about the horse, are they all the same, perhaps we are all just used to heroic scale ?

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    1. Horses are much smaller in the ancient period I'm told, more like ponies, so it seems right to me.

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  4. Well done David, thumbs up!

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  5. A fine looking fellow David...
    I wonder if Aventine are in their turn waiting for the transfers to come from Little Big Men Studios...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you Aly! Transfers are a sore point as I've just seen I've paid 50p per sheet over the odds!

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  6. I'd say the test was a great success David!

    Christopher

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    1. Kind words much appreciated Christopher.

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