28mm Samnite 'Colorful Legion' Mercenaries for Saga Age of Hannibal

Eight Samnite 'Colorful Legion' warriors. These will be a mercenary unit for Saga Age of Hannibal. 

Old Glory figures. I'm still experimenting with contrast paints on tunics and larger areas with mixed results. 

Eight figures to add to the 2021 totals. Next up on the painting table are twelve 28mm Gaul Archers to start my Carthaginian force for Saga Age of Hannibal.

 

28mm 'Romanized' Samnites

Ten Old Glory 28mm Samnites. These will be artillery train guard 'soldier' stands in Hannibal At the Gates. Each stand will be five figure groups as shown. I've equipped these with Roman scutum shields and more uniform tunics while retaining their traditional Samnite helmets. 

I experimented with contrast paints on the tunics with results I'm not thrilled with. The helmet feathers are also contrast paints and I'm thrilled with how they look. The rest of the work on the figures used traditional techniques.  Ten figures, to start the year's painting progress off. Next up on the painting table are eight more Samnites. These next ones will be Samnite 'colorful legion' warriors to be used as mercenaries in Saga Age of Hannibal games.

One note: I'm still working on my new studio space, so my laser cutter/engraver is currently out of service, so basing many of the figures I've painted this year will be a big project for later this year.

Samnite Linnen Legion

These figures represent a portion of the Samnite 'linen legion'. The linen legion, is mentioned in Livy and is reported to have been comprised of religious purists. The white of their tunics and shields and the silvering of their arms and armor were because white and silver were colors that symbolized this religious purity. As part of a larger Samnite army these figures would be part of the elite portion of the army. As mercenaries in my Roman, Carthaginian or Pyrrhic armies they'll represent a half-legion or division of soldiers and skirmishers. Later on if I paint up a full Samnite army I would add the spear line to these units to complete the legion. Like my previous Samnite unit, these are Old Glory figures with Aventine shields.

 

Also painted with these figures were three additional Campanian hoplite figures to round out a third unit as part of an upcoming re-basing effort for a previously painted unit. These figures will receive their matte varnish as part of the re-basing process.

With these three, this is another 24 figures added to this year's painting totals. The frigid weather this winter has had a positive influence on my painting, that's for sure.

28mm Samnite 'Colorful' Legion

Despite having one of the most productive months at the painting table this past January, this blog hasn't shown it. It's been VERY cold and snowy here. Since I take my photographs outside with natural light, the to-be-photographed lead has been piling up. Today we got a small window of warm-ish weather so out I went to clear the photography queue. I'll be posting units over the next few days, mostly in order of how excited I am about the units. So here's the cream of the crop, a 28mm Samnite 'colorful' legion. These are based for Hanibal at the Gates and would actually represent a half legion, or a 'division' in HATG terms. Eventually if I ever plan to field these as part of a complete Samnite army I'll paint the other half legion. For now these will be used as mercenaries in my Carthaginian, Phyrric or Roman armies as needed.

The figures are Old Glory from their Italian Wars ancients line. I've added the characteristic Samnite shields which I ordered from Crusader Miniatures. An aside about Crusader Miniatures, their customer service I found to be excellent, even ordering directly from the United States. I'm putting these down in the painting totals as 25 figures. I painted one extra musician (not shown) which will be used in an upcoming re-basing effort.

The figures are comprised of three stands of peltasts, classified as 'soldiers' in HATG and three stands of psoli classified as 'foot skirmishers'. I've mixed in plenty of striped tunics and wildly colorful shields and helmet decorations to represent a Samnite colorful legion as opposed to the Samnite linen legion. The latter will be the subject of a future painting project which is currently on the table.