28mm Roman Velites

Twelve Roman velites based individually for either Saga age of Hannibal or Clash of Spears. Truthfully the latter was the primary motivation to paint up these figures. I likely have plenty of Velites for Saga having already painted up one unit of twelve figures previously. 

These are more Old Glory figures pulled from my 'dead lead' collection. Previously purchased for my Roman Hannibal at the Gates army, I had purchased way more than I needed. Luckily for me I held on to them as now I'm happy to have been able to pull them from the pile of shame and get them painted up!

 Where the previous unit was painted using traditional methods, other than the metallic paints, these were painted exclusively with 'contrast' paints - primarily Army Painter SpeedPaints (version 1). I have to say, I'm happy with how they came out and the speed at which I was able to paint them up. Twelve more 28mm figures for this year's painting totals.

28mm Roman Velites

Twelve 28mm Roman Velites for Clash of Spears of Saga age of Hannibal. These are Old Glory figures that I rescued from my 'dead lead' box and painted up to match the red-shielded Romans I recently purchased and re-based. 

I've kept these pretty generic as far as shield markings go. Some of the hastati and princeps in the rest of the command had unadorned red shields, so I went with that for these for expedience and because I didn't have appropriate matching shield transfers.

I've mostly painted these with traditional paints and techniques. I used contrast paints for the wolf skins, but in the end my Zenethil priming was too dark so I had to dry-brush the grey streaks to make it all work. Lesson learned. I'm still happy with how they came out. These will be a full unit of levies for Saga, or two small units for Clash or Spears. Likely for the latter I'll use eight figures as a single command while four figures remain as extras. 

Twelve figures closer to evening out my painted vs. purchased figures. Next up on the painting table, a couple of vehicles for my Finnish army.

28mm Roman Mounted Officers

These are six mounted Roman officers that I've recently completed. Four are mounted to be used with my Hannibal at the Gates Republican Roman army and two will be used with the Saga Age of Hannibal rules. In all honesty I probably could have mounted them all the same way and used any for either set of rules as all are on two inch circular bases. 

These are Old Glory figures. Usually Old Glory figures have good facial expressions, but several of these figures have very rough facial features. Either the casting is too soft, or they were sculpted to look quite ape-like. Either way I've done my best to make them look as human as possible considering the sculpts.

These two will be used for Saga Age of Hannibal. I'm particularly happy with how the fur came out on the cape. This was done with several different applications of various shades of GW Contrast paints. Quick, easy and looks great.

 

 

 

 

 

Two of the Hannibal at the Gates figures.

The final two figures.

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.

28mm Republican Roman Infantry Command

I've had these figures finished for about a week, but I've been busy painting other figures and neglected to base these up. I finally got some time to get them based this past weekend. These are mostly Old Glory figures, except for the Titus Pullo character figure and the Warlord 'Blood Sacrifice' figure which came free with the purchase of their SPQR rule book.

The two round stands are infantry command stands. the yellow shield stand completes my third infantry legion. The green-shielded stand starts my fourth legion.

28mm Roman Cavalry (2)

Two units of 28mm Roman cavalry for my 'tan shield' allied legion. Old glory figures based up for Hanibal at the Gates rules.

These were painted on my Twitch.tv stream over the better part of three streams. I'm counting this as twelve figures in my annual painting totals: six riders and six horses.  Next up on the painting table are some command figures to finish up this legion and start the 4th and final legion.

Trying out my new photography turntable. Probably a silly gimmick, but what the heck right?

Tan Legion Hastati

Last week I made more progress on the 'tan' legion for my Roman army. These are the Hastati which were based up yesterday and final touches on the base decorations were added today. They still need another coat or two of matte varnish, but besides that they're ready to see some use on the tabletop.

These are Old Glory figures and add twelve more 28mm figures to this year's painting totals. Next up for this army are some foot officers for this and the fourth legion and two units of cavalry to complete the third legion.

I have a feature on my Twitch stream, where after viewing for a certain period of time, viewers can use their view time points (which are free FYI) to select my next project to paint on stream from a list I keep. A viewer selected some British WWII vehicles. I'm painting the two Morris Quad tractors shown to the left to fulfill this request. They've been base coated and are ready for decals, chipping and weathering.

28mm Republican Roman Infantry

Two bases of Republican Roman principes and one base of velites for my 'tan shield' legion. These are Old Glory figures that have been sitting primed but idle on my painting table for over a year. Painting on Twitch has put my painting productivity into overdrive, so I'm starting to get to older projects that got stalled.

These were painted to match some triarii and velites I painted 18 months ago, but I couldn't resist the urge to 'dial it up to 11' and put some extra touches on the officer's faces, cloaks and the wolf skins on the velites and standard bearers. Based up for Hanibal at the Gates to match the rest of my Romans.

These add fifteen figures to this year's painting totals. Next up a unit of Oscan/Campanian hoplites also for Hanibal at the Gates.

Roman Praetorian Guard

My painting output always slows way down during the summer, this year even more than most. I have R/C flying, camping and yard work all to compete with the painting table. It doesn't help that I'm still getting almost as many games in as I do during the colder months! This is a small batch of Roman Praetorian guards. They're from Warlord's Cesarian line, and include one command pack of lead figures, one sprue of plastic command and one sprue of legionaries. I've tried to choose heads that look the most 'republician' since these figures are really meant for the tail end of the period. In Hannibal at the Gates, these will be used with two soldier stands (extraordinarii) to make up a Roman elite division.

Next up on the painting table, some additional Carthaginian mounted officers. My Carthaginian army has become large enough that my original batch of mounted officers can only command a little over half of the troops! First world problems I guess.....

White Legion Princeps

Two units of Roman princeps which completes my white Roman legion. These figures are Old Glory with a simple block paint job and my (now usual) black floor wax magic wash.

Next up on the painting table are two units of praetorian guard, using Warlord figures. My hopes are the slightly larger figures will make the elite praetorian units look appropriately impressive. These twelve figures put my total this year up to 113. I'm still on a healthy pace to crush last year's excellent output.

28mm Roman Cavalry

These are two units of Roman cavalry that I've painted up quickly for use in our club's game day next weekend. My friend Mike is running a one day campaign and I pledged bringing three Carthaginian and one Roman army. For my Roman army I needed to complete the cavalry for my two in-process legions, the red legion and the white legion. It should be obvious from the shields on these which legion each unit is for.

The figures are, as usual, from Old Glory. When you are a member of their club you get 40% off the price of the figures making them my go-to choice for anything they carry. Sure there are a few figure manufacturers that make slightly nicer figures, but with the discount considered those 'better' figures cost three to four times as much as these. That makes Old Glory the perennial champion in the 'bang for the buck' catagory. Plus I like the O.G. figures. They paint up well and the lines are extensive enough that I seldom want for anything. I also like that their packs always contain an assortment of poses.

Since they're mounted, I'm counting these six figures as twelve in my painting total count, mostly because I paint the horses separately then glue on the riders. Next up on the painting table, thirty Austrian Napoleonic grenzers, and a bunch of AWI re-basing. The latter may not make it to the blog.

White Legion Command & More Numidian Re-Basing

This is a very small update. This stand is my white legion command stand made up of my previously posted Vorenus figure from Warlord Games with an extra Old Glory velite as a messenger. All that remains for foot figures for the white legion are the principes. Unfortunately they're behind some Carthaginian's on the painting table.

These are the last of my Numidian skirmishers, re-based for Marathon to Marius. I still have some cavalry that COULD be re-based, but these are the last of the infantry that NEEDED to be re-based.

Sorry for the high contrast photos. I waited for several days for a good overcast day for photography but all we have had lately is pouring rain or bright sun. Given the choice I'll take the latter, but neither makes for good macro photographs.