Samnite Cavalry

I realize it has been a few days since my last update. I was suffering a little bit from burn out. I guess it is one of the risks of painting many figures. Well fear not, I have some units almost ready to jump of the painting table, and onto the photoshoot.

Here first is the unit of Samnite Cavalry, of the Linen Legion, that I have painted.

It is a smallish unit, compared to the ones I usually make, even for Cavalry, but it should be proportionate to the number of infantry I have in my units.

Here is a picture of the horse pose, with rider, in side view. Note I usually do not paint the many pieces of bit and tackle. So I have omitted those here. Also I don´t usually paint hoofs. So likewise omitted.

I try to paint horses to a certain scheme. That is always a color I know a horse can be, with a darker mane, and tail.  believe it gives a nice realistic look, without being too complex. Horses of course are not all brown, nor black, but mine usually are. It is simply easier to deal with when painting.

Here is a look at the rider and horse in front view.

I took this picture, the way I ordinarily take pictures of rank and file troops. But in this case I had to take it at an angle. Why do you ask? Well the feathers on the horse simply obscured the riders face, and much of the helmet. Making it look rather strange.

I am assuming that these riders are all samnites, because they have the triple disc pattern on the breastplate/pectoral. I found a note in one of Ospreys titles that said that they would look much like the Campanian Cavalry depicted, except that they would have the samnite breastplate. Originally I thought one of the more unarmored ones were samnites.

~Claus