Ancient Greek Centaurs

Well, this is really unlike me, but I have been smitten by some ancient greek Centaurs. They may not be the prettiest figures, but they have their charm none the less.

Here is a picture of the unit from the side.

Sizewise these are comparable to 1/72 figures, although they are officially listed as 25mm. They are from the defunct game Arcane Legions, which is made by the Wells Expedition. The plastic is comparable to the one used by Caesar Miniatures. It is sort of a bendy plastic, but not quite as bendy as the Caesar one.

The shields come prepainted. The motif is a centaur wielding a spear. I could not quite duplicate the color, and since one side is not painted, I decided to repaint all the figures.

They come unassembled. But that is not too much of a problem. I glued them with regular plastic glue and it is holding up very well. I wanted to glue the shields on with Superglue, but the glue had dried up and caused a blockage in the tube. So I tried to use regular glue, and it held up pretty well.

Historically of course, there was no such thing as Centaurs. so this is a forray into fantasy. It is not too off topic for me, though. So you will have to live with it. Here is finally a picture of two of the Centaurs placed up against each other, so you can get a good look at the pose.

They were fun to paint, which to me is more important than many other things. The sculpting I read elsewhere is so-so, some even call it bad. I can mention a couple of miniature manufacturers that would be proud of these figures. They are from the Egyptian booster pack, of Cavalry. They are sold along with 2 different poses of "mongol" or "steppe" warriors that are also horsemen.

~Claus

More Samnite Warriors

As the title says, time for some more Samnite Warriors. As has been the theme lately, these are from the Linnen Legion. That is all painted in white, and with the dash of silver inbetween.

Here is the whole unit.

No surpise in the looks. As I wrote above, they are all white. I like to think of these as being the elite Samnites, among the Elites. The Linnen Legion was in itself elite, but someone has to be even more elite than the elite.

Here is the pose that is the most numerous in the unit.

I really like it. He looks tough, and stands like he is more or less ready for anything. Really the pose I like the most of all the poses in the HäT set.

But with so many copies of the same figure in the unit, I thought some variety would be welcome. So three of the have the same helmet now, that the one to the left has on this picture. It was a simple headswap, from the kneeling pose, that I have yet to paint.

The figure on the right is also a headswap conversion. This time with the head from the "officer figure" that I have shown before.

The HäT set does not come wth a standardbearer, as earlier discussed, but I am using the spear with an enemies clothes as one none the less. The horn blower or musician in this picture, below, is not from HäT.

It is from the Odemars, Oscan Infantry set. I found most of the poses in that set useless. Much to flat, or too much flash, and too little definition. Painting this guy was mostly to see if it could be done. And it could. He looks alittle out of place, but not much.

Next up, I think I might just finish the Iberian unit that is on my painting table and has been for a while. I just need to paint the belts and leather straps in plausible colors, and then paint the bases of the figures. So not much. Alas I do not feel up to it in this heat, we are having here these days. But maybe if the nights turn out as sleepless as recently I will do it during one of those.

~Claus

Liebster Award

Sean from Sean´s wargames corner (http://seanswgcorner.blogspot.com/) has awarded me a Liebster Award.

So what is it?
Basically it is an award that is given to a place you like, and you want to give alittle more trafic, because it might have been unnoticed by everyone, or at least many people. One of the requirements to get a Liebster Award, is that you have less than 200 followers.

Sean has given it to me because he thought my figures were nicely painted, and that is good enough for me. I appreciate the sentiment, and I would like to thank him, and accept the Liebster.

Already it has increased the trafic my blog has recieved, by quite a bit, and I have gotten another follower. Cool. So it works. Once again, thanks Sean!


Usually you answer a couple (11) questions, which vary from blog to blog as far as I have noticed, and choose 11 other blogs that get a nomination to get the Liebster Award. Sean has graciously allowed that none of his recipients need do that, and I am going to do as he wishes, and not nominate anybody.

Although if you should want to visit one of the places I like alot, with few followers, go here: 1/72 Ancient Wargames (http://ironcolumn.blogspot.dk/)  which I enjoy reading every once in a while.

Yours
~Claus 

Balaeric Slingers (Iberians)

Ok, it has been a while once again. I have slowly been painting up a few Samnites, but for now I thought I would show you the figures I am using and am going to use as Balaeric slingers. That is the famed slingers from the Balaeric Islands.

Here is a picture of the first unit.

And a picture of the second unit of them.

Notice how the figures are the same, but the feel is quite different. The ones in white with red trims are perhaps the most original, and correct, but the pictures in Ospreys books also shows them in brownish garments with brownish trims. So a unit of slingers in these would not be too far fetched. Personally I like the brownish unit most.

Here is first standard poses for each unit

I made the headbands red, before I read that they were supposed to be used as extra slings, for other ranges. Apparantley slings have different ranges, according to how long they are. It makes sense I suppose,

Here is the other standard pose for the units.

The legend goes that as children the Balaerics were given a sling and told, that from now on they would have to find their own food. It is no wonder that they were expert slingers. Notice that unlike the pose in the Orion set, these slingers, from the HäT set, have a dagger each. You never know if you are going to be involved in some hand to hand combat.

I of course, as I do mostly when I can do it, preformed some simple conversions, with these figures. Mostly headswaps, but also one where I removed a hand from a sling. So here are those four poses.

This is a rather old paintjob that I did perhaps some 10 years ago. Glad it is still holding up pretty well...

~Claus

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

Samnite Auxilia

I painted up some Samnite Auxilia, of the Linen Legion. I am going on the asumption that the legion included both light and heavy troops, as well as cavalry.

Here is a look at the unit.

They are not surpisingly white and silver in color. I tried taking the picture from an angle and alittle from above, to give an impression of depth. I think I succeeded. The unit does not look "flat", so mission accomplished.

Here is a look at the pose that is most numerous in the unit.

White on white is not the best way to bring out details. So I have used light grey as crest color, and a yellowish cream color for the back of the shield. I think it looks ok. The belt, sources show, are inlaid with silver or iron, so, I painted it silver.

Here is a look at the unit leader.

Not much to say about him really. Except that the difference in silver and iron is much more prominent on the pictures I have taken than in real life.

At the moment I have three units on the painting table. One Samnite Linen Legion heavy unit, One Samnite Cavalry, of the Linen Legion too, and a unit of Iberian Caetrati. The two first are HaT products, the latter is all Orion figures. So those are the coming attractons!

~Claus

Iberian Caetrati, armored

So back to the Iberians, and these fellows are a strange bunch, but here goes.

The Iberians are distinguished ordinarily into three types of troops: Slingers, Scutari and lastly Caetrati. The Caetratri are like the Scutari destinguished by their shield. Where the Scutum is large and oval, this shield is small and round, in fact one might call it a buckler. Ordinarily the units would be light and agile, but this unit is different.

The reason why it is different cannot really be seen on this picture. But there is a hint, some unusual straps of leather on the back. They are used to hold a round plate in place over the breast. Which is unusual, but not unheard of. From my google searches I found at least one representation where they had this plate and a "buckler".

Here is another view of the unit.

Notice how big the shield of the Champion of the unit is. I did not find any small enough shield I could use, so his bigger shield will have to do.

I have spoken alot about the unusualness of this unit, and of the pose in particular. Well here he is.

Another thing that is unsual about this figure, is that his sword is not the usual falcata type, but it is straight. So is the scabbard. Very strange and quite unusual.

The champion too is interesting, if not for anything else, then for the weapon he is holding.

It is an axe, from the Caesar set of egyptians. You get a few spare ones pr. sprue, so, I thought why not use it to denote someone special. The uniform is not that strange, white with red trimmings. Just like most texts say the Iberians had. But the shield is also something I found online. Not sure if it is something the Iberians used; black shields that is.

The officer is the standard pose from the Orion set. Here he is, once again:

He is however interesting because he must be rich. Why do you ask? Well he has a purple cloak. A color that was extremely difficult to manufacture back then. So only the richest could afford it. Perhaps this unit is this fellows personal bodyguard. Would explain why they are so different.

~Claus