31 January 2010

Artizan Landsknechts

Below are a couple pics of some of the new Artizan landsknechts. I've only got a couple of them (for now) and the pics are a sneak peak from an article I'm working on, but since these figures are so new, I wanted to share a bit.






They're very nicely sculpted, and well detailed. Of the 4 castings I have, only one had a significant amount of flash.

Like I said... more later...

More Lictors

I painted up some Foundry lictors that I managed to get on eBay (along with a few other Roman bits.) They're a little smaller than the ones I converted from Wargames Factory figures, or any other Roman figures I've got. I tried taking a few pics, but the only one to come out was one of them escorting a Roman character from Crusader Miniatures.

They're nice clean sculpts, and the fasces are, obviously, much better than the ones I did. I'd like to make a second (improved) attempt at converting a couple, but I'm not certain what I'm going to do with all these lictors! (1:1 scale skirmishes in the streets of Rome? Actually doesn't sound like a bad idea...)

30 January 2010

Marauder Ogre Mercenaries

I'm gearing up for the upcoming summer campaign "Treachery and Greed" at Warhammer-Empire.com. So even though I've got ancients I need to finish, and a new army book for the Skaven, I'm also starting to look back at some of the Empire/Marienburg stuff, and by extension, my medeival & renaissance figures.

First up is a small unit of Ogre mercenaries I apparently started over three years ago. They're old GW figures from Marauder Miniatures. I'm on the lookout for some of the others from the set... in case anyone can help me out. ;) Also looking for more of the tiny Marauder halflings, too.





So expect some more Empire/Marienburg/DoW/Tilean/Renaissance stuff goodies like this coming up.

I'm also keeping busy as part of the campaign staff, working on some more stuff. Mostly secret for now, though I'm excited to be doing another map. I really enjoyed painting/drawing the two campaign maps last year.

29 January 2010

Celtos Celts

I picked up a few old Celtos figures a while ago and decided to paint one up just for a little something different. I might sneak it into a unit of Gauls. Stylistically and scale wise it fits with the Renegade figures anyway.


26 January 2010

Harii

I owe a friend some painting. He wanted some tatooed Germans. I offered to do some Harii based on Kevin Dalimore's idea instead.



Besides, we're both fans of Conan, too.

As always, click the pic to enlarge.

18 January 2010

Figgybloggy awards & more

After placing my vote in the "Figgybloggy Best of the Year Award" I was thinking about how I find new blogs by following links from comments on other blogs, or at various forums (fora?) around the web. I always enjoy finding new stuff.

So, although I voted for only one, as the rules stipulate, there are really quite a few good blogs I follow. I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites, in case some people who may be reading this haven't seen them...

Iron Mitten. As I said with my vote at the above link, in addition to all the painting, gaming and commentary that I love about many blogs I follow, I really look forward to each new drawing/cartoons.

BigRedBatCave. I only wish I could paint like Simon (and Greg.) Big games and a lot of great looking figures. My favorite kind of gaming. Almost as much of a painting (and modeling and army) reference as it is a blog.

Carmen's Fun Painty Time. Almost like the opposite end of the spectrum from BigRedBatCave. Smaller projects with a lot of individual attention. I also enjoy reading the insights into the creative process as well as other occasional non-miniatures diversions.



So in further in the spirit of sharing good finds, anyone who would like to recommend or comment on other blogs that I've not mentioned, feel free to reply and share. My own list is a bit biased by my current interests, which probably rank something like 75% ancients & medievals, 20% fantasy and 5% other, but feel free to recommend any genre/period/scale of miniature gaming.

15 January 2010

Spanish Scutarii

I finished basing the unit of ancient Spanish scutarii I recently finished over at the Paint Machine blog. You can look there if you're interested in step-by-step photos or further commentary.



Figures are a mix of Old Glory and Crusader.

These scutarii figures are pretty good. I'm always wary of Old Glory, especially considering their poor/non-existent photos on their web page(s). But the scutarii are pretty good. They've got a significantly different (and more uniform) look than the Crusader figures. All three look more like the illustration (112) labeled "Celtiberian Scutarius" in "Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars" where the Crusader figures all seem to have more the expected (for me) Iberian looking equipment. But mixed together, I like the irregular look. Sadly, there are only 3 poses in the OG pack of 30. I think Crusader offers 8 plus command.


Buying/Selling/Trading

I'm continuing to consider my next purchase. Even though I'm still working on Romans. ;)

As others have also suggested, I'm leaning towards Successors. I keep flip-flopping on the particulars. One day it's early, maybe Antigonid... a few days later I'm thinking about a later Ptolemaic army. Probably best to stay generic, especially since my phalanx will be the typical Macedonians available through Crusader.

I think that in return, I'm going to try to fund that purchase by selling off my WFB Wood Elf army. It's almost entirely unpainted, and all the newer stuff is still in boxes or on the sprue. I've also got a bit of the old "classic" 3rd edition Wood Elves, though I'm not sure if/how those will sell. Kids today... all they want is the latest & greatest. ;)

It's not like I'm itching to get rid of the WE army. I just don't see myself getting around to painting it for another decade. I like the concept of playing a totally different style of WFB army, but who knows what will happen by the time I actually apply some paint to it. And I'm not an unpainted army kind of guy, so it won't get fielded until it's at least mostly done. In that fictional future.

Ancients, on the other hand... I'm much more excited to paint them. I'm also itching to paint some landsknechts. I should have a few of the Artizan figures on the way, so I'll paint a few test/comparison figures when they get here. Sadly, though, I've got to hold off on a major Artizan landsknecht purchase for a while longer. Must stay focused!

10 January 2010

Purchase Dilemma

As I mentioned previously, my figure purchases are going to be extremely limited this year. (Getting married later in the year.) But I have an Old Glory army card that gets me the big discount on their figures, plus Crusader (they are the US distributor) and a few others. The card expires in another month or two, so I'm planning on making one of my only "significant" figure purchases, making use of the discount while I still get it, soon.

So here is my dilemma... Macedonians or Germans?

I've been considering a Successor army, though I'm still not certain I've got anything specific in mind just yet. But I figured I couldn't go wrong picking up a few boxes of the Crusader pikemen, plus a few supplementary packs, and maybe a few relevant packs of Old Glory figures (some cav to hold me over until I find more suitable figures.)

But now Crusader has released their Germans. It's a small range and the discount isn't stacked on the cheaper price of the boxed sets of pikemen. But the price is still good and I can always find a home for more Germans. If I go this route, I'll focus on supplementing both the German horde and the Romans, increasing the size of both. So maybe a pack of OG scorpios and some allied troops in addition to the Germans.


So the pros & cons...


Pros of Successors... My primary local opponent also has and/or is working on Macedonians. I've already got some of the accessory/allied/subject troops I'd need. It would give me an army for another period within ancients. Even cheaper price for the boxed sets. The Cons of Successors... Still no WAB book for them and no announcement of its release as of yet. I don't have a particular army in mind yet (a few ideas) so I'd probably need to figure out a few other choices for troops. I can pick up some OG figures, but I'm not crazy about many of their cavalry figures.


Pros of Germans... I like horde armies. I can field even larger Rome vs. Barbarians games -- maybe some nice big convention games. More variety of manufacturers in the army. They have all the army list info for WAB I need. Cons of Germans... I already have enough for decent sized games. "More of the same." Good price, but not as much of a bargain as the pikemen (pikemen are .30/figure cheaper.) I like horde armies... but they do have their limits.



So I'd be making a choice between a lot of this...

http://www.crusaderminiaturesusa.com/index.php?cat_id=58

vs. a lot of this...

http://www.crusaderminiaturesusa.com/view_product.php?product=Box014

08 January 2010

Lictor Conversions Painted

In hindsight, I would model the fasces a little differently next time. I tried adding more strapping after the previous picture, but it was too much of a pain once they had been glued to the figure.

I may take a second shot at it with a second pair of figures.


06 January 2010

Lictor Conversions

My fiance got me the complete Rome series for Christmas, so we've spent a good part of the past few weeks vegging out in front of the television with it. She's addicted now, too. :)

At some point while watching the series, I got the idea, "hey, I need some lictors for my consul/general!"

I immediately thought of conversions using the Wargames Factory "Numidian" set of figures and...



The arms holding the faces had the shoulder joints cut & shaved dowb a bit, for better positioning (closer to the body). Then they were glued & filled. I used green-stuff to give the tunic sleeves. The fasces are made of 20 gauge florist wire and a small bit of cardboard for the axe head (cut from a box of W&N "Nut Brown" ink that I had at my painting desk!) and then "bound" with some 24 (or was it 28?) gauge florist wire. The whole bundle is held together with a drop of CA glue and was a pain to keep together. I'm disappointed that the one on the right spread apart a bit at the top. I should probably put more binding on the fasces - I may try, but I'm not sure if I can do it now that they're glued on the lictors.

I hope to have them painted soon. In the meantime, I'm working on the next "Paint Machine" project, a unit of ancient Spanish Scutarii, at... http://paintmachine.blogspot.com/

02 January 2010

Rome Marches On. And a Pug

Over the holidays I've painted yet another unit of Romans. Minor differences this time. Changed the way I paint the shields, used P3 paints "Brass Balls" instead of the Vallejo Gold, and I cut off the crests to see how that would look.




Also painted a pug. It was from a set of "familiars" from Reaper miniatures. He's on a 20x20 base, if that gives an idea of scale. A bit bigger that a real pug would be, when compared to 28mm human figures.






What's on my painting table at the moment?

More Romans, of course. Also Black Tree Designs Cretan archers, Crusader & OG Spanish Scutarii, Foundry Germans, and a bag worth o' Old Glory landsknechts.