20mm Ancient Indian swordsmen

 

Two bases of swordsmen now done for my classical Indian army. These will either form units of their own or could be mixed with the bases of bowmen. I decided to limit them to four figures per base since 5 or 6 just seemed too cramped. These lads must have needed a bit of space to wield those two-handed swords after all!

I'm quite pleased with how my bases are looking. I opted for Javis Desert Sand and Stone mix and Javis Light Green Fine Turf. In particular, the fine turf seems to stick to the sand and stone mix much better than static grass. I might go back at some point and add a few small tufts here and there, but they're fine for now.

Not sure yet what I'll paint next, but it'll probably be some Indian javelinemen, and then maybe a chariot or two after that, or an elephant. I've no definite plan on how big the final collection will be, either for this army or any of the other ones I’m working on. Progress will probably be slow and erratic sometimes, but hopefully without too many long gaps between painting. The main thing for me these days is just to enjoy a spot of painting whenever I have the time.

20mm Ancient Indian bowmen

 

Still aiming to keep things interesting for myself, I decided to pick a few packs of classical Indians from the lead pile to paint next. These are the first two bases of bowmen, including command. As with the other units I've finished so far, there will probably be four bases in total per unit, but I'm finding that painting just two bases at a time is better for keeping up the momentum.

These are some of the newest models from Newline Designs (although, not necessarily 'new' as such - a few years now, I think, since they were released), and I think they are some of the best sculpts I've painted so far. Really great figures, and very easy to paint.

I'll paint some Indian swordsmen next, which could form a mixed unit with the bowmen, and possibly some javelinmen and chariots after that, but it's tempting to skip across to the Alexandrian Macedonians to start on some phalangites. Summer always sees me outside a lot more in my free time, so I never get as much painting done this time of year, but if I can get two bases done every week or thereabouts, I'll be very happy with that, and the collections should make steady progress this year.

20mm Greek hoplites

 

I've always enjoyed painting Greek hoplites, but until now they've always been 28mm figures. I'm happy to say that painting these 20mm ones from Newline has been just as fun - if not more so, because they don't take nearly so long, and are really nice figures.

I was a bit worried at first about how I was going to tackle the shields, but by a stroke of good fortune I realised that I had some transfer sheets from Little Big Men Studios that fitted perfectly. The transfers are actually meant for Foundry hoplites, but I'm guessing it must be for Foundry's older and smaller figures, because the transfers are only about 10mm wide - which is spot on for these Newline shields. All I needed to do was paint the rims.

Only two bases done so far, but as with the Scutarii I wanted to move on to something different to keep my painting enthusiasm fresh. I'll get back and finish the other two bases before long though. I expect there will be quite a few hoplite bases to do eventually, which is fine by me!

20mm Scutarii

 

If I'm collecting a Republican Roman army, then as a solo gamer it makes sense to also collect a Carthaginian army! So, first up are some Spanish Scutarii. Just two bases done for now, but the other two bases will follow later.

These were fun to paint, although definitely a bit more time-consuming to do compared to the Romans. Thankfully, Scutarii shield patterns are quite straightforward to paint, so they didn't take too long. I really like the variety of figures you get with these packs from Newline Designs. I saw that there is another code available for Scutarii advancing, so I'll probably add a unit of those at some point, once this unit is done.

Greek hoplites next!

20mm Republican Romans

 

At long last I'm able to get back to doing some painting for myself again. I have missed it! These are 20mm Republican Roman Principes from Newline Designs, and are the beginning of what will hopefully be several armies that I can use to play some ancients battles.

So far I've painted up two units of Principes and one unit of Hastati. It's a small start, but I'm pleased with the progress made.

I don't have any firm idea yet about what rules I'll use for games. No doubt I'll want to try a few, and I have a number of rulesets on the shelf. As such, I wasn't entirely sure what base sizes to go for, and after a couple of false starts I settled on something very similar to my Napoleonics, with 4 bases per unit. This should allow me enough flexibility to accommodate most rules, and I'll vary the number of figures per base depending on troop type. Six figures per base seems to look quite good for heavy infantry.

It'll be a while before I have enough figures painted to play anything, but for now I'm just enjoying the painting. And I plan to jump around a bit between the different armies in order to stop myself from getting bored.

Some Spanish Scutarii and Greek hoplites will be up next, and probably some Classical Indians after that.

Hoplites - a wall of shields and spears!

My commission work this year has included a large number of hoplites by Crusader Miniatures. These were painted in stages I’m pleased to say - not all at once! But I’d actually lost count of just how many until recently when the client sent me this photo of them all fixed to their bases and ready for the final basing material to be added.

Now that’s what I call a solid Greek phalanx! 128 figures in total, 8 figures per base. I must admit to a moment of pride seeing them all ranked up like this. It was very satisfying to see. Also, kudos must go to the client for his prep work on these. Spear hands were all carved out to enable a nice secure grip on the spears, and all the shields were drilled and pinned in place. It’s a power of work to do in itself, but no chance of any shields or spears popping off these boys.

All the shield transfers were from Little Big Men Studios, and I painted the shield rims in a variety of bronze, solid colours or patterns. The Crusader hoplites are a real favourite of mine. I like the standing pose a lot, something which features across several of their ranges.

I’ll have more hoplites to paint next year for a commission. Those ones will be Foundry ones with over-arm poses, but also very nice looking miniatures.

British 32nd Cornwall Regiment of Foot

Before getting stuck into my plans to build some armies for a bit of ancients wargaming, I decided I really needed to get this unit of British Napoleonic figures finished off. They've been sitting half done on the shelf for longer than I could remember, and I had no excuse other than a lack of focus and general hobby ennui. Once I sat down to finish the job, they were done in no time. Silly really, to have left them unfinished for so long when such little effort was needed to get them over the line.

I gave the unit the flags and facings of facings of the 32nd Cornwall regiment, which adds another battalion to the collection for the 5th Division at Waterloo, this one being part of the 8th brigade commanded by Kempt.

When it came to basing, I didn't have enough of my usual mdf base sizes to hand, so ended up resorting to my old style of using 6 smaller bases instead of 4 larger ones. I decided to split the flags onto separate bases to allow them to be positioned more centrally in the line, and I think it does look better.

I used a couple of coats of varnish on the figures this time, which does mean the finish isn't as matt as I normally like, but I think it has made the colours a bit more saturated looking, which should help them to stand out more on the wargaming table. More importantly, I hope it will mean fewer paint chips and required touch-ups.

Although the idea is to spend the greater balance of my free time on my new ancients project in the coming months, my Napoleonic collection is still very much ongoing, even though it's been neglected for a while. The next British unit will most likely be either the 28th North Gloucestershire or another highlander regiment, and I'm planning another game soon with Neil Thomas' Napoleonic rules to try out some modifications I made to add interest for solo play. More on that - and my ancients project - in future posts.