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!