Penultimate Units!

I just have to paint and base one more unit of Gothic light cavalry and I'll have finished my planned armies for my first game of Comitatus!

This post sees another base of Gothic shock cavalry (although they could conceivably be used as heavy javelin cavalry instead) and a unit each of Roman and Gothic archers.

The Gothic cavalry are again from the Italeri 'Gothian' Cavalry set, though I've had to modify a couple of the figures to my preference, namely the middle figure and the figure with the cape. The middle figure was the one waving a puny sword that resembled an overgrown butter knife, so I've cut that out and replaced it with a javelin from the HaT Roman Light Cavalry set. The figure with the cloak has had his spear cut down to a more managable javelin/dart size, and is bearing a shield from the Italeri Late Roman Infantry set, just for variation.

The archers' bases are slightly anemic as I was running out of figures, so instead of having the requisite 4 figures, these bases only have 3. I'm not that fussed as the base is still the same size and 3 figures is a little less crowded in the same space.

The Roman base has two figures from the Italeri Late Roman Infantry set and one from the Miniart Roman Infantry set, while the Gothic base has 3 figures from the Miniart set. Just for variation, I've added a small shield from the HaT light cavalry set to the belt of one of the Gothic archers.

The bowstrings look a little fluoro under the glare of the flash against a dark background, but in the flesh they're not nearly so bright!

Gothic Infantry and Roman Command Stands

I'm almost ready for my first game of Comitatus!

With these two stands, I have finished all the infantry and command required. I now need a couple more stands of archers for both sides and another Gothic light and heavy cavalry stand each.

The Gothic infantry are another mix of Miniart and Strelets figures which bring the total of infantry stands to six, or enough for 2 x 3 stand cunei, or attack columns.

The Roman command stand was one which I had a long hard think about. I wanted it to stand out from the rest of the Roman cavalry stands, so I used two figures from the light cavalry set coupled with one from the medium cavalry set as the general.

Both light cavalry figures were altered, one with a draco added in place of the spear and a head swap, and the other with a cross piece added to the spear and a homemade vexillum glued in place. I couldn't think of how to decorate the shields, but I knew I wanted to do something different. I considered a winged Nike holding a laurel wreath, but decided that was beyond my talents, so decided on a wreath and Chi-Rho combination ie. Christ the Victor. Then I remembered I'd seen something along those lines in a book I had read recently and found the image of Honorius holding a banner that said in translation "In the name of Christ, you are always victorious", which I thought would be an appropriate thing for my general to aspire to! I knocked up a teeny-tiny banner in Paint, coloured it in with my daughter's felt tip pens (no access to the colour printer at work while I'm leave!) and Robertus is your avanculus!

The Honorius panel in question. He really doesn't look like the sharpest tool in the box, does he? No wonder the West fell!

The caption is actually legible if you expand the picture.

Roman Light Troops

Here's another couple of stands of light arms for my Roman forces; a stand of horse archers and a stand of light infantry skirmishers.

The horse archers are from the HaT Light Cavalry set and the infantry are from Miniart with an interloper from the Italeri Late Roman Inftary set sporting a Mininart shield and a shortened spear. He also has an extra javelin glued to the hand holding the shield, ready to take after he's thrown the one already in his hand.

If you follow my Napoleonic blog, you'll know I had a disaster with my spray varnish. My remedy involved olive oil which has left the figures fairly shiny, especially with the camera's flash.

Cavalry

Here's the latest for my Comitatus project: Gothic shock cavalry and Roman light cavalry and horse archers.

The shock cavalry were my last entry in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge which earned me 24 points, bringing my total up to 744 (144 points above my target! Whey-hey!) and finishing in 26th place out of 60!

The figures are Miniart, with a ring-in from the Italeri Gothic Cavalry mounted on a Miniart horse

The Roman light cavalry could have been entered into the competition, but I couldn't be a*sed editing and attaching the photos in time for the deadline, which is finishing in a matter of minutes as I write. All figures from the HaT Roman Light Cavalry set.

Light Troops

Here's the latest stands submitted to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge; a stand each of Newline Gothic archers and Miniart Roman skirmishers.

I've used the bow-string technique I tried earlier on my Roman archers to jazz up my archers. I reckon it's worth the effort and certainly makes the clone effect of the same poses less noticeable! The Newline figures are very nicely sculpted and produced, but they do lack a little in variety of poses and animation.

The Miniart figures have the opposite problem to the Newline figures, though. Wonderfully dynamic poses with woeful production values! I persist with them because they're the best in this scale for historical accuracy and realistic, dynamic poses. 

I'm really conflicted about these guys; they're really great from a distance, but butt-ugly close up!

These chaps earned me 30 points, with a couple of points extra for the bowstrings, which brings me to 25th place int the challenge and 12 points away from my target of 600 points. After getting nowhere near my estimated total in my first outing, it looks like I'll actually exceed it this time! WooHoo! 

Gothic Command

Here's my latest stands in my ongoing Comitatus project; Gothic infantry and cavalry command stands.

The infantry stand features Newline Design commander, draco bearer and buglers. The commander is supported by warriors from Strelets (with shield mod) and Miniart.

The cavalry stand are all Miniart, though the commander in the middle has a plume added, and one of the warriors has had his lance replaced with a draco standard from the Italeri infantry set.

Gothic Heavy and Light Cavalry

This is my latest entry for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge which earned me a total of 45 points, including a few points extra for the hand-painted shields. Italeri kindly moulds the pattern onto the shields which makes it easier, but also limits the patterns somewhat.

The shock cavalry stand includes the figure brandishing a sword, which I had to convert because the original blade looked like he was brandishing a table knife rather than a weapon! After carefully cutting out the original sword and making a groove in the figure's hand, I replaced it with one of the swords from the HaT Roman Medium Cavlary set and glued a sliver of sprue to replace his thumb which didn't survive the surgery. He looks a lot more menacing with a proper sword!

I'll be making a couple more stands of each, before going back to some more infantry, skirmishers and archers, then switching to the Romans to give them more skirmishers, archers and heavy and light cavalry. Before long I'll have enough on both sides to have my first battle!

I'm Back!

Since the commitments for my Borodino project have been completed, I can now continue adding to my Late Antiquity project. Hooray!

Expect to see more in the next few weeks as I paint up more Germanic infantry and cavalry as part of the 4th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

As a taster of what's to come, here's the latest Germanic tribal infantry stand using Strelets and Miniart figures.

Miniart Archers - Painting Challenge Entry #8

Here's a small half-stand of Miniart archers I completed for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. My output has definitely slowed, but I'm hoping to have some more Roman medium and light cavalry and some more Germanic infantry (possibly Germanic cavalry, too!) before the challenge is over in mid-March.

I've used the same brush-bristle technique for the bowstrings as I used in my first archers' stand, and set the off-centre, so that when they are standing formed up with the other archer stand they won't be in any danger of taking out the front row!

Whereas the Italeri archers are definitely Romans, the Miniart figures could conceivably be used for Germanic forces too.