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.

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.

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.

Gothic Hordes!

Another Late Antiquity entry for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This time a Germanic infantry stand. The front row are all Miniart figures, while the rear are Strelets. I had fun with these, and the reward is that Curt awards extra points for hand-painted shields!

Barbarian Horde!

Here's the first base of Germanic types to oppose the Romans. These chaps are formed up as shock infantry according to the Comitatus rules; they aren't in serried ranks, but in a rough wedge following a leader. 3 or more of these stands grouped together form one unit that can be ordered in a cuneus, or attack wedge, or column.

The shield patterns are all speculative and are not based on anything historical, so all complaints can be addressed to the management!

Hairy, Scary Barbarians!

I got myself a box of Strelets Ancient Germans recently and decided to take a break from painting Romans.

They are probably historically too early for the late Roman period as their shields include ones with Celtic-style spined bosses, but what the hey, I think they'll do.

I love the poses on these fellas; they're all in aggressive fighting stances, none of the wishy-washy Italeri poses, although there is a preponderance of swords, when spears would be more common. All of those not wearing helmets (the majority) wear their hair in either top-knots or Suebian knots, which is a nice touch, too.

Not sure what the last chap is wearing on his head, whether it's supposed to be a Sioux-style feather headdress, or if they should be oak-leaves. I've gone for feathers.

 

 

I've also done a swap with Conrad Kinch over at Joy and Forgetfulness and will be getting a swag more of these chaps as well as a few more sprues of the Miniart Germanic figures (in exchange for some tanks), so my Romans will be set for enemies!