Thorakitai Advance

In the dark days before discovering Newline (a long time ago now) I was hunting for thureophoroi, I grabbed a few Hat Thracians that had suitable figures and to get them in strength would leave lots of spares, I needed to secure a source of dedicated thureophoroi. I got hold of some Xyston thureophoroi, sold as 15mm they seemed about 18mm, I contemplated using some creative basing to incorporate them or to simply change to a more common scale of ancients as I  really liked the Xyston miniatures. I then came across the Newline with their comprehensive selection and would be a closer match to the plastics I already had so the Xyston's ended up in a drawer.

What I loved about Xyston's figures was the helmets which were interesting and varied, I thought the size of their heads were roughly the same as Newlines so I thought while I was doing head swap conversions I could create a unique unit of Thorakitai using the Xyston heads and the Newline Designs 20mm African Veterans advancing. I missed the faces on the Newline figures but those heads were used on the Cretan Archers and now I have spares for future conversion ideas. The command figures remained unchanged.

I experimented a bit with the painting, I dry/over brushed the helmets with Vallejo Silver and used Agoras Dunes Contrast paint to give them a bronze tinge this was also applied to the greaves. Its an effective way todo metallics and something to consider for future projects. I also applied Contrasts to the shields again more of an experiment but I'm pleased with their turn out.

I got the railway background out to do some photos so I redid the last thorakitai conversions and attached below. I also got some pictures of  the Moria Goblins finally so that will be a post at some point. I've also had a bit of solo gaming in so once written up there will be some posts on Strength & Honour, Dominion of the Spear and Lost Battles. On the miniatures front I'm preparing some Celtiberians for now but time at the desk is very sporadic and progress slow. I could also pick up some plastic sets that are part built but I'm into ancients currently. I'm wanting to pursue Punic wars campaign so expanding armies for that is a goal as well as expanding armies for Hellenistic states namely Ptolemiac troops for Raphia.     

Mithridates VI

I had never heard of the Kingdom of Pontus until I had played Rome Total War again I was fascinated, they were a faction that had both Hellenistic and Eastern style units and Roman imitation Legions. I soon learned of Mithridates VI who was a constant thorn in Rome's side. I read Philip Matyszak's Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy over a decade ago and there are not many characters of the Ancient world much like the Poison King. Mithridates would take a very small amount of fatal poisons, making himself very ill of course, in turn building up a tolerance against poisons. Another favourite anecdote was how the paranoid king hid under a couch to eavesdrop and uncover a plot against him. His Kingdom gave Rome some trouble across three wars also so I felt that I had to create a 20mm version of him.

There is a bust believed to be Mithridates showing him as Herakles with the lion pelt cap, along with presenting himself as an Alexander type character and as a grandson of Antiochus IV Epiphanes I tried to combine aspects of these heritages. I used Newline Designs 20mm Kappadochian Cavalry Commander with Alexander the Great's Lion helmeted head and horse with Leopard pelt to create the King.

I haven't yet made any specific Pontic forces yet or their late Republican Roman enemies, but many of the Seleucid units and mid Republican Romans can do the job just as well. I do have plans to make some Pontic units basically in the form of pikemen and legions in a different paint scheme. Like wise I have Late Republican Romans in stock for down the line. However my goal currently is to finish the stuff for Lost Battles Magnesia (just archers left to rebase) and then move onto working towards Raphia, with Strength & Honour Skirmisher markers to knock up as well. With mainly having Punic wars stuff done I was fancying fighting a solo Punic wars campaign, possibly with Strength & Honour as I feel like that is a set of rules that will lend itself brilliantly to resolving campaign battles (once I have practiced more and I am competent with it).  

 

Scythed Chariots and A Great King

I am pleased to have completed these 20mm Newline Designs Scythed Chariots, this is a nice advancement to the Lost Battle Magnesia project which has taken a back seat of late to rebasing older miniatures. I had two chariots and the Darius personality code, which is basically the same set but with an additional Darius sculpt pictured separately below. 

So the first decision was to not glue in Darius giving me another generic scythed chariot for battles. Then I took this one step further with the riders going down the same route, the idea being I can paint some Carthaginian riders and have makeshift Punic chariots, which as I understand were not scythed but were four horsed. The trouble is I kept forgetting they weren't secured and the riders kept dropping out with rough handling!

The horses were for the most part painted with contrast paint and once finished were glued to the base which was then filled and painted ready for the vehicle. The vehicles were kept simple basecoats and drybrushes with minimal detailing then haphazardly attached to the horses and bases.

Currently there is a large chunk of rebasing occurring! Roman Velites and other light infantry from the Carthaginian side along with Gallic warbands. Some straight swaps and some new figures required which are underway. The Velites are the last of the Roman rebases and I think after the Gauls, the Iberians are the last of the Punic contingents (so I will have to revisit the Punic wars soon with Lost Battles and Strength & Honour). There are a few other bits that require rebasing, such as Iranian light infantry who will support Antiochus III at Magnisia, as well as his phalangites which require a bit of thought and a lot of work to update.

Finally I have also recently taken the plunge and jumped on the 28mm plastic multipart historics bandwagon! A Dark age deal was spotted on Victrix and so I grabbed some Normans after being inspired by kit-bashing videos on Youtube. The idea is that converted historicals will man the companies of Middle-earth, which companies I am not sure yet, but I need some more kits to mesh with them still, I'm anticipating the Late Roman sets will be ideal for this too.     

1/72 ancients

 

Hellenistic Mercenaries

I'm very pleased to get a unit done for my main project, it's not a rebase either all freshly done! Also they are the 20mm Hellenistic infantry I kept pestering Sean at Newline Designs about so its good to get some done again. I stocked up on quite a lot being both very useful and from my favorite armies of the era. As usual I used my stock of plastic bristles for spears and swapped their shields for the shields from the Ancient Jewish range.

I also took the fresh miniatures to attempt a new approach to basing the heavy infantry as its difficult to apply filler in between the ranks. I initially tried using hot glue to fix the figures down but I was having problems doing that, I think mainly due to the Work's brand hot glue gun not being hot enough it cools too fast. After a bit of trial and error I realised I could make individual stands for the figures meaning I could easily adjust the particular angle the figure stands and still make him free standing quickly, the low temperature and quick cooling turned to my advantage!

Now with that sorted I decided to attempt a tactic reminiscent of my old style of basing, namely lots of PVA,   figures placed basing material poured on! I mixed some PVA with some of my basing paint emulsion in the hope it would start to dye the fine modelling sand at least which was poured on to level the basing between the figures eliminating the need to apply filler in between. Once dried I just painted with the sandy earth emulsion and let that dry which it did and cracked a bit but it was quite a cool effect and once the static grass was applied looked fine. I may do a step by step post on it down the line.

Work also slowly rumbles on on the Heroquest mission eventually I will do a post on the various miniatures painted. Still there are a few more posts to write up for stuff rebased ages ago and I have a  post to sort showing new Newline stuff which has just arrived in the form of additional Skythian sculpts! Now I just need a chance to get caught up blogging! 

Late Galatians

The latest 20mm offering using one of the poses from Newline Designs Thracian heavy infantry set. I was aiming to recreate a unit based on Angus McBride's plate featuring a Galatian soldier in iron muscled cuirass and a face plate. Although highly speculative as all modern reconstructions are I loved the visuals and the idea of a unit clad out in such a manner. Ideally I could have used a head swap using either a Seleucid cataphract or companion head but such a thing seemed a bit impracticable. Instead I took the easier route of painting the partial face covering of the figures as a full one, it will look OK on the table. 

                                           

I might do a one off character figure with a head swap but this unit is not without some modification. Firstly the leader was given a sword from a Hat kit and a greenstuff sash and crest to denote rank. Also the standard bearer has had to have his arm twisted to carry a spare flag from a Newline command set. 

However a figure such as this might become reality under Linear A's big push on 1/72 Ancients although I don't technically need anymore figures it is such a commendable task I'll grab a box of each Successor set to support the en-devour! I took the plunge on the older Linear B Mithridates Infantry set and they have character and won't look out of place with Newline figures.  

I took the opportunity to practice a bit more free hand painting and based the design on a Seleucid coin. Being small it was fiddly but also meant the detail had to be basic which made it simpler in a way. I was pleased with the profile and accept the writing for what it is, I believe it's meant to say "Antiochus" "King".

                                 

It was also an experiment with painting silver armour I don't paint it that often but with lots of Imperial Romans it will be inevitable. The basing was simplified, we had some ready mixed filler in so gave it a go. It did the job and only used a couple colours to finish it, followed by static grass. It was a struggle between the figures so I will reserve tufts and stones for characters and light troops with plenty of space on the base.

Although based on a later period I will still use these for the Magnesia project, which, because of the rebasing has essentially been reset (along with the Punic Wars armies) so these Galatians are one of the few ready for battle! The opportunity to set up a battle seems distant anyway so its probably the best time to sort. It's all part of the fun and I'm getting into the swing of rebasing. Hopefully by summer we'll be moved and settled and the mission can begin in earnest.

Next on the bench is a side quest, a few Heroquest orks for a friend. After probably some heavy infantry needing basing material applied I think the ready mixed filler will be the way to go since they have deeper individual bases to blend in. Just need to get cracking!

                                                       

                             

                             

Kappadocian Command

Latest set from Newline Designs 20mm ancients, Kappadoccian command. I haven't yet painted any Kappadoccian units but they will be handy for a variety of armies that operated in Anatolia namely Seleucid and Mithridatic Kingdoms and Achaemenid Persians I am sure. 

I have no idea what colours they might have worn, I just picked a few colours I liked and kept the scheme simple by leaving out patters. Again a very welcome addition to the range!