28mm Ancient Macedonian Army continued

A Macedonian General's Command Base.

28mm Wargames Foundry Macedonians.

I primed these 'Wargames Foundry' minis in black enamel to give a good flat opaque undercoat, then primed the flesh areas with burnt umber oil paint, working through to burnt sienna acrylic then mixing with flesh tones. Each stage was allowed to dry fully, then the browns (several different types) of the leather straps, shoes were painted. The metals were dry brushed (gold enamel and  bronze enamel) on then cleaned up with oil washes flooded over to give a worn look then highlighted with acrylic gold paint. Oil paints Enamel paints and acrylics were used to produce various effects.

The basing was the almost last stage, the miniatures are supaglued to a 60mm round mdf base resulting in a compact vignette. Polyfilla was added to level off the ground, then PVA glue was liberally brushed on with an old no.2 brush,  rocks were sprinkled over the area then sawdust of various grades applied. The dirt/earth effect was obtained by mixing burnt umber oil paint with enamel leather colour, then dry brushing in lighter tones of burnt umber oil paint/leather enamel/yellow enamel/white enamel building up to the lightest colour.

The gold laurel pattern on the generals cloak was painted with burnt umber oil mixed with leather and yellow enamel and highlighted with yellow/white. Grass and flowers and a scrub bush were added before the final coat of 'Testors Dullcote' matt varnish.

This command base will form part of my ancient Macedonian army as an allied general, I did want it to represent king Perdikkas II at the time of the Peloponnesian War but the coins of the reign of Perdikkas show a different helmet design, a Corinthian helmet in style, so I think I'll have to do a conversion on another miniature another day.

The mdf base is from http://www.warbases.co.uk the grass is from 'Army Painter' available from most wargames online stores, the yellow flowers from http://www.tajima1.co.uk and the small bush I made myself.

28mm Ancient Spartan Greek Army - The Peloponnesian Wars.

I've started to finish the hoplites for my 28mm Spartan Lacedaemonian Army. The Spartans forming the backbone of the Lacedaemonian alliance with their officer corps the Spartiates providing the elite fighting units. Reputedly dressed in red on the battlefield. Sparta was made up of the Dorian race slow to go to war but an implacable enemy.

(Lacedaemonian possibly pronounced as: Lass-ee-day-mo-nee-on).

I've chosen these Spartans to represent the army of the Peloponnesian War 431-404BC era for a future campaign. The Lacedaemonians with the help of many allies and Persian money  finally crushed the Athenian empire thus ending the war.

The Spartiates.

The bulk of the levy hoplites are mainly Wargames Foundry figures with the veteran armoured heavies or Spartiates made up from Gorgon miniatures figures wearing classic hand-me-down bits of armour from older wars. I haven't painted the shields for the Levy hoplites (in the background) yet. That'll be a major job as I don't use transfers myself, all my shields are hand painted.

Spartan general Brasidas and chums. The Lacedeamonian command base isn't quite finished. These are 'Gorgon Miniatures' Spartans which are a perfect compatibility match for 'Wargames Foundry' figures

I had to paint the gorgon's head on the shield and paint eyes on each of the characters.

Spartan Light Troops.

Helot slingers.

I've only acquired a small unit of 8x helot slingers at the moment, I'll probably use Gorgon miniatures mostly for the archers, light javelinmen and the remaining slingers mixed in with a few Wargames Foundry figures. Then comes the cavalry, mainly light horse maybe with a few heavier mercenaries....to be continued.

Spartan Light Cavalry

Spartan Light horse seems to have been mainly composed of Helots and the lowest classes,  unlike the Athenians who considered their horse to be of the highest social rank.

9x light horse will act as the eyes and ears of the Spartan army spying out the land and running down any retreating enemy troops. Lacking proper armour I have given them leather helmets rather than the more expensive bronze, these are not shock troops but have roll harassing the enemy.

Spartan archers.

So I managed to pick up all my Spartan archers on ebay recently, these are Gorgon miniatures (their Spartans used to be part of the Artizan Designs range) these will represent a mix of Cretan mercenaries and lower class troops armed with bows.

After accidentally dropping my Spartan command base on the floor and watching it bounce woefully to a grinding halt, I fixed a new shrub/tree to its base, I think it could be an improvement on the original version? 

28mm Ancient Roman Gladiators

GLADIATORS

28mm Wargames Foundry Gladiators.

I primed these cool 'Wargames Foundry' minis in black enamel to give a good flat opaque undercoat, then primed the flesh tones with burnt umber oil paint, working through to burnt sienna then mixing with enamel flesh tones each stage was allowed to dry fully, then the browns (several different types) of the leather straps, shoes were painted. The nappy colours were chosen to give a variety within the group. The metals were dry brushed on then cleaned up with oil washes flooded over to give a worn look. The basing was the last stage, these are based on 2p coins which give good stability when gaming due to their weight. A sand effect was obtained through dry brushing building up to a almost white colour.

I took about a week to finish these, I don't believe in rushing any job.