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.

28mm Ancient Athenian Greek Army - The Peloponnesian Wars.

I've spent a couple of weeks painting the remaining  lower class hoplites for my Athenian Army, I usually paint all the details before adding the spears and then launching into the final basing stage. I don't hold back on colours but use a varied colour palate. I tend to paint enmasse after I have painted a few samples to set the benchmark. The trick is not to rush ANY stage. I just plod along listening to the BBC radio iplayer or listen to the free audio book 'The history of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides' at: http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/book/the-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war-by-thucydides

All the spears are supaglued on. These figures are manufactured by 'Wargames Foundry', the hoplite spears are from 'Aventine miniatures'. 

Here I've supaglued the figures to plasticard bases, each figure has a 20mm frontage and 20mm depth, the bases are now ready for rendering with polyfilla.

Then I've levelled out the base with 'sand less filler' purchased from B&Q, lightly brushed thinned out PVA and sprinkled with various grades of rock, finally adding sawdust to create texture. This is allowed to dry for 24 hours before the next stage....

The final basing stage is achieved with grass and scrub added.

Medium Amoured hoplites just need their shields.

 Athenian general Perikles and chums; The Athenian command base - finished some time ago, maybe I'll add some long grass. Mostly 'Wargames Foundry' figures except the figure pointing which is from 'Black Tree'.

 Athenian command side view

Athenian command with a runner/messenger leaning on a marble column.

The Initial Idea was to create two factions armies to fight the Peloponnesian War campaign; The Lacedaemonian Alliance and the Athenian Empire, but I'm thinking of expanding the forces to represent other cities in the war, namely Corinth and Thebes, maybe Syracuse etc. Thracian mercenaries and Perdikkas II Macedonian Army I'm painting over these weeks can make an appearance in the campaign.

This project is one of many I have developing at the same time.

Other pictures to follow as units are finished e.g. Spartan hoplites, Athenian Armoured Hoplites, etc...

Greek Peltasts for my Athenians. Scrub and grass to be added later.

Peltasts in the front line

Peltast shields based on designs found on Greek pottery.

Peltasts supported by light cavalry.

Heavy Cavalry forms part of a small Athenian cavalry contingent.

Heavy cavalry ride past heavily armoured hoplites

Light Cavalry forms the remainder of the Athenian Cavalry.

28mm Ancient Macedonian Army

I took advantage of Wargames Foundry's 50% off offer for regiments on ebay a few days ago and bought a bunch of Macedonians. Properly nice figures sculpted by Steve Saleh and Nick Collier with Mark Copplestone, they paint up a treat, pics below are armoured phalanx prior to adding the shields and basing effects.

 These guys will form the rear ranks of my phalanx.The front rank will have their sarissa (pikes) lowered together with commanders and a standard. These will have to be painted in the next few days.

Next stage is to add Polyfilla to create a groundlevel, then PVA glue thinned out with water is brushed over the polyfilla sparingly leaving bare areas, stones and rocks are added first, then sawdust for the ground texture. This will take a day to dry. 

Here I've painted on the earth effects, dry brushing from dark to lighter tones. Each dry brushing stage is left to fully dry before lighter tones are added. 

The Phalanx consisting of 36 Phalangites is near completion, just grass tufts, bushes etc. to add.

Here is the main man himself, Alexander the Great 'Conqueror of all Greece except Sparta'. I have 3x different versions of this man so at least one figure will form a vignette, just trying to find a bit of achaemenid Persian architecture to complete the composition. If it's any good a copy will appear on ebay. I'll also paint a Macedonian General representing Perdikkas II for my Peloponnesian War campaign, I have appropriate minis already, I just need some time to paint him.

Some companion cavalry with xyston (lances). I have to admit I use 6th edition Wargames Research Group rules and my army lists follow that format, when complete I'll publish the entire army list with pics so War & Conquest players can see what they're missing :)

Alexander the Great and his Companion Cavalry. I've only painted 8 out of 15 companions at the moment, hope to start the rest soon.

Armies and Enemies of Louis the XIV and the The French-Dutch War of 1672-1678

Here you will find a few bits 'n' bobs of my stuff from my new collection plus items I have painted for customer's commissions and stuff for sale on Ebay under the seller ID of peterw3169. I hope to fill this space over the next few weeks, this is day one, so I hope you enjoy it.

28mm painted battalion of the French Garde Suisses Maison du

                  Roi 1672

 Getting stuck into the 17th century

                  North Star market a fantastic range of 28mm miniatures for the

                  French-Dutch War of 1672-1678. A colourful period in history

                  made famous by such novels as Alexandre Dumas': 'The Three

                  Musketeers' etc. I have painted a number of different periods

                  in my time but this one piqued my interest, the French-Dutch

                  War was a very bloody war fought by people dressed in somewhat

                  outlandish clothes seemed to be a contradiction. Interesting

                  events included; The death of the real D'Artagnan whilst

                  leading an assault on the walls of Maastricht. The Dutch

                  opening the dykes holding back the sea and flooding the Dutch

                  landscape to deny the French army a foothold and the somewhat

                  arbitrary contribution the English gave to the War by fighting

                  on both sides (firstly the French then the Dutch). 

Dutch Field Gun 1672. Note the sash is orange blue and white, the colours of the United Provinces.

                                                               Dutch field gun 1672

French Garde Suisse 1672 note the officers sash are white to indicate French  service.

Garde Suisse 'in the Field'

Garde Suisse pikemen still wear their old fashioned armour.

French field gun prepares to fire behind gabion gun embrasure 1672. Note gun crew are grey coated with blue cuffs and blue sash Fusiliers du Roi, the master gunner is a Commissaire ordinaire d'artillerie in blue coat with white sash.

I'm hoping to have time to add the Dutch Regiments and other French regiments in the near future.