Roman EIR work in progress

A few months ago I posted an entry about a Roman unit I was painting up to see how quickly I could complete them. As with most things, it took a lot longer than planned...

Even now, they aren't quite complete - the scuta (shields) desperately need transfers - if anyone has any going spare please get into contact!

The pila also need to be attached, static grass applied to the bases & I'm probably going to do another layer on the tunics.

Painting this number of figures at the same time requires a certain degree of discipline - but I'm reasonably happy with the results.

I've already started on a unit of 24 Pretorians & a smaller unit of archers. Over the Xmas holidays, my painting schedule has been cleared to finish off the remaining Romans, so hopefully I'll have about 150 done by January...

Rally men, Rally!

Haven't had time to paint much recently, but aim to put that right over the Xmas hols.

This unit represents 13th Mass. Volunteers, who formed part of Paul's Brigade (1st Corps, 2nd Div). The unit was engaged in defence of Seminary Ridge on the first day, suffering heavy casualties.

As for the figures themselves, they are as always from the Foundry range, with several small conversions. A couple of the casualty figures have been resculpted from Foundry's colonial ranges - the Boer in the foreground of the first image with a blanket sculpted over his bandolier, and the Sikh Wars figure I posted about previously.










To break up the uniformity of the charging line, many of the rifle arms have been swapped around to create the impression of movement.

Foundry Gordon Highlander - North West Frontier

Another one from the lead pile, one of the Perry sculpted NW Frontier range from Foundry.

I assume he's a Gordon Highlander because of the tassels on the sporran, and it would fit with the campaign - he'd be perfect for storming the Dargai heights!

The yellow & blue in the tartan may need a little more work, as it seems to bright, although Photoshop's levels may be to blame - it doesn't look quite as conspicuous in reality. Also note the black and red stockings; which became red and white in later conflicts.

The tunic was painted in a mix of the 'Moss' and 'Linen' Foundry paints, the leatherwork Vellejo Cavalry brown / red leather. The choice to use brown for the leather is inferred from various paintings detailing the campaign; I don't usually rely on these second hand sources, especially when uniforms are so often subject to artistic license.

The Roman unit I began has expanded slightly - I now have about 60 individual miniatures based, undercoated and in various states of completion. Other things on the work bench include some of the new Perry ACWs and a couple of old Citadel knights (the 'Barons' War' range later released by Foundry) I have had since they were first released!

CS Divisional Commander

The Div. command base would (according to the FnF rulebook) usually be a single mounted officer; but although mounted on the correct sized base, I felt the foot figure added a 'story line' to the base.

The figure on foot is from the Crimean British command pack, with a hat taken from one of the ACW mounted packs. I particularly liked the turned down collar, which is under represented in the ACW range itself, despite its prevalence in period images.

The horse also originated in the Crimean range, although I had to resculpt the saddle, blanket & pommel oil skin.

The mounted officer's lower half is from the CS mounted infantry officer, pinned at the waist with the CS artillery officer miniature. The sash and sword belt are made from green stuff & hide the join.

By the way, the figure on foot is reading a map, not feeding the horse!

Completed fences

This is what the fences look like painted & based; I just put this little scene together to show what they'd look like on the gaming table.

They are really quick and easy to make, and I think they look pretty authentic. All from cat litter & lolly sticks :)

Photoshop Tomfoolery

Just a bit of fun with Photoshop... CS artillery with the Roundtops in the distance. See if you can spot the monuments I didn't stamp or clone :)

The only miniature that hasn't been discussed before is the officer out front, who some may recognise as one of the British officers from the Indian Mutiny range; havelock removed, head resculpted and a straw hat replaced.

Although static grass on the bases probably needed to be blended in a bit, and it's probably out of scale, I am quite pleased with the results. The next time I visit, I must remember to take some 'stock' photos for this purpose; it will be more of a challenge trying to find a suitable vista without also getting a bunch of tourists, a large bronze statue or an RV in view!

Gettysburg terrain - fences

I wanted to make up some authentic looking fence lines for background for photos and also to work as gaming pieces. I knocked up five bases like this one in just under an hour (unpainted). Card base, cat litter coated in PVA shaped into a line, upright posts made from barbecue skewers, horizontals made from spliced ice cream sticks, all held in place with diy filler. Once dry, the bases were sprayed black, the 'ground' coated in sand, painted brown, drybrushed then static grass was applied. Excluding drying time, the five bases took only a couple of hours to complete.