Dragon Rampant Sword & Sandal Warband - Theseus's Honour Guard and Herald

Progress with the Mythic Greeks, or 'The Sword & Sandal' Dragon Rampant Warband. These are Theseus's Honour Guard and his Herald. They'll form an Elite Foot unit with Theseus.

The Herald was actually a conversion - I wanted the actual Herald model for use as a chariot-riding noble, so did a weapon swap. The Musician got the Herald's icon standard and the Herald got the Musician's spear point. Sadly, my Greenstuff skills weren't as good 41/2 years ago as they are now, so the join on the reverse of the icon standard is less than stellar, but it'll do.

The Honour Guard have had their shields replaced with Anvil Industry Spartan shields. This is because the stock shields that come with all Athenian Hoplites in the Crocodile Games range are not hoplons, but some odd shaped thing that, while it is definitely Greek, doesn't scream 'Hoplite' quite enough (they also had sculpted on designs that are murder to paint in large numbers - doing Theseus's cast on bull was bad enough!) The Anvil shields are the only ones big enough for these 32mm heroic scale fellas. Luckily, LBM transfers designed for Immortal Miniatures just about fit. I still need to varnish the shields, actually so they shine a bit on the pictures. 

I'm really pleased with these. The armour colour really pops (GW Retributor Armour highlighted with GW Auric Armour Gold) and I wanted a more golden style bronze for my very Hollywood Sword and Sandal Greeks. I like the cloak pattern too, which replicates that on Theseus's cloak, minus the golden yellow background colour. 

Next up, the 6 hoplites accompanying Ariadne (Helen) and the Oracle in their Wizardling Heavy Foot unit, followed by a unit of Peltasts (scouts.)

Caesarian Legionaries for Infamy Infamy by Too Fat Lardies

Caesarian Legionaries for Infamy Infamy. Foundry models (apart from one Centurion, who is Aventine) with Aventine shields (don't ask!) and LBM shield transfers. These were painted for WAB a few years ago and have been 'repurposed'.

The unit with plain shields will eventuallly be joined by another, although as the 4th picture shows, they can be placed within other units to give a more battle-worn look. As I need to use the 'Caesar in Gaul' base force due to the other models I have available, and as I have no unarmored legionary models, I need some way to differentiate the recruits from the normal legionaries. I'm thinking that the Wolf-shield chaps can be recruits entirely as they are while the Boar-shields or the Horse-shields can have some plain shields amongst them to show their more battle-worn appearance...

Mythic Greek Update - Theseus, King of Athens

More progress on my Mythic Greek Dragon Rampant warband, or as I'm re-christening it, my 'Sword and Sandals' war band (I loved all those old Sword & Sandal movies when I was a kid...)
Here is the Crocodile Games Theseus miniature from their 2015 Athenian Kickstarter. Absolutely superb model! Loads of detail but not overwhelming when trying to paint him. In theory, the fur on his cloak should be brown as it's supposed to be bull-skin, but I did it grey because I thought it would fit better with the colour of his cloak. 
I've also posted a couple of pictures of him with Ariadne (Helen of Troy) and the Oracle, although in my war band he'll be accompanied by his Honour Guard and Herald in a unit of Elite Foot (all of whom are nearing completion on my painting table as I type this...)
I hope you like him. I really enjoyed painting him.

More Mythic Greeks - Oracle and Bubo the Owl

I've just finished the Oracle model from Crocodile Games Wargods Of Olympus Kickstarter for my Mythical Greek warband for Dragon rampant. 

I love this model and I really enjoyed painting it! She will join Helen of Troy in my magic user unit along with 6 hoplites that have just been undercoated. One thing I've noticed with these 'supposed to be beautiful' female figures is that they don't photograph well with close-ups as my paint job makes them look anything but beautiful!! They look far better at normal gaming distance... Anyway, here are some pics of the oracle and a couple of her with Helen. 

Also, those of a certain age will recall the little mechanical owl from the original Clash of the Titans movie that I've added to the oracle's base and that also came with my Kickstarter...

Preparing for Infamy Infamy

I'm quite excited  by the pending release of 'Infamy, Infamy', the ancients rules from Too Fat Lardies and am busy sorting through my old WAB Caesarian Roman models to repurpose them for these rules. The first job was to rebase some 'big men' - Centurions, Optios, higher-ranking officers and allied leaders. The Centurions and Optios are on 30mm rounds and the higher-ranking chaps are on 40mm. No idea yet how many I'll need, so I've just done Centurions and Optios for each set of shield designs I have in the collection.

I still need to do a Gallic cavalry leader, so have bought a sprue of Victrix models.

My army was originally based on the army that Sulla took into Greece to take on Mithridates of Pontus (you know how I loved to theme my WAB forces) so I'm trying to use it as-is without buying loads of new minis as, due to lack of work, I'm not blessed with spare cash these days.

Here's what I have done so far to rebase the leaders: These first two are an Aventine Etruscan Centurion and a converted Foundry Caesarian Roman Optio (like all the Optios, converted with a couple of feathers that broke off some A&A Samnites I'd stored carelessly!)

 This next pair are both Foundry models...

 ...as are these.

 This chap will lead my allied Chaironean Thureophoroi (proxy Spanish Caetrati, as there's no options for allied Greeks as far as I know...)

 This fella below is an old GW Dogs of War character with his helmet crest re-positioned and with a Victrix Republican Roman shield.

 The mounted fella is an A&A Carthaginian General.

Mythic Greeks for Dragon Rampant pt 1 Crocodile Games' Helen of Troy

A bit of  change of theme today. Here is the first model in my Mythic Greek force. This is the Kickstarter exclusive Helen of Troy model from Crocodile Games, for their Wargods of Olympus range. My whole force will be built from their Athenians that I bought in the Kickstarter. 

This model will be part of a Heavy Foot unit with one of the magic-user options. I'm currently painting the Oracle model to go with Helen and have 6 Hoplites undercoated ready to join her. 

This model was a real test of my technique (mid-tone base coats over a light undercoat, Army painter Strong Tone dip, Dullcote, highlight with original mid-tone and light tones) as it's difficult getting female flesh right without extensive blending, which I don't do. Still, I'm pleased with how she turned out... The close-ups don't really do her face justice - she looks far more beautiful when the camera isn't on macro setting!! 

Indian Mutiny Project - the Rebel Raja of Rhanipur's Citizen Matchlock Men

Another unit completed for the (fictional) Raja of Rhanipur's army for my Indian Mutiny project. This is a unit of citizen matchlock men. The figures are by Mutineer Miniatures. I kept up the colour scheme from the Baluchis I previously posted, so yellow, purple and pale blue are the theme colours. In reality, these men would have worn civilian native dress, but keeping the theme colours on them keeps the force looking cohesive on the table top as well as adding that splash of Hollywood technicolour that I'm so fond of.

Next up, the first company of HM 95th foot...