More Sword and Sandal

 I've completed work on the second of three Roman Fabii Clan Leaders. While doing the second I realised where I'd gone wrong with painting the shield of the first. Instead of painting the background red then drawing the design, I should have painted the shield with a very dark brown background, then done the design and painted round it in red. So I redid the first one's shield, which now looks a bit neater and I'm much happier with it. 

I've also repainted the shield and rebased the Crocodile Games Theseus figure who will be the Warlord of the Veii faction in this project. The shield used to have a dark blue background but the white is so much better. This pale blue colour scheme with white shields will contrast them so very nicely with the Fabii Romans, I think. 

Work continues apace on the final Fabii Clan Leader, a unit of Sodales (companions - hoplites, basically) and a unit of Clientes (client warriors) with bows. I'm enjoying this immensely. the large scale figures are a joy to paint! 

Sword and Sandal Movie Style Fabii Clan Roman Test Model

 I've always loved the 1960s Italian 'Sword & Sandal' movies - dodgy plotlines and wooden acting notwithstanding! years ago I bought a whole warband of Crocodile Games Wargods of Olympus Athenians to do a Sword & Sandal style force intending to set up a legendary antiquity campaign using Dragon Rampant at my old club but for many reasons that never happened so the models got put in a box. 

Fast forward a few years and I find myself hankering for some solo games at home, but with limited space so have decided to do two Dragon Rampant warbands using half-sized reduced model units. The theme will be the wars between Rome and the Etruscan city of Veii in the 5th century BC but with a Sword & Sandal vibe. Here's the test model for the Roman Fabii clan. The shield design was hell to paint and I'm not 100% happy with it, but as decals of this design aren't available to fit these Anvil Industry shields (or any other shields come to that!) I'm gonna have to stick with freehand! 

The model itself is beautifully sculpted and makes my 'dip & highlight' technique work like the proverbial charm! 

As I only need about 20 models per warband, I'm hoping this won't be too lengthy a project to get onto the table, although it's just one of three I'm simultaneously working on sporadically!

Oldhammer Elf Spearmen and Axemen

Here are the spearmen for the Oldhammer Elf army I'll be using in Midgard and Dragon Rampant. The old 4th Edition plastic and 5th edition metal High Elf spearmen and the White Lions have had their uniforms and shields repurposed to fit the green scheme chosen for the 80s models I've been working on for 5 years now. I could make a pretty hefty unit of spearmen for Warhammer 4th/5th edition ifI wanted to although I'd ideally need a few more White Lions (which were crap in those editions due to striking last with their big axes...)

Anyway, I'm pleased with the overall look of these. The army is looking pretty cool thus far, I think...

Oldhammer Elf Heroes

 Following on from the Elf cavalry posted the other day, here are the Elf heroes. I love these sculpts. Some were painted over 25 years ago but have had a recent refresh in the green colour scheme of the recently purchased and painted models. I'm pleased with how these have worked out. They all look good together, whether recently painted or 'refreshed' and that's what I was aiming for. 

Oldhammer Elf Cavalry

 It's only taken me 5 years to finish this unit of old 1980s Elven cavalry for Warhammer. Well, I say Warhammer but realistically they'll mainly play Dragon Rampant and gaming buddy James Morris's rather excellent upcoming heroic massed battle ruleset 'Midgard' for which I am a playtester. The unit is pictured here on its Midgard base (the shots of the unit in 2 ranks on its movement tray)

I love these models - the best Elves GW ever made. I am in the midst of repurposing my old High Elf infantry into the green/ochre/terracotta scheme you can see here in order to make myself a decent sized Midgard Elf force. Much of that is done and I just need to do the trays. Then it's looking at the lead pile to see what else I can do for the army - I have a bunch more archers, some war dancers and some Dryads that could potentially be cool. 

But for now, the cavalry...

Silmarillion Elves: Thingol of Doriath with his Banner Bearer and Bodyguards

I've managed to finish the first unit in my Dragon Rampant 'book accurate' Doriath army. Here is Thingol with his banner bearer and his bodyguards. They are a reduced model unit - on the table, each bodyguard is worth one strength point and the command base is worth three.

The guards are all Victrix Anglo-Danes with Republican Roman Montefortino helmet heads, the tops of which have been replaced by the 'headless' nasal helms from the Anglo-Dane box. Thingol is the Oathmark free metal hero that came with the first Oathmark Elf boxed set deals. He has a GW Galadhrim Court head and a plastic cloak from the bits box. The banner bearer is an Anglo-Dane with a GW Galadhrim hero head. The banner was hand drawn.

I'm pleased with these - the 'three layers on a black undercoat' approach was hard to do after nearly 10 years not doing it, but thanks to a brilliant new lamp I was able to do a decent enough job although extreme close-ups aren't the best idea!

I'll be back to painting Wars of the Roses for a week or two now, but I'll be painting Mablung of the Heavy Hand and his Thanes next from this army...