Legio XIII Gemina

                                       

Having painted a load of hairy Germanic tribesmen so far I thought I'd change gears for a bit and work on some Romans. For this week's entry I've completed a unit of 15 Legionaries of Legio XIII Gemina.

The models are a mix of monopose metal Foundry and Warlord Games figures, with a couple Warlord Games plastics thrown in. Fortunately the plastic Legionaries mix in really well with the much older Foundry sculpts. 

The command group are all Warlord metals. Sorry about the lion on the vexillum, I really wasn't feeling it this morning and it kind of looks that way. But it's a lion, I swear. What I do really like is the metal mask worn by the standard bearer. Pretty freaky.

The shield decals are water transfers from Warlord Games. I'm really impressed at how well they came out. They make my previous handpainted shields on the veterans look pretty sad. But these are easy to apply, fit well (even on the old metal Foundry shields!) and look the business.  

I picked Legio XIII as it was one of the longest serving Legions (having been levied by Julius Caesar in 57 BC and hanging around till the 5th century CE), it served in Germany after the disaster at the Teutoburger Wald, and 13 is my number on my beer league hockey team, the Kyle Wellwoods. So there.
 

The legion gained their cognomen "Gemina" (twin) after being reinforced with veterans from other legions following Actium and the end of the Civil War against Mark Antony.

You can hardly tell the WG plastic figure (front centre) from the metal Foundry ones!

I think they look pretty good and being individually based, can be used for skirmish games as well as ranked up for WAB. I'll stick 'em up in the cabinet and call these done.

More Hairy Ancient Germanic Tribesmen

                                     

Another Challenge entry - some more hairy dudes! I've painted 17 more ancient Germanic tribesmen with spears for my Warhammer Ancient Battles Germanic Tribesmen army.

This was posted in the "Travel" bonus area of the Challenge... now a bit of a word about "Travel"... the section description is "something that impressed you from your own travels." Well, my late wife Pam and I visited Germany on our second Euro-expedition back in 2012 and it was an amazing trip. We visited the Porsche and Mercedes-Benz museums in Stuttgart, drove a rented car on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, and did all kinds of other cool stuff, including visiting the ancient Roman town of Trier. Now that was such a cool visit, if you haven't been, it's awesome. Nestled in the valley of the Mosel river, Trier is reputedly Germany's oldest city, founded by the Romans in 16 BC as "Augusta Treverorum" (the city of Augustus among the Treverii). There are still heaps of Roman ruins and structures to visit in the city and the Porta Negra (Black Gate) dates back to the 4th century. So it was always gonna be some ancient Germans or Early Imperial Romans in this stack, and I've gone with the Germans. Trier is in modern Germany after all. 

Here is the gang of 17 painted for this post. The three command models in the top photo were painted for a previous Challenge entry.

Models are from Wargames Foundry with shields and decals from Warlord Games.

I particularly like the chap on the right end of the line - he reminds me of a young Conan :-)

Anyway there's 17 more done for my WAB army. I think next I might paint some more Romans. Unless 15mm Space Marines sneak into the queue first ;-)

Dallas

Ancient Germans and Sisters Repentia!

Now how about that for a random combo? First up here's the first models in the "opfor" that'll be facing my Early Imperial Romans... they're ancient Germans from Wargames Foundry.

Great models, these. Ancient Germans rarely wore shirts apparently and one of these guys is an early adherent of the... ahem... "naturist" lifestyle.

Painting was pretty easy once I figured out an easy flesh technique. The Romans I did with a really drastic "Dallimore" style of Cadian Flesh over Doombull Brown, but I wanted to do something quicker for the Germans. So I started with Doombull, then used a heavy drybrush of Doombull mixed with Cadian, Mixed with Kislev Flesh, up to straight Kislev Flesh, all in gradual steps. Pretty quick and looks OK I think. The axe handle is Mournfang Brown highlighted with Vallejo New Wood.

Here they are with one of the Foundry legionaries. More to come on this one!

Next up here's a couple more Sisters Repentia for the Sisters of Battle. I wanted to get these done before New Year's Day and the annual game - this year it's 40K fifth ed. with Sisters vs. Tyranids. These two were also done before the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge but never fear, today I finished seven more that were started before 21 December, so they'll go on the Challenge blog.

Super fun figures - not my favourites ever to paint, but they look cool when they're done.  
 

Early Imperial Roman Veteran Legionaries!

OK! Here's the start of a new project well underway, it's 28mm Early Imperial Romans!

Here's the first unit in the army done. The project will be early Imperial Romans and (one of) their traditional opponents, ancient Germans (coming soon). This is kind of a full-circle project for me as nearly 25 years ago, after I'd first moved to Winnipeg from the distant countryside, I acquired painted Early Imperial Roman and ancient German armies. They came from either the TMP classifieds or Bartertown (remember those sites?) and I bought 'em sight unseen - not even pictures.

Of course I asked questions before hand, like "who's the manufacturer of these figures?" and the answer came back "Wargames Foundry I think." Well as we say nowadays, the words "I think" did a lot of work in that answer. The models were decidedly NOT Foundry models, more like Minifigs or something - they were not good. I put a wash on them to make 'em presentable, we played one big Thursday game with them, and they were moved on. But I always really liked the period and those two armies.

Fast forward nearly 25 years and I'm back to the project! These Romans are (mostly) the plastic EIR Veteran Legionaries box from Warlord Games. I didn't buy the box, but just have accumulated sprues from various Warlord sprue sales. I likely spent less than half the retail price on the unit. 

Anyway these Veteran Legionary plastics are really super. They're easy to assemble (just right arm, head and shield to stick on), nicely detailed, have good variety, and are easy to paint - just what you want from plastics. And on sale I think I paid about 70 cents each for them. This is the Centurion, leader of the unit, carrying the traditional vine stick.

At the right above is the Cornicen with his horn, but at left is the sole metal model in the unit - the Aquilifer, also from Warlord. This one puzzled me a bit - he came with the Aquila (eagle) standard of the Legion, but is wearing a lion headdress. What's weird about that? Well, from everything I've read (ranging from Phil Barker's classic Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome to Ospreys), the Aquilifer, in the early Imperial era at least, was always bare-headed. So rather than offend sensibilities (my own mainly) I gave the Aquilifer model the plastic standard from the plastic Veteran sprue. I had to convert that a bit too since it had a spike on it and not the "hand" that the Manipular standard traditionally bore. But no worries, I cut one out of plasticard and stuck it on. I think it looks OK. 

Some really nice detail on the standard bearer. The lion skin looks great.

I gave the Aquila to the plastic model from the Veteran sprue. He has a head from the bits box onto which I sculpted a Romanesque hairstyle. He's pictured here with metal Foundry models.

The Veterans, like I said earlier, are great. Some of the heads are bearded, unhelmeted, or otherwise battle-weathered. Likewise their scuta (shields) are hammered and worn, some with holes or with the wood showing through. They look great. Of course the designs were hand-painted :-)

Honestly the idea with this project was to paint enough models to just do a skirmish game - SPQR or something similar - maybe 30-40-ish models a side. But as I started accumulating, the goalposts shifted somewhat (as they do), and now I'm thinking Warhammer Ancient Battles. That would REALLY bring things full circle as that's the game we played with my original armies all those years ago!

Test Models!

So we are preparing for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and that means some new projects!

Above you can see the first three models I've painted for a new Early Imperial Romans/Ancient Germans project. I've had these Foundry models for a decade? or more? and decided it's time to get going (I've also got some Warlord plastic Veteran Legionaries and Auxilia to paint). Lorica segmentata has always been my favourite form of Roman armour and the scutum insignia is hand-painted. And while I intend to play mostly skirmish games with them (SPQR maybe?) I put them on square bases just because square bases... and Warhammer Ancient Battles is still a thing!

Next up is a test for another Space Marine Legion for Horus Heresy gaming. The impetus for this was buying the new Legiones Astartes Battle Group deal, thirty MKIII Space Marines, a Deredeo Dreadnought and a Land Raider Proteus. Since I already have a cubic yard of Iron Warriors and many many Blood Drinkers for Heresy gaming, as well as Black Templars, Deathwing and Howling Griffons for 40K, the rational (!) response was to start a new Legion for Heresy gaming. 

And the winner was... the VI Legion, the Space Wolves. This is coming full circle in a way because the first RTB-01 Space Marines I painted back in the late '80s were... Space Wolves. This model is a resin assault Marine in MKV armour equipped with chainsword, bolt pistol and jump pack. I like the new MKIII Marines - mostly - with the exception of the spiked helmets which are cool for Death Guard but for any other Legion, to me look kinda dumb. And while the models themselves are bigger than the old MKIIIs, the helmets are somehow smaller? I don't get that. My MKIII Marines will use the helmeted heads I've already had 3D printed.

The paint scheme starts with Mechanicus Standard Grey, washed with Agrax, then overpainted Fenris Grey, washed with Nuln Oil, then brightened up again with a bit of Fenris. Brassy bits are Scorpion Brass.

I reckon these projects (among others) should keep me going over the winter...

Challenge Submission #13 - A Handful of Special Challenge Targets

 One of the features of this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is the Challenge Quadrant, consisting of three rings of planets surrounding a central star, each planet representing a special theme for the figures to be painted. Here are some of those special figures that I completed in late January and early February.

 The figures of Gandalf the White on foot and mounted on Shadowfax are the older Games Workshop Lord of the Rings castings. I have included Gandalf the Grey in the photos for the 'Before' and 'After' comparison.

A Canadian Churchill tank at Dieppe -Churchill Mk III T68696 'CAT' is a repainted 1/50 Solido diecast model I acquired from a friend. It was originally painted in a desert yellow/olive green striped camouflage pattern for service in Tunisia, but I wanted it to match another Solido Churchill that I had that depicted 'Cheetah' (shown in the background). So the 'tank from Tunisia' was repainted using Vallejo Dark Earth, and then the vehicle name, numbers, etc. painted on freehand.

 A legionary of early Imperial Rome, equipped with lorica segmentata, gladius, and scutum. This is a 28mm plastic figure that came as a sample years ago with an issue of Wargames Illustrated. I was never sure what to do with it, and thought I might use it as a gladiator in our 'local arena'. I'm glad I had it on hand for one of the stops on the Challenge Quadrant.

 A Eurasian Solar Union SAW gunner from Ground Zero Games and a Rebel Commando from West End Games. Both date from the mid to late 1990's. I have painted them up in the colour scheme for the Ral Partha Galactic Grenadiers figures I use as 'Planetary Militia'. In the past I have used both GZG and WEG minis to augment the variety of poses and weapons in my squads.

 

 A 54mm miniature from the Scale Link Ltd. WW1 Grand Guerre range, which depicts a British or Canadian infantryman advancing at the 'Trail Arms' position with fixed bayonet, and his Small Box Respirator worn at the 'Alert' position. He is identified as a member of the 27th Battalion CEF by the blue circle over a blue rectangle on his shoulder. The figure was painted using Vallejo acrylics, followed by some Games Workshop washes. Finally some AK Interactive Spattereffects 'Wet Mud' was applied to areas like knees and elbows. 

  Two 'old school' 25mm Star Wars figures from West End Games depicting Princess Leia Organa as she appeared in 'A New Hope' and 'Return of the Jedi'. Again, these are painted using Vallejo acrylics with GW washes on the faces and hands, and to produce the camouflage pattern on the poncho.

 These special challenges have been very useful in clearing out some of the miniatures that have been lingering in the 'PENDING' box for some time.

Thanks for reading.

Roman Auxilia in 10mm

10mm Roman Auxilia...figures from Pendraken.

I am pleased to share a slight diversion from my recent WW1 efforts...here is a unit of Roman Auxilia in 10mm. The figures are from Pendraken, and they are based for "Warmaster Ancients" - although they could, of course, work with any number of other rules.

View showing some of the detail from behind the line...

The Roman Empire is a recurrent hobby interest on mine, albeit one that never seems to make it very far in terms of painting efforts. I am fascinated by the era, but for whatever reason, I get almost nothing painted, and the meandering course of these Auxilia figures beneath my brushes are a fine exhibit of this many-starts-but-more-stops when it comes to me and to Roman subjects. 

Not so many command figures with this bunch - just an officer and a musician.

During the recent Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I completed a small group of Roman Legionary infantry. Yay! I had finally made a bit of progress towards something Roman on the gaming table! These Auxilia figures were "up next" in the painting queue at that time, and I was certain that I some momentum, so I kept rolling along. I finished 20 of the 30 figures for the Auxilia unit - and the remaining 10 figures were primed, base-coated and sitting on sticks, waiting for a couple colours...but...SQUIRREL! I decided suddenly "hey, maybe I'll finish some of this other 10mm stuff" and before you know it, the inspiration had moved on...so the Auxilia waited...and waited....they became a small corner feature of my painting desk.

Ready to move out!

These Auxilia have been sitting for just about three months, nearly completed, on my painting desk, but I just would not get around to finishing them. I guess they finally spoke to me or something this past weekend, as I settled down and finally finished the last of the little guys and got the group based. Here they are!

As always, the Pendraken castings are lovely and I really recommend their 10mm products. I now have four units of 10mm Romans painted - oh my! Not enough for a game of course - and they would need opponents! But this still a massive increase over the "zero" number painted prior to AHPC XI...who knows when the Roman bug will bite again, but watch for more! Anyway, back to WW1 (I think...). Thanks for reading, and stay safe everyone!