I Think I Have all the Figures Finished.

Finished off the Praetorian Guards.  I ended up only adding a couple of standing Guards to the imperial box.  I have a load more that are 'mostly' painted but I don't think I will use them.

So, with those now glued in place, I will call this project officially almost done.

Sounds like a bit of an anticlimax, doesn't it?   Well, I still have to wait for the cocktail sticks so that I can complete all the flags, that's really only a small job.  Type up some quick reference sheets and cut some measuring sticks to length.  On the topic of sticks, I am going to go with these lengths, Short 4", Medium, 8" and Long 12".  This will mean on an average turn a chariot will likely move 24", providing it doesn't need to change direction.   This should mean that a two-lap race should not take too long to play, even with 8 players.

Hopefully, I have achieved something close to making this simple game bigger than Ben Hur.

Of course, I will come back to this Project with the final finishing touches as soon as I can but until then, a few more pictures.

 

Flash Mob.

Following specific chariot teams began to be aligned with other social and political agendas and it was not unusual for wider problems to spill out onto the tracks.  Often, as in Alexandria in the 70s AD, it was just a case of fans overrunning part of the track or minor riots.  However, in 532 AD a disturbance caused by followers of the Blue and Green chariot factions at Constantinople Hippodrome ended with half the city in flames and the death of thousands.

In Faustus Furius it is possible that a player's actions, or rather inability to perform actions, can incite a mob to invade the track.

When a mob enters the track, it creates a movable obstacle that the chariots will have to negotiate around.  Further instances that incite the mob can either add an additional mob to the track or cause an existing mob on the track to move.  Although the mobs can't intentionally move into contact with a chariot, there is nothing stopping them from being moved into a position that will cause a chariot to crash into them.

Finished off six bases of Mob.  Once again really simple quick paint jobs courtesy of contrast paints.  Nothing too fancy here.

I doubt that a game will ever require that many, but you never know.

 

The last two 'Mob' bases will be of Roman soldiers, painted in more Praetorian Guard colours.  I know the figures don't really represent Praetorians, but they are what I have available.

I have a few extras that I may add to the Circus walls.   I'm not sure yet.

 

 

All about the Base.

For the basing on the models in this project I started by covering the wooden bases with fine sand that I passed through a sieve.   I do this to filter out any unwanted elements and debris that can end up in the sand over time.

Once the sand has been firmly glued down, I use Desert Yellow spray to put down the initial layer of colour.

After that is Skeleton Bone spray.  I spray from an angle around the edges to get paint on the rim of the base and to also fade off a bit as it goes towards the centre of the base.  Once the figures are in place it will help to create a natural shadow beneath the models.

The next step is to use Wraithbone spray.  Again, I spray at an angle to get paint on the rim and to also allow the paint to fade away as it gets more towards the centre of the base.

A good thing to do is to move your bases away from where you have sprayed them to check their colour.  They will look different on different backgrounds; it can be hard to judge their colour when they are surrounded by overspray.

These bases are for the mobs that can potentially invade the track.  I have done these as round bases to help emphasise that this will move in any direction and are not restricted to turning limitations like the chariots are.

The plan is to do maybe one or two bases with Roman Guards, obviously there to prevent riots and the remainder as a random number of Plebians.  I was thinking 10 Plebs to a base but that may be too regimental to portray a mob.

 

Based and Wrecked.

Groundwork.  I picked up a 12' x 5' drop sheet from the local hardware store and dyed it a sand colour in the washing machine.  More by fluke than anything else, the sheet looked almost identical to the basing I had previously done for my Blood and Plunder Terrain.

So, with that, I based up my chariots, completed my wrecked chariots and based them too.   I like to sieve the sand as I apply it, just to get out any random bits of dirt and debris.   Once the glue has dried, I base coat it with Desert Yellow spray, followed by Bone spray, and finally wraith bone spray.  When applying the spray, I do so from the sides to keep the middle of the bases slightly darker.  This helps create a little shadow that the model will sit above.

I can almost see the finish line in sight now and couldn't resist taking a few glamour shots.

Spina and Plebs.

The seated Plebians are done.  There are almost 400 of them.  I also finished off the Spina with a few extra sections so that I could mix up the set-up a bit.

On the to-do list, I have.

• Standing Plebians and refreshment sellers.
• The occupants of the Imperial box.
• Mobs, at least 8 of them.
• Pretorian Guards.
• Measurement sticks.
• Dice.
• Flags and pennants for the Circus.
• Crashed chariots.
• Basing on the chariots and also the actual playing surface.
• Some simple game aids to indicate turn order, quick reference sheets etc.

But I'm getting there.

 

 

 

 

Green Team.

It's starting to feel like I'm getting near the home straight now.

The Orc flesh contrast paint is a really nice green and I am very happy with how it turned out on this chariot.

In fact, I enjoyed painting the green so much that I got both done in quick time.

A benefit of painting similar models over and over again is that they actually get a lot quicker to paint, well up to a point.  Too many of the same models can have the opposite effect and become boring to do, which in turn makes the exercise feel like a chore.  This is what I am starting to experience with the Plebians.

I have a small pile of failed chariot prints that will possibly be next to the painting table.  I still have to print out standing Plebs for when the mob gets incited.  I may also do some Roman Centurions which can act as riot control.  I am unsure of how many to do per base.  I was thinking mobs of 10, that means another 80 figures!

All four teams lined up for no other reason than because I wanted to get a picture or two of what they looked like together.

I may start adding crowd figures to the Circus tomorrow and possibly get a few more Plebs painted.

 

Outer Walls.

The outer walls of the circus are done, well in regard to the painting.  Of course, I still need to add the crowd and some other little decorations,

Again, Contrast paints and quick dry brushing saw these get finished in a fraction of the time it would have taken me to do it the more conventional way.

I've not gone overboard with the colours although I suspect in reality the circus would have been extremely colourful.   I think the main reason for this is because we kind of have a built-in expectation that much of the ancient world was white marble and to see it brightly coloured would just not feel right to the eyes of most people.

 

A Splash of Colour.

Although the Circus Maximus was designed for chariot racing, other events were held there, including gladiatorial combats and wild animal hunts, athletic events, and processions. By the time of Augustus, seventy-seven days were given over to public games during the year, and races were run on seventeen of them. There usually were ten or twelve races a day, until Caligula doubled that number, and from the end of his reign, twenty-four races became typical. The number of festivals in which racing occurred also increased, with Circus games instituted in honour of Caligula's mother and sister, and Tiberius. Still, Domitian once had one hundred races a day but reduced the number of laps to five to fit them all in, and Commodus ran thirty races in just two hours one afternoon in AD 192.

The chariots started from twelve gates (carceres), six on either side of an entrance that led from the Forum Boarium. Above sat the presiding magistrate at whose signal the races began. Far at the other end, along the sweeping curve of the track, was another gate by which processions entered the Circus. In AD 80, it was rebuilt as a triumphal arch to commemorate the conquest of Judea by Titus.

On the spina, itself, were various monuments and shrines, including one to Consus and another to Murcia, who may have been the divinity of the brook over which the Circus was built.

At either end were the metae, or turning posts, comprised of three large gilded bronze cones grouped on a high semicircular base. There were thirteen turns, run counter-clockwise, around the metae for a total of seven laps, a distance of just over three miles.

To ensure a fair start, the starting gates were built along a slight curve so that the distance to the break line, before which the chariots were not allowed to leave their lanes, was the same for each. Drivers were required to stay within a marked lane until that point was reached, after which they could jockey for position. Lots were drawn to determine which gate was selected, and it was from the gates that the race began. The presiding magistrate (either a praetor or consul) dropped a white starting flag, the gates to the stalls flew open, and the race began.