More Iberians ~ Alternative Basing

I've painted up a few more Iberians during the week. After doing the initial batch of scutarii I found I wasn't happy with the basing. They looked far too neat and tidy with three to a base in nice neat ranks. As tribal warriors, I felt that they needed to look a bit less regimented. 

After asking some questions on forums and deciding what rules I would be using them with, I decided to put them onto IMPETVS style bases (80 x 40mm) single bases. I did the same with the new figures I painted too.

I prefer this basing. I think it looks better and it will make moving individual units easier too. I expect to be playing To The Strongest and Sword & Spear with them and both sets of rules work well with 4xDBA base size as a standard unit. I will never play DBA/M so it's really quite pointless for me to base my units in such a manner.

I like them and I now have the nucleus of an army done. Next up, I think I'll paint some cavalry before getting back to more infantry.  

Scutarii - Another benefit is that I've only put 11 figures on the base which saves me a painting a few extra figures and makes them look a bit irregular.

Caestrati ~ (light infantry) I only used 6 figures instead of 8 which means I will probably be able to make an extra 2 units with the figures I've purchased. Another bonus is that I can paint a 6 figure unit quicker than an 8 figure unit.

And here is all that I've done so far, including a command base.

Elfish Knights ~ A Little Conversion Project

In my previous post started on my new 15mm Iberian army. However, while I was still undergoing the long wait for their delivery I ordered some Gripping Beast ~ Gothic Elite Cavalry with the intention of converting them into elfish heavy horse. The plastic cav arrived whilst I was painting my first batch of Iberian's and I decided to get them made and painted instead of putting them aside for later and then losing interest in the project (which is what I normally do!). 

Before I go on I have to say that this conversion idea was not mine. I stole it directly from Lead Adventure Forum member BZ. So, Thanks BZ for the inspiration.

When I saw the LAF post with these models I thought it looked sort of archaic, unusual and a bit off kilter. And that, for me was just what I wanted. The basic model is the Goth Elite Cav figure with bits added from the Oathmark elven warrior sets. I had lots of left over elf bits so that part was easy. The spear and shield arms are from the elf heavy infantry set and the heads and shields are from the light elf infantry. Their capes are left overs from Fireforge Teutonic Knights.

Originally I was going to make 6 of them (see pic) but I found that I had 8 capes so I made two more. I ended up with 6 knights, a commander and a standard bearer. I did something a bit different for their bases. I wanted oval bases and I didn't have any so I cut them out of balsa wood and added a magnetic sheet on the base. 

Shields: I designed the shields on photoshop. I did what I've recently done for the infantry and the chariots:  Create the design. Print it on paper as high quality. Cut it out accurately and glue the paper onto the plastic shield using pva glue. I then paint the edges to match the shield, add a coat of matte varnish, a coat of GW 'Ard Coat and then a second matte coat.

I'm really happy with them and the photo's don't really do them justice. They came out really nice (especially the shields).

And now it's back to the Iberian's!

It's an Iberian Thing

I bought myself a birthday present (from my wife). I ordered it in August so that it would have plenty of time to get to me by early October because it had to travel from Xyston Miniatures in Scotland all the way to Melbourne in Australia. I hadn't realized the extent of just how awful our Autralian Post had become. Couple that with my suspicion that the UK Mail sent it by sea (apparently COVID 19 affects arimail) and it didn't arrive. 

Until Now!

On Saturday, we came home from a shopping trip and there, sitting on the door step, was a package that looked suspiciously like the same packaging used by Xyston Miniatures. Oh Lordy! My birthday present had arrived - a month late and three months in the mail - But there it was!

So what was this bountiful cornucopia that arrived on my doorstep? It's a bunch of ancient Spanish ~ Iberians to be exact. I took time to decide on my next ancient army and settled on Iberians because they fought for and against just about everyone for a few hundred years. Against Rome they fought with Hannibal, by themselves or along with other Spanish peoples. They fought with Sertorius, they fought in the earlier Sicilian wars, they fought everywhere. And they were good.

So in the end, versatility won the day. I bought enough in one order to make a pretty decent sized army with plenty of infantry, skirmishers, heavy and light infantry as well as command.

I got to painting them straight away and since Saturday I've managed to paint up 8 bases of scucatri (their basic medium infantry). The first few bases were a bit difficult because I wasn't sure what to do with the shields. In the end I looked up some pictures and pretty much just did what I want. They're nothing special but they look okay.

They'll look nice and colourful on the table when I get the lot done. They're 15mm so I can paint them pretty fast and expect I'll have the army finished by the end of the year. I'm looking forward to painting the cavalry but I want to get some light infantry done first.

Some Svertlings

In my previous post I added a couple of photos of some Oathmark Dwarves. I then decided to order a box of the plastic figures and I painted up a unit. I really like the metal "character" figures but I'm not so keen on the plastics. They look okay but I'm not 100% happy with them.

I don't like my shield design and I think they look a bit boring. I'm not very keen on the weapon options and I would have preferred more striking weapons (warhammers, mattocks, flails, etc...) instead of the very boring looking spears. I mean, spears are practical but these spears are boring as well and being as thick as telegraph poles. If they were thinner and designed to stick out forward they might have looked better. A couple of two handed options would be nice too.

In making these I decided to re-base the the metal figures that I posted week. I replaced the grassy bases with a stony effect which I'm happy with. I also made a proper command base for the king too. The carnyx (the big Celtic horn) was left over from some Warlord's Gaul/Celt infantry. It works well here and gives the base some height and a bit of character.

So I doubt that I'll add any more Oathmark dwarves to my collection. I'll finish the box I have but that's it. They may be affordable where numbers are concerned but I'm not impressed enough to purchase more and take the time to paint them.