"Rep. Roman project" Topic

Hi Guys,

Inspired by Ray Haskins Aventine Miniatures collection, I've made a start with my 28mm scale Republican Roman project.

To 'kick" it off, I've posted my commanding general.

The first Lictors resemblance to Freddy Mercury is pure coincidence…

Using "Green Stuff" I've also added a few extra designs to the minis, (beards/jewellery).

Following advice given to me by Andrew Stevens many years ago about how to achieve depth on flat cloth I've dry-brushed the paint on the bodyguard and Lictors tunics. This has the effect of giving them a rough, plebeian appearance…

I'll post more images soon and hope you like my interpretation.

Any advice about where to source compatible archers is welcome.

Stuart. :-)

Here is a Triaii command group.

I had to work a little on the banner men hands, but did no other conversions.

I've avoided using a Black undercoat for the mail shirts and substituted Black for Vallejo Smoke.
Where possible, I have varied the tunic colours from off-white to greys.
Not a big fan of Red, believing that when washed a few times it be more a Grey-Pink colour…

Closer look at the officer, I dirtied the shield,

Thanks for looking.

Stuart. :-)

Very nice brush work!

Very good work!!!!!!!!!!!! Mike Adams

Talented brush work! Thanks for sharing and hope you continue to do so.

Very nice! Love the green tunic.

Appreciate the encouragement guys.

Love the green tunic.

I want the none-Legion minis to appear less pristine than the regular infantry.

Stuart.

Well done.

Inspiring work – regarding the earlier archer question, Aventine make Archers in kausia felt hats (SK3 Cretans?) which could be used.

The Centurion has fine teeth!

Thank you for the kind words of support guys.

28mm painting was never my forte, so I'm learning on the hoof.

Here's another command set.

I've added a beard to the trumpeter, (more like a veteran) and again had a little work to do with the standard bearers hands.

I chose not to use transfers on these banners, preferring at this stage to add something innocuous.

regarding the earlier archer question, Aventine make Archers in kausia felt hats (SK3 Cretans?) which could be used.

Thank you Mithrates, that's a great help.

Thank you again for viewing.

Stuart. :-)

Lovely work – keep 'em coming!

Very nice work indeed….yes please keep them coming :-)

Liking these and thanks for the tips and explanations. Very helpful.

Nice work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mike Adams

Thanks guys. :-)

Excluding officers, I avoid using White for the Triaii tunics, preferring Vallejo light Greys and shades of tan.

Stuart. :-)

Lovely work. Those lictors would be great for Song of Shadows and Dust games!

Some Triaii.

In an effort to make them appear as the 'old boys' I've added beards using Duro.

Stuart. :-)

A close up image of the General.
I wanted a veteran commander who looked as though he had earned the spolia opima.

Stuart. :-)

A few more Triaii.

Using Duro I added beards and re-posed two of the infantrymen so they held their shields on the ground.
[break off the left arm, hollow out the hand, re-attach to body with wire, re-pose and re-design the elbow].

Spears were painted using Vallejo 826 Ger. Cam. Med. Brown and 874 Tan earth.
Shields are Vallejo 883 Silvergrey.

Front view:

Rear View:

Here's a group image of all the Triaii I've painted so far.

I'll post more images as they become available.

Advice for compatible mini's always welcome.

Thank you for taking time to have a look.

Stuart. :-)

Really nice! Repositioning arms is above and beyond, but very effective.

Re compatibles, you could swap heads with some of the Aventine Late Etruscans… in terms of other ranges, you might get some Crusader to work; possibly the kneeling Renegade Triarii, too.

link

Best, Simon

That's great advice Simon, thank you. 8-)

I figure that I'm only going to tackle this project once, so where possible, I'll customise the mini's, make them a little more individual.

I received my Vitrix archers yesterday, and couldn't resist adding beards!

Stuart. :-)

Lovely brush work!

The conversions look excellent

Thank you Bluewillow.

Here's the first of the Princips, [many more to go!]

I reposed all the shield holding arms and one holding a pilum.
I reposed one mini so his shield is on the ground.

To differentiate them from the Triaii I painted their feathers an off-white colour.

Front view:

Side view:

For basing I applied a mix of Liquitex medium Gel and bird sand to a 20mm scale plasticard base.
This is painted with Vallejo 921 Br. uniform and highlighted with Vallejo 819 Iraqi sand.

Appreciate suggestions for new additions.

Thank you for looking.

Stuart.

Hi guys.

Needing some archers, I selected some plastic Vitrix Greek's for the job.
My first foray into plastics, I covered the minis with a wash of Humbrol Matt Cote and put on some Ravi Shanker before beginning painting.

I added beards, patches and changed some hair styles.

Bow strings courtesy of my cats Boots and Scruff.

I'll admit that I wasn't entirely happy with the heads, so I may clean up another mini and see if they look better when raised a little, (I'll infill the neck with Duro).

Thank you for looking.

Stuart. :-)

Some Leves.

I chose to dry brush their tunics, give them a more plebeian appearance.
I've added the beards, patches and the hairstyle changes.

More images when available.

Thank you for viewing

Stuart. :-)

Another update guys,

A few more Leves, again dry-brushed the tunics for a rough look:

Another view:

The two groups of Leve together:

Henceforth, known by his tent party as 'Felix'

Thank you for looking and the kind words of support.

Stuart. :-)

Some more Princips…

I re-posed all the shield arms and wanting them to look like they've been in battle, I really 'muddied up' the shields.

The two Princips sets brought together:

I was fairly satisfied with the results, less parade ground, more battle worn…

Thank you for looking.

Stuart. :-)

Lovely – and your rate of production is impressive…

your rate of production is impressive.

Thank you Caliban.

I believe I'm painting around 5/6 minis a week…[no rush]

Stuart.

Those are looking fantastic. What a great project!

The 8th update to my Republican Roman Army project.

Thank you for the previous kind comments, its great encouragement.

Hearing that I wasn't happy with the Vitrix archers, Keith of Aventine Mins kindly sent me some Greek archers.
I've got to be honest, I'm happier with what I've done with these than the previous batch.

I made some changes…(!)…I added beards, neckerchiefs and tunic patches.
With a view of making them look as though they are on campaign, I dry-brushed the paint onto the tunics.

Once again, my cats Boots and Scruff kindly donated their whiskers for bow strings, (which are great for use with AFV's and radiomen).

Another view:

For the next bunch of Princips I wanted a little more drama than the arrow in the shield mini so undertook, with Aventine's permission, my first head swap.

More later.

Thank you for looking.

Stuart. :-)

An Aventine Princips command set.

I had to re-work the hands a little and added wrist jewellery, a ribbon, a beard and re-posed the shield bearers arms.

Another view:

And here is how the unit looks when placed together:

Thank you for viewing.

Stuart. :-)

Its been pointed out to me that I've the wrong standard bearer in this set, not a disaster, I've the correct bearer to hand as a replacement!

Stuart. :-P

My 9th update:

A few Velites; not many changes, one mini has jewellery and a broken arrow in his shield, (the white residue, caused by the varnish, has now been removed):

Another view:

Not the greatest painter of horses, so I thought I'd make a start on the mounted command set and see how I get along.
I changed a few things on this mini, I swapped the Aventine horse for a larger piece from A&A, removed the sword pommel from the scabbard and exchanged the right arm for one swinging a sword. Added reins to the left hand and attempted to paint the horse…

Another view:

More images to follow later in the week.

Thank you for looking.

Stuart. :-)

That General is one of a kind, great job!

Nice work on the figures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mike Adams

Super duper! Doing one miss elf, right now as we speak!

Thank you for the kind comments guys.

I'm not quite sure I'll ever paint a unit as dirty as this bunch of Princips:

A different angle:

I made numerous arm changes.

I have another bunch of Triarii to finish and then I'm making a start on the Hastati.

Thank you for looking.

Suggestions for new units welcome.

Stuart. :-)

Lovely work again. Anyway, Romans should be downright dirty and nasty…

Thank you for the encouragement Caliban. :-)

Stuart.

In another place I was asked how I muddied the shields.
Here's how I went about it:

I used Mig European dust.
Applied using Vallejo Matt Varnish, I dabbed this where I wanted the mud to appear.
The effect I was aiming for is troops fighting in a muddy field, or splattered with mud as horses pass by…

When the Mig dust has dried, you can scrape off the excess with a sharp scalpel.

Stuart.:-)

Oh those are most excellent romans! What is your recipe for the bronze?

What is your recipe for the bronze?

Thank you Gunfreak.

Here's how I do it:

Step 1: Paint over the undercoat with Vallejo 939 Smoke.
Step 2: Mix Valljeo Old Gold 878 with Black and then dry-brush on the bronze parts. then
Step 3: Allow the dark-old gold to dry and highlight over it with Vallejo 988 Bronze. In places allow the first colour to show through.

You could lighten the Bronze with some silver if you want a 'dazzling' appearance.

Its worth experimenting with the shades until you get the effect your most comfortable with.

Hope it helps.

Stuart. :-)