Sometimes, I get choked up. Well, OK, it's more like... sometimes I choke.
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"Gauls"
Take these Gauls, for instance. Wonderful figures, 15mm, lots of character, no longer available as far as I know, formerly available from Thistle & Rose. That's the first clue: I've had them for so long, the company isn't even in business any more!
The problem is that this is a part of history that really interests me. I've probably over-researched it. And as I said, I'm really fond of these figures. It would be nice if these figures could turn out perfectly.
Which might explain why these figures have been on my workbench for the last decade. Yes, over ten years. I'd start them, I wouldn't like how they were going, I'd re-do them...
I decided to finally break this unhealthy stalemate, so I grabbed nine figures from the Gaul army on the corner of my workbench, and willed myself to finish them. And once I got started, I enjoyed myself... I'm still not happy with the paint job, but with practice and more experimentation, I'm hopeful that I'll see some improvement.
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"Gauls"
As you can see, some of these Gauls have shed their clothes due to being overcome with battle rage. And no, they're not old men - I'm trying to get the hair to look like it's been limed, which Gauls did.
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"Gauls"
Two of the Gauls had open hands, but if they came with separate weapons, I've long ago misplaced them. So I cut some wire, dipped it in paint (leaving the "shiny" end clean), and gave them javelins.
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"Gauls"
The shield designs, in the end, were inspired by Googling on the Internet - which mostly took me to box art and painted minis.
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"Gaul shields"
While I await your comments and tips, I've already moved on to the next small set of Gauls...