Okay, let's take a break and talk about shields
Most sources have the mirmillo carrying the typical rectangular Roman scutum; others claim they carried an oval shield. I toyed with swapping the kit shield for an oval one in the spare parts pack, but finally the scutum won out. As neither the German Leader nor the Roman Signifer figures carry a scutum, it just didn't seem right to not paint any scutum in a Roman-era competition!
The shield is based in with Mediterranean Blue. Layers of Med. Blue and Cadet Grey were slowly built up (2:1:6MW, 3:2:7MW, 3:3:8MW, 3:4:8MW) (Photo 8A).
The pattern on the shield was laid out with Raw Linen and Antique White (1:1:4), using a Winsor & Newton Series 7 00 brush. You can't get lines like these with a synthetic!
Once it's blocked out, the areas are filled in like a coloring book. It took several layers, as the paint is thin (Photo 8C). You can just make out in Photo 8D, in the filled rectangle, that I tried to highlight the curved form of the scutum by building layers of Raw Linen, Antique White, White, and MW (1:1:1:6 and 1:1:3:7).
The back is simple
A basecoat of Autumn Brown: Dark Umber, and Dark Brown (Photo 9A). A wash of Walnut (1:3MW) to make the details pop (Photo 9B). The back was given a light scrub (less regular than a drybrush) of Autumn Brown and Cloudberry Tan (1:1), using a stiff-bristled brush to suggest a little wood grain and wear. The edging used the same brass mixes outlined before.
