From the Lead Archive: 28mm Foundry Ancient Greek Hoplites

Still drumming my fingers waiting for 'Hail Caesar' to make its appearance.  Thought I'd ease my impatience by unpacking some more 'sword and sandal' stuff from our move. Here are a few test models I did of some ancient Greek hoplites. I remember I had just finished reading Steven Pressfield's superb 'Gates of Fire' and was completely stoked to paint hoplites.

These are from the excellent Foundry range of models that were sculpted by Steve Saleh. I really like the animation of Saleh's work, even though the shields seem somewhat small to me. Hmm, that reminds me, I need to get some transfers on those shields...

Now that I'm looking at them again I think I'll do up a few more along with some helots for a skirmish game scenario I have knocking around in my head. More on that later if anything comes of it.

From the Lead Archive: The Harii - 28mm Ancient German Barbarians

I have to admit I'm getting a little keyed-up waiting for my copy of 'Hail Caesar' to arrive.  So , like a little kid, I decided to pull out and dust off some of what I have to start playing with (or needs to be built upon).

Here are some Germanic barbarians I painted up to represent Harii warriors. The Harii are a bit of a mysterious lot as they supposedly worshiped the night, or perhaps were a quasi death cult. There is also an interesting theory that based on their location, culture and genetics that they were precursors to the Vikings.

Tacitus writes in his work, 'Germania':

As for the Harii, quite apart from their strength, which exceeds that of the other tribes I have just listed, they pander to their innate savagery by skill and timing: with black shields and painted bodies, they choose dark nights to fight, and by means of terror and shadow of a ghostly army they cause panic, since no enemy can bear a sight so unexpected and hellish; in every battle the eyes are the first to be conquered.

Anyway, I liked how Kevin Dallimore originally painted them for Foundry and so I've shamelessly copied him here (I really liked how he did the Conan black-striped camo thing).

Um, gee, pretty much the same shot here - Ok, just imagine this is taken from a completely different angle which makes the figures look achingly beautiful. No? Well, just squint a bit then.

These are old 28mm Wargames Foundry models - Mark Copplestone sculpts I believe. I plan to do a Germanic barbarian army that will contain several tribes (Cimbri, Suebi, etc.) of which these will be the basis for one unit. I'll post up some other stuff over the next little while.

1:2400 GQH WWII Ships

I've been feeling the urge to play some 'General Quarters III' so I brought out some of my naval stuff. Here are some 1:2400 scale models from GHQ that I collected to do 'The Battle of the River Plate', the action in which the Graf Spee was hunted down, engaged and scuttled in December 1939.

These are excellent castings, with crisp lines, superb detail and very little required in cleanup. 

Tim was kind enough to do up a bushel of MDF bases for me a few years ago which have served quite well. I've placed a small magnetic strip at the back so I can 'clip on' labels for ship names in case I want to bodge around with other scenarios.

I also have some Great War vessels which I'll have to put up a sampling sometime.

Graf Spee with the Leipzig (which was not at the River Plate action but I thought I'd slip in 'cause I like the seaplane)

From the Lead Archive: Viking Beserkers 28mm Foundry

Here are some hirsute Scandinavian fellows who seem to have some axes to grind (literally).

These are older Foundry castings sculpted by Mark Sims. I've never been too crazy about the shields but I really like the animation of the figures - very characterful.

'You Shall Not Pass!' 28mm 'Lord of the Rings' Balrog

I remember how nervous I was going to see Fellowship of the Ring on it's release night, thinking, "Cripes, I hope they don't screw this up." Then I saw Gandalf (Ian McKellan) in his ponycart riding into Hobbiton and I knew they had nailed it. It was beautiful. Absolutely magical. Then about 30 seconds after this revelation I began settling into my seat, anxiously anticipating Jackson's vision of the Balrog. Well, Peter J. did not disappoint and when the Balrog finally made its fiery, heat-shimmering appearance I was completely gobsmacked. I felt like I was 12 again.

Anyway, when Games Workshop came out with its 28mm scale model of the Balrog I had to have one.  So I gave it a go and here it is. I had fun trying to replicate the flame effects and the molten cracked skin. I have absolutely no use for the thing but I can see it is one of my most cherished models.

Someday I'll have to try GW's model of the Witch King on the Fell Beast...

Space Hulk Grey Knight Terminator

I picked up the new edition of Space Hulk last autumn and we've had a good fun playing it from time to time. I decided that instead of painting the Space Marine Terminators the classic Blood Angel red that is typical of the 'GW fluff' I would do them up as part of the Grey Knights chapter. I also wanted to try to do a variation of the 'non-metalic metal' finish to see how it worked out. Anyway, above is one of the completed Terminators. The rest are in various levels of completion and will be following along as we play the game. Maybe I'll do a group shot as a follow-up.

Warhammer Fantasy Empire Steam Tank

Chitty-Chitty... Bang! Bang!

I thought I'd move some stuff off the main page to where they actually belong. Here is something completely off the beaten track. This is another golden oldie that I've excavated from the display cabinet and dusted off (literally) - an Empire Steam Tank from a previous edition of Warhammer Fantasy.

I converted the base model to make it reminiscent of something Leonardo da Vinci would dream up - sort of a Renaissance Steampunk Land Dreadnought kind of thingy. The kit was virtually all white metal and almost every part was warped or somehow misshapen.  I think about of quarter of this thing is composed of metal pins and Green Stuff filling gaps and holding it all together. Some of the engineering crew are courtesy of my friend Kevin to which I muddled around with their poses and  harmonized their colours. The model weighs a ton. I can't remember all the whacky stuff that this bad boy could do in the game but I do recall it was pretty darn rude. It got to the point where I felt a little guilty putting it on the table - an emotion I deftly learned to stifle. ;)

I know, like a sail would have any chance of moving this thing - but it looks cool and, really, who can deny a tank with a crows nest?

Another friend, Sylvain, has recently finished building a lovely Wood Elf army which is quite the terror. Now that I look at this thing again I really think his pointy-eared, hemp-wearing, tree-huggers need to be introduced to some Imperial Heavy Metal... Toot! Toot! Parp! Parp!

28mm Covenanters & Highlanders for ECW

Here are a few more photos of some of my older ECW figures. First up are a group of dour Scottish Covenanters manfully manning a frame gun (probably a fire-sale Swedish import from the German Wars). As opposed to the typical Covenanters (you know, the ones 'who don't like sex as it may lead to dancing') - I like to think that my Covenanters represent that small partying faction that we don't often hear about. Anyway, here are some blue-bonneted blokes ready to bang away with a frame gun which was probably more a threat to them as it was to the enemy. Old skool 25mm Foundry castings which are pretty small by today's standards (actually, they sorta look like Hobbits, don't they). 

Next are some charging Highlanders from Redoubt Miniatures. I find the animation on this series of castings is great. Again, pretty large models here - probably close to 35mm in size. I have more of these lads in storage but this gives you a impression of how they look massed up in an irregular formation. 

Many in this series are multi-part models, often with separate heads and torsos so they can provide some variation in their poses. 

28mm Allen Apsley's Regiment of Foote

Breaking away from Napoleonics for a bit. We recently moved and so the past few months have been spent slowly unpacking stuff that has been squirreled away in boxes for years. Anyway, here's an old chestnut from the lead archive. A regiment of ECW foot composed of Redoubt castings which I painted, cripes, oh I dunno, at least ten years ago. I dusted them off, touched them up a bit and thought I'd post a few shots for those who might find them interesting.

If I recall correctly this is Allen Apsley's Regiment of Foote (composed of Royalists from Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Cornwall). These castings are listed as 28mm but are really closer to 33-35mm. They're kinda anachronistic and quirky, but I'm quite fond of them. I've always enjoyed the look of the 'hedge' of pikes, intermixed with loads of company banners, along with the flanking sleeves of shot (now that I look at the pic I see a few wandering Scots in there as well). Years ago I acquired a boatload of Redoubt stuff in an ebay auction and it has remained on the sidelines as one of those distant 'retirement projects'. Seeing this stuff again makes me want to get a few more units done... I'll put up a few more shots of other ECW stuff in the coming days (as I get it sorted and put in the display case).