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Author Topic: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British  (Read 2783 times)

Offline Byrthnoth

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Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« on: August 15, 2017, 06:48:09 PM »
These have been sitting around partially painted for ages and while I was preparing some models for Saga I decided to try the novel concept of actually finishing something before flitting on to the next set of miniatures.

I'm building a couple of armies for Dux Bellorum, and the goal was to create a slightly board gamey feel with a small board that could be plopped on a dinner table or coffee table for a quick game. I settled on 10mm Pendraken figures on 40x30mm bases, because that allowed for a massed look while still keeping the battlefield size to 60x60cm.

The two armies will both be Romano-British forces competing for local supremacy following the departure of Constantine III in the early 5th century. To keep things clear on the table with such small figures, each army will have a strict colour scheme — red and yellow for one side, black and white for the other gang.

The first four units are 'ordinary shieldwall' for the red and yellow army.





Each base has a spot at the back for a small die to mark the unit's cohesion. I might get some of those 'dice frames' for the next batch of bases - I did these by carving out the milliput I used for the ground work and it was a pain.

Offline Mad Doc Morris

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2017, 07:00:25 PM »
They look rather splendid. Particularly like their earthy colours.
I keep getting tempted by these 10mm Late Romans, they are such nice figures. ::)


Offline Svennn

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2017, 07:48:30 PM »
Very nice, lovely painting.
"A jewelled sceptre plucked by order to serve their cause"

Online Jeff965

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2017, 08:11:11 PM »
Cracking paint job and the basing sets them off a treat :-*

Online fred

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2017, 08:55:27 PM »
Excellent work. Knowing the size of these figures, I particularly impressed with how you have painted them. The limited colour palette works well, both from giving an earthy look, but also from given some coherence to the force, which is always good. Looking forward to seeing their opponents.

The little dice frames from Pendraken are excellent, way easier than making your own.

These have been sitting around partially painted for ages and while I was preparing some models for Saga I decided to try the novel concept of actually finishing something before flitting on to the next set of miniatures.

I've heard of this idea. I'm not sure it will catch on...

Offline jambo1

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2017, 04:36:53 AM »
Lovely job on those Pendraken figures, really good work. :)

Offline Byrthnoth

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2017, 12:47:17 PM »
Thanks for the kind comments.

Mad Doc Morris, the Pendraken late Romans are definitely great. Clibinarium did a great job with them. Lots of codes and lots of pose variations in the packs – quite rare in 10mm. A lot of ranges have only one pose for each troop type, and that level of uniformity doesn't really work for late antiquity.

Offline Driscoles

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2017, 01:11:11 PM »
Just great
, ,

Offline Irregular Wars Nic

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #8 on: August 16, 2017, 01:25:14 PM »
Yep, those are lovely. Very nicely painted indeed. Looking forward to following this project!

Dux Bellorum is one of my favourite games and I also went down the Pendraken route for my Romano Brits.

Here are mine: http://irregularwars.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Dux%20Bellorum
And here are some more by Josh for inspiration: http://lecoqfou.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/pendraken-painting-competition.html

Offline Mason

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #9 on: August 16, 2017, 01:54:54 PM »
The whole army looks absolutely wonderful.
I have to admire anyone that can make such diddy figures look this good.
 :-* :-*



This is not criticism but a suggestion:
I feel that the addition of the d6 does ruin the illusion somewhat, especially as it so large in comparison to the miniatures.
Have you considered using alternate markers, like casualty figures for instance, as I think they would look much better?
This lovely army really does deserve to look at its best in the heat of battle,
 :)

Offline Richard in Sachsen

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2017, 02:21:11 PM »
Those units are fantastic! :-* The smaller figures look so much better on 6cm bases than 28mm. For Dux Bellorum and Comitatus I tend to push the base frontages to 8cm as the larger figures look better. But that is, of course, also more table space.

I, too, find the minimal pallet adds greatly to the unit as a whole and amplifies the mass effect. Looking at the rear of the photos, I find the different tones complement each other very well. I mean you use different colours obviously but the tone seems to be the same. I agree, it gives it an earthly look.

Nice use of contrast as well. I have a few 6mm EIR that I wanted to give a go (for the same reason as you, for dinner table use) and followed the Bacchus advice on how to paint them. So I became aware of how important contrast is at such a small scale.

But I'm curious as to why 10mm? Why not 15's or 6's? Maybe I'll pick up a few 10's and see how it goes, but I'm genuinely curious as to the advantages one may find with 10's over the other scales.
You go to war with the figures you have, not the figures you wish you had!

Offline Irregular Wars Nic

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2017, 03:32:18 PM »
But I'm curious as to why 10mm? Why not 15's or 6's? Maybe I'll pick up a few 10's and see how it goes, but I'm genuinely curious as to the advantages one may find with 10's over the other scales.

For my part, I love 6mm, but I think 10mm gives more soooo much more detail to the figures. 15mm figures are great as well, but 10mm are cheaper, and you can fit more in the same space. They really are a middle ground between 6s and 15s.

Here, Brythnoth is putting 10 figures on a base width that would normally take four 15mm chaps. That really lets you play around with the concept one base = one unit/warband.

In Dux Bellorum, you normally only have 8-12 units, so it's nice to make each base look like a bunch of men, not just a counter with four figures on it.

Also, Pendraken's late Romans, sculpted by Clibiniarii, are particularly characterful. It's like painting 15mm stuff, but faster!

Offline Richard in Sachsen

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #12 on: August 16, 2017, 04:00:09 PM »
Thanks Nic, maybe I'll give Pendragon a go, then.

Offline Byrthnoth

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #13 on: August 16, 2017, 04:45:17 PM »
Nic, your figures and Josh's were a big inspiration for starting the project – I ordered the figures almost 2 years ago, around when you were originally building your armies. I see you've added some more figures recently – they look great.

Mason, I agree that the dice ruin the illusion a bit. I went with them instead of casualty figures because I worried about them cluttering the board too much - some units have up to 6 cohesion points (wounds/hit points) and when units are grouped together it might be tricky to tell which casualties belong to which unit, especially if the bases get jostled. Dice seemed to keep everything tidier and easily readable.

Richard, I went with 10mm because for whatever reason the scale feels 'right' to me. I've tried painting 6mm and found that I could get a good result but the actual painting wasn't enjoyable, while 10mm is still fun for me. I've never tried 15s, but I think Nic is probably right that 10mm offers a good middle ground with the advantages of both 6mm and 15mm.

Offline mellis1644

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Re: Dux Bellorum in 10mm — Romano-British
« Reply #14 on: August 16, 2017, 05:15:20 PM »
They look really good. I did the same thing with 6mm figs for Dux B - but mine don't look as goos as yours
My painting blog is at: http://mellis1644.wordpress.com/

 

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