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Author Topic: Ether Drake's Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 9/8/19)  (Read 8709 times)

Offline Irregular Wars Nic

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Re: Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 20/4/19)
« Reply #30 on: April 23, 2019, 07:18:04 AM »
Gobsmacked by your force so far. I'd be proud to push them around a table / command them in battle.

Offline ether_drake

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Re: Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 20/4/19)
« Reply #31 on: May 15, 2019, 04:20:19 PM »
Gobsmacked by your force so far. I'd be proud to push them around a table / command them in battle.

Thanks Nic. Having some fun with them so far.
Blog: Ether Drake's Cave

https://etherdrakecave.blogspot.com/

Offline ether_drake

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Re: Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 16/5/19)
« Reply #32 on: May 15, 2019, 04:35:48 PM »
A sizable update here. Quite a bit of progress has been made.

18 Levy are complete. They'll serve as a complete starting force of Levy in Dux Brit and - with a manuballista - 2 points of Levy in my SAGA Roman army.



More details on my shortcut painting approach on the blog: https://etherdrakecave.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-levy-assemble-merlin-grumbles.html

Merlin is complete. A really fun mini to paint. I umm'd and ahh'd about how to paint the bear fur cloak but in the end I just went with a base of Vallejo G Camo Black-Brown and applied the triads from Foundry's Bay Brown and Chestnut, about six layers in all, with a final extreme highlight of Vallejo Dark Sand to establish contrast and mimic some bleaching/weathering.




UPDATE: Here's a pic from the rear of his cloak. It looks a little rough in part due to lighting, in part because my technique could stand to be refined. Open to some suggestions on how that could be done.



I also finished another four Roman warriors with hand-painted shields. They bring my total warriors up to 16 and make them SAGA ready for a full 2 points. Love these Footsore minis.



To do:
1. Finish highlighting 2 ballista crew
2. Finish highlighting the champion
3. Grout, grit and flock some sabot bases
4. Start on some cavalry!

This will give me a force with greater SAGA flexibility, to field the Gwyr Y Gogledd (Men of the North) option for Dux Brit, and about 32 points to try out Dux Bellorum.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2019, 06:50:25 AM by ether_drake »

Offline Shaved Dwarf

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Re: Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 16/5/19)
« Reply #33 on: May 16, 2019, 04:02:59 PM »
The rear side of Merlin's cloak looks very good to me.
I guess I'd try to emphasise the edges of the feathers a little more.

Offline ether_drake

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Re: Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 16/5/19)
« Reply #34 on: May 17, 2019, 04:49:58 AM »
The rear side of Merlin's cloak looks very good to me.
I guess I'd try to emphasise the edges of the feathers a little more.

Thanks.

Yeah, the Foundry Charcoal Black highlight was a little too dull. Maybe the base colour from one of the greys will work better for the feathers.

Offline ether_drake

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Re: Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 16/5/19)
« Reply #35 on: May 18, 2019, 09:41:35 AM »
UPDATE: I had a go at making my own magnetic sabot base out of MDF, magnetic sheet, filler and sand. Quite pleased with the results:



The magnet even passed the 180° inversion test:





The method I took is outlined on the blog: http://etherdrakecave.blogspot.com/2019/05/sabot-basing-method.html?m=1

I did experiment putting two 3mm-wide RE magnets into the base to secure it to the magnetic sheet in my travel box but it barely held. This base will need another layer of magnetic sheet on the bottom to secure it for transport.

I'll probably order some laser cut bases from Warbases to achieve a lower base profile, i.e. the minis' bases can sit flush with the MDF rather than above it. A single layer of magnetic sheet can hold both the minis and the sabot in place.

I may revisit the basing style above for any irregular diorama composition as it suits an unorthodox placement.

I recently acquired some textured rolling pins from Green Stuff World so I may lay a cobblestone road or two on some bases.

Offline Codsticker

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Re: Ether Drake's Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 18/5/19)
« Reply #36 on: May 18, 2019, 03:09:54 PM »
Great work. Your movement trays turned out excellent.

Offline ether_drake

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Re: Ether Drake's Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 18/5/19)
« Reply #37 on: June 09, 2019, 03:56:36 PM »
Great work. Your movement trays turned out excellent.

Thanks. Trying out some pre-cut ones from Warbases soon.

UPDATE: Finished the crew for my manuballista for my SAGA Late Romans. Took an educated guess that units from the more Romanised Saxon Shore may have had access to one, so the hand-painted shield reflects a possible design from the Secunda Brittanica. All in all a very nice mini from Gripping Beast which was easy and fun to paint up.

If I ever get round to expanding the army for non-skirmish play I may add the manuballistae from Stronghold Terrain and Foundry.


Offline ether_drake

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Re: Ether Drake's Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 9/6/19)
« Reply #38 on: August 08, 2019, 05:03:35 PM »
It's been two months since my last update, but I'm back with some major progress. Eight Romano-British cavalry from Footsore to bolster my forces.





They'll serve as Hearthguard for SAGA, Noble/Ordinary cavalry for Dux Bellorum and mounted Men of the North for Dux Britanniarum. The latter role inspired me to draw on the early medieval Welsh poem Y Gododdin by Aneirin for inspiration for the colour scheme of the riders and their horses.

These are the first cavalry I've painted since some Gary Morley Silver Helms way back in 1998 :D



Back to history. There is a wealth of guidance for painters in the text of Y Gododdin which I've compiled below in case anyone is interested.

Y Gododdin

Costume Notes
Numbers in parentheses refer to stanza followed by line.

Broad lightweight shield (1:5)
Gold-bordered garments (1:8 )
Betorqued (many)
Mail-coat (3:7)
Lime-white shields (11:6)
Blaen took delight in gold and purple (16:6)
Gold-fretted shield (29:3)
Swift steeds and dark-blue war-gear and shields (33:2)
One who wore purple (67:4)
Ice-bright shields (71:13)

Horses

Roan (26:8 )
A trim long-legged grey (50:4)
Darker (brown) his saddle (50:6)
Grey steeds (58:11)
Red steeds (61:7)
White horses (74:5)
Dapple-grey steed (77:5)

What I finally settled on was a mashup of qualities drawn from the poem and Late Roman equipment. The "lime-white shields" were a must.



I had to make sure they didn't look too bright, flat or bland. I used a base coat of Foundry Quagmire B (a brown grey) and several thin coats of Canvas C (an off white). I tried to approach them as if I was painting lime onto leather-faced shields.

To give them more depth I weathered them with a drybrush of Quagmire B and Rawhide A. Tried a couple of shield cuts but my brush hand wasn't steady enough to get really thin straight lines done so well.

I also incorporated some "gold-bordered garments".





To give them some elite flavour I pimped up their spears with the stripes that seem to be a Late Roman thing (anyone know the source of these?).





Part of the painting challenge here was to produce sufficient variety in the colour schemes so that multiples of the same model looked different. Among the eight figures there are only six different riders and three different horses. Luckily, the notes from the poem really gave me an excuse to crack open many of the pots in Foundry's Horse Paint set.

I'd only painted dapple greys and whites before this so it was a nice challenge to attempt blacks, chestnuts, bays and a roan. The roan is the toughest to pull off since they have equal amounts of interspersed white and coloured hairs, something which you can only impart impressionistically in paint. While blacks aren't mentioned specifically in Y Gododdin, other Welsh literature mentions Arthur riding a black mare so I wanted to get some practice in before I painted the dux bellorum.









Next up on the workbench is Arthur himself with the costume colours drawn from a mix of Bernard Cornwell's trilogy and the Mabinogion. The latter provides some names of Arthur's arms. I'm still trying to figure out what motif to place on his shield which was called Wynebgwrthucher (face of the evening). Perhaps a Celtic moon or star.

Offline Ragnar

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Re: Ether Drake's Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 9/8/19)
« Reply #39 on: August 08, 2019, 06:39:51 PM »
Nice project, looks great!
Gods, monsters and men,
Will die together in the end.

Offline gibby64

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Re: Ether Drake's Late Romans/Arthurians Project (Update 9/8/19)
« Reply #40 on: August 16, 2019, 03:18:57 PM »
Beautiful job!
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