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Author Topic: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (March 2018: Alan Horseman)  (Read 9724 times)

Offline Byrthnoth

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 76
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans
« Reply #15 on: August 03, 2017, 08:17:15 PM »
Terrific painting on both figures. I really like how you used the colours from the reference illustration, but managed to tweak them so they work better as a colour scheme for miniatures.

Offline moiterei_1984

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 874
    • My hobby blog
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans
« Reply #16 on: August 03, 2017, 08:26:37 PM »
 :o Well worth the wait I say! Your take on his face is sublime. Looking forward to the next figur... in 2020  ;)

Offline Larry R

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 96
    • 7 Pillars of Wargaming
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans
« Reply #17 on: August 04, 2017, 12:34:45 PM »
Great stuff, looking forward to seeing what's next!

Offline Ataman

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 160
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans
« Reply #18 on: August 06, 2017, 08:31:07 AM »
It lives! Very excited to see this project revived!

Offline Curis

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 123
    • Ninjabread
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans
« Reply #19 on: January 15, 2018, 12:26:59 PM »
Thanks Byrthnoth!  I'm still not keen on Maximianus' trousers – blue trousers instantly put me in mind of denim.  I might repaint them brown when I get round to rebasing him.

Here's my next figure, moiterei.  Only five months for this one!  Look at that rate of project acceleration.

This is “Biscuit Dude”, and he’s come to fight you with his sock dragon.  He’s my first painted miniature of 2018, and it’s exactly thirty years since he was released.


Rock out with your (dragon) sock out.

“Biscuit Dude” is a Late Imperial Roman standard bearer, released by Citadel Miniatures in January 1988 as part of the Blandford Warriors range – twelve medieval(ish) characters also appearing in the 1987 Blandford Press book Medieval Warlords.


The complete Blandford Warriors range, image from Stuff of Legends

The range is a curious mix of generic fighters like “Teutonic Knight” (top left), and named personalities like “Betrand du Guesclin” (one in from top left).  If you’re unfamiliar with medieval history it’s confusing who’s a character and who’s a unit type – Alan Horseman, I am looking at you.

Looking at the name of the miniature on the flyer, I assumed “Bucellarii of Majorian” was a person, but turns out “bucellarii” (singular: “bucellarius”) is actually a name for the household troops in the Late Roman period.  It’s Latin for “biscuit dude” – troops were so named as on campaign they were given their grain ration (or “bucellatum”) in the form of a hard biscuit.  This kind of diminutive naming humour is common in the Late Imperial Roman military – the heavily armoured cavalry troops were called “clibanarii” or “little ovens” as it got so hot inside their armour.

I based the paintjob for my miniature off the Angus McBride colour plate from the Medieval Warlords book.

[Mod edit: copyrighted image removed]
 
Vandal and Moorish pirates flee to their ship after an ambush set up by Biscuit Dude and his seahorse, Seabiscuit.

The Bucellarius fits really nicely into my fledgling Late Imperial Roman army, as will the two other fifth century Blandford Warriors  – “The Warlord Aetius” and “Alan Horseman”.  Here’s my mighty army so far, needing a lot of reinforcements before they get that Warhammer Ancient Battles +1 rank bonus.


The mighty Triumverate of Maximianus, Biscuit Dude and Araneus.

The complete set of twelve Blandford Warriors miniatures was re-released last summer by Wargames Foundry, so now everyone can own them without paying ridiculous prices on the secondary market.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2018, 09:13:38 PM by Mad Doc Morris »

Offline killshot

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Mastermind
  • *
  • Posts: 1055
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (Jan 2018: Bucellarius of Majorian)
« Reply #20 on: January 15, 2018, 04:30:52 PM »
Wow!  Love it and the background of the miniature was very interesting as well.

Offline majorsmith

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 3762
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (Jan 2018: Bucellarius of Majorian)
« Reply #21 on: January 15, 2018, 04:48:17 PM »
Brilliant!

Offline Richard in Sachsen

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 348
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (Jan 2018: Bucellarius of Majorian)
« Reply #22 on: January 15, 2018, 04:57:12 PM »
Really, really fine brush work. Your faces are just full with personality. Excellent job there. I also noticed and liked how your bronze on the helmet of Marcellinus just pops out and very realistically, too, I might add. Great job on the metals as well. Can't give these figures enough compliments, really!
You go to war with the figures you have, not the figures you wish you had!

Offline ErikB

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1369
  • Sometimes I feel like Schroedinger's Cat
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (Jan 2018: Bucellarius of Majorian)
« Reply #23 on: January 15, 2018, 06:52:27 PM »
Fantastic job painting those!

They look a little short, though.  Could I suggest putting a thin piece of card or styrene under their feet to make them stand above the foliage a little bit?  That will make them look a bit taller.

Otherwise, they are some of the best minis I've ever seen.  Great job!

Offline moiterei_1984

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 874
    • My hobby blog
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (Jan 2018: Bucellarius of Majorian)
« Reply #24 on: January 15, 2018, 09:30:00 PM »
I didn’t expect my little ‚encouragement‘ to actually work, but obviously you felt inspired enough to proof me wrong  :D
Cracking job once again!

Offline Curis

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 123
    • Ninjabread
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (Jan 2018: Bucellarius of Majorian)
« Reply #25 on: February 07, 2018, 01:31:48 PM »
Thanks killshot!  I'm fascinated by the period and could talk for hours on it.  But I try to keep it concise for the blog and centred on the miniatures.

Cheers Richard.  I had the helmet all in iron originally, to match the Angus McBride illustration, but changes it at the last minute to make the figure look a little more interesting.

Erik – thanks for the feedback.  I am guilty of just sticking the figures with their cast on bases straight into the plastic Mantic bases without thinking about the height.  I really need to go back and rebase the first figure in the project now!

moiterei – you've kinda lit a fire under me.

With Britannia on the telly, I’m fired up for Roman Britain.  The Emperor’s finest stabbing druids has given me the focus to paint these eight Late Imperial Roman spearmen.


“Hurdy gurdy, hurdy gurdy, hurdy gurdy gurdy,” they sang.

Late Imperial Romans?  Late for what?  They’d better hurry up and carpe those diems.  The Late Imperial period, for me, covers everything from Septimius Severus as Emperor (AD 193–8), the Crisis of the Third Century (AD 235-84), the Barbarian Conspiracy (AD 376–7), the Roman Exit from Britain (AD 410), Flavius Aetius versus Atilla (AD 452), the Fall of the Western Roman Empire (AD 476), and beyond into the time of King Arthur.  The army gives me a lot of history to play with and a lot of excuses to visit knee-high ruined walls in the rainy English countryside.



“Roly poly, roly poly, holy poly poly,” they sang.

I invented a mythical beast to paint freehand onto the unit’s shields – the ophiosus.  It’s a creature with the head of a pig and the body of a snake.  The component animals might, based on the altar below, be symbolic of Veteris – thought to be the god of Hadrian’s Wall.  If you like you can call the creature a “boar constrictor”.



An altar found at the Roman fort of Magnae Carvetiorum, with a pig and a snake carved into opposite sides.  RIB1805.

The first shield took several hours to do – from idea through to pencil sketch then freehand painting.  The next shields I batch-painted and they took about 45 minutes on average.  I experimented with a couple of variations from shield to shield, refining it as I went.  The minor variations in design I rationalise along with the different armour styles I’ve mixed together.



“Derpy merpy, derpy merpy, slurpy merpy merpy,” they sang.

The miniatures are from Crusader Miniatures, and are satisfying for army building as they’re one piece castings (with separate shields).  I worked on them as a batch of eight, imagining them as a contubernium – the smallest organisational unit of the Roman army who all shared a tent or barrack room together.  Conveniently it’s also an instantly game legal unit for Saga’s Aetius & Arthur.  Eight is enough figures to make me feel like I’m making progress on a significant chunk of infantry, while not causing burn out.



“Sminky pinky, sminky pinky, sminky pinky pinky,” they sang.

Congratulations for getting to the end of this post.  As a special reward, let me tell you about a marvellously named woman.  She discovered another altar dedicated to Veteris, and her name was “Miss Fanny Bacon”.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2018, 02:27:38 PM by Curis »

Offline chema1986

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 444
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (Feb 2018: Comitantenses Contubernium)
« Reply #26 on: February 07, 2018, 08:31:29 PM »
One of the best painted late Roman “army” I have ever seen ! Congratulations!

Offline moiterei_1984

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 874
    • My hobby blog
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (Feb 2018: Comitantenses Contubernium)
« Reply #27 on: February 08, 2018, 02:30:07 PM »
Gorgeous  :

And I really like Miss Fanny Bacon  :-*

Offline majorsmith

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 3762
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (Feb 2018: Comitantenses Contubernium)
« Reply #28 on: February 08, 2018, 04:21:55 PM »
Fantastic shields, really great job 👍🏻

Offline Corso

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 501
Re: Curis' Late Imperial Romans (Feb 2018: Comitantenses Contubernium)
« Reply #29 on: February 10, 2018, 06:17:55 AM »
Great looking force - fantastic skin tones :D

 

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