Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of Myths, Gods and Empires => Topic started by: AdamPHayes on September 05, 2021, 08:07:55 PM
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The first 25mm figures I bought, some 35 years ago, were for the army of Pyrrhus of Epirus. The Successors of Alexander the Great had captured my interest and trhe career of Pyrrhus seemed to match any of them for action and drama. Even before I had enough unit for the Pyrrhic army, my units were able to take the field with those of my friend Nick, as a part of an Antigonid army. This showed me the possibilities with Successor troops of taking on many identities in a large number of possible armies with different characters.
Since then these venerable units have served in a multiplicity of guises the most recent of which as a part of my Greco-Bactrian army. https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=66407.msg1606698#msg1606698 (https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=66407.msg1606698#msg1606698) I have steadily added units to the collection, required for a particular battle or on the basis of liking the figures. Now I have decided to grasp the nettle and examine the goup to get a proper idea of what I have, what needs some TLC and where I might want to go from here...
The first unit is one of my earliest; Thracians or similar scruffy irregular types. These are a right mixture of Corvus, Essex and Hinchliffe figures.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H4X7Mkophj8/YTO3kVD2TSI/AAAAAAAACTs/G6WYYVi9mHwZrmsHC8M3TI7GWZ_lfkUbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2517/thracians.JPG)
Bases will seem to be the main issue, just getting them a bit more consistemt with my more recent efforts would seem to be worth a bit of effort.
The second unit up is entirely Hinchliffe this time (from a big bag of second hand lead IIRC...)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-15d5ziSoMNE/YTT5KmcjWII/AAAAAAAACT8/B1CL0PGyXekl5uKn8Rhpa0cHcw619WRCACLcBGAsYHQ/s1803/Peltasts%2B1.JPG)
Proper old school figures but nice movement and character.
I will start looking in boxes now for the next bunch of units. More pics and blurb on my blog (https://wargamewarrior2021.blogspot.com/) if you really want to...
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Following! I look forward to the rest :)
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Nice old veterans! I like some of those old Essex castings. They have some good animation. Sometimes a bit OTT but I have soft spot for them. One of my club mates has lots and they still see the table.
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Being painted and based trumps the prettiest new figures still in the bare metal....
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The first units of cavalry were from, what was then, the new and beautifully sculpted Corvus Miniatures range. This was before the advent of multiple variations in pose and equipment for every troop type that has become the norm. There were a few command figures and musicians that would provide a little change from the uniformity.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wY6r4n1NiH0/YVCU4JV8rUI/AAAAAAAACVM/YdR_sK1ZaH8l1ILWq7iUU9x_-Bqw3ShBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Thessalians01.JPG)
These are my Thessalian cavalry, one of the favourites of Phyrrhos and an elite unit of that army.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wdatjjp1S6g/YVCT5Ig2OUI/AAAAAAAACVE/Yh6-cP4J7iESDMrFzxnCFEDzlTUYeTEKQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Epirote%2BCompanians01.JPG)
The Epirote version of Alexander's Companion Cavalry. Their age is given away by my teenage enthusiasm for painting the eyes of 28mm figures!
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Nice! I have a love hate relationship with painting eyes. In that I love how it looks when it works, but it usually doesn't, so i hate doing it lol
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Ahhh, the days before transfers. Yours look so nice. I liked Corvus figures. I had few of them as they were difficult to see or buy. A store in my area had RAFM so I had quite a few of them. Unfortunately I never got all the Minifigs. and Naismiths I wanted from back in the day when everything from AMPW was available and miniature companies did not usually jump around in scales as they do now. Nice memories.
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Old roll call. I don't normally post these, but you inspired me.
These Minifigs Thracians are some of my oldest (non-airfix) figures. I got them in a joint order with some college chums. We had to wait forever.
I hated the huge rhomphaias so I turned them into javelin men. I had other Hinchcliffe figures with rhomphaia.
I painted these before AMPW by Duncan Head, using the WRG by Phil Barker version available. I went crazy on the shield designs which were based on celtic designs supposedly from the Danube, which my low level of research at the library netted me.
Only later did I find out that the shields should be bland and white or beige and lacking adornments. Oh well.
I was thinking of painting out the shields long ago, but I kept them as a legacy unit. I can look back to where it started.
Top: Final version:
Bottom: Original with choppers
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I am sorting my way through the lead mountain left behind by my friend Les. Quite a few vintage figures in there including some of those Thracians. Many of them are really elegant sculpts, I was quite impressed considering the limitations in sculpting medium at that time. Sometime less is more with the amount of detail crammed onto a miniature....
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I was thinking of painting out the shields long ago, but I kept them as a legacy unit. I can look back to where it started.
Those shields are wonderful, don't ever paint over them.
I still have my first, non Airfix, unit, early Garrison EIR Cavalry,
it is nowhere near as nicely done as your Thracians, but I was
eleven at the time! I won't part with them, they were a Birthday
present from my Mother & Father. Every so often I look at them
and think of giving them an 'up grade' but over the past 55 years
they have resisted it. :)
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I blather on in the latest post that I try to avoid doing any rebasing (click here (https://wargamewarrior2021.blogspot.com/2021/09/plenty-of-cavalry.html)) That counts tenfold for repainting miniatures... Once a paintjob is completed and the figures are good to go on the tabletop, I cannot imagine going back to have another crack at them. They would have to be done at a level of carelessness that I would not want them to be seen in public...
The next two units in my rolecall have had additions made to them, and here the question was do I try to copy an earlier stype of painting with the new figures? I have on the whole not tried to mirror an earlier style, which is partly a reflection on my lack of improvement and partly just a pragmatic decision.
This unit is some Greek Heavy cavalry, mainly Corvus figures with a couple of Newline reinforcements.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lJRHvRcLpFo/YVWoNZeoN0I/AAAAAAAACVo/kH7nyFjc8UcOA354sVbT2OPe-RkezpnhwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Greek%2BHC01.JPG)
The general had some work done when I rebuilt his broken horse and I may have "updated" the paintjob at the same time. Not 100% sure. Perhaps this is the exception that proves the rule? (Widely mis-applied expression, no rule is proven by an exception but it will be tested - another way of saying "proved", by an exception...)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k-NjCTrUn8E/YVWqDsOCQoI/AAAAAAAACVw/mipAPO5OYJItFGyaXKsmFFtsDY-e72YXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1207/General01.JPG)
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I liked Corvus figures, but hated the mono-posing. I like how you added in a Newline Design to break up the poses.
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I liked Corvus figures, but hated the mono-posing. I like how you added in a Newline Design to break up the poses.
Yes I bought quite a few (I think they may have been based in Essex initially?) For multipose figures the only real choice was QT miniatures with their multi-part system - which worked great for barbarian types...
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Cavalry and pikemen from my first Successor army from around 1985.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgA1CXgbvniV-yyrpcpit3CVyC2SUDRbPjjvt4MiguF7EyjX8wbrvPLhqjlzEkWx1KT1qXa0BiTp1DS0nxc7rpUe0LnUFs7dmGfHlVTUBOz0KExW9ccy9TIoFBMynLVtrylZ12NGiI3kBuwIn_nK_W3JNyC_si4O1b_WIbe-akAVr32Rah6vmc09dGW=s2048)
Corvus Miniatures and Essex Miniatures were state of the art back then...
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifN8xYF57esCzKdmabwhveZ4sCcKGPy_pTNs88cRiXOYypPyqOsy7X28kTdCLLCfD_9tar-sdLiPEoG2_3FdzL_dkhtmMGP405_IpOwivq0g3s_GvNFFyhC1PSoQZoT7HKqIsTR9Za_qvwWQbTHOfEdi5m7LOff0UJGGeEQgn_zFaJWygGCbgsoMM-=s2048)
All these have seen plenty of service in armies from Antigonid through to Greco-Bactrian.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3YGqmxraSTworHb-dR5M4Ccu2W7wTFTd_XEVMZV738af79fTL96ldkMmzGkeiyLtPrMDT_6W3IVgnL7lSenHUE973JSz9osuFnEVtCRgfgorYJK8wVZSKCsTeqj-pH7oF5CT__PzSOJLcapAkm433iTyPAupseQ9W0m6laFiTSmTzCYdmAx_2EC6d=s2048)
Extra waffle and pictures on the blog - click here (https://wargamewarrior2021.blogspot.com/2021/10/core-of-army.html)
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Funny how I could tell those Essex figures before even reading your description. "Hey, that guy looks familiar..." Lol
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Funny how I could tell those Essex figures before even reading your description. "Hey, that guy looks familiar..." Lol
A face only a mother could love?
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A face only a mother could love?
lol
Well I mean... :D To be honest, that's one of the things I find oddly endearing about the hobby, that you can often pinpoint certain sculptors by the fact that many of them re-use the same face for their minis, regardless of varied geographical or chronological origin. Like how with Victrix I'd swear I've seen that one guy serving in the Persian, Dacian, Gallic, Germanic, Viking, etc. armies lol