-
I'm researching and constructing a 28mm Late Imperial Roman army. It's mainly for the thrill of watching a painted collection amass in the display cabinets, though also to serve as an anchor for researching and understanding the period.
The army will be constructed with the classic Foundry range as the basis. These miniatures are Perry classics. Here's one of the best packs from the range.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/ancients/foundry-late-roman-command.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
I want to use the Foundry's house style of painting for my army, but not necessarily the garish colour schemes shown above. That commander second in from the left! Red and blue and purple clothes? All at once?! Blerk! No thanks, sensible muted colours please. This is a historical army after all. I've dug up Late Imperial Roman forts (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/ancient-roman-stonework/), every archaeological find is brown,
So I dipped into my reference library to find out what shades of brown would have been in vogue circa 400AD, and this colour plate jumps out. Blerk, it's that guy from the Foundry range, resplendent in red tunic with and orbiculi!
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/ancients/graham-sumner-late-imperial-roman.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
This is Graham Sumner's reconstruction of a soldier as depicted in a Syracusian catacomb painting. The colours are taking from the original painting, so they're authentic. I thought it really surprising. And cool, as the miniature has transformed from generic Roman into a real-life soldier with a name and dress sense.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/ancients/foundry-late-imperial-roman-colour-test.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
This is Maximianus (hurr hurr, "-anus"), and he's my first test model.
-
Beautiful paint job on your test mini, looks quite like the reference material.
Will be awesome to follow your progress, hopefully you keep us informed of your background findings as well.
-
Lovely painting, but being a collector does that mean they will not be gamed with? :'(
-
That is suberb, seeing an army painted to that standard will be a treat.
-
The colours for the Foundry miniatures were chosen to look bright from the orders i was given to paint them in by the owner of the company. I painted them in the late 90's for the Foundry advert.
I have also excavated Roman forts in the UK and sadly no fabrics survived on the ones i worked on.
Nice painting :)
-
The colours for the Foundry miniatures were chosen to look bright from the orders i was given to paint them in by the owner of the company. I painted them in the late 90's for the Foundry advert.
I have also excavated Roman forts in the UK and sadly no fabrics survived on the ones i worked on.
Nice painting :)
Thats correct they had to be bright and have strong contrast to stand out for the adverts I was told.
-
There was no in house painting style and the people who painted for Foundry at the time were all freelance painters and we were sent briefs on what colours and tones to use. At the time i also painted for many collectors and they would stipulate what they wanted and i would be painting on average 70-80 hours a week and you just had to go with what people wanted.
-
Nice start Curis, looking forward to seeing the army grow.
-
Excellent painting on that test mini. :)
I am no expert by any means, but I always understood that Romans loved garish bright colours. All of their statues and temples, which we now see as plain stone, would have been painted, and probably painted in all sorts of contrasting colours.
Also, I think ancient fabrics were probably a lot brighter than you would think. From documentaries I have seen of reconstructions of dyeing techniques, it seems to be easier to have made a bright yellow fabric than it would have been to make a dull brown.
-
Yup, I'm sure I read somewhere that dyeing cloth brown was quite involved, but then again I could be wrong on this.
-
No input on cloth colours or dyes I'm afraid,just wanted to compliment you on the paint job of that mini,outstanding.
-
Incredible work! Very well-laid!
-
Great pj
-
What a great paintjob.
-
@dm – Wow! I didn't know you were the original painter for that Foundry range. Your stuff's still an inspiration all these years later. So, was it conincidence this guy ended up in Maximianus' colours then, or was it an intentional part of the brief I wonder.
Back in 2014 I proudly declared I was starting a Late Imperial Roman army, and showed off my first test model. I adhered to the time-honoured tradition of planning an army, buying an army, telling everyone about my plans… then only painting one figure before quietly packing everything away and never mentioning it again. But the hiatus is over! Here is the second finished model – Praeses Lanceas Araneus.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/late-imperial-roman-general.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
The figure, as with all the Foundry Late Imperial range, is really very small. I plan for other parts of my army to draw from manufacturers with chunkier proportions and a slightly larger scale – Black Tree, Crusader, Footsore et cetera. To avoid the subordinates towering over him, I built up his base with bark. I only decided this after painting him, and ended up repainting his legs and shoes after I'd cut and filed him off his intrinsic metal base. That was not clever, but I'd regret more having his head only come up to nipple-height in a front rank of spearmen.
Araneus didn't immediately strike me as Late Imperial Roman – his chest armour and his vine staff look much earlier. I had to check with Foundry he wasn't an exile from their Early Imperial Roman range. The figure does appear in the John Lambshead Fall of the West – the excellent Warhammer Ancient Battles supplement focussing on the last 126 years of the Roman Empire.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/fall-of-the-west.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
So this Late Imperial Roman figure is dressed as someone from much earlier antiquity. His hair is curly in the style of statues, and his helmet may even be a Theban/Corinthian design. He's one of those Romans yearning for a return to earlier times, when Romans were Romans and Emperors ruled wisely and justly. It was a very Roman trait, mistaking the past for a golden age unspoilt by moral decay and decadence. Livy expressed this sentiment centuries earlier in his preface to The History of Rome.
The subjects to which I would ask each of my readers to devote his earnest attention are these – the life and morals of the community; the men and the qualities by which through domestic policy and foreign war dominion was won and extended. Then as the standard of morality gradually lowers, let him follow the decay of the national character, observing how at first it slowly sinks, then slips downward more and more rapidly, and finally begins to plunge into headlong ruin, until he reaches these days, in which we can bear neither our diseases nor their remedies.
My Late Imperial Roman army is now two figures – both of them commanders. I plan to add a ballista next (specifically with games of Saga in mind), and some limitanei that have been lurking around my painting desk for years waiting for a shield design to come into being.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/late-imperial-roman-characters.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
"Wasn't like this in Sulla's day, eh?"
-
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.
-
:o Well worth the wait I say! Your take on his face is sublime. Looking forward to the next figur... in 2020 ;)
-
Great stuff, looking forward to seeing what's next!
-
It lives! Very excited to see this project revived!
-
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.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-blandford-warrior-medieval-warlord-bucellarius-of-majorian.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
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.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/blandford-warriors-bnw.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
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.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-blandford-warrior-medieval-warlord-bucellarius-of-majorian-with-generals.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
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.
-
Wow! Love it and the background of the miniature was very interesting as well.
-
Brilliant!
-
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!
-
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!
-
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!
-
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.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/dark-ages/crusader-late-imperial-roman-legion-without-shields.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
“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.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/dark-ages/crusader-late-imperial-roman-legion-with-shields.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
“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”.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/dark-ages/RIB001805-altar.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
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.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/dark-ages/crusader-late-imperial-roman-legion-rear-view.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
“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.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/dark-ages/crusader-late-imperial-roman-legion-in-spoopy-forest-4.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
“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”. (https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1798)
-
One of the best painted late Roman “army” I have ever seen ! Congratulations!
-
Gorgeous :
And I really like Miss Fanny Bacon :-*
-
Fantastic shields, really great job 👍🏻
-
Great looking force - fantastic skin tones :D
-
Man this painting .. it is out of this world :o :o :o :o
-
It'll be a proper army one day, chema, without the inverted commas. I always wonder how big a figure collection needs to be before it legitimately counts as an army. Maybe 100 miniatures. Maybe 1000 points in WAB. I'll get there. Very slowly.
As names for ranges go, “Blandford Warriors” is a little … underwhelming. Rather than conjuring up images of medieval warlords on their bloodthirsty rampages it puts me instantly in mind of the sleepy Dorset village – Blandford. Blandford’s top tourist attraction is a museum with a diorama of the 1731 Great Fire of Blandford. Blandford is a bland name. A dull name. A boring name. This feeling of deep ennui also manifests in the pose of the second miniature I’ve painted – Alan Horseman.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-ex-citadel-blandford-warriors-alan-horseman.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
“This spear has a point. Unlike my life. Sigh”
Even the name, Alan Horseman, oozes boredom. It’s one of those historical terms, like “Norman Shields”, that doubles as the personal name of a twenty-first century dullard. I imagine it painted on the side of a white van – “Alan Horseman Electrical Contractor”. Of course, the Alans were a tribe of fierce warrior horsemen instrumental in the defeat of Atilla the Hun. Here’s the Angus McBride colour plate from Medieval Warlords of this Alan getting around on his horse and not a Ford Transit
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-alan-horseman-angus-mcbride-plate.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Alan Horseman of Orleans, on the orders of Aetius, clashes with bacudae on an estate in eastern Brittany, 440s. Sigh.
Coincidentally the colours Angus chose and I copied match my Late Roman Comitatenses – so I can roll Alan in to that collection. Late Imperial Roman armies relied heavily on barbarian troops (foederati) such as the Alans as their military manpower dwindled in the 4th and 5th centuries. Flavius Aetius let the Alans, originally from North Caucasus, settle in parts of Ancient France in return for providing fighters. It was a clever policy for Rome as it motivated the tribe to fight not out of abstract loyalty to Rome, but in defence of their newly-acquired land and accompanying wealth.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-ex-citadel-blandford-warriors-alan-horseman-and-late-romans-2.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Late Imperial Romans forming a shield wall in the ruins of the partially demolished Epiacum. Sigh.
The walls in the above shot are from the excellent Fogou Models, more focus on them in a future blog post!
-
Stunning work once again! And honestly, who cares how long it takes? It‘s the journey that matters and I do enjoy following your journey immensely.
-
Lovely! My Crusader figures look nice but your brushwork make mine look like second rate.