28mm Flavius Aëtius, dux et patricius, and Hunnic Guard

[Richard in Sachsen]

I finally got my second army command finished and thought I'd share. First, the last Roman general









Then his Hunnic Guards. I must say, these are my first Aventine miniatures and I just love them! They were a pleasure to paint. If I were to do a Sassinid army, I'd definitely go with Aventine but at 50 I don't have so many years left on this earth to paint them the way they should be.



















The shields are taken from the ND but on the Huns, the design is unknown as far as I know. It's not connected to any listing but in the Schola section. I wanted something individual for Aetius, so I mixed together a few different symbols for his shield, keeping within the black and gold pallet. The shield of the imago comes from Total War Center; someone's design. But I liked it as an individual design. No wings, so it isn't an angel but maybe a saint of deified emperor.

And that's it. My two army commands are finished. Whew!

[Phil Robinson]

Great stuff, like the be-jewelled helmet, very regal.

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thanks Phil. Yea, I figured someone of his rank would have one. Took me awhile to find the right figure and then it had a bear-skin cloak. I filed the fur off and since I couldn't get it all in the folds, put on a very thin layer of greenstuff. But otherwise, it seemed like a good and fitting figure for Aëtius.

[Jericho]

Great looking unit, although the camera doesn't really do them justice 

That vexillum, is it painted or a transfer? It looks cracking either way.

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thanks Jericho,

The vexillum is painted, as are the shields, glad you liked it. An iPhone just isn't a great camera for this, but my tourist camera is actually worse. My wife's Canon EOS 9 works great (although she is touchy about me putting my grubby mitts on it), but for one reason or another the computer doesn't recognize the memory card.

I'm stuck for the moment with the iPhone. My apologies. Some of those scarlets are much redder in the picture than they really are and much of the shadowing has blended out. Which, of course, irks me.

[mrtn]

Nice work Richard!
As to cameras, have you tried fiddling with the settings on the old tourist camera? I use my parent's old camera for most of my shots, a Nikon that's 10-15 years old, and I get quite good pics with the close-up setting (a flower icon). Taking the pictures in daylight helps as well.

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thanks mrtn (spellcheck always wants to change your handle to martini!),

I'll try the other camera with my Legio Ballistari Dafnenses, which are almost finished, and shoot it in the backyard on a sunny day. Maybe I'll get better results. Thanks.

[guitarheroandy]

Those are amazing!! Cool choice of models for the rank and file.

Ref photos, I avoid sunny days outside - slightly overcast is better as you get fewer extremes and more natural colours.

[Richard in Sachsen]

@Guitarhero

Thanks for the compliment. Overcast is not a problem! We get the English weather as soon as it crosses the channel

[Jericho]

Thanks Jericho,

The vexillum is painted, as are the shields, glad you liked it. ...

Those are some painting skills! Hadn't even noticed the Roman shields were painted, thought they were LBMS transfers.

No wonder you don't want to start with Sassanids if you're going that hard on details

[Richard in Sachsen]

No wonder you don't want to start with Sassanids if you're going that hard on details

Thanks Jericho. Yea, I can't really help myself on the details. On the downside it takes forever to field an army. I'm only going for intense detail for focus units and figures, such as guard units and leaders. My Limitanei, on the other hand, won't get any embroidery, just plain maroon or madder red for trim and drab, natural woolen colors. Shields should be easier and faster as well as they aren't as detailed. However, on a couple of my Comentatenses, I'll cheat and use transfers (Herculani, Iovani, and Second Britannica - LBMS has them all). There are just too many figures: six 20-figure Ordines (in two ranks) plus skirmishers and command... one day it would be nice to actually field and play with these figures .

But yea, Sassinids are so detailed and colorful, to do them so that I would be satisfied with them would take a couple of years.

[rumacara]

Very well done.
Keep it coming.

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thanks Rui, but as others have noted, I really need to work on the picture-taking