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Author Topic: Q's about painting Punic War troops  (Read 1570 times)

Offline Verderer

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Q's about painting Punic War troops
« on: May 23, 2022, 10:59:03 AM »
So, yes I am about to dip my toe in the Ancient world, got loads or Republican Romans, Karthagians and a smattering of Gauls and Samnites from Victrix in my plastic pile. But I am agonizing about a few details:

Firstly, I think there was still lots of bronze armour used, like helmets etc. among iron ones, correct? Especially the earlier types of troops? What colour do you use for bronze, I have various gold and brass paints from Vallejo, Citadel & others, but not that many bronze ones... I'd assume bronze should a be tad redder than brass? Maybe use gold and wash it with a reddish wash (burnt umber like?)

And what about those pectoral armours some these minis have: should they be all bronze, or would there be some leather/courbuilli types?

Offline gostgost13

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2022, 03:58:49 PM »
I have read, that ancient bronze was more of a brass colour because of the metals used,sorry can't remember where !   

Offline Orctrader

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    • Orctrader's Painted Figures
Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2022, 07:05:01 PM »
...I have various gold and brass paints from Vallejo, Citadel & others...

Me too  ::) and bronze, but I bought a triad set to try on my Spartans and I also have some Carthage figures in the queue.
LINK - The Bronze Triad

I was quite impressed.  Apart from the paint names they have the bottles marked for base, highlight and shade.  (Of course, I painted usual method of dark, mid and highlight.)




Offline Rochejaquelein

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2022, 11:03:52 PM »


When painting (ancient) bronze, I basecoat with Vallejo English Uniform then add two coats of Army Painter Greedy Gold. I don't highlight, but you could use Army Painter Bright Gold for highlights

Offline Ragnar

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2022, 12:32:43 AM »
Actual bronze can appear anywhere between brass and copper, depending on the proportion of copper in the mix.  So, if you like to have non-uniformity in your army, you can do variations between brass and copper. 

Only slightly related, I also once found a bronze painting tutorial on youtube where you wash your bronze with purple (yes, purple) before highlighting.  Totally looks great but I question the value of doing this for a 28mm historical army.
'
Edit: as an example, I have bronze reenactment items that vary, as I described above.  One piece in particular is very coppery looking.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2022, 12:35:59 AM by Ragnar »
Gods, monsters and men,
Will die together in the end.

Offline VonAkers

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 329
Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2022, 01:55:47 AM »
Verderer

Couple of things..
If you are  Painting armies, you will need a different approach that is  more time efficient .
Orc Traders Greek figure is quite Simply Superb .. in fact off the Richter  :o :o :o well done .
However you can not paint full Proper Arnies( 250 300 figures ) like that  at that level....there is simply not enough time...IMHO.

However if your armies are not big , and you want a very nice Bronze I have used ( insert what ever Bronze Paint colour you like ) then use the "Secret Additive lol lol
That is Windsor and Newton Inks over the top . for Bronze i use Nut Brown or Peat Brown ,the  quality and results are  unsurpassed . :o
It gives a really dark lusterous Red Brown Bronze Colour , that I like .

Lastly having just finished a 28mm Greek Hoplite Army with nearly  1000 Hoplites , I realised a couple of very true insights.

1 In Big Armies and on Multi figure stands its almost Exclusively about the Shields, that is 88 % .. the shields..and then mostly about the first 2 ranks only ..
So put all the work into those and Minimal work into everything else.

2 We had the Base figure painted , the Victrix Decals applied to all , then dumped on Army Painter quick shade Mid tone ,...its Gold  lol.. it binds up all the paint , and seeps into all the cracks &works on all  Bronze Nicely .. All in one Go ..HUZZAH >>!!!!!

3 Treat the 28mm figures like  15mm  ... WTF ..?? I  hear you say ...it is all about the Look from 4 feet away  .. not individual figures .. unless it s a 40 Figure Army ..
Hope this Helps
Cheers


Offline FierceKitty

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2022, 01:58:20 AM »
Inca bronze - sorry, this isn't ancient, but it's interesting - was made with the inclusion of a little silver in the copper. Not widely used, but doubtless those halberd-like weapons used that mix.
The laws of probability do not apply to my dice in wargames or to my finesses in bridge.

Offline Verderer

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 964
Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2022, 09:03:54 AM »
Thanks for the grat tips gents, and I've learned about new paint brand in the bargain! lol

Orctrader that is great looking mini! If I could paint at that level, I'd certainly leave it for the command figures, and paint the rank and file using simpler and faster technique, just as VonAkers suggests... and I do indeed have LBMS transfer for each and every mini that I got from Victrix, so that side is sorted...

Offline cadbren

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2022, 11:42:36 AM »
Bronze helmets and other armour bits would be near all bronze except for chainmail and some of the wealthier Celts would have had iron helmets. Pectoral armour would have been bronze.
Wealthier warriors and certainly officers, cavalry could have had tinned or silvered (bronze plated with tin or silver or even gold) armours making their armour look silver.

From this site: https://www.res-bellica.com/en/the-armour-of-a-consul-during-the-second-punic-war-a-new-ebook/


Offline FierceKitty

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2022, 02:14:27 PM »
Chainmail is not a problem: it didn't exist.

Offline WillieB

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2022, 02:43:29 PM »
PLenty of chainmail for Punic, Roman and Celtic troops I suppose?
Panic, Chaos and Disorder. My job here is done

Offline FierceKitty

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #11 on: May 26, 2022, 01:17:57 AM »
No. They wore MAIL - no question about that.

Offline SteveBurt

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #12 on: May 27, 2022, 10:57:08 AM »
No. They wore MAIL - no question about that.
Which has been commonly called chain mail since the 19th century

Offline FierceKitty

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #13 on: May 27, 2022, 02:07:15 PM »
Base, common, and popular.

Offline cadbren

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Re: Q's about painting Punic War troops
« Reply #14 on: May 31, 2022, 03:08:33 AM »
Base, common, and popular.
Exactly, chainmail or chain-mail is what most people call it. Mail or maille is more technically correct sure, but what of it, the ancient Punics didn't call it mail, I'm not even sure the Romans called it hamata. If the Gauls did invent it then the original name would have been a Celtic word.

 

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