Q's about painting Punic War troops

[Verderer]

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?

[gostgost13]

I have read, that ancient bronze was more of a brass colour because of the metals used,sorry can't remember where !   

[Orctrader]

...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.)

[Rochejaquelein]

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

[Ragnar]

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.

[VonAkers]

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  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 " 
That is Windsor and Newton Inks over the top . for Bronze i use Nut Brown or Peat Brown ,the  quality and results are  unsurpassed .
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  .. 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

[FierceKitty]

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.

[Verderer]

Thanks for the grat tips gents, and I've learned about new paint brand in the bargain!

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...

[cadbren]

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/

[FierceKitty]

Chainmail is not a problem: it didn't exist.

[WillieB]

PLenty of chainmail for Punic, Roman and Celtic troops I suppose?

[FierceKitty]

No. They wore MAIL - no question about that.

[SteveBurt]

No. They wore MAIL - no question about that.

Which has been commonly called chain mail since the 19th century

[FierceKitty]

Base, common, and popular.

[cadbren]

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.