Descent into 2mm Ancients

[YPU]

Some very inspiring stuff there chaps!

And yes I agree about the scale allowing something approximating an actual town! I need to do some digging if the Roman town here at Nijmegen had walls. For some reason I presumed not but I'm not sure what I'm basing that on. Maybe just the fact I don't know about walls and probably would have heard about it if there were. Only real reason it matters is that walls are what set appart hamlet's and towns rules wise in DBA.

More concretely for now. I tried printing the archers above a couple of times in different ways, but the bows are just too fragile to even survive until the primer. Their curve hides how much thinner they are compared to the spears I think. I've now done a slapdash update with much thicker bows which are doing well so far. Hard to make out anything in the pic even with a wash applied but promising all the same.

 

[ithoriel]

My own two towns are walled as can be seen here in this image of the fictional town town of Nusquam, Portus Nusquam is not quite complete but is walled on it's landward sides.
I suspect smaller settlements would not be walled.
Since Nusquam is supposed to be on the very edge of Roman territory and barely a hop, skip and a jump from "Long Haired" Gaul defences seemed appropriate.

[YPU]

Oh very nice!

I should say, no wall in the era of the Batavi revolt, the later 2nd century roman wall is well knows to the point I failed to mention it above 

[Patrice]

  Fascinating.

Years ago I was complaining that some people painted their 20mm figures better than I can paint my 28mm.

...Now I see a time coming when 2mm figures will be better painted than my old 28mm. 

[jon_1066]

Have you seen Baccus tiny terrain?

https://www.baccus6mm.com/catalogue/TeenyTinyTerrain/

Might be better modelling the archers like the Wargames Atlantic samurai, holding the bow rather than shooting?

[ithoriel]

The Baccus tiny terrain pieces are a thing of beauty but too small even for 2mm, IMHO.
The Brigade Models buildings I used are more to scale being somewhere around 1/900 - 1/1000 as far as I can tell.
Their Dark Age Walled Village is doing service as a Gallic village. Now, where to find a very small Gaul, a very large Gaul with a menhir and a small dog in 2mm? 

[Mark Backhouse]

I think it depends how you want a town to be represented. The Baccus models are very tiny but you do get a really clever abstraction of a town.

I’ve added a top down of my Beneventum model I had at Salute as I’m rather pleased with it. At about 40cm long it’s not a small model for storing though and took a lot of time to model. I can see the appeal of a smaller compact representation for some people.

[YPU]

...Now I see a time coming when 2mm figures will be better painted than my old 28mm. 

There are a couple of people out there who casually paint 6mm figures (that I sculpted!) to a much much higher standard than my own best 28mm paint job, so I feel your pain believe me!

Have you seen Baccus tiny terrain?

Might be better modelling the archers like the Wargames Atlantic samurai, holding the bow rather than shooting?

I've seen the Baccus scenery, they are very nice one and done pieces I have to say. They are even smaller then 2mm like Ithoriel says but really at 2mm what's another couple of scoops of abstraction if it makes the scenery look like an actual city rather than 3 sheds in a trench-coat. That said golden hammer being what it is, I have already resigned to the idea of sculpting my own, seems like a fun little project really. 
With DBA in the smaller scale class, a scenery piece like cities/forts can be lenght+with 36cm total, so a 18x18cm square or 20x16 rectangle is allowed and at 2mm I think you can fit a nice little walled town in that space!

you mean the archers that are posed like this?



I've made some for the rear ranks, but they are very hard to tell apart from the spear and shield auxiliary at 2mm as you might imagine! The test with the thicker bows is still looking good, but I had a long weekend away at a boardgame retreat so I haven't gotten round to actually painting the test print of those new archers yet.

The Brigade Models buildings I used are more to scale being somewhere around 1/900 - 1/1000 as far as I can tell.
Their Dark Age Walled Village is doing service as a Gallic village. Now, where to find a very small Gaul, a very large Gaul with a menhir and a small dog in 2mm? 

I think the scaling of brigades stuff is what my mind goes to instinctively as well, though I just realized I'm not entirely sure I ever seen their tiny stuff in the flesh.
Now the idea of that rural power trio in 2mm... I might take a shot at that for a lark. 

I’ve added a top down of my Beneventum model I had at Salute as I’m rather pleased with it. At about 40cm long it’s not a small model for storing though and took a lot of time to model. I can see the appeal of a smaller compact representation for some people.

Yes its hard to deny the visual impact that has on the table, an actual town in miniature, shockingly rare in our hobby!

[kodiakblair]

I think the scaling of brigades stuff is what my mind goes to instinctively as well, though I just realized I'm not entirely sure I ever seen their tiny stuff in the flesh.
Now the idea of that rural power trio in 2mm... I might take a shot at that for a lark. 

The Brigade fort is a nice model though I prefer the resin model from Korhyl.

Working L to R.  Korhyl, Baccus6 then Brigade. Figures are Irregular 2mm.

[YPU]

And here we finally go. Bows were much too dark at first but touching them up with some lighter brown makes them pop enough that you might actually identify the unit from table top distance now XD




I was considering doing a second sculpt of these to use for the "rear" rank formations but honestly I think I'll just repeat these and be done with this unit for now. Still have a dozen auxiliary blocks to paint and haven't even started the legionaries or cavalry yet! Saving the artillery as a treat for myself for last.

[YPU]

I realized doing much armor detail on the legionaries would be madness, so I only added shoulder armor to the auxiliary sculpts, and changed the shields and spears. I'm now regretting putting the aux in a line formation, if they had been 4 columns side by side that would have set them apart well. I'm considering doing that with the legion now instead, like this I think it does somehow make them look more "solid" in a way? it makes them feel harder hitting compared to the thinner 2x2 formations of the aux.

[ithoriel]

I love those legionaries, as you say a good solid look to the formation.

I can remember the days when 6mm had that level of detail. Time and technology certainly marches on!

The testudo looks good too.

One block of legionaries needs a tiny Titus Pullo breaking ranks though. 

[YPU]

I love those legionaries, as you say a good solid look to the formation.

I can remember the days when 6mm had that level of detail. Time and technology certainly marches on!

The testudo looks good too.

One block of legionaries needs a tiny Titus Pullo breaking ranks though. 

Cheers, I was thinking a shield popping up with a head looking out myself. 

[kodiakblair]

And here we finally go. Bows were much too dark at first but touching them up with some lighter brown makes them pop enough that you might actually identify the unit from table top distance now XD

Looks like you used a very similar brown as I did on these Irregular Minis ABG-20 close order bowmen.

[YPU]

Looks like you used a very similar brown as I did on these Irregular Minis ABG-20 close order bowmen.

Ha, yep! Its a bit bright but that means you can actually see it at table top range.

Meanwhile, "test often and test early" is what I'm trying to teach myself with 3d printing. Often it lets me avoid pitfalls I hadn't spotted yet, other times it makes me go "oh that works doesn't it"