Wednesday 7 April 2010

Imitation Legions






These are old Essex "Roman" Argyraspides that I managed to rework quite quickly. I must have done these at the tail end of the Pontic army I painted over twenty years ago. I know this because it turned out that they had been painted and varnished in acrylics, one of the first acrylic paint jobs I did. This meant that they had not worn so badly as the older figures on which I used enamel paints and varnish, so they were easily reworked. All I did was put an ink wash over the (very bright) helmets and faces to give them some definition without it being too much work. I repainted and varnished the shields, and then rebased the whole lot. They are now more like my current paint jobs, for relatively minimal effort. They could be used for any of the imitation legionary types that served in various armies, so I deliberately left the shields blank. I could always go back and give them some transfers at one point. I could also add some more plus a few Essex Roman command figures to turn them into a legion to represent hastily raised troops such as Pompey's Syrian legions from Pharsalus. I decided to go ahead and do these once I realised it wouldn't take too long because they can also stand in for the Carthaginian third line at Zama if we need them - all that looted Roman equipment.

2 comments:

  1. Serviceable; and better still numerous!

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  2. Thanks, Simon, that was the idea. I was quite pleased when I dug them out and realised they wouldn't need too much work. Just in time as well - we're going to the house of the giant sand table to set up Zama tomorrow evening. The plan is to have it ready and waiting for the players to turn up. Our game will be on Sunday 18th. Good luck with your games - two big ones in a week is pretty impressive!

    Cheers
    Paul

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