Sunday, 2 February 2014

Aventine Thracians

Thracians for Willie from the Successors period, going by their shields:
I used various LBMS transfers left over from other projects to give them a motley look.
The command figures are especially nice, and would probably do for most armies in the period.  I've tried to give them the attention they deserve.
Originally, I was intending to use VVV decals for the tunic and cloak designs, but they didn't quite give the effect I was looking for, because of the high contrast folds in the clothing.  So I ended up painting rather simple but bold designs - they certainly are a colourful bunch.
I like to think of these as an especially successful mercenary band.  They do seem rather wealthy.
They came with as variety of weapons and heads, which just adds to the flavour; I took advantage of this and varied the colours on the headgear.  These are, believe it or not, the first Aventine figures I've painted (apart from Simon Miller's dead nellies).  They are probably 28mm, which makes them noticeably larger than the likes of my 1st Corps Romans.  They would probably fit in well with Companion Miniatures, Crusader or Gripping Beast.  A nice refreshing little unit for a change!

Quick addendum:  the command figures are actually taken from the thureophoroi.  Just in case someone looks for them on the Aventine homepage...
Posted by Caliban at 14:21:00
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9 comments:

  1. Phil2 February 2014 at 16:13

    Beautiful paintjob, I love the colors!

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  2. DeanM2 February 2014 at 16:26

    Superb looking late Thracians! Aventine are top-notch sculpts. Although on the larger side of 28mm, they look fine on the table with other brands - especially if in their own units. Dean

    P.S. Don't forget to take a look at Relic Miniatures too

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  3. Caliban2 February 2014 at 17:43

    Hi guys, thanks for looking. I really like what I've seen of the Relic figures on the web - just haven't seen any on this side of the Atlantic yet!

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  4. Jonathan Freitag2 February 2014 at 19:16

    Your Thracians are terrific! I really like the varied colors within the unit. Aventine Miniatures are top notch. My favorite ancients.

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  5. Cyrus2 February 2014 at 21:44

    Excellent Hellenistic Thracians Paul! I think the Crusader later Thracian range mixes well with Aventine.

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  6. Caliban2 February 2014 at 21:45

    Thanks, Jonathan, I agree with you about the quality. I have a few things I want to do before I paint an army using Aventines, but it does look as though I might be painting a few more for somebody else. They really are a joy to paint...

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  7. Piotr Henryk Nowacki3 February 2014 at 00:17

    Nice! I have been eyeing Thracians for a while now, I've got some already from Warlord Games but I am planning on mixing them with both Cursader and Aventine.


    Did the heads come attached to the models or can you freely head-swap?

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    Replies
    1. Caliban3 February 2014 at 09:47

      Hi Piotr, the heads are separate on the two packs of Thracians - one has cloaks, the other doesn't. I checked out the figures I was given for the command, and they came fully cast.

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    2. Piotr Henryk Nowacki3 February 2014 at 23:52

      Oh, ok, thanks, that's definitely a good thing to know. I've read somewhere else of people swapping heads on the aventine cavalry as well, it was a bit hard to believe unless they were seperate.

      Delete

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