May 2014 WIP No.2

May as well make a series of these posts:

Some of the Alaudae, at various stages of completion.  I am experimenting with the cloaks on these guys.  Since they will be serving as Gallic auxiliaries as well as Caesar's famous legion, I'm giving them Gallic style cloak designs.  These are similar to the ones I used on my Celtiberians.  However, in this case I don't want them to be quite so bright, because I'm going for a more rugged campaign look to Caesar's legions, to differentiate them from the cleaner legions of his enemies - yes, this is also going to be a Civil Wars project.  I hope the guys at the top right of the photo show what I mean:  they have some thin yellow stripes, and in one case white as well, but I'm going to leave those stripes unhighlighted.  Is that even a word?  Anyway, the inks have been applied, and the next and final stage for these particular guys will be the highlights, but I hope that if I don't do any more on the brightest stripes, I'll get a sort of mild tartan effect.  That's the plan, anyway.

The ones I've finished so far: all of the command plus eight of the rank and file.  There will be three units of 24 auxiliaries, each led by a Roman command base.  Another eight will serve as the 1st cohort with the eagle to upgrade them to legionaries when needed.  It does feel a little odd painting Romans for this period with patterned cloaks - somehow, it just ain't right.  I reckon it will make them stand out on the tabletop, though, and the plain shields will help.

Finally, some detail work has been detailed on Thomas' Titanic.  The hull came in pure black, and the white superstructure and plum red lower hull needed painting.  Which then means a necessary stage of cleaning up the lines.  Matt black is noticeable on the shinier plastic used for the model, so once we are happy with the overall look we will use some silk varnish to bring it all together.  He seems to be enjoying it - he volunteers to do some work on it most evenings.  After homework, of course...