Monday 17 April 2017

Starting a New Army: Ancient Germans

Strangely enough, I don't think I've ever painted the early Germans before. However, since they are making a suitably grand appearance in our slowly ongoing campaign, I thought it was about time:
For the infantry, I'm using Old Glory (28mm, of course). The idea is to use a limited number of colours for the clothing, mostly browns, off-whites and greens, except in the case of the wealthy ones who can afford things like cloaks and swords. Some of those even have colourful trousers.
Shield designs will be a mixture of plain, Veni Vidi Vici transfers, and Little Big Men Studios decals. LBMS does make a series of transfers to fit the Old Glory shields, but they are more Celtic than Germanic. I won't be using those because I want to keep them for the Gauls and Scordisci in the dim and distant future.
That limits my choices of LBMS somewhat, because the Germanic ones they make for other manufacturers all have a central hole for the boss, while most of the shields that come with the Old Glory figures have central spines. So I've been sourcing shields from other manufacturers that I can use with the LBMS transfers for Foundry and War-games Factory. This will give me something like four basic shapes: round (which do come with Old Glory); oval (Essex Miniatures. amongst others); large hexagonal (Irregular Miniatures); and oblong (Magister Militum).
Basing is a lot of Faller grass stuck in various places, along with flock of different kinds. I want these to have something of an overgrown look to them.
Here is how they look next to Companion Miniatures Romans. The Germans are a bit taller, although the Romans have an unsporting habit of wearing helmets to make themselves look bigger.
Another comparison shot. I like the idea of Germans charging Romans from behind...
And here's how they look in mortal combat. The Romans are definitely chunkier, but when you look at them from tabletop distance they are fine.

If I'm going to do this army properly, I'll need shedloads of them. I'd love to be able to play games with the likes of the Cimbri, Ambrones and Teutones, and of course Ariovistus and Arminius. I have to say that I am really enjoying them so far, and my limited painting time is being used to the full, especially over the spring holiday weekend. When I get to them, the cavalry will probably be by Crusader Miniatures, but I'll stick with Old Glory for the masses of infantry. There will be many of them - I feel a proper horde coming in the distance...

20 comments:

  1. They are looking great, always liked the old glory mini's. Your inspiring me to get back into it but I'll be away for a short period so I'll give you a head start.
    Are you basing them for any particular rule set?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not really - standard WRG basing. I'll probably be mostly using them for Tactica II, though...

      Delete
  2. Maybe a potential interest to you at some point. I have a decent pile of First Corps germans which are surplus to requirement and maybe have a pile of foundry cav, again surplus. Should you have some "spare" companion romans happy to trade. If any good let me know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Gordon, I'll need to delve into the garage to see if I have any Companion Romans left, but I don't think I do. I really like the 1st Corps Germans, but they are a bit on the small side to face off against my Romans, hence the Old Glory. I will think about the Foundry cavalry, though!

      Delete
  3. The Old Glory Germans match up well. I didn't think they would, good job on the new project.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for looking - I'm hoping to finish a couple of warbands over the next few weeks.

      Delete
  4. Thanks for doing the comparison , I am surprised as I thought Old Glory would be smaller, but they seem a good match. I have the Ist Corps Early Germans but they are small compared to the Warlord Caesareans although they would be ok next to their Early Imperials which of course are small as well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi John, I liked the 1st Corps Germans, but you are right - they are a bit on the small side.

      Delete
  5. My shedload of painting is behind me. I chose OG as well and think the Celts and Germans are great. Very dynamic poses. Great paint job and keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jeffrey, they are dynamic - just not quite so crazy as the Warlord/Wargames Factory plastics. That makes them easier to base...

      Delete
  6. The designs are more Celtic than Germanic? How so?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm just being impressionistic - what I mean is that the Celtic ones are more swirly, if that makes any sense. The Germanic ones are a bit darker and more grim. In any case, they usually end up fighting one another in the campaign, so I'm hoping to use the various designs to differentiate them on the tabletop.

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. Cheers, Neil, it's good to hear from you.

      Delete
  8. They look so dynamic, motivated and fearsome...great job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Phil, we shall see how they actually fight!

      Delete
  9. My first corps Germans (and for that matter Celts) are same size as the old Perry EIR'S (My first real army...and love) To make them a tab taller I used to stick 2mm balsa under their bases before adding polyfilla and basing stuff, that way they were taller where it counted and the based looked like bases. I still have couple of hundred both germans and celts should anyone be looking for a cheap army or decent trade. I also think I may have some foundry german archers somewhere and some spare foundry german youths.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Gordon, funnily enough I did something similar with some Gripping Beast Romans. I'll need to see if I have enough of anything to make a swap!

      Delete
  10. Very useful army to have, Paul!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice and relaxing to paint too. No uniforms, and no plaid!

      Delete