Greek Hoplite Army - Showcase

There will be another on of these sometime, as I have another Hoplite army … which was painted years ago with some really nice hand painted shields. This is the army currently on eBay, which to be fair is where most of this one came from - the bulk of the Hoplites are just repainted figures which I picked up as a bargain.

The army arrayed for the photo shoot. 

The first line of Hoplites - mainly Essex miniatures, which a few Black Tree Designs in there.

I used a very simple paint scheme with 3v transfers for the shields.

The light cavalry - I have enjoyed painting Essex horses over the years. 

The slingers - I think most of these are repaints from an eBay win. 

The Greek camp - with a little fire pit.  

A nice little army - I think I was a little jaded painting Essex Hoplites (I still have some unpainted Foundry ones to do …) by the time I got to these - I got these as a extra army for the planned and almost realised Mediterranean mini campaign involving Greeks (both in Italy and Greece), Macedonians, Romans, Persians, Thracians and the unpainted Celts and Carthaginians … oh well never mind. 

An this isn’t the first Hoplite army that I have sold off - long ago there was a 1st Corps/Navigator/Foundry one (but they were a tad short and slight to play with the Essex and Renegade stuff) - I don’t think there is a picture of them anywhere now … sad times. 

Morts

Macedonian Army - Showcase

The bulk of this army was picked up years ago when DK and I went to Colours in Reading … it was before he had “mind tricked” me in buy some Confrontation miniatures, but that is another story - in I think part of the reason for going was so that he and Pete could enter the painting competition for a Confrontation event that they hadn’t entered … anyway in the deep and distant past now. I picked some Foundry and Newline phalangites at the show … left then for a while an the decided to go with Newline because they were cheaper…

The army fully arrayed - not for battle, but so they can fit in a picture.

The General (a Foundry mini) and his companions. 

The mighty Phalanx - nice!

The elite Hypaspist - I think auxiliaries in DBA 

The prodromoi light cavalry. 

Light troops - slingers and javelin mean by 1st Corps miniatures. 

The elephant (this is an Foundry model I picked up in a bring and buy somewhere) - I think it could be used for Macedonian or Carthaginian - scale wise it fitted in with the Newline figures rather than the Renegade ones. 

A nice little army - the Newline stuff was easy to paint if lacking in movement a bit. 

Morts

Republican Roman Army - Showcase

I picked up this Republican Roman unpainted from Renegade Miniatures a few years ago - I also pick up a Carthaginian and Celt armies which I haven’t got around to painting (I will be keeping the Celts, they will be used for barbarians in Kings of War or Dragon Rampant).

The whole army arrayed.

The legion - in its three lines, on the top and the hastati on the bottom.

The second line of the Principes and the Triarii below.

The legion command element - never used in a game due to the standard being a tad delicate. 

The cavalry and general elements - and a legate an extra command figure that Renegade did. At the bottom the Velites light infantry 

Below the rather nice (in my humble opinion) Roman camp - a resin tent from Battleground I think and some other bits and bobs. 

I did enjoy painting these Romans - I think everyone should have painted a few. Due to the size of the Renegade models they were on larger bases than recommended for DBA. I also swapped out the horses for Essex ones as the Renegade ones were rather large. 

A couple more DBA armies to post before they go…

Morts 

Thracian Army - Showcase

This little lot have been around for a while - my second DBA army painted as they were able to fight lots of different Greek city states. 

The whole army - when I painted these I was not aware of the sort of colours and patterns the Thracians wore - but they came out nice. 

The General and an element of light horse. 

Two more elements of light horse - with shields, because why not …

The first 2 elements of peltasts - such a useful type of soldier the Greeks copied them (as I understand it). 

Another 4 elements of peltasts. 

Finally the light troops - I believe that these should be javelin men or slingers, but I got archers because I prefer them. 

This lot have thought a few battles and been auxiliaries in Greek and Roman forces in DBA3 - but time for them to move on. Sad times …

More to come. 

Morts

Persian Army - Showcase and Selling

 After much bimbling around I have started the great DBA army sell off and to coincide showcase the armies I painted up for the great but never realised DBA campaign that DK and I envisaged (a bit like the Lords of the Rings HotT campaigns). 

I will first present the Persians (all of these figures are by 1st Corps - most came via eBay, but I had to get a few extra to be able to complete the army). 

The full army arrayed for battle.

The king or local Satrap, with some booty.

The scythed chariot - which was rather underwhelming in the few battles I fought with this army. 

The mounted force, the top line shows the cavalry with a possible General element in the centre. The bottom line shows the light horse. 

The Persian infantry - 4 elements of Auxiliaries in DBA term on the right and I think an element of spears on the left (probably should have been mercenary hoplites but I had enough Persians), the bottom shows the light infantry. 

I have to say I quite enjoyed painting this back in the day - but I need to clear space, so these and a few other armies had to go. A bit of de-cluttering had to happen … so I can justify other mission creep …

Morts

Chronicle Miniatures - N12 Hobgoblins and N11/RR18 Black Orcs and others

So the lockdown got me looking through various boxes and I came across my stash of Nick Lund's Chronicle miniatures - there are a few Grenadier miniatures in there too as I had picked up a few over time and bought a couple of archers to finish off a unit.
But in record time for me I have sat down and blitz the small horde (possible contradiction there but nevermind).

First up the leader and his advisor - Eeza Ugezod (classic black orc with a fixed axe) and his Hobgoblin Shaman.

Then the skirmishers/scouts (skulks iirc in Kings of War) - only 2 N12 Hobgoblin crossbow  "men" in this unit (I did have one of these as part of my first order to Chronicle back in the early eighties, but he has been long sold off - but now replaced so all good!). The other figures are 2 Grenadier Goblins (the one at the front has been converted with a sword changed to a bow and a quiver added to his back) and 2 Grenadier Orc archers (quick turn around by EM4, but I think the mould is shot).

Next up is a mix of the command group from the RR18 Eeza Ugezod's Mother Crushers, a couple of  N12 Hobgoblins from the second Citadel Journal, a BC4 (Mighty Ugezod's) Death Commando, and the rest made up of second Citadel Compendium pre-slotta N12 Hobgoblins (could be pre-Citadel take over).

The next unit is almost exclusively made up of pre-slotta N12 Hobgoblins, with a couple of Death Commando's in there too. The figure on the front right of the picture is a miniature I picked up in my first order from Chronicle back in the distance past! 

Then the N15 Wolfriders - well a couple of Grenadier miniatures in there and front right a very old Chronicle miniature I swapped with a mate when the wolf broke when still in school (30+ years ago), I painted these a while ago.

Then the artillery - this is a Grenadier model, with a Goblin as a "officer". 

Finally a group shot of all the Purple People Eaters - I am pretty pleased to have finished these off and and happy with the results.

Morts

The Elves of the Second Age

Well I have rebased my Lord of the Rings 2nd Age Elves - so now they can be played as GW intended as individuals for the "Battle Strategy Game" - well large skirmish game, or as a force in Dragon Rampant (planning to run them as reduced model units so the units are smaller than the Orcs) or with sabots HotT. Of course there is nothing to stop them being press ganged into Kings of War - but that would indicate that. Actually played some of the games I have .... Haven't been doing too well with that recently as work has been pretty busy, weekends taken up with weddings and parties .... It's been a tough time (the less said about the "dancing" the better). And the hot weather and the World Cup (it nearly got home) isn't exactly conducive to painting and gaming. 

That and the "gaming table" needs sanding and painting .... Along with the decking and garden furniture. 

Anyway I managed to rebase Gil-galad, Elrond and their forces (at some time these will be supplemented by some Elves from Lothlorien when they get painted). 

The Elven Lords and their forces arrayed..

  The Lords themselves. 

The light horse. Mainly conversions of the plastic Elves and Riders of Rohan. 

The Spear Phalanx. All metal - with a few press moulded shields. 

The Archers. Mainly plastic apart from the command figures. 

The army need some light troops, but as already suggested they will come from the forces Lothlorien. 

Hope you like them. 

Also got a lot of rebasing of Orcs to do ....

Morts

The March of the Undead....

So my second showcase of a finished force, and as the title suggests it is the turn of the undead. 

The army could be used as a small Kings of War force of around 1000-1500 points or a full force for Dragon Rampant. Obviously any of these will be press ganged into Frostgrave or Sellswords and Spellingers as required. 

First up the whole group shot - the lower shot shows the old chaos warriors being included as vampiric infantry (soul steelers in KoW). 

Next up are close up of the leaders and their pets - ie the Necromancers/Liches and Werewolves.

A mixture of metal and plastic-there is also a Banshee in there - to be honest in wouldn't mind getting some wraiths or wrights for this force .... ). 

Come come the Zombies (all Mantic ) and the Ghouls (10 GW and 2 Mantic).

The first 2 of the 3 skeleton warrior units - one Greek themed (Eureka and Harlequin miniatures) and the other a mix of GW (the big boned lads) and Mantic. 

With the Mantic skeletons I tried to go for a dirty, decaying look for their equipment to minimise the effort in painting the shields - the first unit getting a white shield with a red stripe, while the second green and white halved shield. 

I think this worked quite effectively - and clearly differentiates the units. 

Finally we have the Vampiric infantry (well old Chaos Warriors/Cultists who made join the ranks of the living at anytime if required for another force). Lead by Elric of Melnibone who makes a rather splendid vampire Lord I you ask me. 

 So that's it - no more undead to paint for me ... Unless I get some wraith or wrights in the future. 

Overall looking pretty good ... is that correct?

Morts

Army of Gondor

Today I present my first army showcase. 

This is the completed Gondor (Numenoreon) army from the Games Workshop range based on the Peter Jackson movies. 

The units are designed to be used for the Games Workshop game of Lord of the Rings, but with the cunning use of sabot basing it makes a Horde of the Things (HotT) army. The units are 12 for infantry( 6 for the Rangers) and 6 for the cavalry also making them ideal for Dragon Rampant. 

Heroes and the Cavalry

Boromirs, Denethor, Elendil, Isildur and Faramir. 

In HotT terms 3 bases of Knights and 1 of Riders. The Aragorn the King can just counted as the leader rather than a hero depending on the scenario. 

Ranged troops - not a lot more to write to be honest. 

Heavy Infantry

Spears and Blades in HotT. 

I do need to do some work on the sabot bases (grass and bits of wood/stuff) and the infantry flags require finishing off - but I needed to tidy up the painted area and I wanted to post something. 

When I can I need to get Gandalf (both Grey (2) and White - mounted) and Strider (foot and mounted) to get more options. 

A bit of rebasing of Sauron's and Gil-galad's forces is on the agenda. 

Morts