Saturday, 6 February 2016

From MartinN: 15mm Caesarian Roman Heavy Cavalry (32 Points)

Once again work got in the way of enjoyable and civilized pastime. Nonetheless I thought it appropriate to show a sign of life, no matter how small. Thus I present to you eight 15mm Caesarian Romans from Forged in Battle/ Westwind Miniatures. The miniatures are based for use as heavy cavalry in Impetus.



Except for some minor casting issues (the feet on some of the riders were not fully cast) these, once again were a blast to paint. I think I even enjoyed painting horses for the first time in my hobby career.



A few years back I started a Caesarian Roman project in 28mm, which, due to various reasons, never got off the ground. As mentioned in my last post I'm planning to go 15mm for some of my future projects, so I thought it might be the right time to revive this old favourite of mine only in a smaller scale. And no Curt, 20mm is no option ;-) While the AB figures are certainly nice, I simply can't get to grips with that particular scale painting wise. Don't want to rant again about the subject, but 20mm to me is quite a half-assed thing. Somewhere in between the pro's and con's of 28mm and 15mm. I'll stick with 20mm for my modern stuff, as decent Bundeswehr is hard to find in both the other scales, but nothing else... as of yet ;-)



As I want my force to be based on Legio X Equestris I went for a heavily stylized bull on the signum. Thinking about how unwilling I normally am to do free hands I'm actually quite chuffed with how it turned out. The shields only got a basic geometrical design copied from Heresy Brush's take on the very same figures (sorry can't find an image for illustration).



This should give me another 32 points to add to my total. This also helps me to cement (well, 'cement' might be a bit over enthusiastic) my lead in the 'Bavarian challenge' with 287 (Having already added the 20 points from the bonus round entry) straight points vs. ChristopherS's 244 points.

Wow, these are gorgeous Nick! When I first looked at the images I thought, 'Gee, he must be using giant bases for these 28s.' Then I read the post and was floored by the realization that they are 15s! 
Your work on the signum is excellent, both crisp and clear and the shields are wonderful as well. You have a lot of russets and reds going on in this group, and so the grey-blue of the horse harness really helps to define the individual figures. Top-shelf work here, Nick - well done!

20 comments:

  1. Excellent ancients Martin. The basing is very effective and wonderful job on both the shields and flag.

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  2. Excellent, they look so very very good

    Ian

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  3. fabulous paintwork !
    when I know how the figures were before your painting! I say :" Hats off for what you done on them ! "

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  4. My mate has been raving about these miniatures for a while now and I can see why. They are just amazing. Your paintwork is another level above that Martin. At first glance I thought they were very well painted 28s. I see now they are MUCH more than that!

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  5. Superb painting Martin. I have rather a lot of Forged in Battle figures in my paint queue, but none of them is ever going to look this good!

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  6. I've never been a fan of painting horses either, but these look stunning. The miniatures and basing are all fantastic! Beautiful work mate!

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  7. The horses are great, and the figs have been finished to a terrific standard. Especially excellent work on the textiles - that's always good to see!

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  8. Lovely work on the figures Martin and the basing is superb as well.

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  9. Lovely work on the figures Martin and the basing is superb as well.

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  10. Bloody brilliant is what it is!

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  11. Are sure these are 15mm? Brilliant

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  12. I can only reinforce the comments of other! Astonishing

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  13. Another fantastic entry Nick!! Great free hand work! Looking forward to seeing these up close.

    Christopher

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  14. I really like the depth of red on those cloaks! Really nice sheilds and horses too. And the basing....amazing detail you got on them. I'd say your Roman project is off to a great start! ;)

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  15. Really nice. Great looking horse flesh and everything else as well. cheers

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  16. Martin - the brushwork skill here is off the hook. These are beauties! All sorts of awesome ancients in the Challenge this year, these are beautiful.

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  17. I really love the clean flat tones you've got going on here. Very nice indeed.

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  18. Hi MartinN, Darrell here. I wanted to ask you how big the bases you have chosen to use on these beautiful Caesarean Cavalry please?
    I realise some time has gone by but I'm about to paint up my first 15mm stuff in decades and wanted to use Comitatus as a rule system (60mm x 40mm).

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