From NoelW for Thursday: Austrians and Romans (200 points)

Responding to my inner squirrel, I start two new projects here. Well, they're sort of new.

Firstly the beginning of a long stretch of 15mm Austrians. I've an extensive collection of 10mm Napoleonics for mass battles, and a lovely collection of 28mm Naps that I don't have a table large enough to play with. But I'm finding 10mm almost impossible to paint these days as my eyes deteriorate, and it's getting harder to identify units on the table, so I'm going to have to move them on (any interested takers out there?) I'd love to be able to field mass battles in 28mm, but my table is only 4 feet deep, so whilst Waterloo looks good as a diorama, it's pretty much unplayable.

Having taken a step into 15mm in the SYW this time last year, and finding a fair number of Naps among the collection I bought, I decided I'd see whether 15mm gives me a decent compromise. With failing eyesight, and a desire for mass armies, I'm not going to spend a great deal of time on each 15mm figure - I want them to be clean enough to look good in the aggregate, but there's not going to be much in the way of sophistication in how I paint individual figures. Which means my15mm contributions to the Challenge are not going to offer much in the way of eye candy. Apologies for that.

I finished the first three battalions of German troops, 20 figs per battalion. They're waiting for their flags, but otherwise complete:

28mm remains my favoured scale (I know it's not a scale!) As mentioned in a previous post, I've acquired a motley collection of 28mm Romans, from at least three periods, and I'm hoping to get a fair number of them completed during the challenge. First up are Caesareans, of which 16 are now ready to take the field. Being my only painted Romans, these will face off against the Carthaginian army I've also begun, though I think strictly speaking that'll be anachronistic.

I like the plain red shields, so will probably not invest in decals for them, though the shading I've used seems to be a little too subtle to appear in the photographs unfortunately. Will continue to experiment with that. Future units probably will get some decalic decoration to distinguish them, I guess.

So that's 60 x 15mm @ 2 pts = 120

And 16 x 28mm @ 5 pts = 80

A total of 200 pts. And 2 more squirrel points, I think.

Lots more of both armies to follow. Please keep your excitement within reasonable bounds - I've quite a few other projects, too, to give a little variety.

Well I think your Austrians look splendid! From what I understand of painting smaller scales(which is admittedly little!) it is necessary to reign back the detail and go for overall effect which you have achieved admirably! I like your Romans ready to fight for Caesar,Scipio, Sulla or Marius and if mixed in with lighter armoured fellows would be perfect for fighting Carthage!

200 well earned points in different scales and periods, squirrels we salute you!

All the best Iain