From SimonG: The Jewish Revolt in 28mm (80 points)

It's great to finally be back and posting for AHPC XII! Thanks so much to Curt for expanding the roster and letting laggards like me in. For those that don't know me I'm a UK based returnee to the hobby having picked up my brushes two years ago after being out of the wargaming field for over 40 years. I've very much enjoyed getting stuck into my (now complete) 28mm HYW project and an ongoing 1980s cold war 10mm UK/USSR setup.

This time it's something new and actually something very close to me personally -- the Jewish Revolt CE 66-74. My introduction to this period in history comes from living in Israel as an eight year old in 1973-74 (which btw may lead to another modern war project as our stay involved living thorough the '73 Yom Kippur war). A highlight of our time In Israel was visiting Masada which made a great impression on me. Since picking up Josephus I've always been fascinated by this doomed rebellion and it's aftermath. The poster in the picture below dates from that sojourn in Israel and has been one we've always had on our walls in every house we've lived in.

Embarking on a Jewish revolt project I had to decide a) whether to go for large scale (e.g. Impetus) or skirmish rules, and b) what scale. As there were few real large scale battles I opted for Skirmish (Clash of Spears) and that pushed me to 28mm. Unfortunately no one makes 28mm jewish revolutionaries. The classic solution is to take Numidians and do some head swapping. 

The 28mm bodies I used are mostly Victrix (all of the ones with spears or swords) then slingers from Crusader. 

Many suggest using Germanic heads but these are rather too hirsute so after some hunting around I found Anvil make some suitable heads intended for modern US Ranger types but actually pretty good for First Century Jews. They're a bit larger than classic 28mm but once painted up work fine. A few of the heads (e.g. those with helmets) are original Numidians with an attempt to rough up the corn rows and one head (I'll let you spot the very hairy fellow) is a haircut I made up out of Milliput!

Anvil also provided cloaks which worked well once cut down and messed up, I had to build up the front parts with Milliput (still working on that I'm afraid). 

The final touch is to add tzitzit which I made out of small pieces of my ubiquitous button thread (used for stringing bows) -- I quite liked giving the pieces some dynamism with the whipping strings!

With a suitably muted palette and attention to faces and hair I think these came out OK and I'm looking forward to building out the force and adding the Romans.

Anyway hear are some close ups -- hope you enjoy them and thanks again for welcoming me into this great community.

Points wise I think that's 60 for the figures (12 x 5) plus I'll claim 20 points bonus for a landing on Caprica -- I think we can definitely hold this out as a doomed rebellion the consequences of which we can still feel today on the Temple Mount!

_____________________________

First Simon, welcome back to the Challenge. I'm delighted we could find space for you in the ranks.

This is a wonderful project with such an interesting personal connection ( I love that poster, wow.).  I find your modifications to create Jewish revolutionaries to be brilliant. Modern US Ranger heads?! Who would have thought that would work? Well, they work brilliantly as it turns out. Amazing. I'm going to add a few bonus points for the mods as they are certainly deserved. 

Excellent and inspired work, Simon. I very much look forward to seeing this project develop over the next few months!

- Curt