Speedpaint Pens vs The Pile

Last of the six legionary units are now complete.  The look very impressive together.

Now on to the command bases.  I’ve got three junior command bases and probably as many senior commanders.  I’ve not decided exactly what to do with the miniatures I have.  The junior commanders are extra Wargames Factory miniatures and I’ve added some senior commanders from Aventine and Warlord.

This army is to use in a mass battle game and my current favourite is To The Strongest (TTS).  Unlike the Hail Caesar rules, TTS uses heroes and other leader bases as well as the General.  Checking the appropriate list for these Romans (Marian Roman, 107-27BCE) They need a minimum of 1 General but can have several, including one mounted; they also need a minimum of 3 Heroic Centurion bases and 1 Aquilae Army Standard.  I’ve got enough commander models for a mounted general, the 3 heroic centurions, the army eagle standard and a couple of other general/leader bases.

The first ones finished are the mounted general, here accompanied by a bodyguard.  He is a metal model, not sure whose, possibly Warlord?  The bodyguard is a Warlord Roman Cavlaryman from the SPQR set, so in horrid thermoplastic.  Speedpaints again, this time with a brush and a couple of highlights and tidying up with some acrylics.  Nothing too overpowering, they still need to look like they belong with the rest of the army.

Then the heroic centurions.  These are the spare six command models left over from the Wargames Factory boxes, the boxes made 25 models and the unit arrangement I have them in uses 24 so we had one spare officer body from each box.  Mounted in pairs we get suitable models for the heroic centurions who will add a bonus to unit combat in the game.  They are mounted on 2p pieces both for weight that creates a bit of heft and stability on the table, but also for size, to give the base a slightly crowded feel, like our heroes were fighting in the battle line.

I had ten miniatures left from a variety of sources.  I have divided them up onto three bases.  As usual I like them to look like little dioramas so we have; “The Eagle and Guardians”, “A General’s Decision” and “The Political Appointment”.

The first of these is “A General’s Decision”.  Here we see our general in the centre of a heated discussion between a tribune and a legatus.  The tribune is based on an illustration in the Connolly book I mentioned at the start of this project.  They were young aristocrats who were political appointees and often very inexperienced.  The general would have entrusted command of the legion to a legatus a more experienced, often semi-professional, military man.

The Political Appointment shows a sight common to the late Republic – a ‘vir magnus’ or big man, someone of major power and influence like the triumviri (Caesar, Pompey and Crassus).  Power in Rome could be enhanced by controlling military campaigns and therefore commanding the legions in person, regardless of your suitability to the task.  Here we see the big man in his laurel wreath (Warlord’s Carry On Cleo, Julius Caesar as played by Kenneth Williams) with an advisor (?Warlord’s Emperor Claudius as portrayed by Derek Jacobi?).  He has the fasces bearer in attendance to remind everyone of his importance.  Fortunately a centurion is approaching, probably with some helpful advice.

Despite the comic nature of the main miniature I actually quite like this group and it conveys the situation that the Republican legions often found themselves in, being commanded by someone of significant political influence but precious little  military experience or ability.

Finally the Eagle and it’s guardians (Aventine Miniatures).  A bit of freehand on the round shields here (and also on the mounted bodyguard).  There were no round shields in the plastic set I was working with so the signifers don’t have their usual round shields.  I didn’t feel I could get away with these guys not having shields and had a couple of Warlord Games thermoplastic shields from an SPQR set.  They didn’t come with any transfers and there aren’t any commercially available so I had to resort to some freehand.  Normally I can’t be bothered but there is a good set of instructions on the Foundry site here.  Nothing like Kevin Dallimore convincing you you can do it 🙂  The trick is to be free and loose but also focused and controlled.  I’m sure we can all do that 😀  I decided to keep things simple and that seems to have worked.

All done, and I’m very pleased with the final results.  As speed was the key here this is how we did:

144 Legionaries painted with only Speedpaint pens.  @24 hours that’s 10 minutes each.

144 Legionaries based with Krautcover Soil of Sparta @6 hours an extra 2.5 minutes each.

18 characters painted by brush with Speedpaints and some acrylic highlights and then based as above @<8 hours or @25 minutes each

In terms of the essential equipment I’ve been very impressed with the pens.  There is no discernible difference in finish quality that I can detect between when I started and when I finished. My technique improved slightly on the animal skins but the pens delivered very consistent results right through. There is a bit of wear to the nibs, especially the Crusader Skin one but that is to be expected and hasn’t made any difference to their utility – it is a fairly approximate technique and the Speedpaint is very forgiving, it hides overlaps in a pleasing way.  The pens still feel at least half full for the most used ones and others, like the metallics, have got loads left.

The Krautcover was very impressive.  This is my first go at an all in one basing solution, usually I prefer a painted texture followed by a series of separate flock and tuft selections.  The basing for this force took a bit longer than I might have expected but a lot of that was down to issues getting them to fit onto the bases.  Once this was done the Krautcover step was very straightforward.  It dried slightly darker than when it went on which was pleasing.  I’ve got half a box left so it looks like a box will do two large armies.  Very cost effective.

Overall this has been a very interesting project.  I felt I learnt a lot and pushed myself to do things differently.  Now I’ve got a finished Roman army to show for it 🙂