Faced with a potential Roman invasion, the Gallic / Celtic forces continue to muster reinforcements.
I wasn't intending to buy anymore painted figures from eBay, when some nicely painted Freikorps 15 caught my eye. There were some others, but these turned out to be unavailable and I settled for some average painted Essex as replacements. The usual story of missing weapons and in one case hand....so out came the super glue and baking soda and plastic broom bristles for spears or squashed flat for sword blades.
Before:
After repairs, touch ups and re-basing:
The chap with the replaced hand (from a Peter Pig elf! has been christened "Tuatha of the silver hand!"
I resisted rebasing (apart from swapping out a slinger) and ended up with another horde base.
I also did some painting, first some old Minifigs - a mix of new used eBay purchases and some broken remnants from when I painted my Celts some 20+ years ago.....new spears, swords, spear ends were needed, a couple just had their broken hands reattached. I debated more realistic hair shades with white highlights but went for a "Billy Idol" bleached blonde look - they have obviously overdone the lime wash...
This week I churned out some Galatians and Gaesati - as Stephen Caddy commented on VWC -as Father Dougal would say "they're all in the nip!"😀
A few random skirmisher figures were completed to complete stands for a lone slinger and javelinman
One area lacking was cavalry, so some assorted eBay remnants added to with some old Minifigs on original horses, produced a veritable horde of cavalry...
Originally, I was going to mix them up but ended pairing similar sized figures or manufacturers on bases. Minifigs and Essex.
Some got fancy cloaks so rear views in all cases.
Freikorps 15 old and new redesigns
Donnington and Irregular
Again there were many with broken swords or spears.
Black undercoat, hordes white drybrush, water-based oils on horses, wiped off. Colours blocked in and armour drybrushed, then AP dark tone wash followed by touching up and highlights.
Still more to do - Germans and more Celts as well as Roman cavalry and odd things like fortifications for both sides.
These are impressive hordes, indeed! You created an army seemingly from bits, pieces, and off-casts. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan. It probably sums up the Gallic host if the ancient numbers are to be believed!
DeleteNeil
Cracking job Neil, super additions to your army, very well refurbished, they all live to fight another day, always nice to see.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie. It's quite satisfying to bring old warriors back into use!
DeleteNeil
That's a fine bit of refurb. Always good to get old figures up to scratch, rebased, and on the table.
ReplyDeleteThanks Andy. I've become quite adept at repairing old wrecks of figures! Matching other people's paint jobs can be more difficult.
DeleteNeil
That is a really nice collection of figures, respect for doing stripey trousers in 15mm and some great shield patterns. I laughed at 'Billy Idol' hairdos, only my naked gauls have the spiky limewash look. The real Mr Idol is blessed with thick hair or an excellent hair transplant in his old age.
ReplyDeleteThanks Martin. I think Phil Barker refers to it as a "white Afro effect"- which would be suspect on so many levels nowadays!
ReplyDeleteI think I saw Billy Idol recently - awards? The hair didn't match the rather worn face.....☺
Neil
They all look great, Neil, and you seem to have found the perfect compromise of time vs. money for building an army - with the added bonus of giving a new home to some figures which might otherwise have just disappeared. I like the 'Billy Idol' unit - did you paint at least some of them with heavily-curled lip? :)
ReplyDeleteThanks David. I've found painting from scratch time consuming - trying to match older painting styles sadly- without using re-painted figures and tarting them up to better standards, the horde of barbarians would be much smaller...
DeleteSadly any lip hidden by the Minifigs droopy tash! ☺
Neil
That's a fab collection (horde?) of Celts Neil. Great variety in clothing and shields. A lot of hard work has gone in to painting to get this non-uniform appearance, but they look great.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris. Translating the game units to figures meant a lot more barbarians were required......
ReplyDeleteWhile painting regulars is easier, for irregulars I try to limit it to 3 or 4 main colours and 2 or 3 secondary. It's a case of using a colour on trousers, then shield next figure, then cloak of the next. You can also use the trick of painting the same poses the same colours but mixing them up between stands.
Neil