Sparabara - another unit

Hot on the heels of the second unit of cavalry are these sparabara. It's one of the nice things about having time off work - painting during the day with no consideration of time.

Once again these are from Wargames Factory. Another twenty figures masquerading as twenty four. Two ranks of archers behind that thin line of wicker shields.

Practice makes perfect and this time the posing of the figures was far better. Still not overly happy with the contents of the box - I'd like to see more right arms with closed fists which look better holding a shield than an open hand.

Also why have twelve spara but only only four spears? I am not convinced that the make up of the box is right, too few spears, excess slings, not enough shields to have a uniform facing and not enough torsos to have all the archers with a slung bowcase.

I also don't understand why the sculptor decided to make a kneeling figure as tall as one stood up. The kneeling pose takes a lot of space up on the base and is awkward to position in a mulit-figure space (it also won't fit nicely on 20mm slotta base as per WAB).

Still overall I quite like the look of the unit en mass.

Second Regiment of Persian Cavalry

Right let's get back to the reason why we're all here after all the frivolity of the last few posts.

I've not just been head banging for the last few weeks I have managed to get some painting done too.
Most recently that has meant another twelve Persian cavalry from Wargames Factory. This time I decide to give them spears and bows and not use the long spears supplied.

In keeping with the theme I'm running through the army the trim of the coat is copied by the main body of the saddle cloth (in the same way that the trim of the infantry coat is shown in the main body colour of the sparabara).

I suppose like so many things, having had trouble the first time in constructing the figures this regiment was far easier. I also think that the poses this time are better.

That's My Boy!

How do you make a proud dad?
Have your son get the highest award that the school presents.
The Headteachers award is a discretionary award, decided by the headteacher (hence the name - duh!), to the pupil(s) who has shown the greatest commitment to the school and their education above and beyond the normal strictures of the curriculum over their time at the school. This year it was presented to James & Beth.

How proud am I?

Full story on www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk (follow the news link for education).

Epitaph

From the moment that the curtain dropped and the pounding opening track "Rapid Fire" blew the eardrums, we knew we were in for a show.
A smaller stage and a smaller venue did not stop the Priest from putting on a large show. I don't think I've ever heard them louder (Priest don't do ballads unless "Diamonds and Rust counts). Front row pressed against the barrier I was thirty years younger for two and a half hours last night.

Richie Faulkner, standing in for the now departed K K Downing, was brilliant. Glen Tipton sublime. The nice thing was that they didn't try and replace like for like. The new twin guitar attack had a harder more determined edge to it which worked a treat.

Rob was more mobile then I've seen him since the Painkiller tour twenty years ago. Moving around the stage more freely then on the last two tours he put on a great show with multiple costume changes and theatrics (including an exploding staff for "I Am Nostrodamus").

Of course no Priest show is a true show without the bike and this was no exception. Flamethrowers and smoke saw the bike wheel on to stage (some problems getting it up the ramp I think) but straight into "Hell Bent for Leather". Followed by the now routine show ender "You've Got Another Thing Coming". The audience belting it out and drowning out the mike in Robs hands.

Only it wasn't the end. A brief pause with Rob thanking the audience for all the support over the years and then we were launched into an awesome rendition of "Living After Midnight".

Mixed feelings now. So pleased I was that close to the stage. So happy that the band put on a great performance. So sad that this was the last time I'll probably see them live. After more than thirty years of banging my head at the shows I'm going to have to be content with the memories. And last night was a night I'll not forget.

New Addition

A new puppy for the family. Two years after losing our last dog we've decided to have another. Meet Arthur an eight week old lemon roan Cocker Spaniel. (the Xbox controller is ther purely to give an idea of how little this chap is).

And yes he really is that cute!

Hoplites

As I said in the last post the next unit would be some Hoplites. Plastic Immortal Hoplites purchased en masse from the great money saver that is Ebay (three boxes for the price of one). The downside to the purchase was that they were mostly assembled and that means that there are some weird poses amongst them (mind you I can't say much about that if you look at the Sparabara!).
I used the decals that came with the original boxes for this unit. I thought that the varnish would cover the edging of the transfers but it looks as though I'm going to have to go over them again with paint - all part of the learning curve.

I'm also trying to keep the back ranks of the Hoplites unarmoured to give some variety in the units.

I intend to have four units of hoplites. In each unit their will be a dominant but not uniform shield colour.

Sparabara

The first unit of Persian foot have been completed.
Twenty two figures based as though they were actually twenty four. Two reasons for this - one is that the box was missing a couple of sprues and I was only able to make twenty two figures (and given my recent experience with Wargames Factory I was not overly optimistic about getting them replaced), and the other is that with the kneeling figures there is not enough room for all twenty four when using 20x20mm bases.

I wanted the unit to look like a thin line of shields backed up by ranks of archers. So I went with two bases 80x60mm. Three ranks - the first of spears and sparabara, the other two with bows.

Unit command recognised by the change in protection. Disappointingly the box has no musicians or standards (although it does come with slings as an option!).

The bases were covered with black tiling grout, chinchilla sand and then painted. Several layers used - mocha and then chocolate brown (both artist craft paints), highlighted with sand and pale sand finally washed over with dilute chocolate brown to dull down the highlights. Finishing touches are with silflor and mininature tufts and blossom.

Next on the blocks is aunit of Immortal figures hoplites.

Persian Cavalry

Enough of the test painting, let's get on with the real thing.
I've completed my first unit of Persian cavalry, all Wargames Factory plastic figures. As I said in a previous post there are not enough weapons to equip the unit uniformly. Even when mixing the weapons as here I still had to supplement them with wire spears.

They look a lot better as a unit then they did as individuals.

For the bases I decided on a change to my usual style. Taking inspiration from this site www.flamesofwar.com I chose a more arid theme for these figures. My intention was to try and represent the Anatolian plains, which from what I've seen are arid but covered in grass and flowering scrub.

The grass is MiniNature late summer and the flowers from the summer collection, both purchased through the excellent Antenociti's Workshop (www.antenocitiesworkshop.com) - ordered on Friday arrived on Saturday.

Overall I'm more than leased with the way these have ended up.