Today I completed another unit for the Early Imperial Romans. This is six Numidian light horse from Warlord Games. Light cavalry has always been one of my favorite units. The speed. The hard hitting strikes on the flanks. The fragility if you use them wrong.
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| All six of them. |
I like these models but they did have some issues. All of the Warlord horses I've done so far have had some amazingly bad casting issues on the underside. Granted, it will be almost impossible to see when they are done, but Jeepers, they're terrible.
The rest of the casting was very nice though. These come as two part models, with the upper torso separate from the horse and legs. This gives you the ability to have some variety in how the riders are positioned, which is nice because there are only two poses. This kit also comes with metal javelins, which are very nice, but very sharp.
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| The leader, for those times in HC when you have to have one. |
I hate painting horses. Hate it. These are the best I've ever done, but their faces, especially, still need some work. I have fourteen more in the queue for the next paint job, so I'll have a chance to figure them out, I guess.
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| Stark shading. It looks better at table top distance. |
I used
THIS handy guide for doing the markings, though it's pretty simple to paint socks and a blaze. I also tried several different methods of shading on the horses. Some look terrible up close, but look good on the table. Others look good up close and are very subtle on the table. I'll just have to see how they sit with me once they are settled in.
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| There's lots of room on the bases for decoration. |
I love the way these guys play on the table top. I'm definitely going to have to get another unit of them, though I will be sourcing them from a different manufacturer.
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| I'm not totally thrilled with the shields either. |
The only thing that kept these guys from being the stars of my last game was that their general failed every command roll for five turns and they got stuck in a corner and killed. Light cavalry that doesn't move is dead light cavalry.
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| Last shot. Light brown with dark spots. Dark brown with light spots. I'm so creative. |
This is my first cavalry unit for my army. They performed well and I love the way they look. I'm looking forward to getting more table time with them
Horses are their own kind of figure art and I'm not very good at them yet. Now that's a really in depth guide you linked in. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI think these look good and the shields are very nice. Good luck with the rest!
Thank you Anne, I appreciate it. With enough practice I supposed I'll get better at them.
DeleteVery nice, love the basing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ray. That's the one thing I like about doing cavalry. There's a lot more room on the base.
DeleteGreat basing, great painting - very nice indeed :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Tamsin. I appreciate it, coming from you.
DeleteAs often is the case with painters I think your being to hard on yourself.
ReplyDeleteI like these guys and I have painted enough 20mm light cavalry to know! ;-)
Ian
Well thank you very much Ian. I hope you're right. The real test will be the next game and how I think they look as they mulch the Carthaginians.
DeleteThey look very effective, great painting and basing.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'll take that as a great compliment, coming from you.
DeleteVery nice Aaron!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan.
DeleteYour models have a really nice warm tone to them. I like it a lot and think it works well for the historical models. As a player of fantasy/sci-fi games I'm too used to the somewhat excessive colour schemes of these kinds of games. But when I see your and your gaming group's colour schemes and armies on the field it's fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI'm strongly tempted to get into some Hail Caesar and I love the look of Warlord Games miniatures. I'm a little worried about needing to buy and paint hundreds of minis though so I might go 6mm with it.
How many infantry do you use per base/unit in your games?
Pete, Thanks so much. That's very kind of you. I base mine sixteen to a unit. I'm using 25mm round bases and I put them in GW War of the Ring trays, though other companies sell trays the same size.
DeleteI'm very happy with Warlord. Their horses can be a little rough but their plastics are brilliant and their metals are top notch. I'll probably order some Aventine for the next round just to get some different command models and some variety in the front ranks.
As to scale, it's totally subjective. I can appreciate the spectacle of the sheer mass of models you can get on the table with 6mm or 15mm, but the size just isn't there for me. The sweet spot is at 28mm, but I have a basement and can have a large table. There's so many factors that go in to choosing the right scale. For me, though, 6mm is so small that you really only see a few colors on some bumps when you are playing with them.
What ever you choose, I'm looking forward to hearing about your endeavors.
Thanks for the reply. I'm definitely thinking about going 28mm with the game for the effect of it. I know I'll probably play smaller games since the biggest table I have access to is 6x4 feet (standard GW sized) so that's why I thought 6mm might bring some more tactical options to the game, plus of course there is cost.
DeleteThen again I do want to support Warlord Games because they are making excellent models and great priced options for what you get.
We'll see and I'll definitely keep you posted as well as reading your exploits. It's great to hear more about Hail Caesar :-)
Pete
Pete, If you still want smaller scale but actually want to be able to see your models you could try 15mm.
DeleteWe are able to play pretty big games in 28mm on a 4x6 table. We could easily have three divisions of 4-5 units and actually get some proper depth to the formations. That's a solid size game of HC, so you could definitely pull it off.
You sir are a scoundrel who is tempting me far too much to step into the Hail Caesar waters with 28mm models. My only challenge now is clearing the decks of other projects so it's not so bad. I'll have to work hard as well because I don't know if I can talk other gamers into starting a collection so it may begin as a one sided endeavour.
ReplyDeleteStill, having the chance to build up a nice ancients army could be entertaining and a nice change of pace from the GW style of armies.
Thanks for the advice and help. Starting small seems a promising way to do things :-)
I started with a couple of units and built from there. I also just mentioned that I was going to do it and one of the group jumped in. It turned out he had been wanting to try historical gaming as well.
DeleteGood plan. I was thinking of going with the starter box to get a mix of Celts and Romans as well as the rule books. I do have a gaming friend who's keen on medieval fencing/re-enactment etc. so he might well jump at the chance.
ReplyDeletePete
Good luck Pete. I hope you can suck him in.
DeleteThanks Nathan. You're very kind and it is appreciated.
ReplyDelete