And here they are side by side with the other unit. Once again, these figures look the most impressive when in massed numbers I think.
For wargaming units, the next on my painting table is to finish the unit of Norman cavalry. I did the test base a while ago, I just need to finish up three other bases and then present them as a whole unit. That might not be for a little while, though. I've been working on some figures for Thom over at Throwigames to use in his B/X game at North Texas RPG Con coming up early next month. I've almost got all the monsters done (next post, probably this weekend). Then I need to get 12 player character figures finished. I've got six of them built, they just need paint, then I need to do six more. It's going to be tight, I might not finish them, but honestly I have enough player character figures already done that I could make do with what I had. I just wanted to do some special for this game given his needs. So the monsters should be posted pretty soon, within a few days I would guess. I've only got one more of them to paint.
Those look marvellous. I'm still struggling to refine my peg soldier designs and painting techniques! But these look terrific. I know I've said this before, but I really love the stylised sorta 'cartoon' painting style you use...Love those pebbles! :) The colourful shields are amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Stephen! Yeah, the shields I think really make these guys. They are such a dominant thing for the period in terms of the prototypical appearance of these soldiers, that making them a bit oversized like I've done just makes them even more "period prototypic" in their appearance, which is a good thing IMO. I want people to be 15 feet away at a gaming convention and look at the table and know that those are some sort of Viking or Saxon Dark Ages figures, even from that distance.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like my painting style. I think the cartoony look works well for them too. I've been told that my painting style, even for metal or plastic miniatures, is "impressionistic." I realize that means "not realistic", but I'm okay with that .
At least in terms of my historical wargaming projects, it is very difficult for me to resist doing my favorite period, which is the Greek and Persian Wars and the Wars of Alexander and the Successors thereafter. I've got large armies for these guys already done in my "old way," but these look so great in a shield wall like this, I can only image how good a phalanx of Greek Hoplites, or a phalanx of Macedonian Phalangites would look. I don't love the Dark Ages stuff as much as I do these ancient periods of warfare, and it is taking all my willpower not to essentially "do these ancients armies again" with this new construction. But I need to stick to my guns and finish this project before doing some ancients! However, I'm not very confident that I can do that.
I have to add that I didn't mean 'cartoony' in a bad way, that was a bit flippant of me. I thinks the word 'impressionistic' is far better. If you don't mind I'd like to 'pinch' your style at some point to try it out on one of my models (I have a RPG set of models in mind and this style seems ideal)...I hope I don't make a mess of it! I keep looking at the first picture above and thinking 'wow', they really make me smile! :)
DeleteI hope this doesn't double post. I thought I already replied, but it isn't showing up. Anyway, I don't think you were being flippant, I think "cartoony" is a good characterization of the style of painting I use on my figures. They are supposed to make the viewer smile, so mission accomplished!
DeleteNot sure if I shared the history of my efforts in making wooden warriors, but this all sort of started for me in an effort to attract younger folks to the hobby of miniature gaming or table-top rpging with miniatures. The historical miniatures conventions I go to sport these incredible looking games; true works of art with realistic terrain and perfectly painted 28mm miniatures. I got to thinking that for a new to the hobby 12 year old, these games are not attainable as first efforts. They needed to see a game that could be reproduced by them on the first or second try. The really early guys I did were very, very simple both construction wise and paint scheme. I put several of these games on, some with friends like John Acar, and I think we managed to put on very large, truly classic historical miniatures convention games using just these crafted wooden soldiers. At one of the Historicon conventions years ago, I even did a painting class on how to make these guys. So the "cartoony" style I think really isn't an accident. The cuteness factor is something that I think is consistent with my efforts to try and bring some younger, or even older but new, folks to this wonderful hobby.
And I forgot to add, yes, please feel free to "pinch" anything about how I do my figures. I think we are all learning from each other. There would be no "tile spacer arms" on my figures without me copying something that a fellow wooden warrior maker was doing.
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