Men In Boxes

Here are some elements of my HotT Dwarf army I managed to paint inbetween drawing projects and painting my not-space marines. They're made from Caesar Miniatures' 1/72 Dwarves. Most of the elements will be blades, with 4 figures mounted to a stand.   The Caesar Dwarves are kind of a mixed bag. Some were obviously inspired by the Dwarves in the LOTR films and some by Games Workshop's Trollslayers. I personally prefer the LOTR look but they seem to be lightly armored with most not having helms of any kind.    I also made hero elements with three figures for each. If I'm playing the army as Tolkien-inspired, I plan on using huge bears as a behemoth element. The figures are from the Dungeons and Dragons line, repainted and based 2 to a stand. And here's a Goliath as a behemoth or hero element for a more generic fantasy -- or a D&D campaign setting -- milieu. The repainted figure's from the Dungeons and Dragons line too. I'm planning to add t...

"They came on in the same old way and we defeated them in the same old way." Duke of Wellington Lined 'em all up Took a can of Tamiya Gunship Grey, waited for a sunny day and went spray-happy Lathered on black acrylic on the guns, belts and pouches. Let the suckers dry. Broke out deep black drawing ink and carefully applied a wash on each figure Used a light blue acrylic on the eyes with a 0 brush. Washed the eye areas with Winsor and Newton ultramarine blue. Had a tall glass of iced coffee and fed the cat. And inbetween the steps above, I managed to work on a HotT Dwarf army too... Detailing next...

I've set aside the plastics for a while and have resumed work on the metal mageknight figures for my woodland themed army, save for the golems. These guys will be recruited to another themed fantasy army, this time for a steam-powered Atlantis. The figures have been cleaned and assembled and are now ready for priming and painting. The Firbolg and the Tree Men The Iron Golems

(click the pictures above for bigger versions) The Manipular system was adopted at around 315 BC, during the Second Samnite War. The rugged terrain of Samnium where the war was fought highlighted the lack of manoeuvrability inherent in the phalanx formation which the Romans had inherited from the Etruscans. After suffering a series of defeats culminating in the surrender of an entire legion without resistance at Caudine Forks the Romans abandoned the phalanx altogether, adopting the more flexible Manipular system. For the next two hundred years until the Marian reforms of 107 BC,  the Roman army was organized into three lines: the hastati, the principes, and the triarii. These were divided by experience and fighting ability, with the youngest soldiers in the hastati making the first engagement. Where resistance was strong this rank would dissolve back through the Roman line and allow the more experienced soldiers in the principes to fight. In turn, the principes coul...

( you can click the pictures above for  bigger versions) Principes (Singular: Princeps) were spearmen, and later swordsmen, in the armies of the early Roman Republic. They were men in the prime of their lives who were fairly wealthy, and could afford decent equipment. They were the heavier infantry of the legion who carried large shields and wore good quality armour. Their usual position was the second battle line. They fought in quincunx formation, supported by light troops.  Principes carried swords, or gladii, instead of spears. Each princeps also carried 2 pila, heavy javelins that bent on impact to prevent them being removed from the victim or thrown back Triarii (Singular: Triarius) were one of the early Roman military Manipular legions of the early Roman Republic (509 BC – 107 BC). They were the oldest and among the wealthiest men in the army, and could afford good quality equipment. They wore heavy metal armour and carried large shields, their usual positi...

( You can click the pictures above for bigger versions) Hastati (singular: Hastatus) were a class of infantry in the armies of the early Roman Republic who originally fought as spearmen, and later as swordsmen. They were originally some of the poorest men in the legion, and could afford only modest equipment — light armor and a large shield, in their service as the lighter infantry of the legion. Later, the hastati contained the younger men rather than just the poorer, though most men of their age were relatively poor. Their usual position was the first battle line. They fought in a quincunx formation, supported by light troops. Pitched battles would begin with the velites gathered at the front. The light troops would fling javelins to cover the advance of the hastati. The hastati were leather-armoured and wore a brass cuirass and brass helmet adorned with three feathers, carried an iron-clad wooden shield, 120 cm (4 ft) tall and a convex rectangle in shape and wielded swo...

  WoW's bog elemental gets recruited in my People of the Woods army. A recent trip to a local toy convention yielded 3 of these going for around a dollar each. They'll be joining my wood spirits and elementals in my themed army soon.

I'm in one of those painting ruts. Truth be told, the weather here isn't helping, with days and evenings all dreary from rains and monsoon storms. Case in point are two boxes worth of the GW LOTR Men of Gondor plastics. I've finished priming and painting them save for the shields, which look like a pain to paint. The archers are finished with just the base texture awaiting a wash and some grass flocking. The swordsmen and spearmen though have me in a rut. The figures have the tree embossed on the shields but for the life of me,I can't seem to bring out the detail. I'm currently using a technique I found easy and fast to do wth 1/72 plastics but the results with these models left me --in a word-- appalled. The shield faces were first block painted flat black with acrylics. I then applied a white on the tree heraldry. Maybe the problem started here since I wasn't careful in applying the white. I was hoping the next stage would correct the imperfections. This invol...

I found this plastic box while shopping at the local Ace Hardware. It's advertised as a cash box/accessory box and has 5 long compartments inside. I tried to fit in two boxes worth of GW LOTR figures and they fit 3 of the 5 compartments well. If lined with foam, the box culd well be the answer to storing my 1/72 and 28mm armies. I wasn't able to get the actual measurements but the height is suitable for 1/72 spearmen and even 28mm spears ( I tried out the GW 3rd edition elven Spearman and the GW LOTR Men of Gondor-- seen above), albeit lying down. More on this box soon.

Made from various Mageknight figures ripped off from their clicky bases (a feature I never liked) as well as some Heroscape figures:) Repainted and rebased to provide an adversary to the Human Federation troops. The army is still incomplete and will soon have more biomechs added courtesy of some Japanese Gashapon I recently purchased.

My work in progress dwarves. I included a unit of crossbows since these are for my more Generic Fantasy Dwarves than Tolkien's.