EIR 1,000pt Army ... at last!

It's Saturday afternoon (14th February, St Valentine's Day) and we've packed the kids off to Grandma and Grandad's for the weekend, so what we could we do eh? Hmmm ... I know darling, let's get all my painted Romans out and do a photo shoot for the blog now that I've finally reached that all important 1,000pt milestone. They don't call me a romantic old fool for nothing ... or at all in fact.

Anyway, as promised, here are a few pics of my army. I should point out that the pics aren't quite as good as I'd like mainly because (a) the lighting isn't great and, (b) I've got a new camera and still haven't quite worked out what all the buttons do yet ... doh!? RTFM as they say.

Here's the army in all it's glory.


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Legionaries


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Legionaries


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Auxillaries


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More Aux (that's Aux, not Orcs ... I'm a WABber now, you know)


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Aux with bows (and presumably arrows too)


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Nice doggy


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Perhaps they've been trained by 'Barbara Woad-house' ? *groan*. BTW - If you understand that "joke" then you're probably British and of a certain age.


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Some expendable allied skirmishing Celt types


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Mostly Black Tree Design figures, with a few Warlord Celts and GB Hounds. It's been a real painting adventure and I've learnt a great deal along the way. I should mention that the chaps on the WAB forum have been a fantastic source of help, advice and insipiration, I cannot recommend them and it too highly!

I'm really pleased with this army and I'm looking forward to expanding it with more Legion, Aux Cavalry and some artillery. But first, I really must get on with a Celt army.

Dipped British and French Napoleonics Experiment

I've been wondering for some time whether the dip method would work for Napoleonics, especially with their bright uniforms, colourful facings, etc. I finally gave in and slopped the dip over a couple of figures that had been given a basic, tidy paint job. I'm quite pleased with the results, have a look for yourself and tell me what you think.


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Say fromage!


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and


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Again


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The paint scheme was kept fairly basic (as it should be for dipping) with mostly GW paints but I did spend a few minutes black-lining the white belts as I really wanted these to stand out. Freshly pipe-clayed white cross belts are so characteristic of these troops. Might try some without this extra step. One point worth mentioning is that the black areas need a good dry-brush with grey. I only gave them a very quick light dry-brush and it doesn't really show, leaving the black areas without any shade/highlight.

After the dip was thoroughly dry (24hrs) I gave them a quick spray with Testors. I hear that the Army Painter anti-shine spray is good too.

I used the Strong Tone dip on these figures. The white has turned out a little too brown, but hey, limited personal hygiene and the rigours of campaign might render them rather grubby? The blues and reds are good. The Soft Tone might work better on white but not so good on the red/blue. I'm certainly not spending another £18 to test this theory. I think the Strong Tone is fine, but in future I'll apply a little less on the white areas.