Greek Command Stand

This photos shows my first Greek command stand for my Spartan allies/mercenaries. All figures have been painted, varnished and glued to the base. I really like how this has turned out but have to admit the photo doesn't really do it justice (the light was very bright plus, it's a little blurry). Interesting modeling idea - the guard on the right has warts on his nose/cheek!)

I've kept the shields blank in keeping with the mercenary idea - making them ideal for use with other armies such as my Greeks, Macedonians and Persians.

The picture is clickable. Feel free to leave any comments or ideas you may have.

Meet Apollonides

This is another 1st Corps figure (who doesn't fit on his horse either!) who I've named Apollonides and he will act as one of the commanders for my Macedonian army. He looks like a tough old general and will be great fun to paint!

I named him Apollonides after a character on the computer game Europa Universalis: Rome who, following the break-up of Alexander's empire, brought the Macedonian empire back to something of its former strength. This empire included all of Greece (excluding Pyrrhus with whom Apollonides decided to ally), Macedonia and the barbarian states to the north. He then proceeded to annex Thrace, Bithynia, Pergamon and Pontus and reclaimed the rest of Asia Minor from the Seleucids and Armenians after a bloody war that ran for 30 years. Apollonides decided to cease his aggressive expansion policy and decided to consolidate his borders, concentrating on the internal affairs of his newly founded empire instead. This is something the Seleucids had failed to do and were now embroiled in a bitter civil war and facing incursions from the Parthians to the East.

It's always fun to give your characters a little background history although this character will probably be fighting alongside a young Alexander during his rise to power, and not following his death - so he's still able to achieve something similar!

Spartan Command WIP

This is a WIP shot of my Spartan mercenary general. He'll be based on a circular base with two other figures who I've already finished and are at home, waiting to be based. He's far from finished but I thought you'd like to see what I'm currently working on in the world of the Greeks. I also dry-brushed his hair to make him look a little older and a little more experienced. You have to be a good general if you want to impress potential employers!

BTD Greek Command Stands

I made an order with Black Tree Design some time ago and after nearly 2 months of it not arriving, I decided to cancel. I also made an order for some of their Greek elders to go on my command stands on the day of asking for a refund. They made a mistake with the refund and offered me a free pack of figures for the trouble caused! So I chose one of the Athenian Command packs as they looked a lot like my other Spartans/Greeks and all credit to them, they did a very good job in sending out my second order incredibly quickly and were very apologetic over the previous delay/mess up. Below is a couple of pictures of the figures as i've arranged together with a brief description of each one.

The two figures at the back are BTD Greek elders and the figure at the front is from their Athenian Command pack. I intend to use him as a general and the two elders will act as his advisors. It should be an attractive game piece! Also, I need to cut off the shield nodule on his hand as I don't want him to have a shield as it would obscure his dramatic stance.

This will act as a more ornamental piece on the table top rather than a functional piece representing the oracle used in Warhammer Ancient Battles Alexander supplement. The two figures on the right are Wargames Foundry Spartan figures and the one of the left comes from BTD. I have a good idea for this piece, he looks a little like he's disgusted by the sacrifice of a goat and like he's wrenching! I have a great idea for his facial expression and might blood spatter the boy!

Feel free to leave a comment and i'll get back to you. All pictures are clickable.

On the painting table

I've just returned to University after a weekend at home and I've brought up some more figures to paint since the unit of Romans I've been working on is virtually finished! These are Wargames Foundry figures. I took advantage of their Christmas Discount offer and bought a couple of regiment deals. I bought one of their skirmisher packs (Athenian Army Deal) and two Spartan Hoplite packs (Spartan Army Deal) for use as mercenaries or allies. I also bought a pack of Peltast characters and a Spartan Command blister. This should take me up to about 2000 points in the way of a Macedonian army for WAB.

I'm hoping to get these painting fairly quickly and to a high standard. The three characters in the bottom left of the photo (clickable) will be based on a 50mm circle base for use as a General command stand. The figure above them will be the leader of one of my units of Hoplites but I'm painting him first as an experiment for colours etc.