Excellent for protecting the flanks of the la-di-da phalanx or on their own as the basis of a later Achean League army where they will soon be joined by the work in progress hoplites.
Sunday, 24 April 2011
The Un-Pronouncables.
A few shots of my thorakites & thureophoroi below:
The thorakites are Polemarch & the thureophoroi are Crusader miniatures with a few later thracians by the same company thrown in for a little variety.
Excellent for protecting the flanks of the la-di-da phalanx or on their own as the basis of a later Achean League army where they will soon be joined by the work in progress hoplites.
Excellent for protecting the flanks of the la-di-da phalanx or on their own as the basis of a later Achean League army where they will soon be joined by the work in progress hoplites.
Sunday, 17 April 2011
A timely Epiphany.
A curious title I'm sure you'll agree but let me elucidate:
Above is the latest work in progress, a boxed set of Immortal Miniatures plastic hoplites which contrary to my expectations I am very much enjoying assembling & painting, probably because they are in actual fact fabulous figures with good sharp detail.
Add to this fact that I have just glanced at the Warlord Games website where they have previewed their Macedonian Phalangite greens and you may begin to see why this road to Damascus moment is so timely.
Its all subject to price really ( and available leisure time) but I can begin to see endless vistas of Hellenistic pike stretching to the bottom of the garden at the very least. If I stretch the imagination further I can see lots of Igor Dzis inspired dioramas decorating the available spaces in the study too.
Add to this fact that I have just glanced at the Warlord Games website where they have previewed their Macedonian Phalangite greens and you may begin to see why this road to Damascus moment is so timely.
Its all subject to price really ( and available leisure time) but I can begin to see endless vistas of Hellenistic pike stretching to the bottom of the garden at the very least. If I stretch the imagination further I can see lots of Igor Dzis inspired dioramas decorating the available spaces in the study too.
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Immortal & Foundry Comparison Shots.
A little public information content depicted below. A few comparison shots of an Immortal miniatures Hoplite & a Foundry Hypaspist prompted by Mr. Dean M's comment on my last post:
Certainly height and build wise they match up well enough, this surprised me a little as I had a strange preconception that the Immortal figure would appear a little on the 'willowy' side. The glaring discrepancy is in the sizes of their respective hoplons, in fact the Foundry figure seems to be carrying some strange hoplon/aspis hybrid. Rambling & unnecesary commentary over, hope the above prove useful.
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Midweek Plastic Hoplites.
I recently swapped a few Foundry Companions for a box of Immortal Miniatures plastic hoplites. Now I must admit to been a little skeptical about plastic figures up to now but I think these may finally sway me.
The level of detail is good with no areas of fudging in the undercuts that you occasionally get with plastics and the anatomy is about right in that they match up fairly closely in size and build to my existing metals. There are plenty of head variants in the pack as well with both earlier corinthian style helmets & later thracian styles to allow a wide time period to be covered.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Reprobates from the Steppes.
One of my favourite units from the hellenistic horde are the Foundry Scythians shown below in glorious technicolour.
They took an absolute age to pin together and paint ( which pretty much ended any illusions of putting together an army of the wretches) but as a unit on the tabletop they are an absolute nuisance for most opponents to deal with, completely out of proportion to their points cost under the WAB 1.5 rules that we use. In the ten or so years that I've used their services they've only been caught & smashed once in very flukey circumstances.
I appreciate that in reality they were probably a lot smellier and dirty looking but every once in a while 'Her in doors' must have caught up and made them wash behind their ears*
* This happens to me a couple of times a week at least when I come in from work in an especially revolting state, but sadly I have no handy steed to make good my escape on.
They took an absolute age to pin together and paint ( which pretty much ended any illusions of putting together an army of the wretches) but as a unit on the tabletop they are an absolute nuisance for most opponents to deal with, completely out of proportion to their points cost under the WAB 1.5 rules that we use. In the ten or so years that I've used their services they've only been caught & smashed once in very flukey circumstances.
I appreciate that in reality they were probably a lot smellier and dirty looking but every once in a while 'Her in doors' must have caught up and made them wash behind their ears*
* This happens to me a couple of times a week at least when I come in from work in an especially revolting state, but sadly I have no handy steed to make good my escape on.
Friday, 8 April 2011
Some New Stuff.
Finally started the 1st Corps Hetairoi purchased at Alumwell last month.
Still not based unfortunately but as soon as work pressures allow a trip to Antenocitti's Workshop will cure that little problem.
Still not 100% convinced by the 1st Corps sculpts; the riders are fine but the horses are still not quite spot on to my eye, although the barding does help somewhat. I have considered buying a unit of the equivalent Polemarch figures as an alternative but the detail of the sculpts seems a little 'fuzzy'. I have quite a number of their phalangites and they really suffer from this problem. I do wonder if it is down to the moulds wearing out because the figures I bought direct from Gripping Beast late last year are definitely poorer castings than an Ebay purchase of an earlier batch of the same figures.
Its a minor gripe I suppose, but when you part with your hard earned cash some basic quality control is not really too much to ask is it ? Is it beyond the wit of mankind to come up with a suitable silicon rubber that can cope with modern low melt alloys ? If we can put a man on the moon etc, etc.........
On a more scholarly note; with regard to the face masks on later Successor helmets, why are they depicted with bearded faces when the fashion would seem to have been for a clean shaven appearance.
Is it possible that other versions existed other than those depicted in the Pergamene balustrade reliefs et al ?
Still not based unfortunately but as soon as work pressures allow a trip to Antenocitti's Workshop will cure that little problem.
Still not 100% convinced by the 1st Corps sculpts; the riders are fine but the horses are still not quite spot on to my eye, although the barding does help somewhat. I have considered buying a unit of the equivalent Polemarch figures as an alternative but the detail of the sculpts seems a little 'fuzzy'. I have quite a number of their phalangites and they really suffer from this problem. I do wonder if it is down to the moulds wearing out because the figures I bought direct from Gripping Beast late last year are definitely poorer castings than an Ebay purchase of an earlier batch of the same figures.
Its a minor gripe I suppose, but when you part with your hard earned cash some basic quality control is not really too much to ask is it ? Is it beyond the wit of mankind to come up with a suitable silicon rubber that can cope with modern low melt alloys ? If we can put a man on the moon etc, etc.........
On a more scholarly note; with regard to the face masks on later Successor helmets, why are they depicted with bearded faces when the fashion would seem to have been for a clean shaven appearance.
Is it possible that other versions existed other than those depicted in the Pergamene balustrade reliefs et al ?
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Some Older Stuff.
Because of recent work pressures there has been a necessarily low output of new and shiny things from the sinister lair of Handgrenadealien. Fortunately some rare foresight resulted in photos being taken of some earlier projects for use in just these circumstances.
Depicted above are a couple of shots of the Old Skool dungeon scenery pieces I manufactured last year to complement a D&D game I had planned.
The masters were built up using hand etched foam board, moulds created from silicon rubber and the castings produced using Herculite II dental plaster. All in all a very enjoyable project designed to complement the old 'Torchlight' resin pieces I had collected as a teenage roleplayer and which I always found to be more useful than the more recent offerings from Dwarven Forge. There is no doubt that the Dwarven Forge stuff is well produced and very robust, but the height of the walls makes moving miniatures more than a little awkward and the chunky style of the stonework seems better suited to dismal highland crofts rather than bespoke ancient tombs.
I did try to sell these pieces on Ebay with absolutely no success ( I suspect that the RPG scenery market is a little limited) but if anyone is interested I can supply various pieces at low cost.
An older GW miniature from their Dogs of War range whose name escapes me at present, but rather photogenic despite that.
Finally to bring things back on topic a Vendel miniatures chariot with added sharp bits which partners the recently posted 1st Corps scythed chariot in my Seleucid Army.
The masters were built up using hand etched foam board, moulds created from silicon rubber and the castings produced using Herculite II dental plaster. All in all a very enjoyable project designed to complement the old 'Torchlight' resin pieces I had collected as a teenage roleplayer and which I always found to be more useful than the more recent offerings from Dwarven Forge. There is no doubt that the Dwarven Forge stuff is well produced and very robust, but the height of the walls makes moving miniatures more than a little awkward and the chunky style of the stonework seems better suited to dismal highland crofts rather than bespoke ancient tombs.
I did try to sell these pieces on Ebay with absolutely no success ( I suspect that the RPG scenery market is a little limited) but if anyone is interested I can supply various pieces at low cost.
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