Indian unboxing (Pt.1) Epic Pike & Shotte, 3mm Parthians.

I had been very patient in waiting to open the large box of 'Pony Wars' Indians but yesterday having finished off the 4 regiments of ECW Epic's for Noel I found time to make a start. As mentioned previously Mark had layered the figures in sawdust packed tightly into 7 inner boxes. Box 1 was actually an A4 sheet of example figures glued to the sheet as you see below. I hope that I have managed to capture the quality of these lovely 20mm sculpts which I'm sure are by Qualiticast. In box 2 were 68 mounted Indians which included 3 Chiefs. Every figure is individually based and undercoated ready to paint which is a great boost for me, also every figure has a name label on the bottom. My wife helped me remove each figure from the sawdust and we enjoyed checking out the names. Included in the large box were several Osprey reference books that will prove very useful. Obviously this commission will feature on the blog as each monthly batch progresses, for now I think these 68 figures will be enough for the August batch. Worth noting too that Mark has asked me hold onto each monthly batch until everything is painted next year when he will collect in person which saves any concerns about shipping. I'm looking forward to the fresh challenge that painting them will present but also confident that I can deliver a good quality and authentic finish.

A few shots of the painted Warlord Epic P&S regiments. with thanks to Graham for the spare flag sheet.

And finally a couple of shots of my own 3mm Parthians, 4 bases of heavy Cataphracts and the first of what will be 8 bases of light horse archers. I wanted to try to represent the latter riding up and veering left to fire their arrows before retiring at the right still shooting!

Commission completed - the movie!

Before packing yesterday I laid everything out for a check through and count up so made a short overview video for the channel. It's also a good way to link Advance the Colours enquiries via Facebook back to the blog link etc. I must admit to a sense of achievement at finishing such a large commission after 9 months of monthly batches. 

This week finishing off the last Pike and Shot sprue and then straight  into Peter Pig ECW's. 

Warlord Epic ACW starter box set plus 5 packs of metal additional command strips.

Magnetic basing, Epic Pike & Shot and tiny cataphracts!

 I'm keeping busy, can't believe it's almost August! I have started to work through magnetising all of the 3mm bases following a slight mishap a couple of weeks ago when Grandson Oscar grabbed one of the boxes and turned it upside down. No damage done just a jumble of bases to sort out luckily. I was lucky enough to be sent 4 x A4 ferro steel sheet by a fellow member of the 2/3mm FB group so only had to buy a couple of packs of the magnetic printing paper from eBay, all enough for any future armies. The small card boxes 20mm deep is a bit of an experiment as I think I prefer my nice wooden ones, two armies to each box.

Army number 7 - The Parthians - is underway starting with 4 bases of cataphracts, armoured men on armoured horses with massive punching power. 27 figures per 40mm x 30mm base should look the part. These will be supported by 8 bases of light horse archers.

Commission painting.

With the ACW's fully completed I'll be getting them all packed up over the weekend. I'm currently painting through 4 Epic Pike and Shot sprues for Noel and must say I'm rather enjoying doing them after my initial comments. The tight packed musketeers are a bit tricky to work on at the speed I like to paint but still come in at a round 3 hours for the 4 strips to the standard below as indeed did the pikes so all in all round about consistent with my usual Epic work. I could of course go further with more detail and highlights etc but in this scale I think the strips look fine and customers are happy. A few photos.

I still have not found the time to unpack the massive box of metals out in the porch but hope to do so over the weekend. First batch scheduled for August and I'm going to enjoy it.

Finished Macedonian army 3mm!

Just a few more shots as I managed to complete the 12 element Macedonian (Late Successor) army for DBA. To represent the heavy cavalry ('knights'  in DBA terms) I used cataphracts based in a charging formation, OK in this scale and I can tell them at a glance from the 'cavalry' base. They are now ready for battle, the Phalanx was a lot work, cutting the forward facing 8 deep strips in half, trimming and filing the bases etc so I'll let this army stand as it is for a while now as I move onto the Parthians.

And now Geoff goes and informs me that Magister Militum also do Ancient Indians in the range! 

New look, new commission!

I spent a little spare time this week working on giving the old blog a bit of a make over. I have added a dedicated Warlord Epic tab and also a YouTube channel tab featuring a few of the most popular and recent videos and a link to the full channel. As I have now sorted out my camera and tripod I intend to do a few painting tutorials going forward, probably around the Epic strips and my quick painting method.

My latest 3mm Ancient army for DBA is coming along nicely with the six bases of Phalangites which form the central Phalanx completed plus the two bases of Auxiliaries which will protect the flanks. This army is Late Macedonian Successor period and I have chosen the army of Ptolemy Keraunos (280 -279 BC) to model as it gives me an elephant command base. I spent a lot of time researching the mercenary figures and settled on the illustration below (Roman style shields and dress), and it seems to work OK in 3mm scale! Next I need two cavalry bases, one heavy ('Knights in DBA) which will utilise some of the Cataphracts I have here to distinguish them. 

Command elephant base borrowed from my Carthaginian army.

New Commission. With the Epic ACW's now winding down I'm really pleased to say that I have a new long term commission to replace it. It's a period I have long been interested in but never painted. It's an all metal figure project in 20mm scale using Qualiticast figures. I think in the region of 600 plus castings (I have not yet had time to open the huge box!), the majority of them being mounted. The period? It's PONY WARS and I'm really looking forward to getting started on them in August, especially the opportunity to paint those lovely Indian ponies. The figures all come pre undercoated in matt black which is very useful. One week per month will be dedicated to this project replacing the ACW slot. Obviously more about this as I unpack and have a look through the figures. 

The remainder of this month will be spent finishing off the ACW's for shipping then metal Peter Pig ECW's and my first shot at the new Epic Pike & Shot, 4 infantry sprues for Noel.