Later Carthaginians painting blog

fredrik · Post by **fredrik** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:48 pm

I have started painting an 800 pt Carthaginian army for what looks to be the first Swedish FOG tournament, "Höstbatalj", in October. It's a rather ambitious/optimistic time schedule since it's crammed full with cheap gauls and numidians, but I hope to be able to complete it in time to get some test games in before the tournament.

Anyway, I thought I'd run a sort of painting log here since it's a nice way to keep the motivation to complete it going and hopefully might inspire others as well. All the miniatures are from Corvus Belli.

The army consists of:

Carthaginian IC (guess who...)
Numidian TC
Gallic TC
4 x Gallic Cavalry (Cv)
4 x Gallic Cavalry (Cv)
12 x Gallic Infantry (HF)
12 x Gallic Infantry (HF)
8 x African Spearmen (HF)
2 x Elephants
2 x Elephants
4 x Numidian Cavalry (LH)
4 x Numidian Cavalry (LH)
4 x Numidian Cavalry (LH)
6 x Spanish Scutarii (MF)
6 x Spanish Scutarii (MF)
6 x Numidian javelinmen (LF)
6 x Spanish caetrati (LF)

(Edit: Underlined BGs are completed...)

First batch I completed (last week) consisted of 6 bases of gauls:

Very happy with these, the Corvus gauls are really great miniatures to paint!

Last weekend I finished off the first battlegroup of numidian cavalry:

Less pleased with these guys, I botched the job on some of the horses trying a new set of paints (Coat 'd Arms - great paints but watch out for the "Horse Tone Bay").

And just now I finished off the first battlegroup of gallic cavalry:

Right now I'm working on the numidian javelinmen, hope to have them completed by tomorrow. Hope you like the pictures!

DontFearDaReaper · Post by **DontFearDaReaper** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:57 pm

Very pretty, my compliments.

Dave

Redpossum · Post by **Redpossum** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:02 pm

Wow. Just wow. That is quite possibly the best miniatures painting I have ever seen. These are 15mm, right? I swear the display galleries at most miniatures manufacturers' sites aren't that good.

Even if we assume that the incredible detail on the shields is a transfer, the paintwork is still just awe-inspiring. The hair, the faces, the moustaches, the chest muscles! Great and merciless gods, where did you learn to paint like that?

And what technique do you use for your shading? Do you highlight, where a darker coat goes on first, then the high spots are dry-brushed with the same paint mixed with a little white? I saw that mentioned in the tutorials on the Vallejo site; the teacher there talks about shading and highlighting both.

Anyhow, outstanding and highly inspirational work! Please show us more

fredrik · Post by **fredrik** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:02 am

Many thanks for the encouragement, glad you like them!

possum wrote: And what technique do you use for your shading? Do you highlight, where a darker coat goes on first, then the high spots are dry-brushed with the same paint mixed with a little white? I saw that mentioned in the tutorials on the Vallejo site; the teacher there talks about shading and highlighting both.

I use a black basecoat (giving me blacklining/shading for free) and over this I normally paint two tones, one dark basecoat and one very bright highlight (the highlight is painted on, not drybrushed, I find it difficult to drubrush 15mm figures since the paint end up all over the place). For some large areas, such as the skin on the naked guys, I use two highlight tones. I rarely mix my highlight colors though, I prefer to use complementing shades of off-the-shelf paint since it saves quite a lot of time. Fortunately, the "Vallejo Model Color" range I use is so huge that it's usually no problem to find matching basecoat/highlight colors.

fredrik · Post by **fredrik** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:56 am

Just finished the numidian light foot:

I've started working on the numidian Troop Commander as well as started to clean up another six bases of gallic infantry to complete the first 12-base gallic battlegroup, and some elephants.

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:40 am

Really a great job.
Good luck to finish your army in time, but I think our encouragement will help you, so continue posting your BGs.

philbagnall · Post by **philbagnall** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:41 am

Looking very nice (then again, corvus belli are very nice models). Intereting to see you've left the LF shields off - I attached them without thinking to my numidians but I'm wondering whether to mix some shieldless in the next batch seeing these pics. Re the gallic - are the shield designs transfers or freehand? either way they are very effective

Regards
Phil

fredrik · Post by **fredrik** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 12:13 pm

Many thanks for the kind words! So far 38 bases completed so far out of 87, 18 of those (the spaniards) I have already painted for a previous project:

Regarding the gallic (and spanish) shields: they are Veni Vidi Vici monochrome transfers over a painted background. For the gallic cavalry I cut up some transfers to make them fit on the smaller round shields since unfortunately VVV doesn't make any transfers suitable for them.

ars_belli · Post by **ars_belli** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 12:33 pm

Very inspiring work, in both your painting and basing techniques!

Like you, I find Vallejo Model Colors tend to produce terrific results.

Cheers,
Scott

MARVIN_THE_ARVN · Post by **MARVIN_THE_ARVN** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 1:55 pm

Very nice!!!! Nearly made me want to go back to the larger scales.

Keep up the good work!!!

Con

fredrik · Post by **fredrik** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:07 pm

Many thanks!

It's been a bit too hot here in Stockholm the past few days for me to get much work done on the army, but at least I've managed to finish up the numidian troop commander:

johnnyW · Post by **johnnyW** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:39 pm

Fabulous models, and a real inspiration!

Could you provide some guidance on how you base them please?

Thanks

John

fredrik · Post by **fredrik** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:59 pm

johnnyW wrote:Fabulous models, and a real inspiration!

Could you provide some guidance on how you base them please?

Many thanks, glad you like them!

I use 2mm thick pre-cut MDF bases, here's what I do:

1. I gently sand the edges to get rid of the roughness from the sawing with a fine-grain sandpaper.

2. Using ordinary PVA glue I cover the base with Games Workshop model sand, it's a nice product with some fine sand along with some chunkier pieces that make nice rocks in this scale.

3. I paint the base using GW "Bleached Bone", a light sand color, making sure to also paint the edges.

4. When dry, I paint the entire base with brown ink (I used to use GW's ink, now I use Coat 'd Arms brown ink)

5. Having waited until the base is thoroughly dry, I drybrush the base with GW Bleached Bone (gently!)

6. Next I paint some of the chunkier bits in the sand with Vallejo Basalt Grey, highlighted with a dab of light grey

7. I paint the edges with GW Dark Flesh (a reddish-brown color)

8. Finally I put some dabs of PVA down making sure I obscure the figures bases and sprinkle GW flock (colored sawdust I believe)

9. Done!

The whole process is pretty quick but there is some drying time between the initial steps so I usually work on a couple of batches at a time in different stages of completion.

flameberge · Post by **flameberge** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:35 am

fredrik wrote:Many thanks for the encouragement, glad you like them!

possum wrote: And what technique do you use for your shading? Do you highlight, where a darker coat goes on first, then the high spots are dry-brushed with the same paint mixed with a little white? I saw that mentioned in the tutorials on the Vallejo site; the teacher there talks about shading and highlighting both.
I use a black basecoat (giving me blacklining/shading for free) and over this I normally paint two tones, one dark basecoat and one very bright highlight (the highlight is painted on, not drybrushed, I find it difficult to drubrush 15mm figures since the paint end up all over the place). For some large areas, such as the skin on the naked guys, I use two highlight tones. I rarely mix my highlight colors though, I prefer to use complementing shades of off-the-shelf paint since it saves quite a lot of time. Fortunately, the "Vallejo Model Color" range I use is so huge that it's usually no problem to find matching basecoat/highlight colors.

I paint my figures the exact same way. Your army is definitely looking good.

kralsaaistre · Post by **kralsaaistre** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:31 am

EX-CEL-LENT !!!
i know you would be busy...but if you have some moments...could you tell us the differents bases colors with their respective highlighting (1 &2) your use, with references of painting.

Thanks

Probert · Post by **Probert** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:31 pm

Your Later Cathaginian Army looks much better than mine.

fredrik · Post by **fredrik** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:59 pm

Many thanks for the kind words everyone, your encouragement is most helpful in keeping up the work on this project!

Next unit of numidian cavalry is done:

I've cleaned up, primed and based another unit of numidians, more gauls and some elephants, hope to get the elephants done in the next couple of days!

philqw78 · Post by **philqw78** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:47 am

Excellent painting, but doesn't it put your Numidians off a bit since they are perpetually in rocky going?

nicofig · Post by **nicofig** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:37 pm

Great !!!

Can we add yours pictures on the FoG Gallery ?

viewtopic.php?t=5505

fredrik · Post by **fredrik** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:59 pm

philqw78 wrote:Excellent painting, but doesn't it put your Numidians off a bit since they are perpetually in rocky going?

Ah, maybe that's why my guys get pasted so often, they're always in BGO!

nicofig wrote:Great !!!
Can we add yours pictures on the FoG Gallery ?

viewtopic.php?t=5505

I'd be delighted!