Sunday 27 December 2015

AlanD - 28mm Gladiators (66 Points)



I have been playing a bit of Jugula recently, and since the theme of the challenge suits gladiators so well I thought it would be a good excuse to paint up a few more figures for the arena.

The figures are all from Crusader Miniatures, and are an absolute joy to paint, packed with character, beautifully detailed and historically accurate. As always, shields are hand painted.

For the entertainment of the crowd we have:

A couple of trainers (lanistae) with a saggitarius (archer) and veles (javelineer),...



...two hoplomachi and a scissor (sporting the blade thingy to help him cut his way out of the net of the retiarius)...



...three secutores...



...and a couple of Thraces (Thracians), armed with the distinctive curved sword.



Of all the figures, this secutor is definitely my favourite. He exudes menace.



Twelve 28mm figures should give me a base score of 60 points, and get me into triple figures. Picturi vos salutamus!






 

Wonderful work Alan!
I especially like your attention to detail on the shields - the Secutor is great but my personal favorites are the scorpion and the saint(?). 
These 12 will give you a base of 60 but I'm adding a few more points for the freehand shield painting. Brilliant work.

23 comments:

  1. I am entertained... Very nice

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great wifi Alan, I love these. Cheers, PD

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful work Dux, especially the shields :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fantastic painting work. All of them, true characters!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Excellent. "Morituri Te Salutant"

    ReplyDelete
  6. They were a funny looking lot those gladiators, weren't they? Great job and the freehand is most impressive!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! Look at those shields
    Outstanding work, congratulations

    ReplyDelete
  8. The shields are awesome! I'm very entertained! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks! The 'saint' is actually Helios, or Sol Invictus (The Unconquered Sun). The image was very popular as part of the worship of Mithras. The Scorpion is also associated with Mithras. My favourite secutor (who needs a name) has Victoria on his shield, the goddess of victory also known as Nike in Greek, who supplied sports shoes to gladiators.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wonderful work! Some of the best-painted gladiators I've seen - and those Crusader sculpts are pretty damned good!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've got a pile of the same sculpts and couldn't agree more about how nice they are. If only my shields were anything like as good as yours though Alan. Superb!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great job mate - looking forward to playing this with you VERY soon!

    ReplyDelete
  13. They get a big 'thumbs up' from me, stunning shields mate. Hope to see them on the table soon!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Beautiful work. Always love to see more gladiators!

    ReplyDelete
  15. The Christian Icon shield is very intersting was that your own insperation or does it have a historical sorce? (just curious) Great work hand painting shields is tough.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Another bar setting entry, excellent work

    Ian

    ReplyDelete
  17. Looking great, seriously considering a spartacus army now!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks Adam! Definitely not a Christian icon - the shield depicts Helios or Sol Invictus (the sun god), and is a direct copy from statues found in temples to Mithras. The imagery of the sun god with rays of light provided the model for Christians to copy later when they wanted to depict saints.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Absolutely beautiful work on those shields. The figures are of course lovely as well. More please.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I can now confirm that these are even better in real life!
    Thanks for letting me play with them Dux :-)

    ReplyDelete