As I was buying an Alexander the Great figure anyway, I thought I may as well get some other Newline stuff. Unfortunately nothing really grabbed my fancy, they do some packs of ancient civilians but in the absence of any photos or pack contents, I don't really know what you are going to get.
Having just read all of Pat Barkers Trojan trilogy however, I did take a punt on their 'Greek Generals' personality pack (also no description whatsover!), as opposed to their 'Greek Command' pack. I vaguely though it might include Agamemnon etc.
Anyway, this is what you get. A bloke on a horse, a bloke blowing big trumpet and guy in a Spartan helmet and cloak. Mmm, they look very much like a bog standard command group to me. Anyway...
They are all single piece castings, apart from the horse and rider who also has a separate shield which was a bit of a pig stick on as there were no obvious locating pegs. Excessive amounts of thick glue did the trick (I really can't bothered to paint the shields separately).
Anyway, I'd made up my mind that these guys were going to be heroes, regardless of what they actually look like. Horsey guy has an enormous muscled right arm, as well as a big shield which might well be polished until it shone like the sun. So clearly Achilles/Brad Pitt.
I did a bit of research on Achilles paint jobs, and although there is a lot of variation, white helmet crest and red cloak seems to be a popular one. I did his shield gold, gave it a dark brown inkwash, and then highlighted it gold again, to dazzle his enemies. He seems to be wearing a revealingly short tunic (and huge muscled legs), which I just painted plain white.
His red cloak has taken the wash quite nicely. In legend Achilles had two horses, Xanthus and Balios, the immortal children of Zephyrus, the god of the west wind. Xanthus was supposedly 'blonde' and could speak, while Balios was dappled.
Talking horses sounds a bit too much like Ed the Horse, and brown horses are boring, so I did Achilles mount as Balios, a grey. He has just got a simple blue saddlecloth with white edging.
I might do Achilles' helmet crest in a black/white stripe as that is also a popular representation, but for now it is plain white.
This guy is in a Spartan helmet, so I guess he could be anyone - Leonidas, Lysander? Pick your favourite Spartan. As he is in a full head helmet and a voluminous cloak, he was pretty easy to paint. Red crest on his helmet and a purple cloak. There is a sandal with some neatly moulded toes sticking out of the cloak, and in one hand he is holding something, a scroll maybe?
There is some very obvious trim on the cloak, so I modelled it on popular representations of Agamemnon and did it a deep yellow colour, both around the neck where there is some sort of collar moulded, and around the base of the cloak too. I'm pleased with how the folds of cloth have come out.
And finally we have trumpet guy. Who on earth is he? apart from some generic command figure. Well, there are any number of mythical horns and it turns out that one of the stories about Odysseus is that he identified child Achilles as a demigod by sounding a battle horn. So here we are, Odysseus, the boogie woogie trumpet boy of Phalanx B. Or who knows, maybe he is Patroclus running after Achilles heralding his achievements.
I just did him in a plan red tunic and helmet crest. I might add a stripe or two to his tunic at some point.
So, whoever these guys are supposed to be, I'm sure they will come in handy and it was fun making up some stories about them as I painted them. Note to manufacturers, please list your pack contents!
No comments:
Post a Comment