Painting: Ancient British Warriors

So when I started painting these I found the concept of tartan or other traditional "Celt" colours a little daunting and as these were going to be used more for Frostgrave or other non-Hail Caesar games I decided to go with plain colours.

I have since watched the new "Asterix" film (with my 6yo honest) and feel inspired to try another techniques, so watch this space...in the mean time the below is how I painted what I did.

As ever the colours used were mainly Vallejo game colour unless stated otherwise

Flesh

Dark fleshtone (72.044) all over
Tan (72.066), on raised areas
Dwarf Skin (72.041) over most of the Tan areas

Hair

Brown
Earth 72.062
Strong tone

Bestial brown 72.043
Strong tone

Grey

Cold grey 72.050
Dark tone

Ginger

GW foundation paint Macharius solar orange

Orange fire 72.008
Strong tone

Blonde

GW foundation paint Iyanden darksun
Gold yellow 72.007
Soft tone

Spear shaft
Plague brown 72.039
Strong tone

Earth 72.062
Strong tone

Leather: Shoes, Belt etc
Charred Brown 72.045
AP Dark Tone
Bestial Brown 72.043

Swords & spear heads

Chainmail 72.053

GW Wash: Nuln oil

Drybrush: Silver 72.052

Jewelry (Gold technique was used for the horn)
Bronze 72.057
GW Wash: Nuln oil

Gold
GW Wash: Nuln oil
Drybrush: Silver 72.052

Bases
The bases were covered in PVA then sand was liberally added, once dry the sand was painted with Black (72.051), then Charred Brown (72.045) and then static grass was applied.

Trousers

Ultramarine blue 72.022
AP Dark tone
Drybrush: Magic blue 72.021

Trousers

Red base 

Strong tone

Drybrush: Blood red 72.010

Trousers

Camo 72.031

Strong tone
Drybrush: Sick green 72.029

Trousers

British battledress (FoW paint range)

Strong tone
Drybrush: Earth 72.062

Miniatures: Pike & Shotte - Ordnance battery

So back in May I bought the Pike & Shotte Ordnance Battery, which has been sitting in my cupboard gather dust until now!

Now I've decided it's time to come out, be built and taken to the fields of war!

The Packaging 
So the box has some great artwork on the front and a great picture on the back of the models built and painted, as well as a list of what's in the box..sort of, we'll come to that later.

The cardboard itself is a little flimsy for the contents as it's packed full of resin and metal.

The resin scenic bases and the barriers are wrapped in bubble wrap and the artillery & crew are split into two blisters: One contains a Saker cannon, the other a Mortar and Demi-Culverin

The Models

The scenic bases are beautiful and highly detailed. However mine came out of the box warped which annoyed me slightly until someone online pointed out that if I dropped them in warm water they would bend into the required position and as it turned out it was better than that: once removed from the hot water the bases flattened.

Saker cannon, crew, master engineer, sentinel and master gunner. The cannon lacks any real detail, other than the wood frame, but then it's a cannon, does it need any? the crew and other models a beautifully detailed.

The same can be said the Demi-Culverin, mortar and crew.

The building of the models

The cannons had the most flash, which in most cases was quickly removed, however there was some more difficult pieces on the holding bar of the wheel, which took a little while to remove (compared to the other bits). But as the models only consisted of four parts they went together quickly and easily.

The mortar fits straight into its scenic base, then two little metal straps are placed over the arms, holding the mortar in place.

The crew and other models had excess metal and flash, but again this was quickly removed. However on some models the part the flash was attached too was a little flimsy so when the flash was removed it bent the part, resulting in a wobbly, rather than straight, item.

I was torn whether to glue the cannons and crew to the scenic bases but I have decided not to for ease of storage. So the crew have been mounted on 20mmx20mm bases.

All in all it took no more than an hour to unpack, clean up and put together. It has made me realise how much I prefer plastic models over metal, as metal chippings cover my desk or ping off across the room. But now I have artillery for my Parliamentarian force or my Kingdom of Men: One box of miniatures, several uses - now that's resourcefulness.

Demi Culverin, mortar and crew on scenic bases