MDS – Design Challenge

Miniature Design Studios is hosting their second Design Challenge.   Send MDS an email at info@miniaturedesignstudio.co.uk with your idea of what miniatures they should create.  Sounds  like they are looking for both figure ideas and a bit of motivation.  One entry will be picked at random – then MDS has 21 days to produce the figures and get them into their web cart -or- give you a £25.00 credit.

Here are the rules of the challenge:

The scale will be 28mm
The troop type must be rank and file infantry
The subject must be either Biblical, Ancient or Dark Age (we don’t sell WW2!)
The figure will be designed in three variant poses (To be agreed)
Only one entry per person (I will check!)
All entries must reach MDS via email by 12.00pm, Friday 9th October 2009

My entry to them is for Hannibal’s Veterans.

The Veterans of Hannibal’s 2nd Punic war should be a rag-tag band of killers who spent a decade marching up and down Italy.  Isolated and cut off from the home land, the army was forced to “resupply” in the field.  Other companies produce Veterans who are cookie cutter copies of each other.  Instead – I want to see 1 African, 1 Celt and 1 Iberian in looted Roman mail each with a unique helmet and shield.  Figures are armed with long spears and swords at the belt.  Spears are held upright & figures should rank cleanly on a 20×20 base.

Extra credit – make the heads on a separate sprue for additional figure variations.

I base this vision of the Veteran units on a paragraph from The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy which describes Hannibal’s warriors as a diverse and ill-provisioned group.  Any other credible sources out there?

Beastmen Conscripts

Ever have a project that seemed like a good idea at the time?  I built a unit of 20 Beastmen for Imperial Guard using the lower half of the WFB Ungor with the Cadian torso & arms.  Now that I look back on the unit – I must have been crazy.  For those of you who don’t play Fantasy Battle, Ungors come 6 to a box with 8 Gors.  Meaning I’d have to buy 3 boxes (and steal 2 more bodies from somewhere) in order to just get the beastman parts, the Cadian parts would take 2 more boxes.

But they are pretty sweet looking!

Celts/Iberians: WIP and Reading List

Starting to get this dip thing figured out. The key was diluting the stain with mineral spirits to get a shaded effect without coating more than 50% of the model. The current mix is 1 part stain to 2 parts spirits. In the photo – the back rank was dipped at full strength & the front rank was dipped using the diluted mix. I’ll need to come back at a later date & clean up the excess shade. Probably re-paint the shields also as the grain from the dip is very noticeable on the flat surface.

The second photo displays the simple paint job under the dip.  Its so nice to be able to work through a unit of 10 in only two nights.  With my current time constraints – the dip make for a marvelous alternative to the grey legion.

For game play in WAB, these Numidians are going to fill in for just about every spearmen in the ancient world.  Ultimately, I think they will fit well as a Iberian tribe in Barcid employ.

Reading List

Barbarians Against Rome:  Rome’s Celtic, Germanic, Spanish and Gallic Enemies by Peter Wilcox and Rafael Trevino.  Published by Osprey.

Gallic chapter plates contain excellent painting references.  Illustrations are an obvious resource for the Wargame Factory Celts.

Spanish chapter plates display a variety of Iberian tribes.  Most warriors carry the scutum shield of Celtic origin (long and oval), or the caetra – a small round buckler.  The Lusitan tribe is depicted as carrying a large round shield with boss.  Tunic is sleeveless and earth tone.

The Celtic World by  Cunliffe, Barry W.
Contains photo of WF Celtic ornamental shield.

The Ancient City:  Life in Classical Athens & Rome by Peter Connolly and Hazel Dodge.  A focus on Athens and Rome – how the cities operated, how common & noble people lived, how buildings were designed and created.