Speed painting in 10mm... more or less

After our last battle with my Celtiberians, my friend Alexander and I planned a Hordes of the Things game with the same armies (at least for me). Some time ago I purchased some elements from Pendraken to deploy in fantasy games played with historical armies: the figures derive as much as possible from the mythological background of Celtic and Iberian populations, merged with what I thought could result cool on the battlefield.

I seized the opportunity to try some speed painting with my 10mm figures. After all, this is one of the reasons why I like this particular scale, but my last deeds - almost two years to paint an army - weren't really coherent with this thought. So, I gave it a try.

The models I bought from Pendraken: there is an assortment of giants, trolls, centaurs and other creatures I found right for the setting of my Celtiberians and Celtic armies

Some prepping to polish the metal figures

The seven elements I chose for this particular venture: Behemot (giants and trolls), Magician (the druids with the menhir in the background), Beasts (deers on the right) and Lurkers (the treemen)

Firstly, black undercoat on every miniature

Then I proceed with my usual recipe: heavy Wraithbone drybrush and Contrast Skeleton Horde on the models. Then, one element at time, I go nuts with Contrasts and drybrush. Always very simple, speed is the key

After an evening, here's the result! Five elements are completed, apart from the bases, one Behemot element is still to complete and I left out the Magician element

Well, here my speed painting attempt encountered a problem, because I couldn't go on with the hobby for a couple days. Never mind, the experiment was still a success, even if not 100% complete. When I finished the two remaining elements, here's the result

As per the Celtiberians, first thing on the base is a layer of Agrellan Earth

Time to battle! I wanted to finish the bases but I had not quite the time. So, we packed up with our nice metal box (every element is magnetized) and went to crush the enemy

First HotT game for my enhanced Celtiberians! We were up against Alexander's Lizardmen (superb models from Eureka), but it was a nasty battle... battle report here!

Just a first view of the battlefield!

Back home, I completed the bases and call it done. It was an useful experiment, I learned that 10mm are just right for speed painting like this! Next time I need to paint some Celts...

This shamans are deployed as Magician, and the deers as Beasts (even if they're not carnivores as depicted in the HotT core book)

Behemots

Lurkers. Some more grass and tufts for them, obviously!

They match just right with their human kin. Pretty happy with the result!

"Take out those lizards!" - Enhanced Celtiberians in HotT

I integrated my 10mm Celtiberians with some fantasy elements to use them in games of Hordes of the Things. I want my ancient armies to be as fantasy as they can when needed, and mythology is just here for the purpose.

With some giants, trolls and trusty deers from the great forests of their land, my scutarii and caetrati are ready to defend their territories against invaders much worst than the Romans.

This time, we went after my friend Alexander's Lizardmen: a colourful army with some nasty tricks on their side.

Nice battlefield cut in half by the river. Lizardmen defend their stronghold, but my Lurkers wait in the forest...

The superb Hordes of the enemy squeak and squawk waiting to overwhelm the human kin

My General oversees the situation from his position

After a couple turns, the enemy Flyers are behind my back and their terrible General on Carnosaur is in front of my General on horseback and his bodyguard

On my left flank, my Shooters and Beasts are ready to confront enemy Hordes. This side will be crucial to the end of the fight

My strong side however struggles to move toward the enemy. The Lizardmen mounted elements wait for the right time to proceed...

"Raaaaaargh!" [screams in Celtiberian]

Behemot charge! Enemy Beasts are taken out by the giants

After some recoiling, my General is crushed against the river (and eaten by the monster). The Magician tries to confront the Lizardmen General, but water defies his magic powers...

The Lizardmen Cleric charges against my Blades element. Hordes close the door on the flank: we tried to hold on on this side, but only my Beasts survived the enemy tide

Oh no! My Magician is ensorcelled! Although, nice tower

Lizardmen Hordes keep return from the stronghold

Last view on the battlefield! 6-4 and my General is lost. Nice game, we really suffered on the left side where my Blades couldn't reach any combat site

A nice battle indeed, even if we lost. I love HotT because you can field whatever you want with simple rules and a nice focus on your army and how you want to play it... the free spirit of the game is really a plus! Next time we'll be prepared...

10mm Celtiberian on the march!

First DBA post for 2021!

I finally achieved my long time goal (and first goal for 2022, cheers) to finish painting my 10mm II/39b Celtiberians for DBA 3.0. They were on my shelf since April 2020, I think: a real shame, especially because I wanted them so hard at the time.

Here they come.

The Celtiberian list has no free choices, so every caped element is 3Bd and it's the core of the army. The other elements are 4 x Ps, Light Horse and the Cv Gen element

I am pretty happy with the outcome. They are a nice sight in the distance, on the battlefield, and I love the crowdy look this miniature scale gives to the single elements.

I also tried them on the field against my dear friend Alexander's Polybian Romans, on this stunning DBA table.

The Roman 4Bd are really menacing in this double line

Celtiberian scutarii (3Bd) chase Roman auxiliary troops (4Ax) near the enemy camp

The two main lines approach, but Roman infantry is heavily obstructed by the difficult hill and the hamlet

Light troops fight on the side. The Celtiberian General is hurrying up to support his forces!

We won in the end. It was a nice game indeed, really tactical and focused on crucial decisions especially affected by the hilly terrain in which my Celtiberians dwell. Take that you filthy Roman invader!

We plan a Hordes of the Things game soon with some fantasy elements added to our armies... a cool idea we had some time ago. I'm currently prepping the figures (always from Pendraken): more updates soon!

DBA projects for 2021

During 2021, me and my pard Michele of @frontlineminiaturist have some projects in mind for DBA 3.0. We want to expand our collections and explore some historical periods we love, in different scales. We plan to buy some armies this year (not all the armies on the lists... at least not yet), but above all we plan to have some good decent games, hopefully. The following are the projects we desire to fulfill at some point for historical ancient/medieval wargaming.

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Magna Graecia

1/72 scale; VII-II century BC; southern-central Italy

Pic from me and Michele when we went to inspect the battlefield in person

This is our first idea: a collection of armies which represents the different peoples of ancient Italy during the centuries of Republican Rome (and maybe at some point earlier). We started thinking about the First Punic War, especially the battles fought between Roman and Greeks in Sicily and peninsular Italy, then we included even the Etruscans and the Latin people, and obviously Gallic tribes in Italy. We still haven't bought the Carthaginians, but we're planning to do it soon. 1/72 scale was our first choice (I had some old miniatures since I was a kid), although during this first year of playing DBA we discovered that we mostly prefer other scales. However, 1/72 minis are very cheap and nice sculpted, so we're keep going (at least until we finish this project).

Armies (the ones we haven't buy yet are marked with *)

I/14c European Iron Age Army

I/30 Dark Age & Geometric Greek

I/33 Villanovan Italian

I/36 Italian Hill Tribes

I/52i Early Hoplite Italiot or Siciliot Army

I/55 Latin, Early Roman, Early Etruscan & Umbrian

I/57 Etruscan League

I/59 Tullian Roman

I/61 Early Carthaginian*

II/5g Later Hoplite Italiot Army

II/5h Later Hoplite Siciliot Army

II/8 Campanian, Apulian, Lucanian & Bruttian

II/9 Syracusan

II/10 Camillan Roman

II/11 Gallic

II/27 Pyrrhic*

II/32 Later Carthaginian*
II/33 Polybian Roman

PS: this idea was our first shot at DBA, so we tried to field most armies we can with least minis, i.e. for Italic people we use the same elements deployed as this or that army.

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The Empire strikes back

15mm scale; IX-XI century; southern Italy

This project expresses our shared passion for Dark Ages, and for Michele this period is also the major part of his professional interest, which focus on the Byzantine Empire. From IX to XI century, the Byzantines tried to strike back in Italy to maintain their territories against the Lombards, and later the Muslims and the Normans. We started thinking to this four armies, but maybe we will expand in the future. 15mm are the standard for DBA: we tried it and we liked it.

Armies (the ones we haven't buy yet are marked with *)

III/21b Italian Lombard
III/33 Early Muslim North Africa & Sicily*
III/52 West Frankish & Norman*
III/53 East Frankish*
III/65 Nikephorian Byzantine

Everyone knows that the Byzantines need to be purple to win

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Shadows of Rome

15mm scale; V century; Britannia

Mostly inspired by Balagan's wonderful ideas, we want to penetrate the mystic land of Arthurian Britannia, to taste the legend which feeds this ancient stories. This is a project we plan for Summer 2021, and we want to buy two armies at a time, one for each player, and paint it in the same amount of time like a competition, beat our heads off on the battlefield and then buy other two armies. We want to reach a combined total of six armies in the future.

The look of someone who wants to see where it goes

Armies (the ones we haven't got yet are marked with *)

II/81a Armies of the Dux Brit, the Com Lit Sax, Britannia Prima, Ambriosus, Riothamus or Arthur*
II/81b Vortigern's Army*

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I century BC

10mm scale; I century BC; Rome

Me thinking about a cool name for this project

The last one is a personal project of mine, because I love 10mm miniatures and Michele like to play with them, but not to paint them (he will change his mind). I haven't thought of a name yet, but this period is probably my favourite of ancient history, a really difficult period for the Roman Republic: civil wars, barbarians, revolts... everything a wargamer loves. Since we started I bought three armies, and I put on the list everything I want to have one day (no rush).

Armies (the ones we haven't buy yet are marked with *)

II/11 Gallic

II/19d Seleucid Army*

II/20c-d Ptolemaic Army*

II/37 Parthian*

II/39a Iberian Army

II/39b Celtiberian Army

II/45c Spartacus' Army in southern Italy*

II/47a Armies of the Cimbri or Teutones*

II/48 Mithridatic*

II/49 Marian Roman (ne servono due per fare le guerre civili!)*

II/51 Late Judaean*

II/53 Ancient British*

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A lot of projects. We're going to be safe for some time with planning, as a matter of fact.