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Got a nice delivery in the post today!



Sorry for the poor picture but there are 10 really well detailed Gladiators here, and one awesome lion. They also came with some free samples, so kudos go to WF. Very speedy delivery as well and some nice extra shields, would definitely use them again! Packaged could have been a bit better but there is no damage so I'm not complaining too much...

I will be doing a commission of these guys and will be documenting my work on here, but before I start I need a quick question answered: does anyone know how to paint a decent lion as I am totally flummoxed! Thanks in advance, this will be the centre piece so needs to look good!

Have never painted a lion unfortunately, but as with other animals perhaps the best advice is to look up some pics and use them as a reference for the colours?

Will be interested to see how these turn out - keep meaning to buy some for the Sparticus boardgame to use in place of the plastics you get in the box.

Nice set of models, I've been considering getting those at some stage too, so I'll be following your progress with real interest. As far as the lion goes, whenever I'm painting an animal, I look up a bunch of photo reference and go with that.

They are nice, well detailed models for a reasonably good price, so if you think you'd enjoy painting them or playing a new fun game with them, I'd say go for it! One slight hitch though is that mine were actually supplied with the wrong shields, but luckily at least some were Roman. They all fit fine but they're not completely historically accurate and I'm having to make some allowances and do some conversions to cater for this... For most this won't be an issue, but a) I'm a pedant b) the aim of these will be to have many varieties of different gladiators for educational purposes (as well as fun!) so this is a let down for me. Oh, and the flash on the lion was an EFFORT to clean up!

Anyway, enough complaining! Finished basing them on 2p coins (the lion took two! Very front heavy...) but got two to convert now.

Thanks for the advice on painting the lion, I have been Googling images of them and taken some references for WFB ones.

I've also been designing a game to use these with whilst I've been building, but more on that later...

Now a quick photo to prove I'm actually doing something



See you later, hopefully with more progress!

I have not been idle in my absence! A have done a few conversions to add more variety to the bunch (and make do with the shield issue mentioned earlier...). On the right is a Thracian whose sword I cut off and then I drilled through the hand and made a cool looking spear for him to make a Hoplomachus. The original curved sword was then given to the guy on the left who was a Murmillo, but I didn't stick his shield on so he had a spare hand that looked perfect for the conversion into a Dimachaerus so I then drilled and pinned the sword in place. This is one of my favourite types of Gladiator so I knew I wanted to do one at some point and I'm pretty happy with how he turned out!

Front


Back


Now I have base-coated everything and started to paint a bit, and I thought I'd start my adventure into 28mm Historicals nice and gently: by jumping in straight at the deep end with a Lion that I had no bloomin' idea how to paint! Anyway, here is a WiP and I'll let you decide how it looks! Will go on to add shading and highlights and work on some detail on the face, but also want to lighten up the main fur a bit... Any opinions?





Just realised what a bad picture this is... Will try and get a better one tomorrow but anything that stands out advice wise is most welcome as there are definitely people who know far more than me about this!

Also started working on some fun rules for these models to keep me occupied and to have some fun with them before they are shipped off, and they are slowly taking shape. Had some quick test battles this evening and all seems fine so far so I may be sharing them soon for any interested.

Thanks for perusing and be sure to check back for some (maybe) painted Gladiators!

Looks good.

Can we get a closer shot of the guy holding his helmet and holding up his sword? I can't tell from the photo what type of Gladiator he is.

Interesting thing about he Dimacheaurus, one of the bas-reliefs that has survived shows the Gladiator wielding a pair of curved daggers. Therefore, the Thraex sword conversion makes a lot of sense historically.

Cheers mate!

There are actually two holding up their swords, and here is a quick pic:



Really hard to photo black undercoated minis but I hope you can see! Will post another shortly to make it easier to see. [EDIT - better pictures now at bottom of post]. The one on the right is a Provocator, the only gladiator type to wear chest armour, revealed also by the leg armour, manica, and un-crested helm (sometimes with feathers).

The other is theoretically a Hoplomachus with the full leg bindings and plumed helmet, but as I already have a cool Hoplomachus he will be a Samnite as the helm design and plumage also fits here. What is interesting is that it is now widely accepted that the Hoplomachus type gladiator evolved from the Samnite due to racial tensions and being politcally correct as conquered lands became part of an Imperial community, which is the same as the Gallus becoming the Murmillo.

I didn't know much about the Dimachaerus' sword types before, but I'm glad my conversion fits as I am aiming to be as historically accurate as possible, even if by accident...!

I also managed to finish the Lion!









Hope you enjoy! C&C most welcome as I would like to improve! The base rim has since been touched up and the blood in the sand highlighted.

If you would like to see a full set of close up photos of the individual Gladiators that I have chosen and the free samples then check out my gallery where I have a whole load of photos that I don't want to clutter this thread with. http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/gallery-search.jsp?u=75128

Edit - sample pics of gladiators I am painting





Ten points for the first to spot the Historical error(s) made by Wargames Foundry!

Interesting. I had heard that the Samnite evolved into the Secutor, the guys who most commonly fought Retarius. However, your thoughts around the changing nature of who had citizenship lines up with what I had heard about the Samnite type. Any idea about when they stopped being a thing in the arena? I have no idea.

Interesting about the Gaullus as well. It is unclear in the records if the Gaullus was a distinctive type or just Gladiators from that region of the Empire/Late Republic.

Anyway, thanks for the close-ups. I find some of Foundry's labeling of types questionable at best. However, the Provocatuer model looks like something I want to add to my collection.

Also superb work on the lion.

I guess the Secutor could well have been another denomination. That's the thing i love about the Roman era and history in general: we can never really be sure of anything so there are so many theories and counter-theories in circulation that almost anything is possible!

Gladiators were generally a way to show off and just how great the Empire was by making their recently vanquished enemies fight to the death and be dishonoured, thus the names and fighting styles representing different races. So when place like Gaul become fully integrated into the Empire it is no longer socially acceptable or politically astute to carry on with dishonouring now loyal subjects, so the names were changed to avoid insult. My theory anyway...

The Gallus is an interesting one,with so many contrasting sources. There are references to them using lances and axes as well as Gladii, and debates over round or square shields. I think it was just a type made up of the prisoners from Gaul armed with suitable weapons and sent to fight, as this was generally before the days of the massive corporate games.

I generally forgive these sort of miniature companies, as long as they make good models! It can be a bit misleading sometimes though, especially for people looking to get into the era for the first time. That Provocator is nice though! Can't wait to paint him...

Thanks for the kind words as well!

I don't really care for the sculpt of that lion (and his "There's Something About Mary" mane) but you did an excellent job painting him up!

Thanks mate! Was really good fun to paint but I agree, the pose is nice and aggressive imo but the sculpt could be improved a touch, namely on the mouth and the front paws. Though he is really hard to handle games-wise as he protrudes so much from the footprint of the base!

The ears are also not aligned, but that's me being picky!

Another quick update: managed to get a Secutor done! Still need to base and varnish him but I thought I'd share some bad quality images that I snatched last night after i'd finished him. Note, the shield isn't actually glued on so excuse any awkward angles!

I decided on a nice green to be the stand-out colour for this one. Have been asked to have clear colour differentiation between each one so expect to see some dyes that won't have been around with the Romans. Don't worry though, I will NOT be doing purple!







Any comments or advice on something that sticks out is most welcome!

I'll admit I don't know enough about Gladiators to offer any advice or true constructive criticism, but they're coming along very nicely indeed, and you've done a great job on that lion!

Nice Secutor. Much better than my shabby efforts!

Thanks very much Azazelx, the lion did take a bloody age to finish!

Thanks Easy, but you can hardly say your efforts are shabby! Your project was what really drove me to look for more historical Roman stuff to do!

Not much is going to get done this week as I have lots of things to organise... Hopefully an update will appear soon though...