Painting Challenge Submission 6 - 10mm Imperial Roman Infantry

10mm Roman troops from Pendraken - ready to move out and defend the Empire!

 

Some more painting for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  Efforts on my 28mm Byzantine painting efforts have halted for now as I managed to run out of some key supplies...but like many folks out there, I'm hardly ever short of lead to paint, even after all of the hobby disruption in my house-move last summer. So here is a new project - some Imperial Roman Legionnaires in 10mm. These castings are all from the excellent Pendraken, and they are based for "Warmaster Ancients" - there are three units of infantry and one command stand.

Close-up of the first unit.

Painting Romans is a new thing for me, but I have always been interested in the setting. The Painting Challenge has always been a particular spur, as so many of its participants have done (and are doing) very cool projects set in the time of the ancient Roman Republic and Empire. AHPC's 11th edition is no exception - Matt has been trying to inspire folks with a "Rome and It's Enemies" side duel, and there has been some fun submissions there. I promised Matt in a couple of comments that I would do SOMETHING to pitch in on that, so I thought now would be a good time to test the waters and paint some of the 10mm Pendraken Romans I ordered on a whim as part of a carefully considered and well-thought-out plan last summer. 

Close-up of the second unit.

There are many sub-settings within the ancient Roman world. I know many players enjoy the earlier era, and the wars with Carthage and others. But for me, "Rome" is the legion at the height of its power, the soldiers in their segmented armour, carrying square shields and pila, facing down the Germans, the Dacians, the Parthians and the Sassanids (and many, many others). The later Roman era is very appealing too...but I started with troops from the time of the Empire at its height.

Close-up of the third unit.

A little closer...sorry it is blurry but there has been no light in Northern Ontario for three months...

I really like the "Warmaster" rules, and so the "Warmaster Ancients" was an easy choice - the units look lovely without having to be too large, and I have had fun with the rules over the years playing the original version of the game set in GW's now-vanished "Old World". I thought it would be great to use for ancient gaming as well.

A Roman command base.

There are three "units" here - could be cohorts, could be whatever, depending on your imagination and scaling of the game. I know the colour red is cliche with Romans, but I wanted these first units to "pop" on the table, even from a couple feet away, and nothing says "Roman Legion" like red. As I add other units I will start to vary the colours. The shields have just enough of a freehand squiggle on them to imply a deeper/more ornate pattern without one actually being there. I will vary the colour of these on other units in the future too.

Time to march!

I can't say enough good stuff about the quality of these Pendraken sculpts. Sure, they are small, but damn, I enjoy painting them - they are brilliantly sculpted and well cast...little details still present and you are able to take some time with each one if you wish. Maybe not the most efficient approach, but I enjoy it. 

So that's one more project to wander along...thanks for reading! Stay sane everyone.