Part of the very recent finishing spree was three units of Numidian Light Cavalry in 20mm and based for Impetus. Right behind finishing them was an e-mail from Harfield's informing me the balance of my order is now in stock and would cost just over £20. So a complete army for about £40. Of course I say this with tongue pushed firmly in cheek as we all know they are never complete but at least it's complete for now.
I found these a joy to paint, possibly because the low levels of flash or possibly down to the lack of much furniture on the horses and little more to paint on the riders. This meant easy to clean and fast to paint. Either way I enjoyed the exercise and looking forward to yet more.
The PVA pooled in the centre of the bases keeping away from the edges so needs a thicker application on the edges which I will do when finishing off the next batch. Tried to add clumps of pale grass but the finish is too random so I think it will be removed as adding enough to make it work would be too much work. The shield with the women with raised hands is of the Carthaginian Goddess of fertility Tanit, the Numedians adopted the Carthaginian Gods which seemed rather civil of them.
I like this shot that Cath took, brings out the Miniature Paints 84 Chestnut Brown really well (inked with Vallejo 73.200 Sepia Shade as is the tunics. The hardest to get right was the flesh tone, I used Coat d'arms 216 Negro but then washed a watered down version with enough white in it to show through when washed on. This gave a little depth and added definition. Sadly that does not come through on the pictures.
I also like this shot with a unit in the distance. Cath wanted to show off the detail of the tunics and this pic comes closest to showing some of that flesh tone I was banging on about. I also feel compelled to inform you that my dear wife was unimpressed by the lack of gender of my horses, seemed rather put out, should I be worried?
As I mentioned about a month ago I had bought a couple of boxes of plastics just to try them out in preparation to starting a army to face off against Barry's slowly expanding armies. Having not even decided an army it was always a bit of a punt. More important was the experience of painting the figures as the last time I painted plastics was around the age of 16 and really and in Enamels, so not really comparable. My first mistake was really just buying them, the price on the box was £4.99 whilst Harfields sell the same boxes for a little over £3 but it was only a couple of boxes so no harm done. Sure when I know exactly what I want it will be through these guys that I go.
So I have started work on the one Roman Auxiliaries pack number 8065 so what are my first observations?
Detail Quality. The detail is not as crisp as metal but it's there. Some area's such as the bottom of the chainmail vests is thin but other like the necktie is really crisp. Overall not bad at all, better than some metal castings not as good as most.
The flash is mostly reserved for the mould lines and it took me awhile to get used to how easy it is to cut away and get the touch right so all I would take away is the flash. As in some metals some of the figures have flash running through the faces, this is a real pain but what can you do.
Pose. Nice mix of standing and action. If you use the whole box you will have some great mixed posed troops in the process of engaging the enemy but also a unit or two that look like they don't want any part of the battle. The figures are cheap enough just to bin the less warlike poses I guess but are too wooden to make good casualties, though I might try a little heat experiment to double them up etc.
Problems. My box of these were missing two sprue, I did not count at the time but I should have had 45 figures but received 35, so down by 10. It seems this is a bit of a problem as Barry recently bought a box of HaT that had a Prussian Naps sprue in the box instead of the correct one. Given this was just test painting it was no big deal but a concern given the small test pool all having issues. Next problem was all down to a lack of prior knowledge. The figures come with separate spears and shields that need gluing in place. First I bought Plastic weld which had no effect on the parts what so ever. Next was normal plastic cement that held a little before pinging off. In the end I bought a glue gun and after about 20 minutes of trial had enough control to not make a total mess of it. Really not ideal so I really need to work something out for later. I plan to try harder plastic figures which should stick better and are easier to paint.
Overall the painting of them whilst not as pleasurable than metal was fine. I could have got them done quicker if I had got the gluing down in one go but I can paint them fairly fast so getting an army together should not be an issue aside from picking it, and getting it into the schedule as all other painting is off whilst I get the WWII stuff sorted (well maybe get my camp done for FoG).
Overall I was pleased with the result. I really like the mix of poses and as I have not stuck to rigid lines they have the look of about to make contact. Whilst I copied the box art for these two units (I did not research at all for this!!) the shields are missing two little half moons next to the boss, this is because I did not trust myself not to make a mess of them and I really liked the results I had achieved on the shields as it was. Shown are two units based for Impetus.
Conclusion.
Not 100% happy with HaT, the shields did not fit the plugs on the figures hands but I did like the idea of having two so you could vary the pose. Also the difficulty of gluing was a pain but looking at the price and range HaT are still a good buy. But even so I will try my hand at a few other ranges and see what I come up with. Right now I plan to just get what I have worked through some and then go after my 20mm army. In the meantime I will happily continue to play with Barry's figures.
