Monday, February 10, 2014

From BenG: 20mm Gothic Archers & Roman Skirmishers (30 points)


From Ben:
Here's a couple more stands of light troops for my late antiquity project; 1/72nd scale Newline Gothic archers and Miniart Roman skirmish troops.
The Newline figures, while very well sculpted and cast, all show the same pose, bar one. The look a little uninspiring as a group, somehow. I've jazzed them up using the brush bristle technique I used last year for bowstrings, which, after a little cursing, I managed to pull off.


The Miniart figures have the opposite problem to the Newline figures, though. Wonderfully dynamic poses with woeful production values! I persist with them because they're the best in this scale for historical accuracy and realistic, dynamic poses. 


It's a pity Italeri can't pull off similar poses; some of their figures, while showing excellent production values, are cursed by bizarre poses and historical inaccuracies.

You've done a wonderful job on these Ben. I find it very interesting to read your commentary on the various manufacturers as I'm woefully ignorant of the plastic figure industry. Nonetheless, I understand what you're saying about the mono-pose of the archers, but I think you've done them great service in adding the bowstrings (and the addition of that one variant pose really tips the balance for the stand as a whole).

These Gothic archers and Roman skirmishers will give Ben 30 points, with a little added for his extra effort for stringing those little bows. You're now within sight of your Challenge  points target. Great work!

5 comments:

  1. I confess you have more patience than me. Bowstrings on 20mm figures! Great job.

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  2. Bowstrings at ANY scale is great stuff IMHO. You've done a lovely job on these with the painting too.

    Regards poses, can you not cut and re-position arms on some of the figures? Or is that too much effort for how you're approaching these chaps?

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    Replies
    1. Cheers, Millsy!

      I do experiment with my plastic figures from time to time, but the Newlines are metal and I'm not as confident with extreme surgery with them. If you stuff up a plastic figure it's not so much of a big deal as there's plenty more where it came from.

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  3. Lovely work Ben. The bowstrings certainly add something

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  4. Great work Ben! love the bowmen, very well done!

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Thanks for your comment! As long as you're not a spam droid I'll have it up on the blog soon. :)