Demons of Darkness - 3705 the Chariot of the Apocalypse.

By RAFM circa 1990.

And mostly painted back then...

Probably took 20 minutes or so to finish off after a delay of nearly 30 years!

The reason is simple - never really happy with how it looked. Still not 100% but felt I really did need to get it finished! I've photographed it before glossing and basing as I think it will look better now!

I've got quite a few odd models/units that can be descibed as orphans - in the banking sense of old neglected accounts - perhaps I'll be able to gradually bring them back into service over the next few months.

'S' Range Sudanese

A lot of my purchases off eBay are of largish groups of figures, and/or ones that need a lot of work such as painting or stripping/painting.

Which still leaves plenty of small purchases. In this case a unit of 'S' Range Sudanese archers for the Nubian component of the Egyptian army. Only 10 figures, they were the major component of a recent buy, and all they really needed was some slight retouching on the legs, glossing and basing.

Not sure which Division they are going to join, Ptah probably has enough of these - could end up simply attaching them to the Pharaoh's chariot unit as a sort of guard unit?

Sanity break - Imperial Rome

Couple of lots of Lovecraft, so time for something a bit more 'normal'.

Romans are one of those strange armies as far as I'm concerned - never seem to get round to finishing Roman armies, nearest I've ever managed to get to a full metal Roman army is my Irregular force. Generally, I manage an odd unit. Having said that, I am quietly making my way through a Garrison force - for example, here and here.

 So lot are recent ones from Harry, a mix of S and early PB - with the Romans there was a lot of similarity and some early PBs were simply re badged S Range.

Much simplified shield pattern - nice and quick to paint.

Likewise, the back view. One of the quickest units I've painted in a long time.

Command group - suppose this lot is the 1st cohort as it's got the Eagle. Which means it should be double strength but...

Ghasts and Shoggoths

The ghasts are RAFM, the shoggoth Mirliton - for some reason I don't have a RAFM shoggoth.

Again, virtually pure drybrushing so very quick to do.

Very simple colour schemes!

This figure is a bit different from the Lovecraftian description - hoofed kangaroo-type legs? No forehead? - not quite, personally prefer to use them as desert predators rather than underground types.

Paint job is simply black undercoat dry brushed with flat earth then tan earth. I originally thought about another layer of sand but decided against it.

Basically black iridescent slime with lots of temporary greenish eyes... well, pure black a bit boring and I went for eyes with a more 'human' aspect... hopefully a bit more 'creepy'.

Again flat earth over black but more black left. Then tan earth then a light brushing of an orange/flesh mix to give that orange 'glow'. Looks very effective.

Cthulhu and Tsuthoggua

There's a need to get on with more Newhaven stuff, especially the major monsters. On that basis, had a go at painting up Cthulu and Tsuthoggua. My problem with these is that I'm never sure how to do - colour schemes I've tried in the past just never looked right.

This time, though, I'm actually happy with the results!

In the photos, Cthulu looks better than Tsuthoggua.

Tsuthoggua looks better in 'life' - perhaps I should have turned the model to one side slightly? The figure is by RAFM.

Virtually all a matter of layer upon layer drybrushed. Tsuthoggua is a difficult subject because of the fact that descriptions vary. A 'lazy' god, this one will probably not do much in the way of direct evil, but lots in the way of directed evil.

Not sure who made this figure - I thought it was RAFM but not in the RAFM catalogue. Doesn't seem to be Mirliton either.

Probably (certainly?) the best known of Lovecraft's creatures, this one should definitely cause mayhem in it's own right - but this could mean the end of the world?

At the end of the day, the question is always going to be: 'Do you read Sutter Cane?'

Assyrian chariot finished

Well - sort of. I've followed my usual routine of not bothering with reins, but I did replace the reins on Cyrus's chariot so...

Finished chariot. Not as good at detailing as I used to be. Not sure whether I should have had the horses further back/closer to the chariot body.

Archer has to be a general or something, can't have this chariot as one of the crowd.

Front view - nothing else to say.

Horses better than expected - thought they might look a bit too plain.

Crew armour basically lots of dots of steel on black background - takes time.

Not as good as I used to be at doing shields

Must admit I like the way the chariot turned out.

Likewise, wheels make a good match in the overall colour scheme.

I've posted this on labels as Minifigs... Minifigs crew and horses. Strangely haven't credited Garrison for the chariot wheels!

Next up, seems a good time to do the Review for my Assyrians.

Chariot interim view

Got started on the Assyrian chariot, this is how it's looking end of day 1.

Assyrian chariot - OK, Why not?

Try to complete it, that is. There were 2 red ones, so might as well go for one of them...

Two things though. Firstly, the wheels... replace them with Garrison. The axle on the chariot is wider than the chariot wheel hole so had to drill it out a bit. Second, needed to drill a hole so I can put a chariot pole through it.

Initial mock up showing 4 horse version and new chariot wheels.

Basic chariot - took a while to decide where to drill, then a bit longer to decide to do it!

One question - 2 horse or 4 horse? Original is based on Funken which is a 2 horse 3 crew chariot.

Having said that, I think the 4 horse version will look better.

Overall though I think it looks quite promising.

Greeks and Assyrians and Egyptians...

Or, recent purchase of unpainted figures from Harry.

Didn't want to post anything until I'd painted some of them - now done.

S Range Greek hoplites. I'm losing count of the different S Range Greek hoplites types there are considering how few there are supposed to be.

I'm using them for the Atlantean army and going for 3 16 strong units - mainly because the original Atlantean army already has a 16 strong/4 element pike unit. Actually I used to field my pikes in this size unit with my Macedonians - very flexible. Sea theme of course - this lot are supposed to be octopii. Or octopuses. Whatever. Like these, must do more hoplite shields using this motif.

This lot are supposed to be turtles... can't say I consider this to be a success...

And this was the first unit painted. In retrospect, would have preferred to use crabs for the design.

Another Pharaoh's chariot. I have a few of these. May need to dip it in Dettol for a while.

These came with those fantastic tin plate Assyrian chariots. I don't expect to use them with those though - lots and lots of uses for chariot horses.

Another thing you can never have too many of(?)... Spartans. 

Plus lots of other assorted Greek, Assyrian and Egyptian infantry.

A Garrison Persian cavalry Review

Having added 3 squadrons of cavalry to the army I thought it would be nice to see all my Garrison ethnic Persian cavalry in one place - ethnic Persian so ones like Theban, Egyptian or Assyrian cavalry are excluded, although ethnic is being used very loosely as I have added Scythians!

Originally my Garrison Persian cavalry force only numbered about 60 figures. Attrition over the years reduced this so the low point was probably nearer 40! Two things changed. Firstly, buying Garrison has meant casting and painting large numbers myself, secondly buying Harry's collection was an immediate expansion. So this Review has something like 330 figures in it...

This shows the state of the Garrison component in June 2012. Some of these units are themselves no longer in existence.

Today there are a few more figures. I've just about given up trying to get an angle for the frontage - I can't step back far enough.

Right flank light cavalry all by me, including a converted squadron of Scythians. Need more Scythians.

The 6 main squadrons of spear/shield cavalry, all cast and painted by me - 72 figures.

This picture shows a right mixture. The right flank Spear/shield cavalry are more for second line service - the front squadron are early 70's survivors, those behind are ex-Harry. Then there is a block of 4 squadrons of 12 Spear/bow/shield cavalry on unarmoured horses - useful as Xerxes or later Colonist cavalry up to about 420BCE. At the back are some survivors of my original cataphract unit on half armoured horses , some camels and a line of spear/bow cavalry acting as 'fillers'.

Together with that 'filler' unit, a total of 5 line spear/bow squadrons next to some ex-Harry spear/bow mounted as light cavalry. I would look on these as Middle/Late Period  - say, 420-336(?)

My ex-Harry light cavalry.

The Guard squadron at the front are from the time of the March of the 10,000 and represent Cyrus's bodyguard. However, the unit had a fraught beginning and there were only 9 survivors from an original 15 - hence the additional general's element stuck in the middle. These Greek-style Persians should really be the basis of most Persian 'Regular' units up to the time of Alexander - so need more on both armoured and unarmoured horses. Perhaps that should be my main area to concentrate on this year?

The front row Guards unit is one I generally use for early Persian armies - ie, Cyrus the Great. Need more of these units - I like the figure. There is another element in green robes I did for a DBA army, just didn't include it here. Perhaps I should have a mould made with some head variations?

Which basically means I've enough cavalry for Xerxes and Co, it's just the very early and very late armies I need more of...

er... I mean, it's just the very early and very late armies I WANT more of. Easy to get mixd up between the two.