Monday, 16 November 2015

Velites (a wip)

Front (ish) view
I got the idea for these gladiators from a 28mm range (sorry I've forgotten which) , but they are basically Roman Velites (Light skirmish infantry) and are eminently suitable imo as, light gladiators either for fighting other gladiators or against animals.









Fairly boring view
The figures are from "HAT" and purchased off Evil-bay though I can't recollect the price I paid for them. I've bought a lot (read too many) of these 54mm HAT sets and they've ranged in price from 99p to about £8 for sixteen figures , which isn't all that bad.







Side view (debatable whether or not it's interesting)
As per the velites in the Roman army (which is, after all, what they're intended for) they're equipped with a shield, javelins and a gladius.
The wolf-skin headgear seem to be covering a helmet which is only just visible on the figures.
Unusually for these sets there are only three variations on the four sprues, two variations of the javelin armed figure and a single pose for the solely sword-armed figure.



The other side. view (*yawn)
The wolf-skins were a pain to paint, but I'm fairly happy with the way they're coming along.
I've still some high;lighting to do and a bit of overall "tidying up" on all the figures-  and of course the bases to finish off in line with all the others.








Really boring rear view
I've started four pairs of figures, each with a uniquely coloured shield, basically red *shown( yellow, green and blue, with the tunics each having a corresponding stripe along their bottom edge.
You'll notice that this javelin armed figure has a single javelin behind his shield even if he did start off with two (an accident whilst cutting off the little flash that was present) 
Final view (*phew)





The idea of having the figures in pairs is to represent a single gladiator, one while he still has javelins and the second when he's used or disposed of his javelins and has drawn his sword  - a very quick visually pleasing representation.









That's it for this week, next week I'll have hopefully recovered from the lurgy I caught whilst "down South" and be able to finish off the four pairs of these figures to show next week. Sometime in the future I'll be showing all the other various boxes of "HAT" figures that I've bought and sharing the ideas I have for their use.
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6 comments:

  1. Simon Quinton 16 November 2015 at 15:06

    Nice work and the price is great for the size of the figures. :)

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    Replies
    1. Zabadak16 November 2015 at 15:56

      Thanks Brummie, the figures have sufficient detail to make them a level above toys but at a toy price.

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  2. Anonymous17 November 2015 at 03:15

    Cool.
    My intention is to try a 'handicap' match with two velites versus a medium or heavy gladiator. That is when I ever get around to starting my project.
    What rules are you using, if I may ask?

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    Replies
    1. Zabadak17 November 2015 at 07:02

      Thanks for the comment Ray, much appreciated.
      I'm currently using a variation of the old Avalon Hill "Galdiator" game rules - I;ve taken bits from "The General", "Billings variations" and the excelllent "Coliseum" variation from George Mendoza.= alll of these, save for the original rules can be found on BoardGameGeek as a download.
      My campaign rules are mainly taken form an article in "The General" that combined "Gladiastor" and Circus MAximus", but with many of my own amendments.
      My #1 son and I are still trialling many of the rule variations in the Mendoza variant and either adopting or discarding them for the originals or amending them to suit the game we want.
      I've played a single velite (as above) against a heavily armoured opponent and it's tough going, but doable with the rules we use

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    2. Anonymous17 November 2015 at 07:19

      Thanks for the information. I'll see if I can locate and download them.
      I've two rules books at present. Jugula, and that one Black Hat Gaming now has (I can't remember the name). Both have some nice bits I'm keen to use, but until I've played them both I don't know which set I'd prefer.

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    3. Zabadak17 November 2015 at 15:34

      All the rules I've managed to get a hold of don't seem to have much in the way of skill, but I haven't seen jugula yet.
      AH's Gladiator rules have a bit of a "poker" element to them which I really like

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