Tuesday 19 December 2017

A Biblical Refurbishment (project)

In one of those rare moments between fighting historical games, I wanted to do some painting but found I had no unpainted lead in house. You see, I am at a fortunate point with the hobby that all my collections are painted so this frees me to pursue the fighting of battles, design campaigns, and if needed write variant rules to use with DBA 3. 

After the recent sale of a dozen armies, I kept stumbling across a box of Biblical extras from collections which had long ago been sold. I had seriously thought about trashing the lot as these were all painted in a very old style. After taking stock of the figures I had enough to make three Biblical armies. If you are acquainted with Old Glory figures, you are aware many of their figures have weapons held close to their bodies or head. Cutting the weapon free can be done, but this requires a good dose of patience. 


The project took about two weeks to complete, but as you can see from the photos, the extra work was worth it. All javelins and bow are positioned to make them look ‘lively’ and each army is painted with a theme colour as the figures are basically identical.


I/6a Early Bedouin
Their skin tone is bronzed in comparison to the other two. Their kilts are darker compared to the others and I have given them leather headbands.

Before:

After: 


I/7a Early Libyan
Skin tone is a lighter shade than the Bedouin. Cloaks are painted in solid colour with contrasting trim. Feathers are all white with the exception of the chieftain’s element which are red. There are extra bow elements if one wishes to use the option.

Before:


After: 


I/15 Later Amorite    
These represent a wealthier group of warriors and I have therefore painted them with lighter coloured kilts, the majority of which are bleached. Javelins have been converted to war axes and sickle swords to make five elements of blade. The blue serves as a theme colour appearing on the trim and waist band. The platform car was given extra mules from the Colonial baggage set and the car is constructed from a limber covered with triplex wood.


In the two weeks it took to refurbish these I have placed an order for Black Hat Old Kingdom Egyptians which dates the collection to a pre-chariot era. I have given some thought to expanding the collection by adding Nubian and Hyksos, but this idea will be placed on the back burner for the moment. 

After painting the Old Kingdom Egyptians, I will construct an appropriate looking hamlet. I found the Assassin's Creed Origins a good source of inspiration. 

Cheers, 

3 comments:

  1. Hi, didn't know about these. If I were in buying mode I would probably grab some for variety in some of my biblical units. I suspect that if the Black Hat figures are the old Gladiator figs they may be a bit larger than these. See you are looking to build a hamlet. Recommend mounting board- thick card used for picture framing. Local framing shop might be willing to give you offcuts for free. I have a city build on the Warfactory site of a pal which might give you some hints. Good luck. Al

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  2. Alan,

    Thank you for the comments.

    I have just received the Black Hat Old Kingdom Egyptian figures this weekend and can state they are the same size. Their bases are slightly thinner than those of Old Glory, but height and shape are similar.

    I have used poster board in the past (25 years ago) but found 1.2mm triplex a better option. I use a mix of white glue and sand for ground work which would warp poster board even if undercoated.

    The buildings would be individually based to allow their removal as troops enter the built-up area. Here is one example of the method I shall be using.

    http://dbagora.blogspot.nl/2017/07/the-witcher-project-white-orchard.html

    Cheers,

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  3. Hi - I used flat-roofed mud-brick, but I do like that method for reed buildings. I use smooth latex masonry paint, to which fine sand is added to give ground texture. Guess that triplex is a very thin ply? That will be stronger than mine, but I don't tend to get warping as long as I don't use too thick a layer. Like you, I have mine on bases, but the flat roofs mean that I can put abase or 2 of figures without removing the building. For me, having them on bases means I can vary the configuration on a base and change the building layout for variety. The reed buildings are very nice.

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