Sunday 8 August 2010

Coh. I Raetorum


So here is my latest (clickable) cohort of Auxilia, on patrol in the countryside.   These are Raetians (from the area covered by modern Switzerland/Southern Germany); I've painted them up as Cohors I Raetorum because this unit ended up as part of the British garrison.  They are armed with the gaesum, a barbed spear with a metal shaft, becuase I wanted to paint a unit that looked distinctive compared to my other units.


The miniatures are mostly lightly converted BTDs and Foundry Caesarians (I'm rather proud of their greenstuff  shorts), with a Crusader tribune.   Terrain is by my mate John Smillie.  

Below are the final 6 stages of the painting process.  I'm really pleased that I managed to finish them in 10 sessions, however some of them were quite long sessions!  This is extremely fast work by my standards.

Session 5 - Helmets- paint and highlight
Session 6- Paint spearshafts, scabbards, baldricks, cloaks plus highlight
Session 7- Paint spearheads, highlight, borders on cloaks, silver decorations, swordhilts, crest on tribune.  Wash with Army Painter Softtone
Session 8- Gloss spray varnish minis, selectively matt varnish minis.  Attach shields, glue minis to base
Session 9- Texture base,
Session 10- Paint bases, weathering on shields, stick on Silflor tufts, static grass

14 comments:

James said...

Nicely done, again. You can never have too many auxilia in my opinion.

Your friend's terrain is luverly too.

Sire Godefroy said...

What James said: Auxilia are the real Roman's legions.
Good job on the miniatures, both conversions and painting. Especially like the Celtic trumpet, adds a nice flavour. What keeps baffling me is that cuckoo clock shaped signum...

Cheers
SG

Consul said...

Agreed - the terrain looks awesome. Particularly those hay stacks!

Looks like their cloaks need a bit of shading? Perhaps a bit of army painter could do the trick?

Consul.

Consul said...

I'm glad SG also picked up on the cuckoo clock ;)

BigRedBat said...

Hi Consul, they do already have a little army painter soft shade on the cloaks; I suppose I could have gone a tone heavier. Might revisit.

BigRedBat said...

Hi SG, the extra standard is a humourous addition; the Raetian capital became modern-day Augsberg, where the cuckoo clock was invented.

BigRedBat said...

Consul, I'll mail you later about the game on Thursday.

Sire Godefroy said...

Okay, didn't expect that twist. Nice touch. Although if the cuckoo clock was really invented in Augsburg (of which I'm not too sure), I would have reserved this for one of the Cohortes Vindelicorum. ;-)
Anyway, never mind, I'll shut up and look forward to your next unit.

Anonymous said...

Nice figs Simon and its good to see the Auxilia being in the limelight rather than those namby pamby legions.

BigRedBat said...

I do love Auxilia; it is easy to imagine the different units having national characteristics, and with a bit more variety of gear.

I feel I still have a few more cohorts in me... beforee I get around to the missing cavalry.

Secundus said...

Hi BRB, I've undercoated a group of Batavians but can't seem to find the time to start them....hopefully I will be able to join you with your Auxiliary posts. Secundus.

Gabriele Campbell said...

I thought this post from the POV of a Raetian soldier linked from the main post about the Saalburg, but it doesn't, so here it is. In case you haven't browsed those huge archives I collected ver 5 years of blogging. :)

And here's a wee bit o' fun.

BigRedBat said...

Hi Gabriele, I enjoyed the Raetian piece, and the rest of your blog; which is HUGE! I thought I'd made a few posts, but nothing like yours. All interesting stuff, too.

The playmobile minis are nice, I've seen them before. IIRC there are 3 legions worth, at different museums in Germany. I wonder who dusts them all? ;-)

Gabriele Campbell said...

Thank you, BRB. I don't know how my blog grew so huge; I only realised what monster it is when I tried to reorganise the sidebar. I have too much time and way too many photos in my archives. *grin*