Prufrock's Wargaming Blog

Prufrock's Wargaming Blog

Monday, March 14, 2016

First Spartans

Have finally completed a few more of the many hundreds of 15mm Greek figures I have about the place. Here we have the first 48 Spartans. This is a gray undercoat, block paint, acrylic dip, highlight job. Pretty quick and easy. I do have decals for the shields, but after considering the amount of hassle it would take to apply them I thought doing the lambda freehand was a better idea.

Figures are Xyston. Very nice to paint, though a bit of a pain to prep.







For my own records, here is the painting process.

Spartan unamoured hoplites:

Undercoat gray.
Do hair and beards with dark brown.
Tamiya smoke on helmets, spear tips and any greaves.
Use Tamiya black line on shields to bring out edging.
Block in tunics with crimson or carmine.
Block in flesh.
Shield backs and footwear brown.
Spear shafts in a different shade of brown.
Base green.
Clean up any spills on flesh or tunic areas.
Do belts and scabbards.
Antique bronze on helmets, shields, greaves.
Antique silver on spear tips, swords.
Brush on brown acrylic 'dip'. Clean up excess with kitchen paper.
Highlight tunics with bright red, highlight flesh on faces, elbows, knees.
Three step lamba on shelds: Deep red, red, bright red.
Highlight bronze areas with gold.

Armoured hoplites:

Use the same process except that the linen armour is highlighted white, washed with a black dip, and then highlighted again. I wasn't happy with how the linen came out; I really need to find a better white.






18 comments:

  1. Very nice!

    I find it interesting that you paint the hair before the skin - my tired eyes prefer the opposite.

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    Replies
    1. I am in your camp, Greg; skin first and then hair.

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    2. I usually do skin first, too. In this case though the hair is quite long and the faces are bearded, so it saved a little time to do it the other way round and dab in the skin afterwards.

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  2. Very nice, Aaron! Xyston makes some great figures. Looking forward to seeing pictures of the finished products.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, John. I have another 200 or so Xyston to paint up, but the thought of all that drilling and gluing before I can start is a little daunting!

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  3. Impressive and beautiful job on these Xyston...

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  5. 48 Greeks in one batch is a large undertaking. Good for you for taking it on and finishing them. They sure look good en masse, don't they?

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    Replies
    1. Cheers, Jonathan. I did these in a batch of 32 and another of 16. They actually don't take long to do at all once you get going.

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  6. Xyston are a pain in the backside and cumbersome in terms of attaching wire spears/pikes and shields to the figures...but, after cleaning/preparation of the figures, Xyston figures look great after painting...

    Your Spartans look Fantastic! well done Aaron!

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    Replies
    1. Agree on both counts, Phil! You've done many beautiful Xyston armies, so you must know it very well :)

      Cheers,
      Aaron

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  7. Excellent Spartans Aaron - Xyston are great figures.

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  8. That's a great looking mass unit. I can't wait to see the several hundred other ones painted as well.

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  9. Fabulous work on these. Although I don't have any, I can see that Xyston makes some quality sculpts.

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