Friday, June 13, 2014

Trojan War Chariots

In a belated Christmas gift exchange with Scott, I received one pack of three Trojan War chariots from Old Glory.  Now, a good friend once told me that the proper action was to get gift miniatures onto the painting table in a reasonable amount of time.  I am probably paraphrasing a bit.  I recall he actually suggested gift figures should be painted first.  Since our gift exchange did not occur until mid-March, getting this trio painted in under three months is well within the statute of limitations.  Don't you agree?  Besides, I have a DEEP painting queue!

While I have no planned Trojan War project, this pack of chariots looked like a fun diversion.  Scott has a Trojan War project simmering having recently ordered a number of BTD Trojans.  The BTD Trojans I saw in the bare metal were very nice and resulted in a crisper sculpt than were the Old Glory figures.  The Old Glory figures do possess much character, though.  Just look at the faces on some of these guys.  Would I paint more Trojans?  Certainly!  I do have a Biblical project to start consisting of a small box full of Wargames Foundry Canaanites.  Some day, I would enjoy digging into that.

Not knowing what rules Scott had in mind, I based each on a 1/2 sized Impetvs base, each of 60mm x 80mm.  Two chariots abreast will produce one regular Impetvs base. 






        

31 comments:

  1. Excellent painting and basing, Jonathan! I love the whole set. Maybe they'll be the gateway drug to the Biblical era?

    The other day, I was riding my mountain bike and jarring my spine. Can you imagine how harsh the ride would be in these little chariots?

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    1. I would rather be your runner Monty while you drive the light Chariot ;o)

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    2. Thanks, Monty! It should be evident by now, that I rarely need artificial stimulants to launch into another period!

      The ride would be rough, indeed. Having ridden in wooden wheeled wagons with no springs, I can vouch for the roughness of the ride. Hard to believe charioteers were not often bounced out of the cart!

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    3. :-)

      That is my thought exactly. Hit a rut and get bounced right out of the cart.

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  2. Nice work on these; I have a few of them too. They match up pretty well with Foundry, BTW. Best, Dean

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    1. Thanks, Dean! Good to know the Old Glory chariots fit in with Foundry since I have a few of the Foundry vehicles unassembled.

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  3. A very well chosen diversion you allowed yourself Jonathan.
    The minis are superbly painted and based - full of character.

    Which are you main projects for the rest of 2014, judging from your painting queue?

    Cheers,
    Sören

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    1. Thanks, Soren!

      Your question about 2014 plans is a tough one to pinpoint an answer. Let me think about that...

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    2. There is a box on the form for "all of the above."

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    3. :0) happy I'm not the only one suffering from the indecision of constant diverse inspiration. I was hoping to see more of your 28 mm Napoleonics though - my 1812 Borodino lead pile looks very starved of attention. Maybe we can fuel some cross-atlantic inspiration here..

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    4. Soren, after pushing out the Gendarmes, I added one unit of British foot and one unit of French horse into the painting queue. You will see more.

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  4. Biblical gateway is open, agree with Monty, this stunning work will be followed by other ones, I'm sure...splendid!

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    1. Thanks, Phil! I would like to make more progression on a few(!) other projects before I step full throttle into a new period.

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  5. He does look great! Biblical armies look great. I had a Trojan army once.....sigh.

    Christopher

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    1. I am becoming a fan of Biblical era armies too! Why did you part with your Trojans?

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    2. Nobody else was playing Biblical armies or interested in the period in my neck of the woods which left them as expensive dust collectors. I got offered a large sum of money for them and sold them.
      However, I might start them again, but I'm looking at 20mm(only biblical for this scale) as it's more practical as you need lots of figures and chariots which gets pricey.

      Christopher

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    3. Expensive dust collectors...I can understand that. Biblicals in 20mm sounds interesting. Plastic or metal?

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    4. I'm looking at metal Newline Designs http://newlinedesigns.co.uk/. At the site you need to look both at 20mm and 1/72nd listings.
      If I see some particularly good plastics elsewhere I might get some and mix the two.

      Christopher

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    5. The Newline figures look quite nice!

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  6. These are very nice and three months are not bad from gift to finished

    Ian

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  7. Biblical era is one of the most underrated wargaming period IMHO. Your chariot is great! And Foundry Canaanites are an awesome range.

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    1. Underrated, for sure. A period that I am increasingly becoming interested in fielding. When I see the Biblical collections of others, I am drawn towards the flame.

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  8. They're glorious, Jon! Clearly, the tempatation to start new projecvts is your... Achilles heel. :-)

    The recent post I did on the last of my Egyptian Chariots had a link to a really fascinating episode opf NOVA, where they recreated and test drove two Egyptian Chariots. Well worth viewing, perhaps whil;e painting. The design is much more clever than it seems at first, and, of course, the devil was in the details! Even the cut ouits in the body of thr chariots had a purpose, which onl;y became apparent when actually riding in and shooting from the vehicle. .

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    1. Thanks, Peter! Your Biblical projects are inspirational. Oh, and you get a RIMSHOT for your Achilles Heel reference!

      I meant to check out that NOVA episode. Thanks for the reminder.

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