Work in progress ...

I've been on another roll, making quite a bit of progress with a number of elements of my burgeoning Roman cohort, though nothing is actually finished yet.

Work in progress: The two new dromedarii are ready for decals and shading.

Work in progress: The scorpiones are based but detailing isn't finished.

Work in progress: The medicus vignette is coming along. I really hope Warlord release a sprue of kneeling legionaries ...

Work in progress: My first turma of cavalry: 1st Corps figures with the addition of a Warlord attic helmeted head for the decurion.

Work in progress: Actually no progress to speak of, just four more standing archers ready to have their bows strung ...

Roman medicus

I got excited about the idea of a Roman surgeon (medicus to you) vignette long before Warlord Games released theirs last week.

I have a little group in mind, with a kneeling legionary watching over the surgeon while he's working (though I do realise that these chaps probably didn't work so close to the fighting). These figures are now primed and ready for painting.

The extra dromedarii arrived too, and these are underway. I am doing these very carefully since they have to match the eight I already have.

Work in progress: The pose of the kneeling legionary has changed slightly since I took this picture, since I felt holding the pilum behind the shield like that didn't look quite right.

Some things I’ve learned ... some things I’ve done ...

I've learned a couple of things this week: one due to the amount of time it takes me to get preparation work done, and the other is Sandy Paste.

Gesso
I've had lots of interruptions (life, work) which have slowed down my preparation work. The result is that I have a number of figures that have been primed with gesso waiting on painting – and they've been waiting on painting for a few weeks. But ... I have noticed that the gesso seems to go really hard, and looks and feels as if it it may be better for the extra drying time.

I really like gesso. It does take longer to prime figures (then again a decent application of spray primer always took a while), but I can use it inside, any time of day, any weather. Also it seems to fill small gaps quite well ... it certainly improves the fit of my 1st Corps riders and their mounts.

Sandy paste
After reading quite a bit on the internet forums about Vallejo's Sandy Paste I took the plunge and bought 200ml. I've only done one base with it so far (that little command vignette below) but I love it. The really good feature is that I can apply it with a brush – even a small brush – which makes getting around Roman caligae much easier ...

New recruits
My 1st Corps auxiliary cavalry new recruits arrived this morning ... and a sword blade and a horse’s tail came adrift immediately. A little time spent drilling and pinning and gluing has done the trick. I've primed the last two figures bringing my first turma of calvary up to full strength (ten figures) ... now they are beginning to look the part – it's funny how much better ten figures look than eight.

Figure scale

I've been struggling with figure scale for a while ... you know, how many actual men a single miniature represents.

So far my centuries are 24 figures, representing 80 real legionaries. That's three point three recurring real legionaries per miniature. Which is a bit untidy ... so rounding down to three-to-one gives a slightly under-strength century of 72 legionaries.

Moving on to mounted units, a turma of cavalry may have been 30 men led by a decurio. So the men:figure ratio works well here giving a table-top unit of 10 figures.

Therefore I need to add two figures to each of my cavalry turmae (I’ve just ordered EIR22a from 1st Corps) and I’ll need two more dromedarii from Warlord, which I'll order when their medicus becomes available.

That’s better!