Trojan Army and project finished

They are now all painted, so for your viewing pleasure I present the latest figures and then the two armies arrayed for battle.

Ares on the rampage!

How rampage-y is he? Just ask this poor bloke at his feet!

Better late than never! The last unit of spearmen ready for battle.

Everyone turn... a shot from another angle without the shields obscuring them.

The Trojan naturists advance to the battle, armed with javelins and high self-esteem.

Another look at the poor guy who wasn't looking when Ares fell over. Lots of fights happened over the bodies of dead warriors, so he will make a useful objective marker.

The face that sunk a thousand ships! Helen of Sparta... errr, Troy... errr, I mean Sparta - I wish she would make up her mind!

The battle in full swing!
Diomedes: 'Let me at Ares!'
Ares: Éeeek!
Hektor: ''Ýou'll have to get through me first!'
Ares: 'My hero!'

Vulture's eye view of the battlefield.

Achaeans advance. In the temple ruins can be seen the blurry form of Helen watching on as men die for no other reason than she can't keep it in her pants! (That's a bit unfair - but I don't see the real culprit - Paris - anywhere around)

Odysseus: "My wandering at sea will be a better read!"
Aeneas: "No, mine will! And my ancestors will found Rome!"
Odysseus: "Well mine will... um... screw it - you're going down blondie!"

The clash of the titans. Well, technically they are the grandchildren of titans, but close enough.

Nate

The Trojan Army - the first half

Finally I finished off the first two units and heroes for the Trojan Wars OGAM (Of Gods and Mortals - the rules put out by Osprey Publishing) project.

Aeneas and Hektor.
Aeneas: 'If you can't win today, make sure your ancestors build a powerful city that teaches those Greeks a lesson.'
Hektor: 'Like that would ever happen. You do have some dumb ideas, Aeneas.'

'Come on boys. We're richer and prettier than those Greeks!'

'Everyone in battle formation? Wha...?! Nudites - did you forget your armour again?! Get in the back row before you get your todger chopped off! Something wrong with that boy...'

'OK lads - aim for their heels!'

I wanted to be able to differentiate between the Trojan army and the Greeks and decided one way to do this would be to make the Trojan army more colourful. So lots of bright blues, yellows, reds and greens to make sure that they stand out. A bit hard with the archers that are only wearing undies - I may yet repaint their plumes.

The painting tray now has Ares, another group of spearmen and the javelinmen on it, and then the 900 point OGAM armies will be ready for a game. I hope to have them complete this week.

As I'm not sure where to go next, I thought I'd run a poll. I'm torn between the Bolt Action Cassino project, SAGA Vikings or SAGA Gallic Wars with Gauls and Romans. So I'll leave it up to you, humble reader. A big thanks ahead of time to those who vote.

Nate

The Greeks Completed

I love skirmish games. They don't take long, so if I am getting my tail kicked I can look forward to playing another game in a relatively short space of time in order to retrieve my honour.  Best of all, I can paint an army to completion in a (relatively) short space of time.

Such is true of the Achaean army for my Trojan War project using the Of Gods and Mortals rule. I finished the figures this week, and finally got around to photographing them this afternoon. So here they are.

The goddess of wisdom herself - she could do with getting outdoors more...

The long haired Danaan warriors ready to fight for their long haired goddess - Homeric heroes are a hairdresser's dream

The same warriors serried in their ranks on a movement tray

Trojan javelinmen audition for the Full Monty.

The complete Greek army - 900 points worth - ready to take on the Trojans - who are not yet ready...

You may be wondering why Athene seems to be so scared of getting a tan. I've been using Peter Connolly's book The World of Odysseus as a reference, and he has painted the goddesses this way. In Mycenaean times the noblest women did not leave the house in order to preserve their honour, and so were not exposed to the sun. The whiter you were, the more perfect you were to marry. Obviously goddesses are perfect, so Athene gets an albino complexion. 

I've taken a brief break from the Trojan War project just to keep it fresh. The painting tray currently has a section of World War Two British infantry, four 15mm Char B tanks for John, and just completed are some sheep and pigs. The archers for my Norman SAGA army are on their way, so I'll get them painted before getting stuck into the Trojans.

Nate

The eyes don't have it (and a neigh)

The poll is closed and it is a narrow win to those who advocate dispensing with ocular detailing. To be honest, I'm still not 100% certain that I'm going to listen to the people as a sizeable and persuasive minority have argued otherwise, and one can't be the tyrant of one's own Natholeonic Empire without doing as one pleases. I have the rest of the Achaeans on the paint tray at the moment and hope to have them complete by next week. As the finishing touches are applied I'll eye up a final decision.
Thanks to everyone who voted, commented here or on TMP.

Just to prove that I have no stickability whatsoever, I painted up the first figure in next year's project - an honourable but uptight ECW Roundhead:

'Bah! Christmas is the work of the Devil!'

'Folk dancers!? Has God abandoned this land?!'

This was an experiment with painting the Foundry figures and I wanted to see how well I could differentiate a dun horse with a buff coat. I think I managed it. The mental thing is that I didn't even quibble about painting eyes on this figure. My whole issue with painting eyes is the impending eye-pocalypse that is painting up two whole ECW armies. Yet I did this without thinking - even the horse has eyes! This does not bode well for my sanity in the year of the buff coat that is 2015...

OK, back to the Achaeans.

Nate

Menis! Rage, goddess...

The first Danaans are ready to fight at Troy. These Long-haired Achaeans, led by cunning Odysseus and Diomedes, master of the war cry, are prepared to seek the aid of Athene in their conflict with the sons of Priam.

'Let's go get us some aristeia, Odysseus!'
'I think the Trojans are actually this way Diomedes.'

'First we need to kill some cows for our nifty shields.'

Archers - providing inadequate covering fire since 1250 BC.

'We're a long way from Ithaca boys. Never mind, if we follow Odysseus I'm sure we'll all make it home.'

'For Athene's sake Gymnos, this is a family blog! Here. let me strategically place my spear.'

'Close up men! Don't step outside of this rectangular movement tray!'

'Spread out boys - we have a whole CD for just the five of us.'

I'm aiming to use the Of Gods and Mortals rules from Osprey for the Trojan War. The main reason is that I wanted something that captured the feel of heroes and gods intervening directly in the battle. I also really liked Song of Blades and Heroes and as this rule-set is also written by Andrea I can imagine that I will enjoy it. A quick read-through also seems to confirm this.

The figures are all Black Tree Designs, except Odysseus and the shields which I purchased from Redoubt Enterprises. They are fantastic figures to paint up, but this time around I decided that I wasn't going to paint eyes. It would probably take me about half an hour to do them all, and that may not be much time in the grand scheme of things, but I don't know if they need them.  It isn't really noticeable at a distance, and not even that bad close up. What do you out there in blogging land think?  I've added a poll to the right. Please take a second and vote.

I've got another unit of spearmen and a unit of light javelinmen to go - and of course big bad Athene! Oh, and the Trojans.

Nate