Aventine Allied/Etruscan General & Spearmen

Aventine allied/Etruscan general, spearmen, and musician. Litko bases and Little Big Men Studios decals. The LBM decals do not reach the brim of the hoplon, which required me to fill in paint/design...more hoplons to follow at some point illustrating this in more detail. As mentioned on a previous post, sword is filed down...bared metal polished with gloss coat. When possible, I prefer to polish bare metal silver parts and coat with gloss acrylic. I know that some painters use a more "scale-realistic" approach to painting their figures (i.e., believing that only details evident to the eye in viewing a real person to scale should be portrayed, or that colors should be quite dull). This would leave details such as the eyes and hair indistinguishable. Although I don't want to portray a cartoonish caricature, highlighting such small details and using brighter colors gives the perception of a more realistic image at smaller scales. Hence, the same reason wargaming figures are typically portrayed as having exaggerated features (e.g., bigger heads, hands, etc.), to give the brain more information so that it perceives the image more realistically.

Aventine Advancing

Images of Aventine advancing allied swordsmen, musician, and centurion. Little Big Men Studios decals and Litko round 20mm bases. I will be placing these in Litko trays. The advantage of the round bases and use of trays is that I can vary positioning and orientation of the figures as I please. The Aventine figures are wonderfully styled, easy to paint and full of detail. The shields fix easily onto the model's hands, even staying without the use of glue. This allows me to experiment with various angles before deciding on a final position. Virtually my only complaint about the Aventine figures is the sculpting of the swords, which are done in a "block" style. I have shaved down the swords of the infantry and had to replace the centurion's sword completely.

Aventine Allied Triarii

Rear view of Aventine allied/Etruscan Triarii. I have been a bit liberal with the use of tunic colors and patterns, adding Southern-styles to rather Northern flavored armour.

Here is the frontview of the above. They include Little Bigmen Studio decals and are set on Litko bases and tray. Basing is my least favorite part of the process and since I am not a wargamer, I'm less concerned about gaming specific layout and numbers. The Aventine figures are beautifully sculpted, nicely animated, and wonderfully varied. Quite simply, they are currently the best range of ancient Roman models.