Unvarnished Steppe Nomads

 

It has been a while since I managed to find the time to post anything new. So, in the absence of any new posts and my blog beginning to feel a but forlorn; over the next few days I will be posting a small series of articles covering what I have been working on ranging from the Italian Wars and the Wars of Justinian and Narses etc. 

The latest painting has featured Aventine Miniatures Steppe Nomads (most of the range is being remoulded by Keith at Aventine). I have enjoyed painting these immensely. In an effort to save time and instead of the basecoat, drybrush then a few washes that I have resorted to use on some horse flesh of late, I have jumped back into "Early Byzantine" mode and spent a decent amount of time on painting different types of coats. I realise that most of the ponies 5-6th Century Steppe Nomads would have had access too would not have had such a variation of colour and patterns on their mounts but I simply could not resists. There is always room for artistic license right? The castings, although a little fiddly to put together (I know Keith is fixing this, thus the remoulding) are sublime and easily the best Steppe Cavalry I have ever painted up. They really were a joy.

All the images are pre varnish so will have some variation in the flatness of the paint. This is a result using paints from different manufacturers such as Vallejo - usually quite flat, Andrea - always consistently flat, Foundry - not nearly as reliably flat. 

Best get to the pics, which as usual are "clickable".