Goths/Ostrogoths Close Ups of Single Bases

I'm not going to be able to get very much painting done over the next few weeks as discussed in THIS post so I'm going to update the blog with some close ups of some units that have not yet been published on here.

First up are the Goths/Ostrogoths. The Footsore Miniatures Goths will be mixed and matched with a company who will soon be producing some Goths more suitable for the Battle of Taginae 552 CE era. I have been asked on a few channels on social media to elaborate on this but, as I have alluded earlier, I cannot really say who is producing these as the company has not made an official announcement thus it is not really my place to say. Apologies to everyone who is gagging for Goths suitable for Belisarius campaigns in Italy, I am sure you will be finding out soon enough.

As usual, all the images are clickable so you can have a good gander at the pieces if that tickles your fancy. 

First Goth Unit

It seems like I have been working on this unit of Footsore miniatures Goths a while. It certainly took more time than the more uniform but more highly detailed Aventine Early Byzantines. Not that I'm knocking Bill's sculpts; far from it, they are excellent and I am very pleased with how they have come out. I do miss Bill's work!

The back ranks are finally complete so it was time to take some snaps of the unit as a whole. But first the back ranks. I dispensed with the idea of using LBMS transfers on the back ranks of the unit as they would have been made up of Freemen who by enlarge would not have had the wealth to lavish designs on their shields let alone afford armour. Of course, this is a generalisation but one that seems fitting for the unit. as it will help distinguish the professional warriors from the "volunteers" and will minimise any confusion with my opponent on the table top. I have toned down the colours on the tunics and trousers too to give them a poorer overall look.

A word on the choice of miniatures. The Goth army I am building is primarily based of the army of the Ostrogoths who faced Narses at the Battle of Taginae 552 CE which would have generally looked more Romanised in appearance than that of the Footsore Goths. The problem I had, certainly when I purchased many of the miniatures, was that no one does 28mm Goths for that time period. There are some in the pipeline, but until then, I will be continuing to use the Footsore Miniatures as they are the nearest thing available for my purposes.

As usual all the images are "clickable" so please feel free to check out the larger files.

A Few Snaps of the Back Ranks:

And the Unit as a Whole:

Goth Command Base 1

Wow! The posts are really pouring out again. This is actually not a result of my painting speeding up but rather because there was a back log of stuff that needed varnishing and I don't like to have too many pieces out after glossing as I leave a week between the gloss and the matt layers. It's something that you don't want to get wrong or you are at risk of some spackling/icing making an unwanted appearance on the miniatures.

It is always nice to create a little command vignette. The miniatures are form the Footsore Miniatures Vortigern WArlord of Britain pack from their Late Roman range. Whilst the models would not really be great for say Adrianople 378CE Goths they are a good fit for the Goths circa Battle of Taginae 552 and the Gothic occupation of much of Italy etc.  

More Goths

These fellows seem to be taking a while to pump out. More Goths! The second batch out of four batches of six that will make up my first Goth unit for the planned display game. 

A managed to avoid the pitfalls of being tempted into using the Foundry WWII set (as it is pants- see last post here for details and stick to the more reliable Vallejo Model and Game Colour with the usual sprinkling of Andrea and some of the older Foundry triads, though not used in the traditional triad manner. 

I'm going to have a wee break with the next lot of miniatures as I made the schoolboy error of not calculating the number of Spanish Arquebusiers I needed for my first Spanish Italian Wars unit so I'm going to have to retreat a little and get those two miniatures painted up. In order to keep the impetus moving along with the Goths I will add a couple of Goth miniatures which I will use as a Command Base for the unit I am currently working on.

One more thing to add, the miniatures have not been varnished yet so are not as flat as they will be post varnishing process.

Goths!

 

I've been trying to do my bit/keep up with my mate a little of late for the game we have pencilled in for a show, whenever they might be (2022?), with these quite lovely Footsore Miniatures Goths. Technically, the Footsore Goths are of an earlier era than that of the Battle of Taginae (552 CE) but they are the nearest I am going to get so will do the job nicely. They are more suitable for Adrianople (378 CE) than that of Taginae (552 CE) but hey, I cannot have it all when it comes to miniatures. We are quite spoiled as it is. 

I have heard rumours that another wargames company will be producing some Goths for the Early Byzantine era which will of course be mixed the Footsore Goths and Early Saxons that I am using for the bulk of the army. I cannot say any more on the subject as it would be breaking the confidence of the chap who let me know. If Late Goths are what you are looking for, be happy that they are, more than likely, on the way at some stage soon-ish.

These are the first test miniatures for the Goth force, no varnish applied as of yet and with transfers from LBMS Transfers. I had a bit of trouble earlier in the paint job by trying to use some of the Foundry WWII set to speed things up a little. In the end it slowed the job considerably as every pot, not matter how man ball bearings and shaking were applied, resulted in very poor coverage. They are so inconsistent and poor in pigment that they are utterly worthless as miniature paints! It is all a bit annoying really as I have a lot of Foundry's early paint sets and they are still great paints and good to use to this day. If only they had kept to the same paint supplier (if that is indeed the case?).