Monday, September 11, 2017

On the Workbench - More Ancients

More progress on the plastic Victrix guys from my Gauntlet/Wargames Store trip. These Carthaginian  citizen spearmen are nearly complete:


There are three metal figures mixed in and they give a pleasing heft to the unit.  I guess these are later models than the Victrix Romans as the spears are much finer. So much so that I've already broken and re-glued one of them.

Next up are these Gallic cavalry from a Warlord Games box I picked up cheap at Wargames Emporium in Sheffield.


These are an interesting lot. The horses and the legs of the riders are single-piece white metal castings. Upper bodies , shields and weapons come in the form of a sprue from Warlord's plastic Celtic Warriors box (complete with a load of spare infantry legs).

I'm not 100% convinced of the believability of some of the upper body poses as riders rather than charging foot warriors.  Also some of the upper bodies are a little slim for the white metal waistbands they sit in.

By the way, the white metal casting has a concave upper surface into which the convex torso fits.  I've found the best way to join these is with a drop of superglue followed by a small blob of Green Stuff followed by another drop of superglue.  Press down, clear up anything that squeezes out of the join and leave to set.

I also have to say that I'm unimpressed by the waterslide shield transfers that came with the models.  They are excessively glossy and, when they finally deign to come off the backing paper, distinctly lacking in adhesive power.  I've had to try and run thinned down PVA under the edges to hold them in place on the shield.

There are 10 figures in the box. I plan to finish one unit of four before the weekend, when another trip to Wirral might see more toys arriving from the Wargames Store.  Another four will give me a second Gallic unit whilst the remaining two may go towards the Gallic/Germanic bodyguard of a Numidian king.

2 comments:

BigLee said...

Nice tip on joining the castings. I'll have to give that a try soon.

Counterpane said...

Yeah, I first discovered it after failing with superglue alone to join together Warlord's Sarmatian Cataphracts (which are much nicer models by the way).