On the Workbench..

Black Scorpion pirate girl

After a rather disastrous May, when I only completed four figures, I have already had a much better first week in June getting nine figures finished this week. Apart from my Baluchis and my Elizabethan cannon

I also finished another Black Scorpion lady pirate and a Trojan War figure. The Black Scorpion figures are bigger than my Foundry ones but their girlie pirates are just irresistible! Next up I have some very Pirates of the Caribbean marines and skeleton pirates to do.

Ajax by Wargames Foundry

The Trojan is a Foundry Ajax figure and, like many of that range, is based on the illustrations in Peter Connolly's The Ancient Greece of Odysseus. Although this is a children's book, the pictures inside are wonderful; alternating between telling the tale of the siege of Troy and the Odyssey and sections on costume, warriors buildings etc.

Ajax from the Connolly book

I first got to know the story of Troy from a book about Greek heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green, which had evocative pictures of warriors fighting outside the walls of Troy. The Greeks wearing turquoises and blues the Trojans in red. The problem of differentiating armies for this conflict remains so I am considering, for my Trojans, giving them earth colours such as terracotta, red browns and ochres etc. A book I had as a boy on archaeology, by CW Ceram, introduced me to Heinrich Schliemann and the historic background of the legends.

The best hats in cinema history: Helen of Troy (1957)

Next, I remember seeing the film Helen of Troy (1957) at my uncle's house in about 1972. He had a colour TV a long time before we did (I think it cost £400!). The impact of the colourful Mediterranean backdrops, girls in very short pepla and thousands of extras attacking Troy with siege towers imprinted it in my memory and for weeks afterwards my Airfix Romans became Greeks as they tried to get into my Lego Troy. I even made a Lego Wooden Horse!

I'll be your dog! Brigitte Bardot in Helen of Troy

Watching it today, it seems, appropriately, rather wooden but contained some good battle scenes and a very young Brigitte Bardot as a slave girl. Actually, I have stopped being a fan of Brigitte Bardot since I lost my Ray Bans. We had anchored in the bay outside her house just round the corner from St Tropez and suddenly her dogs started barking. Unfortunately I was just climbing into our dinghy and the cacophony (she has a lot of dogs) made me jump causing me to lose my sunglasses into the sea.

I even enjoyed the 3 hour American TV version of Helen of Troy (2003) with the luminous Sienna Guillory.

Sienna Guillory as Helen

Wolfgang Petersen's Troy (2004) wasn't as bad as everyone said (well, apart from Brad Pitt and granted they completely changed the story...) and I liked their take on the wooden horse. Part of Troy was filmed in Malta and I had to spend some time  there a few years ago, working with the Finance Minister. My favourite restaurant was also Brad Pitt's, when he was filming there, and this had the distinct advantage of attracting lots of young women to the place.

Frankly, if its got Mediterranean scenery, galleys, girls in Greek frocks, chariots, big walls and a wooden horse I'll watch it!

Foundry archers

Some time ago I painted some Foundry archers for the Trojan war but lost interest given the limited figures in their range. Recently, however, we have had the Newline Designs Mycenaean range and they fit perfectly with the Foundry Trojans. I picked up a pack at Salute so may add them to the never ending list soon.

Currently in the active section of my workbench I have Perry Wars of the Roses cannon and crew, Foundry Masai, Empress miniatures Zulus and British, Galloping Major French Militia, Musketeer Russian GNW, Foundry Trojans and Crusader Miniatures Normans. I'm hoping to have a good go at them this month now we have finished revising with Guy for his common entrance exams.

David Gemmel Trojan trilogy

I'm in sunny Beverly Hills and have just been sitting by the pool finishing Shield of Thunder by David Gemmell which I started on the flight over. I read Lord of the Silver Bow when it first came out but didn't buy the second book when I had heard Gemmel had died as I didn't want to invest a lot of emotional capital into a book where there was no resolution to the story. However, his wife finished the book and it was published recently so I picked it up as an airport only trade edition on the way out.

I remember enjoying the first book without being able to remember anything about it! I think part of my confusion was because I read the Lindsay Clarke War at Troy shortly before. The Clarke books are more to do with Gods and the principals. The Gemmel books eschew supernaturals and look at some of the supporting cast more.

From a wargaming point of view the second book is very good, particularly towards the end where Hektor's Trojan forces are fighting Thrakians in Thraki (naturally). There are a couple of set piece battles: holding the pass and the Battle of Carpea which would make a change from all that sitting outside Troy. They also suggest other battles as part of this campaign. Better still I think I now have a use for all those Foundry Northern European Bronze Age figures who are now going to be cast as Thrakians.

Maybe another blog calls!

Bronze Age axe man

The light mornings have been good for my painting and I have finished around 8 figures this week. Here is my first Foundry Bronze Age warrior. I am quite happy with the bronze colour which is a mix of GW Burnished Gold and Brazen Brass.

I am going to have to think of a way of differentiating two forces-maybe going for greens and browns in one and blues and greys in the other..

Bronze Age Bronze

I saw some fine bronze age helmets and swords in the Natural History Museum in Vienna this week. I decided to have a go at finishing some of my Foundry Northern European Bronze Age figures which I started some time ago (at least based and undercoated them). I started to think what shade of Bronze they should be and so put a not on The Miniatures Page. I'll see what they come up with...