Auxiliary Archers, Sorted!

Not speed painting by any means but it has taken about two weeks to finish the second unit of the Roman army, eastern Auxiliary Archers. Aventine's eastern archers do not have the usual long skirt associated with this troop type, in my research for colours I did notice a few reconstructions which did not have the long skirt so I bow to their superior knowledge. I also added a number of western archers into the mix whose only difference is their headgear, possibly new recruits or just using up supplies from the armoury, I am of the opinion the Romans were mainly uniform, especially at this point in time, but there would have been differences here and there as new armour and helmet designs made it to the front line troops, or new recruits would have been kitted out in the latest gear.

Then of course we get to the whole can of worms on tunic colours, I am still unsure what to use for my main cohorts, but archers in most illustrations seem to have been green so I went with green, three different shades but green nonetheless. I also decided to give their centurion a green cloak in order to pick him out easier on the battlefield. These guys can form up as a solid unit or skirmish if need be, a handy skill on the WAC battlefield and one I intend to exploit in the future.

I now have my first cohort on the paint tray, veteran legionaries, I had planned to do more Auxiliaries but ran out of metal spears. I don't know about you but I much prefer the wire spears which do not bend and on occasion stab you in the finger. This will be the first army I have ever had which will rely on the manufacturers products for weapons and standards, the legionaries require pilum not spears and the standards are gorgeous and I have no skills to replicate them in any other way, so I shall simply have to be uber careful when using these guys, I cannot have even one bendy pilum in the army!

The rest of the figures for the army are set to arrive today, but as the carrier is ParcelFarce my expectation is pretty low, 48 hours in their language usually means double that, am I being unfair or my usual glass half empty self, no, don't forget I own a Post Office and have personal experience of this particular depot (shhhhh it's in Preston).

Varnish, not again you say, but yes. I have chucked out the Army Painter brush on and went back to my old staple, Winsor and Newton, for some reason when I put it on it kind of foams, like that stuff modern chefs put on a dish, like frog spit, but tasting of cauliflower or mushroom or whatever. Also a word of warning if you did take my advice and go for the Tamiya X19, let your guys dry for a good 24 hours at least before putting it on, it did take a little paint off my troops (cloaks, quivers) as I put it on the armour when they were nearly complete and not dry enough, on armour only it is no problem. I really must learn patience, my own fault.