I got a little tired of pumicing and dry brushing round bases, so decided to take a detour and go back to some Muddy Paw basing instead! With my unbased Romans done, I decided to go and redo my very old Parthian army.
This is an army I painted many many years ago. It has been sitting on my display shelf for more years than I care to admit! I had tried selling it a few times, but most people are more interested in more modern figures. Seems the older mono pose is a step too far (back). I was always happy with the paint job, so I was not willing to give them away. Having these, is the reason I ordered the Gajo Romans years ago to go against them. However, as I did not like any rules, that project just sat in waiting.
Now that I have latched onto Lion Rampant II, it gave me a chance to get these guys into shape. I started by doing a little paint work to fix some chips and repainting the lances to cover the broken paint from years past of bending during playing.
Next I had to remove them from their old bases. These were all balsa with sand ballast (that the way we did it back then!). So, a little hobby knife work and they were all off the bases.
Looking at the Gajo sight, I saw they had Parthians listed. I decided to order their musicians and standards, to add some detail to my existing heavy cavalry units. Those came in with a few more Romans. I popped the riders off the command stands and attacked the standard bearers and musicians in their place. I used the new horses and glued the removed riders to those. I also added my general to that unit, with the standard and musician from Gajo, to make a body guard unit. That brought me up to four heavy cavalry, one being the body guard. Just a few cross attachments and I think they blend in well.
Next, I just glued them to the Shogun magnetic bases, the same as my Romans. I wanted these to be in a more arid look, so I opted with a sand mix of Muddy Paw (tan and white, with a little sand) and covered the tan sprayed bases. Since the miniature base was a bit high, I had to pile up the Muddy Paw thick. I let them dry for a few days (I spritzed a lot of water to soak in). A few dabs of flock were added, just to add a little color.
With that, I have my new old Parthians. Hopefully, I will not wait another thirty years to play them!
- Manteuffel