2020 Advent Calendar: Day 13

Between the foundation of Rome in 753 BC and the end of the Western Empire in the middle of the 5th century AD, the Roman civilization lasted more than thousand years. No wonder that this history keeps on fascinating so many people.

There will be no exception with this blog as we (re)discover today the most famous soldier of the Empire period.

Day 13 of the Advent Calendar: a Roman legionary in full armor, the Lorica Segmentata.

This soldier is the symbol of the Empire at its full extent. His duty is to protect the Roman world against the assaults of the Barbarians living beyond the edge of the known world. We can see him on guard duty in front of the door of a wooden fort. I like this standing pose, popularized by Strelets in the past years. And this big shield was a real temptation for a painter :)

Our legionary is soon disturbed by two of his comrades coming back from reconnaissance - yes, the very same that were on display on Day 7 of the Calendar. What sort of discussion do they have ? I let you imagine.

The wooden palissade with a door comes from the Zvezda range. It was originally designed to be part of a wooden Russian fort in the 14th century AD.

See you tomorrow !

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 12

We are reaching the halfway point if this Advent Calendar. At last ? Already ? It mostly depends on whether you look forward to Chritsmas, or if you get bored of this calendar :D

For Day 12 of the Advent, we shall visit the Garden of the Hesperides, and discover that it is now guarded by an Amazon.

This mini comes from set #21 Amazons. No flash, even if the mold lines had to be removed (as most of the time on any mini). 

I guess, well I hope, that the pictures speak for themselves :)

Hope you like her. See you tomorrow !

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 11

At last! I wrote in the previous post that a peaceful scene would be great for an Advent Calendar, here we are!

For Day 11 of the Advent, let's rest a little as we have a look at a musician in Africa.

This figure comes from a very old 1/72 set, which is set #01733 Tarzan figures by Airfix. This man is practicing on a cylindrical drum. In Central Africa, this kind of drum is called Ngoma, played with bare hands.

Our musician might have been included in this year "musician of the month" challenge, but, I you have read this blog from the start, you know that I regularly fail to achieve it, so that I haven't even tried this year :)

The house is a resin model bought some times ago and painted last year. It represents a Celtic house in the Iron Age, but I found it close enough to represent an house in Central Africa, compared to this picture, taken in Democratic Republic of Congo at the end of the 20th century:

So let's take a break, and for some time listen to the beat of the drum...

Rather different than the previous post, don't you think ? Hope you like this scene, and... see you tomorrow :)

Oh, by the way: I have created a page on this blog to gather the images of the Calendar, you can get to it via a link, simply named "2020 Advent Calendar", under the header image.

I probably will modify this page in the future (when I find time), but you will find one picture for every past day.

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 10

Good morning! Though we approach Christmas, we'll find no rest, no peaceful sight on this new day of the Advent Calendar...

For day 10, another threat comes to us: Uruk-hai Command

All Fantasy fans will probably see that these figures are inspired by the Uruk-hai, the half Orcs of Saruman, as we can see them in the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies. Big creatures wearing black armors with the symbol of the White Hand on their banners. Threatening, no doubt. But something I found strange when I saw the movie for the first time was their ability to march as if they were regular, drilled soldiers.

I must say that the Uruk-hai I imagined were inspired by this:

Do you remember them ? Yes, the oldest among you might know... this picture is taken from the animated movie 'Lord of the Rings' made in 1978 by Ralph Bakshi. Very different, and certainly not like drilled soldiers :)

My new recruits arrive just in time to command the next move of my small warband.

You can see more about their troops here.

Always more violence, will it ever end ? A more peaceful scene would be great for Advent time.. what do you think ?

Hope you like these fierce mini-monsters anyway :D

See you tomorrow.

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 9

When winter was here, you had snow everywhere. And, hidden behind the snowy trees... Invaders!!

For Day 9, we are full of fear as we discover... Vikings !!!

Ok, I probably watch TV too much. Why would Vikings attack a village in winter ? It's far easier to raid in summer... That's true, but for an Advent Calendar, winter scenes are very nice, so... I'm the boss here, my Vikings have to attack this village right now, and that's all.

So much violence... maybe some more civilians, next time ?

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 8

Today we go to the new world, and make a big jump in time (no goat this time) after the Roman Empire.

For Day 8 of the Advent Calendar, we discover some Zouaves for the American Civil War.

You've probably recognized them. These minis come from one of the first sets made by Hät, way back in 1997. And they are on my todo list since that year. Or, to be true, I had almost forgotten their existence until Strelets begun to produce their ACW range. At first I had no intention to buy any - I have so many sets and figures that I can't count them, and I had decided to focus on Ancient, Medieval and Fantasy figures - oh, and Nappies are sometimes authorized to climb up the painting desk.

But one day I realized (thanks to PSR) that one of the Strelets sets had a photographer with a plate camera (set 156, confederate infantry standing)! I wanted that figure badly and bought the set immediately. As a wargamer, I like standing poses that I find great on a battlefield, so I painted a few of them, that can be seen here, among older references.

Then I remembered the Zouaves that I had bought so many years ago, found three of them, and here they are.

It looks like they're practicing, rather than being engaged in battle. Probably better for them...

See you soon :)

2020 Advent Calendar: Day 7

Back to Ancients, in a time when the density of population allowed you to stand without seeing anyone else... except for your comrade on duty with you.

For day 7 of the calendar, let's go to the edge of the Roman Empire.

As the Empire kept on growing, more and more soldiers were needed in the army. There were never enough legionaries to control the borders, so non citizen men were recruited in Auxilia units in order to assist the legionaries in battle. At the end of the service, these men could become Roman citizens.

The figures represent Auxilia during the early period of the Empire (1st and 2nd century AD). They wear mail armors and oval shields as defensive weapons. They also use spears and swords as offensive weapons.

Hope you like these simple, anonymous soldiers in Roman service.See you soon.