Some actual Carthaginians for my Cathaginian army! These have been a bit tedious: 48 miniatures all exactly the same. I didn’t do any fancy shields as the surface has significant curvature and I’m not comfortable enough in my free-hand on such a tricky surface. To get these done quickly I mass-painted them on sticks (you can see a couple of WiP pictures below). My technique for so many identical miniatures is to repeat a single spot for a number of figures and then move to the next spot. I will pick a stroke (or two) and repeat it on each miniature on the strip (so 8 times with how I’ve mounted these); I then stay in the same area of the miniature and rotate to complete another stroke or two for each figure. It’s not very exciting, but it is efficient both in terms of how long it takes and also how much paint is used (very little dries out). In the pictures below you can see I’ve done the boots and greaves.

The above pictures are after my first evening session which was fairly short. Another, quite long, session produced the progress below. There’s not much more of the miniature covered, but the hardest part is now done. The ivory on the pleats is very fiddly and requires two coats. This step is easily the longest and most tiring. There are some pleats on the front, but these and everything else I painted is behind and the shield and tough to get a good photo off (light just doesn’t want to get in there), but quite noticeable when handling the base.

The results of my 3rd session are below. The front doesn’t show much, but the backside picture is more revealing. This time it is the breastplate, hand, neck and left sleeve. I’ve also started on some of the faces.

The next picture shows them after another session: both arms are now done, as are the faces, hair, beards and ears. I took the rear pic before I’d actualy finished. The hair isn’t done there. Not sure what happened there, alcohol is probably to blame.

The next four pictures show the progress over the final two sessions. I finished 95% of the basecoating during the first session; I just had the final 3 stands of red shield rims to go. In the last picture I finished the basecoat on the shields and then applied the different washes.

Here is what they look like finished:

• Body:
• Flesh – Base: Medium Fleshtone (VMC 70.860)
• Flesh – Wash: Sepia Shade (VGC 73.200) & Red Shade (VGC 73.206) — 1:1
• Hair: Black (VMC 70.950)
• Armour:
• Greaves & Breastplate – Base: Bronze (VMC 0.998)
• Greaves & Breastplate – Wash: Black Wash (VGC 73.201) — diluted 50%
• Strap: Brown Sand (VMC 70.876)
• Pleats: Ivory (VMC 70.918)
• Helmet – Base: Brass (VMC 70.801)
• Helmet – Wash: Sepia Shade (VGC 73.200)
• Sword:
• Scabbard: Flat Brown (VMC 70.984)
• Scabbard Strap: Brown Sand (VMC 70.876)
• Crossguard & Pommel: Brass (VMC 70.801)
• Grip: German Grey (VMC 70.995)
• Shield:
• Back – Base: German Camouflage Black Brown (VMC 70.822)
• Strap – Base: Red Leather (VMC 70.818)
• Back & Strap – Wash: Sepia Shade (VGC 73.200)
• Strap: Red Leather (VMC 70.818)
• Rim: Brass (VMC 70.801)
• Ring – Base: Blood Red (SC-36)
• Ring – Highlight: Aldereran Red (SC-38)
• Rim & Ring – Wash: Sepia Shade (VGC 73.200) & Red Shade (VGC 73.206) — 1:1
• Spear:
• Shaft – Base: Beige Brown (VMC 70.875)
• Tunic – Wash: Sepia Shade (VGC 73.200)
• Strap: Flat Brown (VMC 70.984)
• Head – Base: Gunmetal Grey (VMC 70.863)
• Head – Wash: Black Wash (VGC 73.201) — diluted 50%
• Clothing:
• Sandals – Base: Brown Sand (VMC 70.876)
• Sandals – Wash: Inktense Chestnut (SC-81)
• Tunic – Base: Blood Red (SC-36)
• Tunic – Wash: Sepia Shade (VGC 73.200)

I’ve found this many identical miniatures tough to paint, however. It’s been very repetitive. So while the batch technique produces consistent fast results, it reduces how much I enjoy the painting. The last two strips of every step have felt like a chore. Anyway they are now done, and I’m very happy with how they look. They’re a nice dense blob of troops. Which is exactly what 6 bases of HI should be. Total time spent was 6 sessions, probably averaging around 3 hours a session. That means 18 hours for these miniatures, or around 22 minutes per miniature. This time feels about right. There are quite a few details and complex parts on these miniatures. In particular the armour pleats and the shields took a bit of back and forth painting a colour, correcting errors and then neatening things up.

Again, these miniatures are Magister Militum/Chariot Miniatures. I’ve used pack CAR12 (Carthaginian, African or Libyan Heavy Spearmen) for these 6 bases. It’s a single pose pack with 8 figures, with 6 bases and 8 miniatures on each base that meant 48 miniatures. They’re quite a tight fit on the 40x30mm base ADLG use, but when based like that they make up a very nice, heavy looking formation.