Maximus and Marcus Aurelius

As some will have noticed, the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge for this year has begun. Right now I am trying to work my way through the theme round entries first since I a) do not want them to interrupt my normal painting  when they come up every two weeks like they did last year and b) since I will be away over the holidays and not be doing any painting during that time, but I do not want to miss a round. But now on to the first theme round.

When I read over the topics for the theme rounds, there were some that gave me headaches and some that did not. ”Cold” was one of the later. Lots of ideas flashed through my head from a snowman, to tanks in winter camouflage. In the end I settled for an image that I had always liked… the beginning scenes from the movie Gladiator. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure to watch it with me and listen to my mutterings of ”Stirups were not even invented back then!” will know that it is not for the historical accuracy of the movie (or the lack of it), but all the mud and snow depicting warfare in wintery Germany. So Tribune Maximus seemed like the natural selection here. And a selection I started to curse virtually instantly. My first pick was the Warlord Games offering. But the mounted version did not look exactly like Maximus and I felt would better serve on a regular cavalry base. The version on foot looked like Maximus, but did not exactly look impressive. So I turned to the 1st Corps version, which I had already bought when Warlord released theirs. I felt he would look a bit alone on his own, so I decided to add the Marcus Aurelius Miniature from Warlord to the base (even though the two were never depicted side by side on horseback in the movie). So far so good. There were a few more problems I had to face. For example the 1st Corps minis face does not look too much like Russel Crowe and the Warlord Emperor is slightly smaller. The size difference was solved with a piece of card under the emperors horse.
All that being said, I am quite happy with the end result (except for the varnish still being a bit glossy). What I personally really like about the combination of the two minis here is, that they contrast each other rather nicely. The Emperor looks frail and old and even his horse looked worn out. And the Tribune next to him all young and powerful, ready for battle with his horse shaking his head, wanting to charge.

Maximus and Marcus Aurelius

Maximus and Marcus Aurelius

Maximus and Marcus Aurelius

And this is it for now already. Up next is the second theme round entry “Mount(s) and Rider(s)” which will take us back to Napoleonics. But since the theme round only gets its official outing on the 28th, this will probably be my last post before Christmas! Hope you are all having a good and festive time until then!