Painting 28mm Republican Romans from Foundry, 2024
How often do you think of Heavy Metal ?
The Republican/Marian Roman Legion is one of - if not "the" - textbook Ancient armies, familiar from many a Saturday afternoon movie and etched into all of our imaginations.
I've owned a 15mm Republican/Marian army for ages, but having gotten into painting up 28mm in recent years I've long harboured an ambition to own a proper Early Roman army, a wish which was re-ignited by playing against these painted by Andy Claxton that I played at PAW a few years ago, and this much more recent set by Paul Frith from Beachhead last year. I was however keen to buy a set of figures from the classic Foundry ranges, mainly as they are just such great figures that still stand the test of time even when when put up against all of the newer plastic ranges out there.
They do however also stand the test of being expensive, and even though I do keep reminding myself that there is no point in saving a few quid buying sub-par figures it's still a challenge to click "buy" on the Foundry shopping cart once you've stacked up more than a dozen or so packs of Foundry infantry!
Luckily though, Mark Fry was selling a huge unpainted set of Foundry Roman figures at the end of last year, so with the possibility of convincing myself I would be picking up the army for a sensible cost I did bite the bullet and, hey presto the core of a 28mm metal Legion was suddenly sat in the paint queue!
Of course, having unpacked the figures I did realise that I needed a few more packs, so Foundry did get a bit of my cash, and the end result was a full 100 infantry (a century, appropriately enough!) pls a pack of mounted commanders to build the core Legionaries (or Hastati and Principes, depending on what exact era they are going to be appearing as).
I always lean towards believing that equipment would not have been standard, especially for battle-hardened veterans, so a mix of old and new armour and helmets is both appropriate and makes the figures look more interesting when ranked up.
With that in mind, my theory was that by having a mix of figures from the Foundry Caesarian and also Republican ranges I could just about (ahem) use the same set of figures for both pre and post the Marian reforms.
So, on to the photos !
I undercoated the vast majority of the figures in black, as they have a lot of chainmail which I paint with a drybrush on a black base
That did mean doing some slap-chop white on the areas of clothing on the black undercoat, before adding a few slightly different reds to give the clothing some subtle variety
The first set to be based up were these 24, with LBMS transfers
They are code CR(WF_ RIMLESS) 1, as the Foundry shields come in both rimless and rimmed (?) varieties.
The rimless ones have a metal strip at the top and bottom, as opposed to all the way round, but all of them need to be cut into two halves and applied to the shield around the boss cast onto the metal shield itself.
I always like to get a real mix of poses into the shieldwall, and gluing the shields on at random angles creates even more variety.
Getting the shields ready for applying the transfers is a real PITA - its a multi-step process
For the "unarmoured" legionaries I opted for blue shields, making them even more visibly different to the armoured guys
These are code CR(WF_ RIMLESS) 8
The paint I used to blend in with these was a bit of a mix - I started with GW Talassar Blue contrast, but it was a bit too light once it was on the white background, so I added a layer of Ultramarines Blue to darken it which seems to have created a better match
Part of making these look varied is painting the helmets in a mix of gunmetal and bronze
This was the other shield pattern which I used for 24 legionaries - it's an absolute classic, with double wings
These are code CR(WF_ RIM) 3
The paint I used to blend in with these was Blood Angels Red
Painting Romans
The rest of the shields were a mix of Red and Blue
These are code CR(WF_ RIM) 2 and CR(WF_ RIM) 4
The blue ones are actually a mix of rimless and rimmed shields as it turned out that I didn't end up with a complete set of 8 for these guys which were all the same. So I just bodged the "rimmed" transfers onto a mix of different shield types, and any dodgy ones will be in the back rank anyway.
These are all the metal guys, based up on 60mmx40mm MDF bases with 8 figures just about squeezed on to each base.
I'm not sure where this officer figure came from, but I believe that the standard bearers are from CR018 - Legionary Command
The trumpeter hiding at the back however is from Crusader Minis, one of a set I got with the Triarii I painted up a few months ago. He is in set ANR004 - Republican Roman Legionary Command
This chap is one of CR051 - Roman Generals from Foundry
Technically he is Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus aka "Pompey the Great"
Pompey The Great
The Mantis Warriors Green used on a white base has come up well for the laurel wreath
More Foundry Personalities - Caesar and a generic Consul
I have 2 bases of heavy infantry with officers included - both have black shield patterns to stand out from the line infantry
These are code CR(WF_ RIM) 9
This commander is from Foundry's CR017 Tribunes set
There is a mix of bear and wolf pelts on display
This set of shields was one of the last I did, so I managed to do a better job of avoiding paint bleed under the transfers on this one than on some of the others
As with all of the infantry bases, I not only mixed the helmets, but also the shield rims and spines are a mix of gunmetal and bronze
I felt I had too many unarmoured guys, so I have mixed a couple into the back ranks of some of the mostly-armoured infantry blocks to create a set of "intermediate" units as well as the unarmoured and fully armoured ones.
This, together with the different shield patterns, gives me a mix of units that can be used asa combination of armoured/unarmoured, and also elite/standard/mediocre types
This is the other Command-included base, with the officer here being from Crusader Minis in set ANR004 - Republican Roman Legionary Command text
The chap standing next to him with the "Vulcan" face is however from Foundry
These are the "most armoured" ones, and I painted the edges of their chainmail in red as a subtle extra bit of visual "Roman" identity
There are only 2 poses here in the front rank, but gluing the shields on at jaunty angles makes them look far more varied
The Marian Reforms
I also bought a set of spare pila from Foundry
They come in a pack of 12, and are not cheap at a quid each (!!)
Having said that, investing in them allowed me to mix up the legionaries with some of "sword-holders" now holding pila underarm, thrusting rather than throwing so they can stand in the line of scrimmage
Here is the line of scrimmage, with 16 men jammed together
And from the back
The classic wing pattern shields in a scrimmage wall
The legs show how I've chosen to do the flesh bits - Darkoath Flesh Contrast on a white base coat, with Vallejo Dark Flesh for the main bits. Each leg is a blob of Vallejo proper flesh paint for the kneecap, another bigger bit to cover the chubby backs of their calves, a bit above the knee joint at the back too, and a stripe down the front for their shin bones (where they are not covered by greaves).
The arms are just a bit more random, as there didn't seem to be such an obvious way to paint them, but the mix of brown base and flesh "big highlights" seems to work at tabletop distances to give them some visual texture
The blue shielded unarmoured guys are deliberately a bit more randomly posed, so they just look less well drilled than the armoured guys
Taking on the Phalanx
These figures also include some throwing their pilums, which again suggests a less well drilled unit as they don't have the discipline to all throw at the same time!
This is actually a mix of different reds, but its turned out too subtle to actually see!
About as classic as you can get outside of a 1950's sand and sandals blockbuster - although on these you can just about see some of the "bleed" of the red paint under the translucent LBMS decals too, where the "yellow" bits have a tinge of red leaking into some of them. Very tricky to get right!
I glue the shields on with a 2-part Araldite epoxy resin glue - the "metal" one, which I have found over the years to be the best adhesive for metal-on-metal gluing.
You have to be quite quick - or only do a few at a time - as it sets quite quickly after you mix it, although some of the joins are best left for 10-15 minutes to cure properly
Once it has hardened it is basically as strong (or stronger) than the metal of the figures - it really does hold firm after it sets, even using only a small gloop of it on the fists of the legionaries to glue the shields onto their hands
I do wonder if I should have added some metal bits to the belts, but I'm not sure it would be as effective as solid brown
Close up photos always show some errors - I have left too many mould lines on these helmets, and should have scraped them off, but at tabletop distances its not visible (I hope)
Prepping Metal Figures
The Foundry figures do have more of a mix of helmets than is apparent from their website images I think.
Very happy with these black-shield guys - they look very hard core!
Double wolf-skin!
Ground level Caesar!
This is a white horse, with Warlord Holy White as a base with white on top.
Julius Caesar
Infamy Infamy!
And that's the lot, just before I spray matt varnished them ...100 Roman Legionaries (or rather late period Hastati and Principes), all done and dusted in just over a year!
Other troops I have painted up for this army include.
