WIP Undead Imperial Roman Legion

As noted before, my Skeleton Legion is far, far too large to ever field at once in any tabletop game, so I have taken to breaking down the Legion into a number of smaller, different "themed" armies. These contingents are centered around certain races or factions (Chaos, Empire, Orcs) or different historical periods like my 5th century BC Undead Classical Greek Army.

I've had a little extra time so, in addition to putting the finishing touches on my Classical Greeks, I've committed to building out and assembling my undead Roman early imperial legion (circa 1st to 2nd century AD).

Various manufacturers have produced one-off models or blister packs of skeleton Romans that have found their way into my collection for years. However, the idea of putting together anything more than a one-off themed unit into a larger army remained elusive until a Russian company named Zvezda released three separate boxed sets of plastic skeleton Romans for their "Ring of Rule" game; one infantry set, one cavalry set, and one artillery set.

These boxed set were packed with sprues of plastic skeleton warriors in separate pieces similar to those produced by Games Workshop or Wargames Factory. Because the plastic figures were in many separate parts, the figures are highly customizable. In fact, the problem is that they are too customizable. We're not talking about separate torsos, legs, and heads. Each figure has individual hands and feet. The helmets come in two parts you have to glue together. As a result, the Zvezda Romans were considered highly "fiddly" and they are a pain to put together.

However, they are great for bulking out an undead Roman force and look pretty when assembled and painted. Sadly, they are no longer in production, but I made sure to grab a bunch of boxes originally and will still pick up some off of eBay from time to time.

Also, for those looking to field some undead Romans, a relatively new company from Poland called Tabletop Miniature Solutions (TMS) has a number of skeletal Romans for their 9th Age line. They're far bigger and bulkier than the Zvezda figs but work well if you keep them in their own cohorts.

I haven't built out all the units including the auxilary cavalry, archers and artillery. But the basic structure of the Legion is assembled and primed.

Legion lined up in quincunx formation. First cohort to the right (over-strengthed)

Line of auxiliary archers (Zvezda). Also not pictured is a unit of auxiliary archers from TMS (still under construction). Strangely, although we know Roman legions used auxiliaries or allies armed with bows, we don't know how they employed them tactically. They may have advanced in line ahead of the Legion, or they may have hung back and fired volleys of overhead fire. Or they may have been deployed on the flanks to harass/defend against light troops and cavalry. We don't know.

The first cohort of any Legion was double strengthed during this time period (Zvezda)

This cohort is made up of gladius and pilum armed troops from Black Cat Bases. The Centurian is an old Grenadier figure. The signifier is from Alionas. 

This cohort is made up of one stand of Pilum armed soldier from Alionas. Two stands from Fenryll.

The command stand is from Werewoolf Miniatures. Two stands armed with (strangely) halberds and axes are from TMS. I figure over the eons they've lost their gladii and just picked up anything strewn along the battlefield.

All stands from TMS Miniatures

Vampire Legatus riding a zombie she-wolf from Werewoolf Miniatures. See what they did with the two zombie infants suckling the she-wolf?

An Ala of Praetorian cavalry from TMS. Regular Roman cavalry with Praetorian heads. Also I have hexagonal shields to attach to them.

The Rage of Achilles

Still some work needed but my undead Classical Greek (5th c. BCE) army is pretty much ready for play. Here's an overhead view of the army lined for battle. 

A line of psiloi light troops advancing in front of the phalanx. A mixture of skeletal human and cynocephale javlineers and skeletal satyr toxotai (archers).

In back of the psiloi marches the phalanx. Six units of skeletal hoplites. Mostly from the Australian company Eureka, but on the right flank are figures from Foundry, Bronze Age and plastics from the Wargames Factory Skeleton boxed set. Behind the phalanx are two giant hoplites, one a repainted skeleton warrior from Vitruvian Hacks, and the other from Ral Partha.

Attached to the phalanx is the hero Herakles, and behind him (with spear and hoplon) the warrior Achilles.

A unit of Hellas' ancient foes, Persian sparabara assembled from the Wargames Factory skeleton boxed set with Perisan wicker shields. Now fighting in service of their enemies!

A group of mythical beasts. From left to right: a Cerberus (Rackham), a chimera (Wyrd), a khalkotaur (Reaper), another Cerberus (Reaper) and another chimera (Wyrd). Behind them (between the Persian sparabara and the Khalkotaur) is a group of Thracian ogres! (Spartan Games)

In the foreground is the hero Jason, with a group of undead minotauroi behind.

A pair of skeletal Pegasi with riders (Mythic Articulations). Behind them are a Skeleton Hydra (Ral Partha) and the legendary first king of Athens, Cecrops I (converted from a Die Hard Miniatures skeleton snake man).

Cavalry on the right wing. There's a bit more cavalry here than you'd see in a hoplite army of the era (although the Thebans did maintain cavalry forces). But I can't resist using all these undead centaurs! In front, centaur missile troops. A mixture of Rackham undead centaurs and old Dark Horse skeleton centaurs. On the main line from left to right: Wyrd Miniatures Kentauroi, Dark Horse skeleton centaurs, Eureka skelton greek cavalry, Rackham undead centaurs and two undead centaurs from Cadwallon.

Cavalry can be a bit fragile so in support we have a group of undead cyclopes! Grenadier, Ral Partha, Wizkids, Grim Reaper Casting.

Magic user: Akhlys, the personification of death, or more specifically, the death mist that overtakes the dying. Converted from a banshee from GW's Mortis Engine.

Magic user: Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft and necromancy (and crossroads!)

Hero: Echidna. I've been thinking of converting her into Medusa however. (Conversion from a Die Hard Miniatures snake man)

WIP: Giant Skeleton Hoplite

Skeleton Warrior
Vitruvian Hacks
2016

Not a miniature per se, but a articulable action figure. When painted correctly, it does really nicely as a giant hoplite in my undead Classical Greek army.

Primed with Army Painter Rotting Flesh

Washed with Agrax Earthshade.

With armor, primed black, based with Scale Color Decayed Metal (bronze) and washed with GW's Nihilakh Oxide.

WIP: Kronos

Reaper, The Collector
Grim Reaper Casting
Nasteez #1036

I've repurposed this guy as the Titan Kronos for the undead Classical Greek army, to use either as a commander or as a creature.

It's a rough sculpt, befitting GRC from the early 90's. But he does have the essential kit: a scythe (with which he castrated his father, the sky (literally) Uranus; an hourglass, as the god of time and a crown (king of the Titans).

I'm trying to find a way to paint glass.

WIP: Reaper Brass Bull

Brass Bull
Reaper
#77256
Bob Olley
2015

A cool Khalkotaur for my undead Classical Greek army. The Khalkotauroi were two large bulls created for King Aeetes of Colchis (modern day Georgia) by the god Hephaestus. Originally, the Khalkotauroi were described as living bulls with bronze hooves and bronze mouths, out of which they breathed fire. Over the years, they've been depicted as fully bronze animated constructs or even clockwork-like machines.

When the hero Jason travelled to Colchis in search of the golden fleece, King Aeetes told him that if he could yoke the Khalkotauroi and plow a field, he could have the golden fleece - thinking the task impossible. But Aeetes' daughter Medea, who had fallen in love with the hero, gave him a magic ointment that would make him immune to the fiery breath of the Khalkotauroi. Jason successfully yoked the bulls and plowed the fields with dragon's teeth, creating a harvest of spartoi - who have now joined the ranks of the undead army!

Dead simple to paint. Black primer over the Reaper bonesium, then a coat of Scale Color Decayed Metal (bronze) and then a wash of GW's Nihilakh Oxide.

WIP: Bear's Head Zombie Minotaur

Zombie Minotaur

Bear's Head Miniatures

Phillip Hynes

2017

Beautiful zombie minotaur from Bear's Head Miniatures for inclusion in my undead Classical Greek Army. The right eye was originally sculpted as completely exposed, but I accidentally dalloped a bit of paint on the upper half of the eye, unintentionally producing an eyelid. When shaded with Agrax Earthshade, I think it came out pretty good.

WIP Conversion - Herakles

As I have noted before, I have several undead armies based around various themes, including an undead Classical Greek army.

One thing that I have always wanted for that army is an undead Herakles (Roman: Hercules). I've kind of been waiting for some company to cast one, but it hasn't happened yet. So I've always thought of creating one myself.

It shouldn't be too difficult, I'd hardly have to make one from scratch. All you need to do to make a regular skeleton (well a larger skeleton) into Herakles is to give him a lion-skin cloak and a club. Both representative symbols of Herakles.

Of course, I have zero sculpting skills. For all the time I have been collecting and painting, I have had little experience with conversions. I've done simple head and weapon swaps, and my use of green stuff has been limited to gap filling.

But eventually, you have to dive in if you want to get what you want. So I watched a lot of videos, read a lot of blogs, bought a few tools to augment my normal hobby tools and figured to try and make myself an undead Herakles.

So this is what I am working with. The three skeletons are from the sadly departed Spartan Games' Heroes of Myth and Legend line (Skeletons Pack B). They are 40mm figures, which make them weird for 28mm war-gaming but perfect for an ogre sized hero. The plastic bits are part of Games Workshop's High Elf White Lions Chariot set. I got the set just for these bits. I wasn't sure about the sizing but I figured I could make either the heads from the lions pulling the chariot, or the lion head shoulder pads work. The actual lion heads are way too big. But the lion head shoulder pads actually are just about the right size for a 40mm skull. I also thought maybe I could use the cloaks as well, but not really. Besides they look more like bear cloaks.

Here are the lion head shoulder pads:

And here's the model I'll be using as a base. Axe (soon to be club) upraised, shield away from the body.

Now I laid him out on some parchment paper and drew some lines with a pen that I could use as a rough guide for sizing the cloak and shaping it.

Now I liked the way the green stuff cloak came out, and personally was rather gratified by how well I did on what is essentially my first ever sculpting project. However, I had some problems. First, the nature of green stuff worked a bit against me. It has more "stretch" than I had anticipated, so with the work I was doing, it always seemed to stretch the cloak more until it ended up being more of a cape. Also, it's not very stiff. I wanted to have the cloak flying out behind him, but the "cape" kept falling flat against the body due to gravity. 

Therefore, I pulled up the initial green stuff "cape" and sculpted a cloak out of brown stuff. I also repositioned the lion head "cap" and began to craft the mane out of green stuff to blend the cap and cloak together. Also I snipped off the axe head and bulked up the shaft with green stuff to form a club.

Here he is primed with Krylon almond spray primer.

Here he is with the first basecoat.

More advancement with an Agrax Earthshade wash.

And here is the more or less final Herakles, painted, washed, highlighted and ready for inclusion in the undead Classical Greek army!