Goth Archers

    The following are all Footsore Miniatures from well their Goth line of figures. I use slightly larger bases to keep them in a slightly more open order as would be fitting of their historical use. Naturally, the Goth strike arm was their heavy cavalry and unlike the Avars or Byzantines of the time they did not utilize mounted archers. Instead the foot archers would be required to keep up on foot to provide the missile support and undoubtedly when doing so they would be in a more open formation but depending on the circumstances they could form up in a tighter formation as depicted in these figures. As an aside the Goths could incorporate a fair amount of archers so this will comprise just one of several needed units. 

Goth Infantry unit #1

   

   For the infantry I plan on incorporating both a fair amount of heavier infantry which at times would be used....and a fair amount of accompany archers. Again, as with the cavalry all the miniatures are a mixture of Footsore and Gripping Beast. This posting will be the heavier infantry as the archers are not currently based yet.  Comments under the Goth cavalry unit 1 for dress and shield designs apply to the infantry as well. 

   

Goth Cavalry unit #2

 

      As noted in the previous post on the Goth cavalry unit 1 same applies. Again this unit as the former are of 16 figures.....6-8 units is the ultimate amount I want to have. eventually I do plan to add some Aventine Figures to compliment Gripping Beast and Footsore.

Goth Cavalry unit 1

 

    I have been painting and collecting numerous figures to form a Goth force. I aim for at least 100 mounted figures with a large percent of them in mail. These are aimed to represent the opponents of the Byzantines during the period under Justinian's rule during the reconquest of Italy. I want  a large percent of them to be armored as undoubtedly the Goths had access to numerous armories that had existed under the control of Rome and continued to operate them to arm their large mounted forces. When doing dark age forces I prefer to go for a unifying appearance of the barbarian type forces to tie them in together. For my Goths lots of various lighter clothing (lots of variations of white/off white) with plenty of trim on both the tunics and leggings. In addition, I added lots of embroidery to the trim. Shields most hand painted with some LBMS transfers added in and kept the patterns to the popularity of the time in appearance. All figures are a mix of Footsore and Gripping Beast figures which mix in together very well.

Goths

    

   A unit of mounted Goths I painted up for myself. These are a mix of Footsore and Gripping Beast miniatures which mix fine....the figures are nice but definitely on the large side. I found they fit quite tightly on a 60mm wide base with a 60mm depth. I must say I do prefer the truer 25mm figures...they still had superior size to 15mm and had space to spare for those who enjoy large collections and want more figures mounted onto one base. The larger figures do include more detail....which though is nice on individual figures....for those who prefer armies like myself do not find needed....as figures in mass is the look I am after not the individual detail of individual figures. My paint style is developed for decent figures individually...not award winning...but to give an impressive look for the in mass appearance. They look good unless one wants to individually critic them....any way be that as it may....here are the pics

Aventine Republican Romans

 
    Aventine miniatures are always nice and very little commentary is really ever needed.
I painted a group of 24 of them for someone else and have included the pics. I did not
go with any shield design....whether the shields were left in a plain color or some type
of design was used during this period is difficult to say. I also went with an off white
linen color for the tunics which simply look nice....in reality they were probably a
multiple of colors used for the tunics but an uniform appearance makes the chore of
painting easier and very appealing. Feathers went with crimson...Polybuis mentions
both black and purple feathers (purple probably being more of a crimson color) so
crimson it was.

Goths Infantry.

  The following  are models comprised from both Gripping Beast and Footsore miniatures.
Size wise they fit fine and both manufacturers provided excellent service to the states in
a timely matter. The Footsore models do require having their hands drilled out to attach
the weapons which I actually prefer. They dont break off so easily. I will be be adding to
these forces over the year for certain.

Old Glory Goths

   I love to collect by period when it comes to wargaming and armies. I have painted a fairly
large Sassanian army and I have plenty of middle Romans to be painted to oppose them.
However, I still want more diversity in terms of opponents and the Goths seem like a logical
choice considering the numerous clashes that took place between them and Rome. I
managed to purchase a group of both Old Glory and Gripping Beast Goth figures off TMP
and decided to paint up the Old Glory miniatures first. On a footnote though all these
figures where sold as Goths, the armored figures appear to be vikings not goths. So I
painted them up as goths anyway and they look fine to me. I've included some pics of the
shields for those interested as simple design types I prefer to paint by hand in place of decals.