Some cavalry

 This week I have a trio of Greek citizen cavalry from Ral Partha. As usual, I loved painting these figures, very simple and very good looking. 

I don't have a Greek army, but I might be able to use these models as mercenaries in my tiny Macedonian force or, as often happens, in some D&D or Battlesystem game.

I am also posting a single Blood Bowl snotling that my friend Tino converted and painted at the end of the 90s. It is part of some figures he gifted to my brother last year. Its base was not done, so I just completed it in the same was as all our other Blood Bowl models are.

Greek citizen cavalry. 25mm, Ral Partha, painted by ginzio

Blood Bowl snotling lineman. 25mm, Citadel, converted and painted by Tino

Back to historicals

 This week we have an early post, I would not have been able to post tomorrow, so I am uploading today.

These are the last Byzantine models I had prepared to paint in winter 2023/24. After more than two years I finally got around to finishing them. 

I still have a bunch of Byzantines to prepare and paint, but those will have to wait a bit longer, I am still trying to organize my stuff after the move and first of all I need to finish all the figures that I prepared, but didn't get around to finish.

Mounted general. 28mm, Citadel, painted by Ginzio

Mounted officer. 28mm, Citadel, painted by Ginzio

Mounted army standard bearer. 28mm, Citadel, painted by Ginzio

Mounted command. 28mm, Citadel, painted by Ginzio

Cavallaroi heavy cavalry. 28mm, Citadel, painted by Ginzio

Mounted section.

More Byzantines

 This is the second unit of slingers in the army, with them the light troops are done.

I still have another two of these guys, but I can't find them in the stuff I shipped from Canada, they'll bulk up this unit when they reappear.

Next will be some cavalry and mounted characters, but I have to get back to Italy first.

Byzantine slingers. 28mm, Citadel, painted by Ginzio

Historicals from Canada

 Hi all, last week, instead of posting on the blog, I was travelling to Canada to come visit my fiancée.

I will be in Canada until the end of February and I won't be doing any painting here, but I have enough material for 3 posts before I go back.

Today we have some Byzantine heavy mounted archers, old Citadel miniatures, like most of the army. They will form the rear rank of the cataphract unit.

They are a little basic sculpts, but I like their simplicity and ease of painting.

Next will be some more slingers, heavy cavalry and characters, but I still have to unpack some boxes and find more models.

Byzantine heavy mounted archers. 28mm, Citadel, painted by Ginzio.

A small advancement for an unexpected army

This is the latest addition to my small Byzantine army, something that started with a couple of random old Citadel packs that Dave gave me years ago.

Last year he found a whole box of sealed old packs and gave them all to me for painting.

Now I found myself working on a small Byzantine army composed of almost exclusively old Citadel models.

Over the time I also collected some Ral Partha infantry and a decent amount of Price August Vikings to use as Varangian guard, so I should end up with a decent sized (for WAB or other small-ish size game) army.

This is a unit of slingers I prepared in Canada before the move and managed to get painted only recently. I have another 12 slingers to paint, but at the moment I only found 10 of them and will have to wait until I finish unpacking everything from the shipment from Canada to find the remaining 2 models, then I'll finish painting them all.

The remainder of the army will include two units of heavy infantry, more skirmishers, a decent unit fo heavy cavalry, one of cataphracts and few light horse.

I'm looking forward to painting more of these figures, I'll keep you posted with the progress in 2026.

Byzantine slingers. 28mm, Citadel, painted by Ginzio

A few Dark ages figures

 These are a few old school figures I painted recently, I had a bit of a historical whim, so I chose a few loose models that were not part of any ongoing project, they will just be added to the appropriate (if existing) army.

I got all of these in a trade for painting, and I mostly don't recognize the manufacturer, but they are nice old metal sculpts that will fit in my existing armies.

This was a Carolingian standard bearer from Citadel, but the standard was broken, so I gave him an axe from Gripping Beast, it is a little too big for suck a small old figure, but that's what I had available and will have to do. This model won't be part of any amry and will probably end up being used as a fantasy human of some kind.

Carolingian horseman. 25mm, Citadel, painted by Ginzio

Norman unarmoured milites. 28mm, Unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio

Normans of the first crusade. Note the (not too well represented) turban wrapped around the helmet, from which the metal nasal guard sticks out, this was apparently a thing seen in contemporary depictions of knights. I will be adding these two to my Norman army.

Norman crusader knights. 28mm, Unknown manufacturer, painted by Ginzio

My second Dark ages army finally complete/Il mio secondo esercito dei secoli bui finalmente completo

 Many years after starting it, I finally completed my Picts army, it all started around 2006, when IlVJ was working for GW in Tokyo and, during a visit to Nottingham, we headed over to Wargames Foundry and bought a lot of Anglo-Saxons (IlVJ) and Normans (me).

The following year we bought more dark ages stuff from Old Glory, Irish for IlVJ and Picts for me. I went for the Picts for the fact that they were around, one way or another, for very long, I could use them against Late Romans or Normas, with everything in between.

I painted all my picts with the then revolutionary Devlan Mud, except for the Noble Cavalry, which was left unpainted and in 2009 was joined by a Gripping Beast starter set that our friend John gave me when he come to visit from England (thanks a lot mate).

I now finally (14 years later) got around to complete all the remaining Picts. 

As with the Normans, I call the army complete, but won't be against adding whatever figure I happen to come across in future trades or as payment for painting, I won't just be buying any more.

Molti anni dopo averlo iniziato, ho finalmente completato il mio esercito di Pitti. Avevo cominciato questo progetto nel 2006 quando IlVJ lavorava per la GW a Tokyo e, durante una visita a Nottingham, avevamo fatto visita alla Wargames Foundry e comprato parecchi Anglosassoni (IlVJ) e Normanni (io).

L'anno seguente acquistammo altri pezzi per i secoli bui dalla Old Glory, Irlandesi per IlVJ e Pitti per me. io scelsi i Pitti per il fatto che furono attivi per parecchio tempo e con un esercito di pitti avrei potuto combattere dai Tardo Romani ai Normanni, e tutto quello che ci sta in mezzo.

Al tempo dipinsi i Pitti con l'allora rivoluzionario Devlan Mud, eccetto un'unita' di nobili a cavallo, ai quali, nel 2009, si aggiunse uno starter set della Grippign Beast regalatomi dal nosto amico John quando venne a trovarmi dall'Inghilterra.

Ora, dopo soli 14 anni, sono riuscito a finire tutti i Pitti rimanenti.

Come per i Normanni, considero il progetto completo, ma non sono opposto ad aggiungerre qualunque pezzo appropriato che potrei ottenere tramite scambi o come pagamento per pittura, semplicemente non ne comprero' piu'.

Character models: Bard, warlord, priest and druid/Personaggi: Bardo, generale, prete e druido. 28mm Gripping Beast, painted by Ginzio

Noble cavalry/Cavalleria nobile. 28mm Old Glory, painted by Ginzio

Noble infantry/Fanteria nobile. 28mm Gripping Beast, painted by Ginzio

Soer Chele infantry/Fanteria: Soer Chele. 28mm Gripping Beast, painted by Ginzio

Various historical figures/Vari pezzi storici

 This is a bunch of random historical figures I recently painted, they are part of the stuff I got for painting and as previously mentioned, I mostly paint these for fun, sometimes I use them in fantasy games, since I will never have enough for a proper historical game and I have no intention of investing more money and time in building armies around them.

Questo e' un lotto di vari pezzi storici scompagnati che ho dipinto di recente. Provengono da scambi fatti per pittura e, come detto in precedenza, li dipingo solo per divertimento, a volte li uso per delle partite a qualche gioco storico o per D&D, ma non ho la minima intenzione di investire denaro o tempo per espandere la collezione in eventuali eserciti

Medieval plow/Aratro mediovale. 28mm, Wargames Foiundry with Citadel farmer, painted by Ginzio

Dacian command group/Gruppo di comando dei Daci. 25mm, RAFM, painted by Ginzio

Republican roman marines/Fanti di marina della Roma repubblicana. 25mm, RAFM, painted by Ginzio

Sea people spearmen/Lanceri dei Popoli del mare. 25mm, RAFM, painted by Ginzio

Macedonian Torakitaes/Torakitaes macedoni. 25mm, RAFM, painted by Ginzio