Tuesday, December 19, 2017

1/600 Ancient Ships

As a little distraction while painting Dutch, Orange, and Brunswick infantry, I built, rigged, and painted these 1/600 scale ancient naval vessels.  They are all from Xyston, and this was my first attempt at ancient ships.

In battle, the crews would have left the masts ashore, but I like the look of the sails.  Plus sail colors can be used to mark squadrons on the table.  I did my best on the crew and marines on deck, painting the highlights over a dark brown base coat.  These figures are only 3mm high!

I painted the ships with Vallejo's "old wood" and washed with raw umber oil paint.  I blocked in the sails with acrylic paint, washed with oils, and highlighted with thinned oils.

The bases are all from Litko.  I covered the bases with automotive putty then rolled toothpicks over them to create a water effect.  I painted the water with acrylics.

Greek Triremes







Phoenecian Triremes






Transports and Hemiolia



I enjoyed doing these, and I think they turned out pretty well.  The next batch, I will probably use Vallejo's "new wood," which I used on the hemiolia with the red sail.

16 comments:

  1. Beautiful work. I painted a lot of these a few years back and even wrote a set of rules for Hellenistic galley warfare. I left the masts off because, as you pointed out, they stowed them for battle, and also because I'm too lazy to do rigging.

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    1. Maybe I will do the next batch without masts, but I do like the look of those sails.

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  2. While the photos provide a good representation of your handiwork, nothing compares to seeing the little gems in person.

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    1. You're very kind, Jon. When I have time, I will paint enough for us to have a game!

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  3. Beautiful ships, lovely colors and great bases, I have painted mine darker, and I find yours much better, excellent job!

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  4. I do like the colour palette- suits the med I remember it well in parts of my misspent youth ....

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    1. I am very jealous. A trip to Greece is on my bucket list for sure.

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  5. I like the "new wood" color as well. David's ships look great too.

    What rules were you planning to use with these beautiful models?

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    1. Yes, I think I will use "new wood" from now on.

      I have Poseidon's Warriors from Osprey, and I will probably start there. If I like the rules for the Greco-Persian Wars, I will probably add Punic Wars fleets as well.

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  6. Lovely looking ships, I think they probably are better with sails, very nice job!
    Best Iain

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  7. Replies
    1. Thank you! I am pretty pleased with how they turned out.

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  8. Beautiful work on these, Scott! Your talents are limitless.

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