Painting Guide: Romans

Roman Painting Guide

The following guide is for those who wish to paint Republican Roman figures for the Sabis game, although they are, of course, useful for all Roman armies of the Caesarean period.

If you have a particular style of painting that you prefer, then by all means use that style. If you haven’t painted a large force before, then these suggestions will help you do that while achieving a good quality appearance. In short, the following are suggestions, not requirements, and you are welcome to use whichever style bests suits you.

Roman Infantry:

1.) Armour is primarily (almost exclusively) lorica hamata, or mail, with a leather edge.  Helmets may be of either bronze or iron, and the two may be mixed within the same cohort. Helmet crests may be of black, red, white, etc, but should be the same colour for every figure in a particular cohort.  Shields should be a dark red with the dry-transfer decoration used that is provided with the figures. Inside of the shield should be a light brown or grey colour.

2.) Clothing should be the same colour for each figure in a cohort, but may vary from cohort to cohort. The tunic, while almost always depicted as red, could also be unbleached cloth, a tan cloth, or blue, gray or even green. As long as the minis are clothed the same in each cohort, paint them as you like, tunic-wise.  If you wish to fully detail the sandals, then feel free to do so. However, you may also paint them as boots, as these were known, and by the time Miles Marius had walked for half a day it’s likely that his feet would match the colour of the leather on his sandals anyway. Those of you with kids will know exactly how this works J

3.) Details: metal trim on swords, belts, buckles, shields, etc, is almost always brass or gold, with the occasional  silver in there as well. All leather items should be a nice oiled leather or russett leather finish. Whatever shade you like is fine to use.

4.) Officers and Standards, etc. Officer’s armour may be either silver with gold details, gold with silver details, or plain gold or plain silver. It’s your call. He’s the leader, make him look good.  Standard bearers will be dressed as the other soldiers in the cohort. However, the standards should have a gold, silver, or red pole. The metal details are silver and gold, usually silver disks and gold idols.  Cloaks are either wolf pelts or bear pelts, one of each, to a cohort. Bear can be black or brown, wolf should be a shade of grey. Musicians are dressed the same as all other soldiers. The horn itself is gold (bright brass) with either solver or no trim.

5.) Bases. All club minis should be mounted on 1” diameter steel washers. If you don’t have these, or don’t wish to buy them, we will get them for you. You can also just leave the bases unpainted, and the minis unmounted, and we will do that part for you.  Just let us know in advance so we can plan for it J  If you are maounting the minis, you may paint and flock the bases how you see fit. Whatever works for you works for us too.

   That’s it! Sources and links will be posted on the board for further research, if you need it. Post any questions, or PM me or Dean and we’ll be happy to answer them as soon and as best as we can.

Painting Steps

1.) Assemble the Romans except for the shields. The shields are best done alone, in order to better fix the dry-transfer designs to them. After they are dry, just use a drop of CA (super glue) to attach them to the mini. However, whatever works best for you is the way to proceed!

2.) After the minis have completely dried, prime them in white. The easiest way is to spray them with a flat-white spray paint. I strongly endorse the $1/can WalMart spray paint for this. I’ve had excellent results for years with their spray paint. Allow the minis to outgas (dry) for about 24 hours before starting.

3.) Paint in all the flesh areas. Don’t worry about getting paint on other parts. These will be covered up later.

4.) Paint the tunic in red, white, off-white, grey or blue. Your choice, as long as all the minis in a cohort are the same colour.

5.) Paint the armour and helmet. The armour should be a steel colour, dark or polished. Your call, and can vary in a cohort. Helmets are bronze or steel, again, polished or darkened. You call, and can vary within a cohort.

6.) Paint the sandals/boots, belts, scabbards and trim on the mail a leather colour of your choice.

7.) Paint the helmet crest. Black, red, white, blue, green, etc. As long as all the helmets have the same colour crest in a cohort, then use what you like. Alternately, you can remove all the crests with a clipper. Whichever you choose is, again, fine with us.

8.) Make a wash of about 50/50 paint to water and apply this all over the mini. Black, chestnut, or pecan works best. Alternately, you can apply a coat of MinWax acrylic floor polish, also thinned  50/50 with water. The pecan finish works very well, as does the walnut. Let dry completely.

9.) Paint the shield, apply the dry-transfer detail and allow to dry before gluing to the mini.

10.) Spray the entire mini with a couple thin coats of a clear flat paint. I use WalMart’s clear matte, but Testor’s DullCoat also gives great coverage, as does Armoury’s clear flat. Whatever you like, use.

11.) if you are basing your minis yourself, then glue each to a 1” diameter steel washer, then paint and flack as you like.