I am Gladiator!

   It's hard to believe that Ridley Scott's hugely impressive 'Gladiator', was released fourteen years ago.  It remains a wonderful achievement cinematically and a firm favourite of mine and so when deciding on a 'favourite character' for the penultimate bonus round in 'The Fourth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge', it wasn't long before Maximus became my first choice.  Fortunately for me 'Crusader Miniatures' produce a fine range of 28mm gladiators including some rather splendid 'not' characters and it is these that form the basis of the entry.  

In essence we have three 28mm gladiators (one prone) and a 28mm scale tigress (this was a DeeZee Miniature, available through North Star Military Figures.)  The idea was to try and recreate the scene when our hero, Maximus takes on the might of the Gaul, whilst trying to avoid the various livestock that are roaming around the Coliseum.

In order to set the scene, rather than just submit the miniatures, I press-ganged another blank CD into service.  A few bits and pieces from 'Ainsty Castings', some foam core and a piece of chain all helped to create a little piece of Rome on which to recreate my battle. 

Hugely enjoyable fun, but throughout the whole process I couldn't help but hear Russell Crowe growling his immortal line,

 "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the TRUE emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

Ultimately, I was pleased with the painting of the composite parts, but felt that the overall result lacked something of my previous entry.  I had intended there to be additional characters to fill some of the dead space, but simply ran out of time.  The voting is now over for this round, but if you haven't seen some of the other wonderful entries, I would strongly suggest that you follow the link Here.