Monday 10 March 2014

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.




72 comments:

  1. excellent painting work, like always!
    nice figures and I like the base and the tiger.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful work Michael, long live to Maximus Decimus Meridius, love the tiger!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Phil, I was pleased with how the tiger turned out, although the strikes were a bit tricky.

      Delete
  3. Lovely.

    Your setting the bar rather high nowadays Michael!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, I'm really enjoying the painting at the moment, just wish I had more time to do it.

      Delete
  4. Great work as alway Michael , great vignette !
    Cheers ;

    ReplyDelete
  5. Another peach of a diorama, lovely work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Matt, really enjoyed putting this one together.

      Delete
  6. Hola
    MAGNIFICA si señor,as echo una gran escena,as conseguido un gran movimiento de las minis y muy a la película
    un saludo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just really well modeled, Michael. The tiger stripes are an eyeful and the blur motion of the striking tiger is impressive!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stunning paint work, exellent compossition of the viginet

    Best regards Michael

    ReplyDelete
  9. That's a very beautiful diorama. Nicely done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you my good man, I had hoped to have a couple of extra characters in it, but sadly ran out of time.

      Delete
  10. Nice work on them all they all look great. The paintshop blurred tiger pic looks good as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Simon, just couldn't resist a bit of fun with the editing.

      Delete
  11. I'm Spartacus!!! - oh wrong film...

    lovely stuff .. one of my favourite films..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No I'm Spartacus!!! No still wrong, but thank you Dave.

      Delete
    2. Spartacus... Hmm ... There is a last stand idea.

      Delete
  12. wow, very impressive!
    i like each part of it, specially the arena and the idea of using a cd.
    bye

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Luca, I do enjoy using CDs as a base.

      Delete
  13. You have set the scene wonderfully Michael. Superb painting and modelling all round.
    Pat.

    ReplyDelete
  14. A great little piece Michael!

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
  15. "Are you not entertained!"
    I certainly am. Well done, great modelling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another cracking scene, perhaps next year I will do that one!

      Delete
  16. Yet another cracker to add to your exemplary catalogue. Well done mate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Millsy, I just really enjoy working on these pieces.

      Delete
  17. Brilliant work there Michael as usual.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is incredibly kind of you to say so, but the miniatures were a delight to work on.

      Delete
  18. Splendid effort Michael, and fave movie of mine too - the movie soundtrack is also very enjoyable...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Scott and you are not wrong about the soundtrack, haunting and stirring both.

      Delete
  19. That was a gorgeous piece of work Michael. You do such a good job of using negative space in your dioramas and I am always inspired by your work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's very kind of you Anne, but when I look at the completed work, I can see the gaps in the composition where I had planned to add the extra miniatures.

      Delete
  20. Great stuff, Michael.

    The combatants should be grateful you didn't sic your spinosaurus on their sorry behinds.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Very nice scene! Great stuff

    ReplyDelete
  22. Howdy, it's truly been 14 years? Wow. I've been following your blog for a while, but couldn't resist commenting on this beauty. Not as flashy as the Whitechapel diorama, mayhap, but definitely nothing to sneeze at.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, I really appreciate the comment. I have been snooping around your blog too, but I notice that you don't have a followers button.

      Delete
    2. LOL, still fumbling my way around with this blog thing, and been a bit busy to play much the last month. I have a follower's button now, though. :)

      Delete
    3. Well done that man, you know have a follower!

      Delete
  23. Very fine diorama. You're setting the bar very high Mr Awdry!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, but sadly no Victorian points here!

      Delete
  24. That is just fantastic Michael! Excellent modelling!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Excellent vignette! You really managed to create a almost movie like atmosphere. One can almost hear Russel Crow muttering.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, I think it helped have some great miniatures to work on though.

      Delete
  26. Thank you Andrew, I wish I had more time to finish off the extra characters.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Outstanding!
    One of my favourites, once more by you... ;-)

    Cheers
    Stefan

    ReplyDelete
  28. You know, its amazing how often your blog continues to impress often a long time after you publish something. Somehow I missed this at the time but it is quite a stunning diorama - well done Sir!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, hoping to reuse that base this year if all goes to plan.

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...