I am having a bit of a break from modelling, painting and gaming, just a little to keep my hand in. It’s holiday time in the UK.

Here’s are the next batch of Gripping Beast Gladiators for Jugula – part painted at the moment.

They are the same models as I used before (see them here), “Familia 1” with some variation. I have dropped the Murmillo and Hoplomachus and used the spare pieces to create a Thracian and a Dimacherus (two swords). I had to chop the hand off one right handed sword and use it to glue to the top of the left hand for the Dimacherus. That needed a piece of blu-tac to hold it in place while the superglue set. I could have drilled and pinned the hand and the sword with a tiny drill bit in a pin vise, but it seems to have held quite well. Just make sure you flatten the butt of the sword hilt and the top of the hand to get a firm contact. I then added the very end of the pommel to the other end of the fist to give the completed look to “holding the sword”.

Basically these would be the pattern for Sparatacus and Gannacus used in the TV series “‘Spartacus’.

The other two are the same Veles and Retiarius but with head swaps!

I used a simple white / red / silver paint scheme to denote the slaves of another Lanista. The bases are a little thick as these are 35mm scale models, so I added a couple of layers of sand around the edge of the metal base to increase the height. When they are painted I will add some more sand over the whole base and then seal it all.

Onwards and upwards!

Enjoy the Summer Holidays.