Romano-British for Dux Britanniarum

So we come to the final figure in this starter warband for Dux Britanniarum, the Lord, Garcianus.

Although he is only 24, he has already gained a name for himself and a roll on the relevant table shows that he is known as Garcianus the Victorious. This has no immediate effect, other than to make me hope that his performance on the tabletop will live up to his reputation!

He has a physique of average build and the Dutiful characteristic. This means he has the welfare of the people at heart and must follow the King career path in the game rather than pursue the life of a Warlord. The king he serves is 61 years old. This is relevant to the campaign, as the death of a king gives an opportunity for your Lord to take his place if he has gained enough support.

Garcianus is an exile, the son of a high-ranking father in a kingdom no longer in existence. This reduces his starting level of wealth and indeed, he only has a Beggar’s Bowl in funds.

Garcianus is Footsore’s Romano-British Warlord figure and was great fun to paint. The fur collar on his cloak was probably something on which I went a bit too far. I followed a tutorial in the Dark Ages edition of the Painting War series of occasional magazines.  The end result was an eleven step process and although I think it looks good, I do wonder if that was excessive. Nevertheless, I shall list out each step so you can have a go yourself should you be so inclined. These aren’t the precise colours used in Painting War, but the ones I had available that most closely matched their instructions.  The colours I used were:

German Camo Black Brown (VMC 70.882)

Orange Brown (VMC 70.981)

Light Brown (VMC 79.929)

Dark Flesh (VMC 70.927)

Pale Grey Blue (VMC 70.907)

Army Painter Soft Tone ink

Note that all highlights are applied by drybrushing.  The steps were as follows:

Base: German Camo Black Brown

1st highlight: German Camo Black Brown 50% plus Orange Brown 50%

2nd highlight: German Camo Black Brown 25% plus Orange Brown 75%

3rd highlight: German Camo Black Brown 10% plus Orange Brown 90%

1st Wash: Army Painter Soft Tone Ink

2nd Wash: German Camo Black Brown 10% plus Orange Brown 90%

4th highlight: Orange Brown 100%

5th highlight: Light Brown 20% plus Orange Brown 80%

6th highlight: Light Brown 40% plus 40% Orange Brown plus 20% Dark Flesh (note that this mix looks suspiciously similar to Tan Yellow, so that might make a suitable single colour alternative)

7th highlight: Light Brown 20% plus Orange Brown 20% plus Dark Flesh 10% plus Pale Grey Blue 50%

3rd Wash: Light Brown 50% plus Orange Brown 50%

The other prominent feature on Garcianus was the large jewel on his cloak clasp. I’ve always avoided jewels before now, but felt that I couldn’t do that with the model. I watched a YouTube video where a chap in Singapore was painting Eldar spirit stones and adapted the techniques he described.  Essentially it was a base coat of VMC Dark Vermilion over Black. I then painted a line of Orange around the lower left quarter rim, followed by an even thinner line of Flat Yellow over the Orange. Finally I did a small stroke of White over the Flat Yellow as the light exit point. This was complemented with a dot of White in the upper left corner to simulate the light entry point. Lastly, a coat of gloss varnish gave the jewel a general sheen.

This completes my Romano-British starter force for Dux Britanniarum. I’ll try and post some pictures of the complete force over the weekend.