54mm Gladiators: Dropped weapons

Among the extras Blackcat sent with my gladiators were some extra equipment. I've sacrificed a few pieces to represent dropped weapons and armor, or to be used as equipment left on the arena floor for gladiators to pick up just before combat (a little fun scenario I worked up). The net at the top of the photo is one I made myself using greenstuff. It was fairly easy since it was sculpted on the base, but I want to figure out how to do one fluttering through the wind as it is being cast (for a retiarius conversion I'm working on in my head.) I know how to sculpt the netting on a base, and I can sculpt a decent billowing cape shape- but I need to combine these two things for what I want to do. I'll work it out.

To give some of the items the appearance of sitting on the sand (without actually having to glue stuff to the sand itself which doesn't have a lot of surface to "grab" onto), I worked up some greenstuff and made little mounds in the center of each base. The equipment was glued/set onto these mounds. Once set, painted and dried, the flock (sand) was glued all the way to the edge of the items. So I get the appearance of the item sitting on the sand without the weakness of these tiny bits being glued to even tinier bits.

I have been working (though, slowly) on the final two figures in this project (another boxer and a dimachaerus). This week I received my copy of Command and Colors, and anyone who has ever bought this game knows there are a lot of stickers that need applying to small wooden blocks. So I spent a couple evenings this week doing that. That's a lot of tedious work that leaves one tired. But, yes, I AM getting some more painting done for your viewing pleasure :)