You'll find a little of everything here. Genres covered in this blog include (so far) prehistorics, fantasy, old west, swashbucklers, pulp, Blood Bowl, Ghostbusters, gladiators, nautical, science fiction and samurai in 6mm, 15mm, 28mm, 40mm, 42mm and 54mm sizes. You'll also find terrain, scenery, basing, gaming, modeling, tutorials, repaints, conversions, art and thoughts in general about the hobby.


Friday, March 5, 2010

54mm Gladiators: Thraex


This is my favorite, both the figure and the class of gladiator. I bought two copies of this figure; The pose is the most dynamic of the whole group, with his shield raised to deflect a sword blow, and his sica poised for a counter thrust. The second copy of this figure, I converted (easily) into a hoplomachus. It was a simple matter of cutting off the sica (curved sword) and drilling a hole to hold a new spear.
I made the feathers here from brass rod that was hammered flat then filed down to refine the edges. They are a bit oversized, but I wanted them to be a touch large to indicate this fighter's importance (as my favorite.)

The thraex is armored just like the hoplomachus -- two high greaves, quilted leg armor, quilt-armored weapon arm, helmet and small shield. He differs from the hoplomachus in a couple areas: The hoplon carries a small round shield (almost a buckler), whereas the thraex has a small square shield almost looking like a cut-down scutum.
Instead of a spear, the thaex carries a weapon not used by other gladiators: the sica. The sica is a small sword/dagger with a pronounced curve in the blade. As far as I've gathered, early sicas had more of rounded curve, and later versions (which I wanted to do here) had a distinct angled bend in the blade.

If anyone has been watching Spartacus: Sand and Blood, Spartacus fights his first few matches as a thraex.
A thraex would normally be matched up against a murmillo.

So that completes my three main pairings of gladiators. I still have a few fighters left to paint, but none of them have a dedicated opponent. Below are some of the major pairings one would probably see in the arena:



2 comments:

  1. Great works!!!
    where you bought the unpainted miniatures?

    I'm searching good minis to paint them, but yours are the best!

    Thanks for your info.
    Ivan.

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    Replies
    1. My 54mm gladiators I got at Black Cat Miniatures: http://www.blackcatminiatures.net/

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