A Change of Pace - Prepping Amazon Archers from Crocodile Games

I needed a break from working on the "Steady Lads" diorama last night so I dipped into the box I received from the Crocodile Games Wargods of Olympus Kickstarter. I usual need something else to work on when I'm painting competition pieces, the distraction from not having to be perfect is usually quite relaxing. I have quite the horde of Amazons at this point but I didn't want to start with one of the core phalanx units so I pulled out the archers. Like 90% of the Croc line these are sculpted by Chris Fitzpatrick and they are beautiful minis. 

There are three poses plus a command miniature. All of these have very light mold lines and the castings are near perfect which makes them very easy to work on. However, because of the pose itself that mold line goes right across the face of the minis (through the right eye, no less, on two and down the middle on the third). These are the types of mold lines that I really hate and in this case its worse because I'm dealing with a beautifully sculpted face.

I went in with one of my lighter edged files so I would leave as few scratches as possible. I followed that up by trying to buff it smooth with steel wool but I found it hard to get it into some of the crevices on these because of the poses. I pulled out one of my blue sanding sticks instead and I was able to buff out any scratches with this tool without a problem.

I'm definitely looking forward to painting these but progress is likely to be slow. I'm going to take some time and see if I can find some 20mm square resin bases for them that will push the Greek motif a bit more (I know Amazons, while part of Greek Mythology, are not themselves from Greece). There is some archaeological evidence that there may be a kernel of truth to the Amazon myth from graves found near Pokrovka, Russia (near the Kazakhstan border). While certainly not the Amazons of the Greek Myths it lends some credence to the concept of warrior women. I'm going to paint based around colors that might have been used by the Sarmations and Scythians. There is an Amazon Cavalry unit coming in the second wave but they still need to deliver the Athenians and Corinthians before the second wave gets started.

Here is what I managed last night:

11 Amazon Archers and an Amazon unit leader