VAE VICTIS

[Ben90]

Once again: Thanks to all participants for a great competition!
And of course thanks to all voters!

This scene was in my mind for a long time, now I´ve realised it. Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar and his legionaries.

Hope you´ll enjoy...

[Kostis Ornerakis]

Congratulations for your excellent work. It was a privilege to be in the final with you.

[sberry]

Very nice scene: The composition, the conversions and sculpting (I wish I could do that) and the fine paintjob - everything is great.
Just one question concerning the equipment painted in brown: Is this done to indicate leather?

[santifernandez]

The first round I play with you I knew I was going to win .... a great job in all aspects.
Santi.

[Cryns]

Well this is great. Just great.

I can hardly believe I am looking at 'our' scale.
Are we sure this is 1/72 and not 1/35?
Ben, I noticed your sculpting and painting skills before, you know that, I hope.
But you made progression again I think.
And now you present us work that looks much better than many commercial and professional companies try to sell us in this scale. Including some German metal and resin 1/72 companies, selling lots of Romans.

Are you working together with the bigger or smaller producers? Or are you still a 'hobbyist'? I do not dare to use the word amator for you and your work!

Well I hope to meet you at Dioramica. Will you be there?

But one thing:
sberry had exactly the same thoughts as I did.
Leather armour for Roman officers. That is something we see in Hollywood movies from the 1950's and 60's. What is the historical context?

[Ben90]

Thanks for the comments.

I had the same problems with the "leather" armor. Actually I don´t really know if it is historically correct. Well, they never used armor made completely from leather, I think. But maybe bronze armor with leather parts "glued" to it. Beside that struggle I decided to stick more to the scene from the series "Rome" -> https://aljonzc.files.wordpress.com/201 ... 912868.jpg than on historical accuracy. But it would be nice if someone finds/knows some evidence pro or contra leather armor and posts it here.

Regarding the question about hobby-sculpting: Yes, I just do it as a hobby, but I´ve made some figures for "RJ-Ancients" (availiable on Hagen miniatures) some time ago...

https://aljonzc.files.wordpress.com/201 ... 912868.jpg

[Ray.Caruana]

A very nice scene indeed. And very well sculpted and painted too!

[Zed1]

Congrats. This was one of my favourite ones for which I have voted as well.
Now when I see all that work in behind and that great base, it's even more beautiful.

[bilsonius]

A brilliant piece of work!

(but compare the Gallic version of the event...)

[Beano Boy]

The poor fellows fate was sealed!
Great Work! BB

[Rosbif]

Simply stunning!

[Wiking]

I am impressed!
The sculpting. An applauding man . How Caesar move his head! The whole situation, arrangement of the figures, painting. Great.
Also the base is done nice and fit well into the time of the scene.
A lot of know how is in these whole work.
Masterpiece!

It is nice that you show us the "green guys" too.

[Konrad]

You show us what is possible.
Great.

[andi]

Fantastic.
Sad you do not produce them.

[Susofrick]

A brilliant piece of work!

(but compare the Gallic version of the event...)

This is the version I remember! Have we had a competition with so many self-sculpted/heavily converted figures before??? Wow! This only made it more fun! Huge congratulations!

[Michel]

Amazing Work, Ben!!!! Great arragement and very well painted!!!! Bravo!

[Wolfgang Meyer]

Fantastic project! Sculpting, painting is

[sberry]

When you say you wanted to model a scene from HBO’s Rome, “as seen on TV”, there is nothing to object at all. But since you have asked for the archaeological reality, here are some remarks:
Of course you can have lots of leather on a Roman soldier. Besides the obvious candidates (boots & belts), the pteryges come to mind. Thick linen would be another option, but it is absolutely correct to paint them in a leather tone, as you did.
One might also discuss the subarmalis, a sort of undercoat worn under the cuirass, for which leather is an option.
But what the Romans never – NEVER – did, was wearing a genuine cuirass or helmet made of leather. This, at least, is the majority opinion among scholars today (with Raffaele D’Amato being the only exception I know; he still believes in leather armor).
The picture of Romans in leather was popularized by the Movies, as Mr. Cryns noted already. But it goes back even further; it is essentially a seriously outdated reconstruction of the late 19th century. Scholars at that time were not aware of the importance of chainmail in the Roman panoply, and they were not aware of the importance of painting for gravestones and other monuments. Many depictions of Roman soldiers in a smooth, leather-like cuirass are today thought to represent chainmail, which had been simply painted onto the sculpture, rather than choosing the more tedious (and costly) variant of actually chiseling all those individual ringlets.

[Ben90]

@sberry: Sounds reasonable! I remember I´ve heared the chainmail/leather thing somewhere before.
But sculptin or painting a pure leather helmet wasn´t my intention. If you look on the picture from HBO Anthonys helmet looks like leather glued onto bronze. Combined with some bronze or golden applications it creates a nice look that differs from the normal legionary-helmet. So maybe the romans had such helmets, maybe not, I don´t know. But your answer brings some light into the discussion!

And for those who like to see the sculpting progress: I have found some more pics of the greens:

[vellek]

Not only is this an awesome entry, but we're getting some good info on Roman equipment as well.