Diary X: August 2017 v. Kekso

[Bluefalchion]

After two straight disappointing ties in June and July, it was on to August. I never (or rarely) knew who my opponent was ahead of time, but I always assume they are excellent painters because they frequent this forum!

My August mystery opponent was definitely a gentleman, though. He linked the PSR review of Zvezda Greek Warriors, and let me choose any figure in the box that had a duplicate, because he will send me the figure! The promised figure arrived with plenty of time and I dove into my research and prep.

I chose this warrior with the kopis because it is well sculpted and you can see most of the front armor without obstruction. I wanted to put more detail on to the figure than was sculpted, because I have found that to be a winning strategy in duels, as long as the details can be credibly executed.

Here is a link to the original duel:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=20911

Of course my opponent turned out to be Kekso, none other than Dalibor himself. There are many images of Greek Warriors avaliable on google, and I really liked the shields with the black and white teeth around the rim. I must say it was a bit tough to pull off! I also liked a tutorial I found that added some battle damage to the shield. I thought that could be a nice touch that could garner an extra vote or two.

I also studied the combs on re-enactors helmets and tried to capture the texture in paint. And, finally, I attempted to duplicate the layered skin that had worked decently on my May entry of the female gladiator. Looking back, this was one of my better entries in my entire two years of being Mr. X.

Kekso's entry was also really fantastic, but perhaps a little rushed due to some stressful work issues he was having at the time. My entry got a few more votes, and the win improved Mr. X's record to 4-1-3. Eight duels with only one loss, that's not too terribly bad, all things considered. Not much time to reflect on the win, however, because a lot was happening in my life, and it was on to the September Duel, one of my very favorite duels of all.

[Bluefalchion]

A few more thoughts on this duel later today, but, in the mean time, Remco said I could remind our forum people about this:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=22435

[Kekso]

Thanks Aaron, I remember that duel. It was fun. Well deserved win

[Bluefalchion]

Kekso--

Yes indeed! And almost exactly one year later, you were able to enact sweet revenge! Maybe I will do a write up on that one some day.

[Bluefalchion]

A couple more facts about this duel: I was still smarting from my "too specific" naming disaster from the June duel (and sort of still am), and I did not want to read "well this guy is clearly a Spartan but he has Athenian armor" or some such, or "The Greeks did not have those types of sandals as Thermopylae" so I just named the entry "shield and sword" using the Greek words I could find.

After this duel was complete, I glued the figure back onto his cork and brought him to work with me. You see, there is a co-worker there who has tattoos of a Greek warrior carrying a kopis. While researching this entry, I had asked him for his advice about colors and such. So I wanted him to see the figure. I put it in a little gift box. He got it out, and was so impressed. This guy is really tough, and he has to put up with unhappy people all day long. He is the boss in his particular domain. So when I saw the look on his face, I was struck with a sudden impulse of generosity. I told him that the figure was his to keep. It was not my intention when I went to work that day, since I had always intended a group photo for every entry when my term as Mr. X was up. I eventually did one, but minus one figure.

Well then my work friend got some more tattoos. So he needed dory and xiphos to go with his kopis. I painted some up and gave them to him this week. Here they are:











He seemed to like them. I hope you do, too.

[Graeme]

I do like these. very nicely painted. I'm particularly impressed by the hand painted shields and the skin tones and muscle definition are very cleverly done.

If these two are dueling I think I'll vote for dory; not sure why i just like the colouring and I like the wave pattern at the bottom of his chiton. The original duel wasn't so easy to vote on; I thought they were two very high quality entries and very difficult to sepperate.

[Bluefalchion]

I do like these. very nicely painted. I'm particularly impressed by the hand painted shields and the skin tones and muscle definition are very cleverly done.

If these two are dueling I think I'll vote for dory; not sure why i just like the colouring and I like the wave pattern at the bottom of his chiton. The original duel wasn't so easy to vote on; I thought they were two very high quality entries and very difficult to sepperate.

Thanks! The Atlantic Greek Army figures are far from the best, but they were the only Greeks I had. Also, I can rarely resist the opportunity to start with a vintage, if flawed, figure, and through paint, conversions, or both, try to make something of it.