Gladiator

Back at Cold Wars 2019 I purchased a couple packages of gladiators from Crusader Miniatures at the Badger Games stand.  This was in support of a card-driven game that we play called Blood, Sweat, and Cheers.  Fun game, very simple, and quick to play. Most of the illustrated gladiators on the cards match the gladiator sculpts in Crusader's line. 

Anyway, I painted one up as my Single Figure Historical Miniature entry into the Wargames Illustrated 2019 Historicon Painting Competition.  It didn't place, but the feedback from the judges was very positive.  Specifically, I knew that the loincloth was not my best work.  I painted it 3 times and just couldn't get it to look right.  But I ran out of time and just submitted it.  Sure enough, when I asked the judges for feedback they said "the loincloth let you down.  But the metal work was superb."   It's always great to get feedback, especially when there's positive reviews on something that you didn't think was any good (I hate painting metallics and wasn't sure if it was good enough.  I guess it was!)

Anyway, here's some pictures.  These are just the straight JPG's from the camera.  I will eventually tweak the RAW images and post them too.

Also, some of these are taken with a close-up filter that I borrowed from a co-worker - but of course i forgot to take notes on which ones they were!