Romans, they go the house?

'"Romanes eunt domus"? People called Romanes, they go, the house? '

Just a quick post.

At Newbury, I bought Magister Militum's new 10mm Roman buildings. I saw these on a flyer I received from them but as far as I can see they aren't yet on the website.

Roman - indeed most ancient - buildings are pretty hard to come by in most scales. I have picked up various examples in the past but most didn't really appeal. An option I've considered, and seen used to good effect, is to use the paper buildings from 'Roman Seas' . However, I wanted something with a bit more heft and which I'm less likely to squash. There is also Lurkio's Roman Villa. This looks nice though to be a bit hypercritical I think they could have used a better roof tile effect. It looks like theirs uses either Slater's or something similar. For scratchbuilding, you can get some very nice pantiles in various scales from Noch, though at something of a price. I have some sitting around waiting to be used one day.

So, here are the buildings:

Basically, a fairly high status but single range villa house with two outbuildings.

 
 
 
 

I've used the classic red and white look. I've seen a description of a very colourful villa exterior, but have lost the link! In the flesh the terracotta roof stands out more. I used GW terracotta paint for them with a lighter highlight. Walls are ivory highlighted in off-white to bring out the texture. The red band was, iirc, scab red with Foundry British red coat light as a highlight.

Final picture shows the 10mm buildings next to some 15mm Warmodelling Romans. While obviously the figures are out of scale the difference isn't too jarring and it allows sensibly sized buildings on the battlefield.
Hopefully the range will expand. A small shrine would be nice, or some lower class buildings suitable for a small town.

 

 
For more info,
http://www.romanbritain.freeserve.co.uk/villa.htm by Guy de la Bedoyere
This villa is quite near where I live.
Museum of London - possibly the inspiration for MM's model.
A nice overview of Roman paints is here though most would have been for interior decoration.