Soldier's Roman Decurion - Staging and Groundwork

This Roman Decurion is kit number SR35 in Soldier's Roman Series and represents one of Rome's cavalry elite from the 2nd century AD. I have had a soft spot for this figure for many years and always wanted to add a horse to any scene that I would use the figure in. Once Soldier's made their cavalry horse available as a seperate item from the kit it came from (SR29 from original kit SR19) I snatched one up so that this little grouping could be created. I have cleaned and completed basic assembly of the two kits and started the basic groundwork the other night. I know it seems like I have a lot of irons in the fire now but this is part of my ongoing prep for my seminar that I am giving in Pittsburgh in a few weeks.

One of the problems with staging is that sometimes what looks right in your mind or on paper won't be right when you get the components together. What you see in the next three photos is my process of staging the figures while creating the groundwork. When the putty was still wet on the base I pressed the figures in where I thought they should go. After the putty cured I was able to place the figures on the base again and sit back to think about what I had. At that point I was less than pleased with their placement. Using Blu-tac to temporarily hold the figure I made minor adjustments, first moving the figure closer to the horse, then pivoting him for better visibility. The lesson here is play with the scene before committing yourself to something you can't fix later.

 Here is a picture of the groundwork prior to addition of dirt and grass. The post comes with the Decurion figure and has been pinned to the groundwork. Once I have redrilled the locating holes for the figure and filled in the earlier holes I will continue to work on this piece.