Praetorian Ratlings???

So I have the afternoon off and while I was waiting for paint to dry on my Penal Troopers I was rummaging around and dug out my ratlings as I was thinking about sticking them on eBay to hopefully get a few quid. But then looking at the uniforms of the old ratlings again, they look very much of a style with Praetorians, and could be easily painted so. I never liked the heads though, the crazy hair and trucker caps, but I think sculpting piths for them is beyond me. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe the piths in the empress spares pack I bought would look okay. So I hacked away at one of their heads (thumb now bandaged as I got too blasé with the craft knife!)  and then when I could get it to fit, stuck the helmet on with blu-tac to take a look. Pretty happy with the result, will need a little bit of green stuff work to tidy up as the empress piths aren't very smooth and gaps will need filled. This saves me buying alternatives I was looking at that would have ended up costing 30 quid plus and they still didn't have piths, just nicer heads. What do we think? (bare in mind I may loose a thumb if doing ten!)

Base Colour Scheme - Need Some Advice Please Guys!

Right, so I have been playing around with some bases trying to decide on what the base colour scheme for my army should be. This is what I have come up with, and I would really appreciate some opinions on what to go for. The pictures show the three different colour schemes, the two different grasses I have and the bases with either black or graveyard earth rims.

I almost don't want to run through my full opinions as I would rather you gave me your thoughts without me influencing them, but I'm massively confused! Before putting grass on I had given up on the middle base for being too dark and was leaning towards the left or right one. Now I really like the middle one, still like the left one (but possibly a bit drab??) and I'm no longer sure about the right (too orange??)!

Could really do with some thoughts to help make this decision, they all look like they would be fine next to the Praetorian model I painted so not so worried about that, just want the best looking base of the three. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Penal Legion Trooper Painted

So I painted the first of my Penal Legion Troops. It was a lot easier to paint than build! I was really happy with him, loved it in fact, but then I started mucking around with a few highlights and I can't shake the feeling that I have ruined him somehow. They definitely add a bit of depth to the model, but I'm not very good at them and I'm starting to wish I hadn't bothered. Looking at these photos they don't look too bad and just under the normal energy savers they look okay. I think its because I'm looking at him under my bright modelling lamp that I get freaked out by how severe they look, where as if there were a few guys together under normal daylight maybe I have got it right? I'm not really sure, but I definitely find it a real hard skill and doesn't matter how many well painted examples I see to use as a guide, I never feel I'm getting it quite right!

But one thing is for sure, the other five of these I have ready to go are getting painted this week because A) its a really simple job and B) I love them! Not very Praetorian I know but if I get another 4 together at least I will have a completed squad before March! (touch wood). Unfortunately with work and other time consumers I have a snail pace modelling timeline!

First Praetorian Trooper for Veteran Squad Fully Painted

So here is the first of my original GW Praetorian Imperial Guard Troopers that I will be using in my veteran squads. He wasn't too hard to paint (not that I think it was that great a job!) but I think he looks ok. Thanks Col Winterborne for the epaulette advice, I went a bit more golden for the top drybrush coats. Any thoughts of anything that could possibly be changed with colours before I bang out a load more?

Also haven't done the base, have three bases drying that I'm going to test out some Desertish/African plain like base colour schemes on, as I think the one on my test guy was too white. I want a more dry grassland feel. Any suggestions? I never really thought about it but the base is incredibly important to get right as although the models will change, every base will/should be roughly the same so want to get it spot on.

Praetorian Lascannon Conversion Update

So the new wheels just arrived and I have quickly put them on and taken a photo. I'm not sure I like them as much, the fact that the spokes point out towards the rims, that the wheel is thinner and I definitely preferred the wheel hub on the original wheels. However they are a much lower cost alternative as I can't afford to be buying complete artillery pieces just for the wheels. What are others thoughts? Originals on right to compare.