Enter the Thraex

Inspired by Balkan tribesmen, the Thraex was a lightly armoured gladiator who fought with a small shield and a sica, a vicious curved sword perhaps derived from a Thracian rhomphaia.

Uninspired by the Mick Yarrow (a little messy) and Outpost (a little... little) Thracians, I wanted to paint up another one for my gladiator school. I have always liked the sculpting of the Strategia Nova gladiators (for all their questionable historicity), so scavenging through my bits box I found a Strategia Nova hoplomachus with a nice small shield and a couple of other more generic murmillo-thraex type chaps with large shields. A quick couple of cuts and a drop of glue later, I have a new thraex who seems to have lost his helmet somehow.