Partizan in the Park preview

Cool pictures of the Partizan venue, nicked from Steve's Paintingshed.

There will be three of these, apparently, in a row. The weather forecast for Sunday is looking promising, too; sunny but not too hot. Can't wait!  

New terrain boards

Sunday's game at Partizan requires no fewer than 7 additional terrain boards. Here are four of them; two river banks and the Via Postumia (on the right).  

Most of the boards are 12mm MDF with flocked paper pasted onto them. Several that needed contouring (the river banks, for example) are 6mm ply with 3 layers of 2mm MDF glued to them. The raised road  is solid timber, and heavy, with it! Tomorrow I am going to add patches of long static grass to break up the big green areas.  

Luckily, I had off-cuts of flocked paper left over from previous projects (and a gift from mate Ian), so the big expansion has turned out to be a relatively inexpensive undertaking.  As well as for Cremona, the additional boards will be really useful for regular gaming chez Bat.

Pontoon bridge- done, but not yet dusted

It's built and painted, but I think it needs one final drybrush to make it a little lighter in tone.  Today I'm going to get to work on the Po river banks, and on the raised Via Postumia.  I'll take some proper pics at Partizan.

Bridge over the River Po

...being a WIP shot of my pontoon bridge and the river it will cross.

The "Po" is a 6mm ply board with adhesive blue tiles from Homebase on it. I am cautiously pleased with the tiles which are much more hard-wearing than my previous attempt at a river. On the downside, they needed to be cut down to size, which was a real pain, and one can see the joins to some extent. The separate banks are also 6mm ply, build up with 3 layers of 2mm MDF. They sit over the edge of the river, disguising the join between the boards, and are the same thickness as the 12mm MDF boards that I will be using with the game.

The river will also do service as the Rhine, for 70AD games, especially if I can make up some models like the Liburnian that Skull and Crown sent me. I am considering making another 4' length of river, and a couple of narrower rivers, too.  

If you are coming to Partizan on Sunday, and would like to move a legion or so about, please drop me a line!

Pontoon bridge part 2

My bridge is coming on apace; it's just over 1 metre long. Last night I built the approach ramps from balsa, foam board and the inevitable coffee stirrers. The only work remaining is to build the supports that sit in the pontoons and prop up the roadway, and I can't do those until I've built the river, or I might get the bridge's level wrong. I also need to add the 4Ground balustrades and paint, of course.  In the background I'm building a section of the raised Via Postumia.

The 1st Bedriacum (Cremona) game will be fought at Partizan on 1st June, and I still have a couple of places left if you would like to play; drop me an email at the address on the front of my blog. I'll also be running a somewhat larger version of the same game, along with several other big Roman battles, at the Wargames Holiday Centre on the weekend of 28th/29th June, at which I believe there are some spaces left.

More Romans and a baboon

A hasty and rather nasty camera phone photo of three units of Roman skirmishers that I'm basing. Most of these minis were painted by mate Legatus Hedlius; I've added some Black Tree poses for variety. A better photo will follow when the basing is finished, perhaps after Partizan. I owe Legatus a further debt of gratitude for recommending "Lewis" as a successor for my "Morse" boxed set, which I finished last night. So far I'm liking Lewis!

Finally, I've painted an old Citadel baboon to pass to Scrivs for the Keren game.  IIRC it will have a role harassing the BBC, so presumably it is a fascist baboon.  ;-)

Black legion based

...but not yet flocked.  I'll take a proper photo later on.

There are 101 miniatures in four units, with a legion command stand and a couple of "heroes".  As I've previously mentioned, I'll add a fifth unit later on.  These boys are going to be V Alaudae.

Last night I painted a bunch of archers, that will form the final three units for Partizan.

Pontoon bridge part 1

I've made a modest start on my Roman pontoon bridge.

These 5 sections are the roadway, and are simply made from coffee stirrers stuck to card.  They slot together to form a single piece, around 65cm in length. I'm currently "distressing" the wood, to make the stirrers look more like ancient planks. Next, I'll attack the railings on the sides and  frame of supporting timbers underneath.

The black Legion musters

Last night I finished painting of the second legion for Partizan.

Tonight I need to finish staining them (I'm using inks in Johnson's Klear), and tomorrow I can get on with matt varnishing and highlighting the metallics.  I'm nicely on track for Partizan, although there is still a challenging volume of terrain to complete.

Partizan should be very interesting this year, as (due to a foul-up by the owners) it's going to be held in a huge tent, instead of inside Kelham Hall.  It'll be one to remember, one way or the other!  I'm really looking forward to it.

Roman Pontoon bridge...

...kit.

This will become the Roman pontoon bridge that will feature in my Bedriacum game at Partizan, in just over 2 weeks time.  Gulp.

It'll be built of coffee stirrers, card, bamboo skewers and balcony edges from 4Ground.  It's not a complex build, but I've left myself very ilittle time to do it, and I also need to knock up some terrain boards, including the River Po.

I've always wanted to own a Roman pontoon bridge.  This will be one of the largest terrain pieces I've built, and one of the cheapest, too!

Back to black

...instead of following through on basing the yellow shields, I decided to push on and finish the second, black-shielded legion. These figures are around half of them, and are the ones that came ready painted; they are the work of three painters, who I like to think of as the good, the bad and the ugly. The "good" ones in row 3 and 4 are more well-painted ex-Legatus Hedlius minis, and just needed shield transfers. The "bad" ones in rows one and two needed a near complete repaint. The "ugly" ones at the rear had just been blocked in, and look much better for a little highlighting.

I need one more session on this lot's shields, two more on the rump of the minis, and then I can think about varnishing and basing. It is going so well, in fact, that I have cockily decided to paint a cohort or so of archers to provide some fire support.

If anyone would like to see all of the completed minis together, then they will be at Partizan on 1st June, and at the Wargames Holiday Centre on the 28th/29th June, where I'll putting on four large games.

Painting progress...

A quick WIP shot of the first of the two new legions for Partizan. In a few days time, when they are flocked, I'll take some proper photos.

These are now based up as 4 units, each of 3 stands, together with the legion's command stand and a couple of singly based "heroes".  The new 8 figure 60 x 50mm stand is to become the standard for all my Romans.

Later in the year I will add a fifth unit, which can form the third line of the legion.  I'm currently painting the other legion with the black shields, which will make a great contrast.  

The varnished troops

Today I'm varnishing the first of the two legions for Partizan.  Tonight I'll highlight the metallics, and take them off the temporary bases.

A very superior matt varnish was recommended to me by ConflictinColour; Windsor and Newton Professional.  It comes in a silver can and is much better than their other product.  It's at least as good as Testors, and less than half the price.