Showing posts with label AandA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AandA. Show all posts

Thursday, 15 October 2015

II Adiutrix


This lovely unit was painted by the most illustrious Saxon Dog. It used to be Impetus-sized but David very kindly painted another 6 minis to match so that I could extend the base to the 18cm frontage I use for most of my personal TtS! gaming.

I love the sculpts in this range which is sold by A&A Miniatures but which was sculpted by Adam "Smithy" Smith now at Aventine.

I added some spent arrows to the base and shields; I figure that they will mostly do service in the East where a hail of Sassanid arrows will be a regular event.

This cohort has a full complement of supporting light troops, which can be seen here.

I have a couple of units of legionaries already based and various others partly painted, to there is a distinct possibility that I will be able to get some Middle Roman gaming under way in the spring. I'm very curious to try Sam Mustafa's coming Aurelian rules and would also love to write and run a "To the Strongest!" campaign book loosely based on Harry Sidebottom's Ballista series.

If you look carefully in the below photo you can just make out where I've extended the base by 3cm on each side. I have a casualty figure that I can use to indicate when the cohort is disordered.

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

Standing in the footprints of giants...

Last year I bought some lovely Middle Imperials from David Imrie, and recently, with great trepidation, I started to paint the few additional minis I required to complete the units.

I have expanded the units from David's 12cm frontage to 18cm, which is the size of unit I prefer for my 28mm gaming. In the sagittarii unit below, David's figures are the central five and my two are on the wings. Mine aren't as good as his but they work reasonably well together as a unit.


The second unit (below) are lanciarii.  I only had three of David's minis, so painted the other four on the wings.  Fortunately poor focus conceals the worst of my daubing. The base came out well; I extended David's original base with strips of card and matched the style.


I think I am possibly unique in terms of base size- I've not seen anyone else making such hulking great elements. I find that they really help with setting up games quickly. Since in my rules light units die on the first hit, there is no need for casualty removal!  ;-) On these bases I've decreased the number of minis from my usual 9 to 7, which I think actually improves the look.


Finally, in the closeup you can see how much better painted David's mini (right) is than mine.  But they will look the same from 18" away (or so I keep telling myself!).

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

A modest Roman reinforcement

In last week's game, some concern was expressed about the relatively small size of the Roman Field army. For tomorrow's game a small reinforcement has arrived; the Equites Sagittarii Parthi Iuniores, a vexillationes comitatenses unit which has traveled all the way from Africa. 



This unit, originally formed of Parthians, would have spent its time patrolling the borders of the Roman Province of Africa against nomadic incursions.



Three of these A&A minis were purchased painted to a high standard, in an eBay lot I bought from the USA. I painted 3 more to match, highlighted and based. Later I shall revisit them, and add small shields, painted with the appropriate designs.

I bought a load of Muskateer Gothic horse this week. At some point in the future, it would be terrific to use them game the Vandal invasion of Africa...

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Not my Middle Imperial Romans

These figures were splendidly painted by Richard Tartt, who has kindly sent me photos that I could post on t'Blog.  They are of some of the beautiful A&A Miniatures range sculpted by Adam Smith (now of Aventine Miniatures).  


 The armoured archers have bags of character, and are beautifully painted, with added bowstrings.



I think these are from the A&A 4th Century Range.  I do love the scale armour.


Finally some archers supporting some more legionaries.  I like the red-painted rawhide edging on these shields, an idea to nick!   ;-)   Richard's basing style is very effective.


Thanks for the lovely photos, Richard!

If anyone else who doesn't run their own blog, would like me to host pictures of their ancients minis, please do drop me an email at the address above.  Cheers, Simon

Thursday, 3 November 2011

Coh. II, IIII Scythica


I've finished my second Middle Imperial unit, a Cohort of the IIII Scythica.  This legion was stationed in Syria, guarding the border with the Parthian and later the Sassanian Empires.


All the figures are from A&A miniatures, and some were bought painted on eBay, painted by a very capable painter (although I did the shields, with A&A transfers, and one hand painted). The shield design is based on the one found at Dura Europos.

I'm quite pleased with them!  The tribune came out particularly well, do have a click. There are some shots here of the progress of the painting.   I'll return to paint a third unit in a month or so.

Monday, 28 March 2011

Coh. I Legio Secunda Traiana Fortis


My first Middle Imperial Roman unit (pictures clickable; worth it for the LBMS shields...).  I bought these painted on fleaBay, painted one more mini to match, replaced the shields and rebased.  Whoever originally painted them was very talented.  I aspire to a small army... some II Parthians, Lanciarii and a unit with the Dura Europos shield.

My impressions of the A&A miniatures are very favourable. I've ordered (and received) some more.  Minis that look somewhat dubious on their Website, are actually very nice in the hand...  Most or all of the Romans were sculpted by Aventine Adam, I believe.


Now I can't decide whether to paint another pretty unit of MIRs, or some French Napoleonic artillery, by way of a change.  Tough call...

Saturday, 21 November 2009

Updated Parthian Size Comparison Shot

After I posted last week, someone suggested that I include Bear's Den, and Chris from there has very kindly provided samples.  I've included these and also put the cataphracts onto this page, too, for convenience.


The new Vendel horse is from an Ebob master, I gather, and it is beautifully formed, with very slender legs. The reins are beautifully done; not a single piece casting as on most horses, but a pair with a gap between, something I've never previously encountered. The rider is also very nice (I worry a little about the potential fragility of the realistically slender bow, but all four were fine on the samples I received). The horse and rider are, however, slightly smaller and slighter than my personal preference for miniatures, which tends towards larger 28s; this won't be an issue for most sensible wargamers, though. In style terms, they make me think of some of the Perry ranges, such as their Crusaders. They would be ideally-sized opponents for 1stCorp or Gripping Beast Caesarian-era armies. A real departure from the previous Vendel style; rather exciting. Can't wait to see the cataphracts...

A&A miniatures produce an extensive Sassanid range, which includes several packs of the earlier Parthians. Earlier, I featured the same A&A Parthian cataphract  in the Seleucid Figure Size Comparison page. I really like the poseable horse archer figure. The horse is a little short and thick in the legs in my view, but I really like the decoration on the horses mane. I have used quite a lot of A&A horses in my Numidian and Gallic armies, and have a soft spot for them; solid wargaming steeds that work fairly well alongside the bigger Foundry ranges.

The new addition to the shot is one of the Bear's Den Parthians.  The mount looks like another Ebob horse, to me, but larger than the Vendel one.  As with A&A the legs are cast on, which I think would save preparation and painting time.  The bow is straight and would need to be bent into a recurved shape, which might be a little fiddly.  The rider looks in good proportion to his horse, which is a very nicely sculpted mount.  This mini is the largest of the three, and would probably be a happy size to ride up and  down skewering my Copplestone Roman cohorts with arrows! 


Above we have the Bear's Den and A&A cataphracts (the Vendel isn't out at the time of writing).

The Bear's Den steed is longer than A&As, but a similar height; the rider seems a good match for the size of the horse.  Bear's Den have gone for the very moment of attack, whilst A&A's rider is cantering forward with his lange upright, presumably some distance from the enemy.  The Bear's Den lancepoint is going to stick out 4-5cm in front of the horse, which may be slightly inconvenient on the wargames table, but which would look very dramatic. 

Thanks very much indeed to A&A, Vendel and Bear's Den for providing the samples!

Monday, 16 November 2009

Successor and Parthian Cavalry Size Comparison Shots

For some time I've been toying with building a successor army.  Recently several manufacturers have very kindly sent me samples of their ranges, and I thought it would be useful to compare the size of the different miniatures.  I'll re-shoot these when Polemarch come out with relevant additions to their range.


The 1stCorps mounts are in the lower row, above.  They are slightly smaller than, say, Foundry Saleh horses (middle of top row), but not unduly; whilst I wouldn't mix within a unit I would within an army.  They are very crisply cast and highly animated.

A&A kindly sent me one of their Parthian cataphract horses.  I've included this as Parthians could be found within a Seleucid army.  The A&A horse is a not dissimilar size to the 1st Corps, but rather more heavily built, with thicker legs, and being rather broader in the body.

The final mount, top right, is from Empire Models.  I hesitated to include it as as far as I'm aware it isn't in production at the moment; but is is a fine, large mount, by far the largest of the horses, a veritable Nisean charger and I couldn't resist!  One of the forelegs seems just a little short to me, but I do love it; I'll be buying some when they come to the market, if only for the splendid transverse plume.



Above is the Empire steed, left, and a 1stCorps mount, right.  They look similar in size above, but that is foreshortening; these two certainly wouldn't work together in the same unit (NB the Empire model isn't yet in production).



Finally, we have the riders.  Please note, the Empire rider has a separate head (not included).  The  A&A and Empire riders are larger than the 1stCorps, but would probably work in different units.  Thanks very much to 1stCorps, A&A and Empire for the sample miniatures. 

Once Zama is out of the way, I'll hopefully be building an Eastern army and I'd be happy to use any of the above miniatures.

Thursday, 5 November 2009

... and here are some that I prepared earlier.



The 30 Numidians I'm working on at the moment are taking forever to paint, so in the meanwhile I thought I'd show the wing of 36 Numidian cavalry I painted last year (the pic is clickable).  These are just painted to a good tabletop standard; I'm more concerned with getting an impression of mass, than a perfect paint job.


The closeup above shows the 12cm wide base I've adopted for light cavalry, so that I can get a better impression of movement.  The idea is that the riders are coming forward on the right, presenting their shielded side to the enemy and then turning away on the left.

The figures are a mix of Foundry, Crusader and A&A.  Just after I finished them last year, I dropped a box of 30 on the stairs; I was rather cross!  I managed to get them looking OK, again, in the end.

Tuesday, 13 October 2009

Newer Numidians


Here is the latest unit of my burgeoning Numidian army.  This is one of two projected units of Numidian "Auxilia"; troops in a slightly denser formation than the previous light infantry.

14 of the 18 minis were painted by Greg and retouched by me, I painted the other four.  The minis are a mixture of Foundry, A&A and Crusader (the eagle-eyed will spot that a couple of Foundry Spartans and Greeks have crept in; the Greeks were nekkid so I gave them greenstuff robes). 

I've now finished 68 of the 200-ish Numidian/Carthaginian foot.  I'm managing about 30 a week, so there must be at least another month's retouching/basing to go...