Showing posts with label Aventines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aventines. Show all posts

Sunday, 26 June 2022

Later Thracians


I'm planning a very large Successor To the Strongest! game for Salute, and as such I need several more units of light horse of various nationalities. This unit is my first of Thracians, distinguished as such by their characteristic helmets, long boots and flowing cloaks. I didn't want early Thracians, with the soft caps, but rather later ones suitable for Lysimachus' army at Ipsus.

All of the riders are Wargames Foundry or Aventine Miniatures. Many are converted with heads from bought from Aventine, and all ride lovely Aventine horses. I added flowing cloaks to any minis that lacked them, which I think gives a real sense of movement. They were all painted by Shaun McTague - he did a fine job- and I highlighted and based them around 6 months ago- I only just got around to finishing them though.

I chose to depict them, skirmishing, in a Cantabrian circle.

In other news... if anyone was waiting for Geek Villain mats, I have them stock again.  I've also bought in a lot of cloth mats with a 7.5cm grid for people wanting to play TtS! with smaller 6mm or 2mm minis, or other games such as with Mark Backhouse's Strength and Honour. You can find the mats here. Finally, I'm back on editing the Renaissance rules, which are moving forward again, albeit at a glacial rate. I'm not yet ready for playtesting, but I'll keep you posted.

Monday, 9 December 2019

Thapsus elephants


It's been the longest time since I posted images on minis- real life stuff has kept me too busy. But normal service will henceforth, hopefully, be resumed. Here are some WIP images of one of the projects I've been busy on. Six of these beautiful Aventine elephants (along with two other beauties for another project, not shown) were painted for me by chum Kevin Lucas- I just added some highlights on the howdahs and crew. The Aventine elephants are resin with metal detail and are beautifully light. I have rebased two very nice Agema elephants from my Numidian army, to join them.


The un-textured areas of base will take the screening light infantry, which aren't yet painted. These eight will form the screen for my Pompeian army for the Salute Thapsus game. I'll take proper pictures, when they are finished in January. I think I now have 31 elephants on bases, altogether, with another 15-20 painted but not yet based, mostly intended for a projected Classical Indian army.

Tuesday, 7 August 2018

Leviathans


Here are the latest additions to my herd (all photos clickable). These lovely Aventine Miniatures Seleucid elephants are protected by seven Wargames Foundry and one Polemarch elephant guard with nifty Relic shields. The elephant armour is stunning; Adam at his best! I think we can legitimately argue "escorted, veteran" status in TtS! ;-)


I'm really pleased with these. Shaun McTague painted all the minis; I merely did a little detailing, shading and based. He did particularly great work on the blankets.

These bring the herd up to 26. I'll be adding a very big native Indian contingent in the autumn. I'll also, eventually, need four to six more Seleucid elephants for when I do Magnesia in 28mm. 


If you'd like to see these two, they will be in a display (not to be missed!) alongside my chum Ian's 15mm Magnesia "To the Strongest" game at T'other Partizan on August 19th. We still have two spots for players in the AM game, and lots in the afternoon game- if you'd like to play, you can email me at the address to the left.

Oh and David Imrie and I are also taking bookings for the "To the Scottest!" TtS! gaming event in Leven, Fife on 22nd/23rd September- again, please drop me a line for details.

Friday, 19 May 2017

Nellie news

Aventine have produced some new ride on crew for their new resin elephants, and Keith kindly sent me some photos which I reproduce here. 







These are really great minis- all the heads are separate so it is possible to introduce extra variety. I plan to mount my crewmen on magnets so that I can interchange them with Indian riders; my elephants will be able to do double service, under Poros. It may also be possible to mount a howdah on the same magnets, which will give even more uses for them. Excited, I am!

Friday, 3 March 2017

Stunning New Aventine elephants!

Chums at Aventine have produced some new resin elephants (metal tusk and tail) which I received samples of, yesterday. These are Keith's pics but they are identical to the models here in the BigRedBatCave.



The new elephants are the same size as the previous metal ones, but superior in several respects:-

  • there is less assembly as the body is solid
  • the skin texture is really great- better than before- lots of shallow creases in all the right places
  • the legs are thinner; more realistic in my opinion
  • they weigh virtually nothing (which certainly cannot be said of their metal brethren!) - easier to carry and cheaper to post.

I gather the separate metal howdahs should be available in the next few days and a Macedonian rider with pike is to follow. I will encourage an Indian variant.

I must confess to a personal involvement in this as I  introduced the casting company to Aventine, so I am feeling more than a little smug. :-)

Monday, 23 May 2016

To Partizan and back...

This weekend I went to Partizan and met up with a lot of fine wargaming chaps, including but far from limited to James, Steve, Phil and Matt of the Newark Irregulars, Curt and Mrs Campbell of Analogue Hobbies and Harry Sidebottom and Ben Kane (a bonus author!) and of course Keith and Adam from Aventine. I am afraid I was only able to take a very few photos but here are a small selection.


Dr Phil Hendry, me and Harry Sidebottom, author of the book on which the game was based. Harry said he had a great day. I'm wearing a laurel wreath donated by James.


Below, our Circensium gaming table groaning with Phil's lovely collection. The quality of his minis is extremely high, and the fortress beautifully made of 10mm foam card. It was great to meet so many people who now know the "To the Strongest!" rules and who are enjoying them! We played this game twice, One Roman win, one draw.






Aventine Adam sculpted a super model of Ballista (the Roman General from the books and battle) and Keith brought me a couple of dozen- I need to get one painted up. I'll do a promotion with them when I have time.

Here are a couple of shots of James Morris Fort Vaux game- the modelling was stunning, as was the poilu moustache. James always comes up with something original - often, as in this case, three dimensional. James deservedly won an award- best in show I think.



I was very taken with the Anglo-Dutch war naval game (above)- so many lovely ships- and this novel game using painted pegs, below.


There were lots of other stunning games which I sadly had no time to take photos of. 

Tricks, Laurence and the Irregulars did a super job with the show- the new venue is a step improvement over Kelham. I can't make the summer show but will be back in 2017!

Thursday, 19 May 2016

To Newark with Ballista and chums!

On Sunday I'll be at Partizan Wargamign and History at its new Newark Showground home running a game of To the Strongest! with Dr Phil Hendry and his wonderful Middle Imperial Roman and Sassanid collections. 

The Battle of Circesium will feature a Roman force, led by Ballista, Dux Ripae, fighting its way through a Sassanid horde to the relief of a besieged city. Here's a photo that I have lifted from Phil's excellent blog where you can see his lovely Third Century Romans and his Sassanids that will be used in the game.


Not only will there be me, Dr. Phil and his collection, we also have special guest Dr Harry Sidebottom, author of the Warrior of Rome and Thrones of the Caesars series. Harry will be signing his novels and passing out a free freshly sculpted miniature of the aforementioned Ballista (the hero of Harry's Warrior of Rome series) to those buying a book. Moreover, there will also be copies of "To the Strongest!" for sale and not only will £20 get you a copy of my worthy rules, but you'll get a free Ballista and a free sample pack of chits and bases, to boot! I'll even sign the rules too, if you want.  ;-)

Last but not least,  not only will we have me, Dr Phil Hendry and Dr Harry Sidebottom, we will also have Keith Branagh and Adam "Smithy" Smith from Aventine Miniatures. Keith runs the friendliest miniatures company in the land and Adam is a genius who sculpted all of the miniatures that will be used in the game, and the new Ballista, to boot. 

If you'd like to play the game and try out the To the Strongest! rules, post a message and I'll book you in. The game is in the centre of the gaming zone at DG15- look out for the city walls of Circesium!

Wednesday, 23 March 2016

Thureophoroi


Here are a new unit of thureophoroi for Raphia. The minis were painted by Craig Davey- I have just replaced lead spears with the ubiquitous North Stars and carried out a little work on the bases. Nice models from Aventine!

Monday, 21 March 2016

Praetorians


I recently bought a beautiful (late) Early Imperial Roman army from Aventine's Adam Smith and he has kindly painted up some further units to round it out. These are the Praetorians of what will be my third Early Imperial army (EIR3).

Like Adam, I love to see Praetorians with Black shields; very Hollywood!  These will hopefully see action later this year against a German army. 

Wednesday, 4 November 2015

Aventine archers



David Imrie very kindly sold these lovely Aventine Miniatures Hellenistic archers to me last year.

I felt the original 3mm thick bases were a little too thick, so I soaked and trimmed away the MDF, leaving only the grout and minis behind. I then rebased them on a single 18cm-wide card element (for use with a 20cm grid with To the Strongest!) and overflocked with mid green tufts so as to better match my "plains" gaming mat. They will see action in Pyrrhus' army on  Friday at the Wargames Holiday Centre! Doubtless, as a beautifully painted unit in the front rank, they will last for less than a minute.  ;-)

Thursday, 21 August 2014

Allied Hastati (and Legion) finished!

These are the Aventine Allied Hastati I was working on before my holidays.  I decided to spend some extra time on them, to bring them up to my current standard. This included retouching, replacing some of the shields and partially re-basing them.



I also based up a very nice Aventine general and aide from Shaun (Redzed) to command the legion, which is now complete (and only 4.5 years late for Zama at Bletchley).  Better late than never!  :-)


Their first proper outing will be at the Wargames Holiday Centre, on Saturday/Sunday week, where I want to blood them and also test out the mechanic for pike vs. pila that we will use for the huge Pydna game at t'other Partizan on the 7th September. 

I gather that Mark Freeth still has some one and two day places for the second Ancient Rome at War weekend on 30th/31st August, so please drop him a line if you fancy yourself as a budding Scipio!

Thursday, 7 August 2014

Allied Hastati and Triarii


This is a (clickable) work in progress shot of the hastati and triarii of my allied legion. These lovely Aventine figures all date back to the 2010 Zama game, and, unusually, most were painted by me. I've retouched them, and replaced some of the shields. This legions is going to have a "horse" theme, with some careful use of LBMS transfers. Now they just need some matt varnish, and a little work on the bases.  Once that is done, the allies will be complete.

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Stamping my foot!



Back in 2010, for the Zama game I did (mostly) with Keith and Adam at Aventine, and with Craig Davey, I bought an army of the lovely Aventine Miniatures Republican Romans and Late Etruscans. As it happened, I only painted a few dozen at the time (I worked mainly on the Carthaginian opponents), and have never had enough to play a game by myself.

Now, as part of the Partizan Pydna Project (of which more anon), I am finally going to "stamp my foot" like Pompey did (only hopefully with rather more success), and two new legions are going to spring forth, fully formed, from the fertile soil of Muswell Hill in time for t'other Partizan on 7th September.

How is this possible, I hear you ask, in such a short timescale? Well I have been lucky enough in the intervening period to buy some beautifully painted minis from Shaun (Redzedz), David Imrie and Craig Davey, and supplement them with some eBay purchases. With a little tweaking, and a little painting, these mercenary forces are going to be formed into one Roman and one Latin legion.

And so, here are the first spoils; these are the velites for the Roman legion. They are a mix of David's and Shaun's figures, re-based and looking very fine, if I say so myself!  These (together with my 2010 Late Etruscans) give me six of the required fourteen units, so just the eight to go. Gulp.  

I love the standard bearer; One of Shaun's I believe.

Monday, 16 December 2013

Aventine Allied cavalry


These brave Aventine Italian Allied cavalry form part of my Winter Offensive.  The minis are delightful and were easy to paint.  I bought 6 from Redzed last year (on the left), and they have proved very useful in several games, since, so I decided to paint 3 more to complete the unit (on the right).  I think I managed to catch his style. 

I am falling slightly behind in my play to complete 52 units by the end of the year, but it is still just about achievable.  I have 48 in the bag... and several more photos to post this week!

Sunday, 10 November 2013

Pretty Cataphractii!

Adam very kindly sent me these pics of his painting of his own sculpts, I'm very taken with them!


The coifs are based on the Dura-Europos synagogue frescoes.


Lovely vibrant colours... and the painted shafts are very special!   The minis available from Aventine.

p.s. Couldn't resist adding these legionaries; one day I shall get around to this army!  I'd be delighted to paint half as well as Adam.


Sunday, 26 May 2013

500K!

I’m delighted to report that the counter on the front page of the BigRedBatCave ticked past half a million, last night.  Can I say a huge thank you to everyone who pops by and makes it worth my while posting!  It is a great pleasure to run the blog, and I have some ambitious plans for games and other ventures, during the rest of this year...

I’m minded to celebrate with a promotion, but WargamingGirl’s is still running, and I don’t want to clash with that; also I’m frantic in the run up to Raphia at Partizan on Sunday.  But I will do something in due course... please watch this space.


In the meanwhile, in the finest tradition of the BigRedBatCave, I shall celebrate by posting some minis that someone else has painted, far better than I ever could.  I bought these lovely Aventine Roman Allied cavalry from Redzed last year (as part of a small Republican Roman army), and gave them suitable shields and based them,  yesterday.  Luvverly!

Monday, 20 May 2013

Ptolemaic Elephant Corp


Last night I completed basing the Ptolemaic Elephant Corp, for Raphia.  Ptolemy deployed 73 of these African elephants in an attempt to counter the rather larger number of rather larger Seleucid Indians.  Unfortunately he failed to put them through the elephant equivalent of assertiveness training, and most of them subsequently routed back, through his own forces.  As usual, all photos are clickable.


The magnificent beasts and crews are from Aventine's range.  I painted the elephants, and my good friend Nick Speller, the crews (beautifully).


Nick also painted the escorting Cretan and NeoCretan archers, who are a mixture of Foundry and Gorgon miniatures.  You may be able to see that they are in several different shades of red.  In the game these will form 5 units, each of one elephant and two stands of escorts.

Friday, 29 March 2013

Elephant Brigade

I've recruited 5 African elephants from Aventine into my Ptolemaic army, to represent the nellies at Raphia.


These are lovely models, with 2 head variants, and two bodies.  The howdahs look particularly convincing, and depict rawhide stretched over a wooden frame.  My only slight reservation about them, is that they feel just a bit on the large side for how I picture an African Forest Elephant.  Still, though, they are noticeably smaller than the Indians Craig will bring.  Some are temporarily propped on Irregular Miniatures 2mm Pike phalanx.

There was next to no flash or vents, and it took me four sessions to assemble them.  

Here's one from behind.  The tail is a separate piece, and plugs up into the elephant's posterior.  This assembly process very much reminded me of an episode of "EuroTrash", I saw years ago, which featured a "Pony Club"....   The most challenging element of assembly was fitting the small bell under each elephant's neck.  I'll paint the pachyderms, and I'm hoping that Nick will paint the 15 crew.

Friday, 22 June 2012

More Happy Legionaries

This is the second batch of Happy's (Gordon Smith's) Aventine Early Imperial Romans, which he has kindly let me host.  They were painted between Sunday and Wednesday, I gather, which is at least 5 times as fast as I can paint! All pics are clickable.



Gordon puts his rapid painting speed down to Devlan Mud washes.  He was more than a little distressed yesterday, when I told him that the product has been discontinued!  





These are all head-swaps on the standard legionary bods, as Gordon wanted an entire unit with crested helmets. He has added some Foundry casualty figures.  

I really love what Gordon has achieved here, each stand is a beautiful diorama in it's own right!  Also I'm liking the animated Aventine poses more and more, each time I see them.