Showing posts with label Early Imperial Romans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Early Imperial Romans. Show all posts

Sunday, 13 March 2011

Onagri

I've finally completed my pair of onagers,  the heavy siege artillery for my Early Imperial Roman Army; although they currently lack opponents with a city wall!  However should the Parthian enemy* ever trouble the Eastern Frontier, they will come in very useful.

The models are Black Tree Designs, and the crewmen a mix of Black Tree and my beloved Foundry Salehs.  The first shots below are of the the catapult for my XIIIIth Gemina Martia Victix Legion, and the later shots are of the catapult for my projected second EIR legion.  All pics are clickable.

The onagers are protected against counter-battery fire, by anachronistic gabions (resin, from eBay).

Above, a tribune grimly surveys the lack of damage to the enemy's walls.

I added greenstuff and wire slings to the BTD weapons, and made some shot, too.

I'm very taken with LBMS's yellow shield design, which is just as well, as I'll eventually need to fit 240 more!

And finally the second onager, from the front.

I've almost finished the rest of the artillery crew; should be able to post them next weekend.  Then I'll get onto the senior officers for the legion.

*I do aspire to a Parthian army, and have started to buy some minis...

Sunday, 13 February 2011

Cohors IX et X, Leg. XIV Gemina Martia Victrix

This weekend I've managed to finish the last 2 cohorts of my EIR Legion, the XIIII Gemina.  Above is the IXth...

  ...and here is the Xth.  All photos are clickable.  

Both units are largely built of the same 3 poses of my favourite Saleh Foundry minis.  I painted half from scratch, and repainted the other half from an ebay purchase (I  notice that I still have a bit of snagging to do on a couple of faces).

...and now both together.   

I am really delighted to have painted all the 240 legionaries; next I need to paint a few personality figures, some more artillery and the legionary cavalry, and then I'll have the legion complete and can take a photo.  

Then I'll start another one.  ;-)

Saturday, 12 February 2011

Primus Pilus

This is a lovely miniature that was generously sent to me by Hank of Gorgon Miniatures.  He is now Primus Pilus (senior centurion) of my almost-finished legion. 


I'm very chuffed with him. Thanks, Hank!

Sunday, 23 January 2011

Legionary Cohorts IX & X, WIP

These are roughly half of the legionaries for the final 2 cohorts of my first EIR legion; they are a substantial repaint of an eBay purchase.  Tonight I start on the second, harder half of the job, the 25 legionaries that I need to paint from scratch.  Roughly 3 weeks work, I reckon.  

I just love that LBMS shield design....     

Friday, 14 January 2011

Equites Singulares Praetoriae

I've finally finished my Praetorian cavalry (except the command stand, which I hope to start this weekend).  The riders are Black Tree and the steeds A&A; shields from Warlord Games, spears North Star and transfers VVV.

I'm really pleased with them.  I think the BTD rider figures are very nice (especially the helmets, have a click), and I plan to paint an awful lot more, especially as the proportion of cavalrymen in a Roman army was rather high.  Most of the others will be scruffier equites cohortales, though.

Monday, 10 January 2011

Next Project

These are going to be the final two cohorts of my EIR legion.  Half are an eBay purchase; not too badly painted but need some work, including LBMS shield transfers  The rest need prepping.  I've also got the Gorgon Primus Pilus figure that Hank sent me some time back; should fit in very nicely!

Sunday, 26 September 2010

Praetorian Horse

These horses are salvaged from an old cavalry regiment I have decided to renovate; they are from A&A. They are a little tubby, but I love the elaborate harnesses.  Strictly speaking, they are middle Imperial Roman horses, but I won't tell if you won't!  They are going to become the cavalry components of the two Praetorian cohorts I have planned for my EIR Army.

I will be using riders from Black Tree Design.  I have most of the riders I need, but have had to order the command minis from BTD themselves, who are far from being the speediest supplier of miniatures, gulp... this could considerably delay the unit.


I have renovated the bases, too.  It is very odd to see a nicely-based unit with no riders!

Saturday, 12 June 2010

Coh. VIII Legio XIIII Gemina Martia Victrix

As part of my plans to tidy away partially painted units, I've just reconditioned 12 minis I bought painted on eBay, and painted 8 fresh minis, to join a spare command stand from 2008.

They constitute the 8th cohort of a projected 10 for my Early Imperial Roman legion project, which I've been working on, on and off, for 5-6 years.  Most of the minis are Foundry Saleh, with Copplestone cornicer and signifer and a converted Crusader officer.

At the moment, I'm painting masses of pikemen, whilst I deliberate about the next big project.

Sunday, 17 May 2009

M. Caelio Centurio XIIXth.

What with it being the 2000th anniversary of Teutoburger Wald, I thought I'd make up a special command stand as a small personal memorial. This is based on the one of the late lamented Angus McBride's super-dooper illustrations, and depicts Marcus Caelius, who was a Centurion of the XIIXth, and who was killed there.

I'm pleased with the standard, which I made from scratch. The two figures are Crusader, with a converted Foundry Caesarian on the left.
This is an aerial view, which shows the writing I inscribe on all my Command stands.

Monday, 4 May 2009

Coh. II Gallorum Eq.

Hi, this is the latest unit to join my legions; the 2nd Cohort of Gallic auxiliary infantry, originally raised in Lugdunum (Lyon) during the reign of Augustus. The unit served for part of its life in the Roman army in lower Germania, fought in the 69AD civil war, and later ended up in Britannia. The unit still lacks its mounted component (6 cavalrymen), which I'll have to sort out later.

I bought these minis, painted, on eBay, and then substantially repainted and rebased them. They are all Black Tree figures; I think that the BTD Auxilia are really nicely sculpted. If you like these, you might like to see my other (Foundry) Auxiliary Cohort:- http://bigredbat.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-01-22T07%3A57%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7

Friday, 1 May 2009

First Cohort

This is the first installment of the first cohort of my EIR legion; eventually it will have 10 stands (each stand represents a century). The figures are from BTD (although the command are from Foundry and Crusader)- not the world's greatest sculpts, but they made a pleasing change to paint from the scores of Saleh EIRs I've painted previously. I replaced the BTD shields with Foundrys, because these are a better shape IMHO. The BTDs are a mm or two taller, which seems appropriate for the first cohort!

Here's a comparison shot of the BTDs next to some Saleh Foundrys. I have 6 cohorts of the latter completed, which puts me slightly over 2/3 of the way towards completing the legion (42 out of 64 legionary stands).

Wednesday, 4 February 2009

EIR Eastern Archer Cohort

This is my cohort of Eastern archers. I planned them years ago, and only finished them recently... a happy mix of Foundry and BTD figures.


Here's the Centurion (Crusader) in a closeup. To celebrate the Eastern connection, I gave him an LBMS shield depicting Mithras.


I have lots more figures to base; I'm waiting for a warmer, snow free day to get on with the varnishing!

Thursday, 22 January 2009

Roman Artillery


These are cart-mounted Ballistae that, whilst strictly part of my EIR Army, I sometimes use with the Caesarians. They were surprisingly time-consuming to assemble...

Tonight I have been basing my final Pictish unit and rebasing some Pictish and Viking archers, and sticking more bits of yet more carts together.

Saturday, 17 January 2009

Coh. I Batavorum Eq.


This is the unit of Auxilia I finished in December; I'm really pleased with them. I'd been planning them for at least 3 years! Mostly Foundry Salehs, but some Copplestones and a couple of Black Tree minis, too. Oh, and a Crusader Centurion!



LAter on, I'll talk more about my plans for the other Auxilia Cohorts.