Showing posts with label Foundry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foundry. 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.

Wednesday, 8 August 2018

More long pointy sticks


Here's my latest phalanx, based and ready for action (photo clickable). 

These Wargames Foundry minis were beautifully painted by Shaun McTague and finished by me. The pike heads are painted on to plain pins; nice and blunt. These will form the front rank of my phalanx at T'other Partizan, where I plan to pick up a few more, from the Foundry stand... I also plan to do something I never thought I would- buy a couple of ranks of pikemen with lowered pikes, to go in front of them. Come along and see them and their chums at Partizan on Sunday week!

Friday, 3 February 2017

Persia!


These are Foundry Casting Room Persians, which were superbly painted for me by Shaun Watson (Redzed). He has really outdone himself!


The range is a partial one but could be combined with the Foundry Persians to tick most of the boxes of a Persian army. Would need a fair bit of conversion work, though. I must confess, I am tempted...






They are amongst the finest minis in my collection and will form three units of Satrapal horse in the coming Ipsus battle at the Wargames Holiday Centre.

Monday, 25 August 2014

Legio Secunda Britannica


These are the last of the figures from Craig Davey, which I've supplemented and based to form the greater part of a Late Roman legion. The Secunda Britannica (or the Secundani) were the descendants of the old British II Augusta legion that had been based in Caerleon for much of its history. In the Late Roman period they may have been withdrawn to Gaul to deal with the various crises on the frontiers.


This legion has two units of accompanying light infantry, one of javelinmen and one of archers.



I really like the conversion that Craig did on the light infantryman, giving him the trumpet from a cavalryman. All of the shields are hand painted; I was reasonably successful at matching Craig's style. Later I will need to paint another 24-man unit, because I want the legion to be twice the strength of my auxiliary units, and a command stand.  This will involve a lot of work, on account of the shields, of which I can only paint 3 or 4 in an evening. With the new units and the cavalry I now have a quite respectable Late Roman army, and am going to spend a little time touching up the Picts who they will be fighting.

Thursday, 9 January 2014

Herculiani seniores

The Herculiani Seniores (Herculians) were a Legion Palatinae (guard) unit in the Western Late Roman army, that were originally formed from the VI Legion, from Illyricum.  Brigaded together with the Ioviani (Jovians), who I will have to paint later on, they were usually in the thick of the fighting!  Please have a click.


I bought 18 on the minis on eBay, and painted 6 more to match, using the excellent LBMS transfers on the shields.  I've decided to stain and daub all my shields with mud, because I prefer an "on campaign" look.  

I have just consulted my Late Roman expert mate, who says they might well have retained an eagle standard; I'll remedy this a little later on!

PS I mixed in a few Crusader minis, to add a little variety.  Although slightly stockier, they fit in very well!

Friday, 3 January 2014

Thessalians, and plans for 2014

Here's a unit I finished last week. They are later Thessalian cavalry in a rhomboid formation, cantering across the Boeotian plain. Mate Nick Speller painted 6 of these Foundry Miniatures, and I painted 3 more to match, shield transfers, basing etc.


Thessalians often fought in a manoeuvrable rhomboid formation, that could easily change direction through 90 or 180 degrees.  Below, here they are brigaded with my previously-painted Thessalians, who will shortly be re-based in the same style. They'll mostly serve with my Ptolemaic army.


In terms of 2014, I hesitate to plan too far ahead, for as they say "no battle plan survives contact with the enemy". However, here's the first seven months loosely sketched out.  

January
  • Finish swan-necked trade ship “Ceres”
  • Finish and base a final unit of Late Romans
  • Finish and base two units of Shaun’s Goths
  • Finish two elements of Impetus-based Roman cavalry
  • Buy and build 5 large gaming boards

February to April
  • Paint  100 EI Roman Legionaries, finish and re-base 100 other EI Roman Legionaries
  • Finish and Base 12 British Auxiliary cavalry
  • Paint and base 6 Auxiliary cavalry
  • Finish and base remainder of the Impetus EIRs.

May
  • Pontoon Bridge and other terrain for possible Partizan game

June to July
  • Finish and base 200 more phalangites for possible Other Partizan game, and the Southern Autumn shows
In terms of resolutions, this year I only have one, which is to finish play-testing and publish my rules!

Friday, 27 December 2013

A belated merry Xmas, and some fine Romans!

Hordes of invading relatives have meant I've been unable to post, so can I belatedly wish all my visitors a very late Merry Xmas and a rather early Happy New Year! May all your dice roll 6's (except when you need a 1!).



I bought these superb miniatures off fellow blogger Saxon Dog.  A huge thank you to David for thinking of me! They are far better than I could ever paint... but I hope I've complimented them with this Impetus basing scheme. The minis are mostly Foundry Perry (but the casualties and standard might be Warlord). All photos are clickable,do please have a look; the details are stunning!


As with the previous units, I have done the first element in combat poses, and the second element advancing slowly, as supports. I'll do this with all the legionary elements, and deploy them in 2 lines on the table. For some reason I think of these bases as centuries rather than the cohorts that my other EIR collection is formed in. I love the grouping above, with the centurion looking over at the wounded legionary. Such a fine casualty figure.


I now have six elements of Perry Romans, and will add a couple more each month.


Impetus basing also works very well with the "To the Strongest" rules I intend to publish next year, and I'll be using these in photos to illustrate aspects of the rules.  I will need some foes for them, too...

Thursday, 28 November 2013

Petulantes

These are the supporting archers of the Petulantes, a particularly famous Late Roman Auxilia Palatina regiment.


These (clickable) chaps are some of my favourite minis. I bought 8 of them from Saxon Dog around 2005. I don't believe they were actually painted by David, but understand he finished and perhaps based them. Whoever did them they were very nicely painted, and I learned a great deal about painting and basing from them (indeed, all my minis are based to a similar standard). As part of my Winter Offensive, I've painted 2 more minis to match (one is the officer), and tarted up the bases to my current standard.


At some point I will need to paint the rest of the unit, and the associated Celtae regiment. But there are lots of other units to finish, first! There is a real danger that I may soon have enough Late Romans, to be able to play a game with.

In other news, Graham at Scotiaalbion has been experimenting with my rules, and has made up some lovely cards featuring illustrations from Ironmitten's blog. I look forward to seeing the cards in action...

Monday, 11 November 2013

My fifth Blogiversary, and a new major project

My first ever blog post was on 8th November 2008, and I have realised that I have just passed my fifth Blogiversary! Since then, I appear to have made no fewer than 675 posts, and have had just over 570K page views. Can I offer a huge thanks to all of the visitors, who make this such an enjoyable activity! 


For my next major project, I've decided to assemble a second* Early Imperial Roman army from the delightful Foundry Perry range, based for Impetus (or my own "To the Strongest!" rules) on a 12cm frontage. Do 'ave a click!  I do like the look of Impetus basing.


With this army, I'm going for a deliberately wet, muddy look, based upon my impression of the opening scene of the film Gladiator.  All the miniatures will be pre-owned, purchased from eBay, and "tarted up" as described in my recent article in Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy Issue 69. I aspire to approximately 10 elements of legionaries, 6 of auxiliaries, 2 of Praetorians and 4 cavalry together with lights, generals and artillery. Even using pre-painted minis, this may take a little time...

*Ultimately there will also be a third, Aventine, late-Early Imperial army

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

A third legion for Caesar...


Here are the first 6 cohorts of my latest, third, Caesarian legion.  All photos are clickable...


Around a third were painted by Nick Speller, a third by myself and the remaining third are eBay repaints.  It doesn't show in the photos, but the shields, tunics and plumes are in a variety of different shades of red.  

The miniatures are mostly Foundry and Companion, a mix of armoured and unarmoured, but I've also included a few Warlord Games casualty figures (on recommendation from Andres), which blend in very well.  May need some more Warlords...  I think the legate may be a Classical miniature, which were (for about 24 hours) available via Aventine.

I've gone for a slightly different approach on basing.  All the legionaries are in 8's on 60 x 50 bases, to save time deploying and moving them.  The deeper bases also help to protect the relatively fragile spears.

If you want to see them in action, they will be in action at Partizan, Colours and SELWG...

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

Raphia Commanders

I’m frantically basing up the officers that I have, for command roles in the Ptolemaic army on Sunday.  They are somewhat rushed, but will look fine from afar.  Just don’t click!  ;-)

The first stand, left, is the guard commander, Eurylochus the Magnesian. I've used Polemarch figures with a converted Foundry Perseus as a standard bearer, holding an Aventine standard.  

The second stand, right, represents Phoxidas the Achaean, who led the Ptolemaic mercenaries
(thureophoroi, I have assumed).   He played a key role in the battle, as it was their attack that routed the riff-raff on the Seleucid left.  Polemarch minis, with a Foundry standard bearer.

Ptolemy, himself, will be travelling in the Royal Mail today, from Nick.  In the finest traditions of show games, the varnish will, no doubt, be drying as I drive up the motorway!  :-)

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.

Thursday, 16 May 2013

Another day, another phalanx...


These are the based rear-rankers for my Machimoi phalanx, that I showed (unbased) a few days ago. 

Machimoi were recruited from amongst the native Egyptians, and I've given some of them a slightly darker skin tone, accordingly.  Most are un-armoured (the armoured minority were painted by Craig, thanks!), and I based the tunic colours on those shown in Stephane Thions's Soldat Lagide.  I really love the Foundry WotG pikemen, and the un-armoured ones are so very easy to paint.

Friday, 10 May 2013

German Invasion!


The most illustrious Ironmitten, has very kindly (and unexpectedly) sent me this wonderful cartoon this morning.  Many thanks, Simon!

I suspect that he picked a German, because he knows that I have been on the scrounge, recently, for Germans for my next project.  Post Partizan, I want to assemble a small German army of 250 or so  miniatures.   I've been able to pick up some painted minis from eBay, some from friends (watch this space) and hopefully some from painter mate Nick Speller, who painted my sole German infantry unit, so far (below).  


They will be a nice change, from pikes!

Sunday, 14 April 2013

Thapsus- part the second

Returning to The Thapsus in Dug's shed last Wednesday, from where we left the action, with the Optimates' elephants plunging into V Alaudae (the veteran "larks").  


The elephants were quickly slain, but inflicted losses upon the veterans, who were immediately set upon by a unit of Numidian militia.  Alaudae were the best unit on the battlefield, and the militia, probably the worst, but some phenomenal dice-rolling by Boot, saw the veterans broken, and the militia through the line into open fields beyond (below)!



Unfortunately, for them, the Caesarians were able to contain the breakthrough by bringing up reserves. 

Both sides committed their second line of cohorts, as the fighting became general (below).


By this stage, most cohorts on either side had run out of pila, and were badly bruised.  However, the superior elan of the Caesarian legionaries gave them an edge in every melee.  Below, Scipio is getting a bit nervous...


...and the Caesarians more confident.


Eventually one of the Pompeian militia units broke, and a cascade of morale test failures swept away half of their cohorts: the battle was lost.  

Interestingly, the paper copies of the rules I had brought along weren't used (except for the charts), as four  of us had iPads (below) with the PDF version on them, hyperlinks and all.


Finally, here are the gamers, all together in front of the shed (now officially renamed the "Dug-out")  Nigel, Daz, Dave, Boot, and Fletch (back), and Carlo, Mark and Dug (front).  Thanks for the play test, chaps!


Friday, 5 April 2013

Agemata Basilikoi

I've not had a chance to photograph these until now, these are the Ptolemaic guard, with the Agemata on the right, and the Peltastoi on the left, they are clickable.  


The peltastoi are the junior unit.  There is some controversy about how they were equipped; whether with a full length or shortened sarissa, or even as light infantry.  I went for the full 100mm.

A lousy photo, I'm afraid, I'll take a proper one when they are finished (they aren't flocked yet).      The minis are a mix of Foundry (mostly) and Polemarch.  Flocking will have to wait, as I want to focus on painting all the remaining pike minis, first (6 down, 5 to go).  Then I'll have a week or two of flocking hell, to face.

Saturday, 26 January 2013

Chalkaspides

Chalkaspides is the term used to describe the bronze-shielded phalangites, in Successor armies.  You may be familiar with the related term agyraspides which indicated silver-shielded guards, and leukaspides, which may have been applied to white-shielded reservists (although Nick Secunda has recently challenged this).


These are the first two completed chalkaspides units (of an eventual five) for my Raphia phalanx.  They are in "Sidon" helmets, my absolute favourite Successor headgear, which marks them out as later Successors.  "Sidons" crop up on the eponymous stelae from Gaza, and in a scene on the Palestrina mosaic.  Stephane Thion tells me that the type may have become general in the later Successor period, and that I might therefore be able to use them as part of a Pontic army.


The miniatures are a mix of Foundry (30%) and Gripping Beast (70%), with mostly Foundry shields gained from a swap with Allen Curtis. 

This gives me 3 complete units of the 12 that I need, although I have got quite a few other painted and part-painted minis ready, waiting for comrades to be painted.