Showing posts with label Operation Zama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Operation Zama. Show all posts

Saturday, 24 October 2009

Masinissa's Numidian horse


These are the second half of my Numidian light horse for Zama; this week I have prepped 21 minis to go with 9 that I bought already part-painted.  Most of the horses are going to be bays, with black lower legs and some sock.  The dead horses at the front are Crusader eBob mounts.  These were spare because I find them a tad too long in the leg compared to most of the Foundry horses I've used, but the slim, bendable legs makes them great casualty figures.  I'm planning to do a basic paint job in acrylics, and them add some arty oil washes over the top.

9 of the minis have been painted or partially painted by Alec at BillyBonesWorkshop.  I really like what he's done with the skin tones, and will try to copy them on the riders I will be painting.

I'm getting tight for time; going to have to move fast with these!  When they are all complete, I'll be able to field 66 Numidian light horse, a good proportion of what we need.

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

The Eye's have it


I've completed finishing and basing the second unit of Carthaginian Levy (above), these are minis mass-painted by Greg, and detailed and based by myself.  This time I spent an extra 15 minutes on painting in the eyes.


After listening to the comments on the previous unit, I decided to go with as small a white dot as I could manage, and then to apply a dark ink in the eye socket and up to the brim of the helmet.  The left element (above) is from the new unit; the right is from the the original.  I'm pleased with the effect when viewed from a distance.  I feel that the "new" eyes are quite effective, from a distance; so I gave the unit an appropriate stantard!


I'm going to leave the remaining Numidian foot until reinforcements arrive from Paris, and sort the cavalry.  The above 24 minis will roughly double the size of my Numidian horse.  I was lucky enough to purchase 9 part-painted on eBay which has given me a head start!

Friday, 16 October 2009

First of the Carthaginians


This is the first of 4 units of Carthaginian levy infantry for the Zama Project.  These boys, along with the Thureophoroi, will form the 1.6m long Carthaginian second line.

These were generously painted by Greg Privat, and retouched (after unfortunately experiencing a good kicking during the crossing) and based by me .

As an experiment I didn't paint the eyes in on this unit.  I'd welcome opinions as to whether they would be better with eyes very lightly dotted in, similar to the Numidians, below.

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...


Sunday, 4 October 2009

Polemarch Thureophoroi


Despite my reservations regarding their relatively high price, I bought a dozen Polemarch Thureouphoroi at Salute, and Nick Speller has painted them beautifully for me. 

I replaced the Polemarch shields with Old Glory shields mailed to me by Allen, because I don't like the shape of the ones supplied with the minis.  Four of the figures in the unit are from the Foundry World of the Greeks range (also by Steve Saleh), which I think blend in extremely well.  The WotGs are numbers 1 4 and 5 from the left in the (clickable) front rank, and number 2 in the rear (below).


This is another unit that almost looks better from behind!  I think the new Polemarch figures are extremely nice...  I'd certainly like lots more.  However, where there are WotG equivalent figures, I'll have to use those because I can buy them so much cheaper on eBay (and because I have perhaps 500 hundred, unpainted!).  I'll be delighted to use the Polemarchs where there aren't, though, for the Successor cavalry, for example. 

Tomorrow I'll post photos of all 4 completed units of Thureophoroi.  All of these will be used as pseudo-Carthaginian militia, at Salute.

Friday, 2 October 2009

Zama To Do List

Things I need to make for the Gamesday (not including things that are being done by other people).

Essential
18x4 foot table
Command stands; Hannibal, Scipio +2
Paint/Base Remaining 5/7 Allied Legion  (80 minis)
Paint/Base Roman Legion (maybe Nick’ll come to the rescue on this one)  (112 minis)
Paint and base 18 Numidian cavalry
2 elephants
Finish and base 150 Numidians/Carthaginians

Strongly desirable
Backdrop
Finish and base 48 Bruttians
Olive trees

Nice to Haves
9 Carthaginian cavalry
9 Roman cavalry
Elephant & other casualty stands

Thursday, 1 October 2009

New Numidians


Here are the first units of Numidians for the Zama project.  Of the first 50 shown here, 30 are finished and 20 need snagging and basing.  Roughly 40 of the 50 were painted by Greg (Merci beaucoup!) but I did highlighting, retouching and the basing.




I'm really pleased with them!  There are still the better part of 150 foot remaining to retouch and base though.   Fortunately Greg's hard work means that they roll of the production line pretty rapidly!

I've completed my Dissertation, and hope to be able to get back to paitning and posting daily, now.

Sunday, 20 September 2009

Just a few Numidians..


These are the majority of the Numidian and Carthaginian levies  I am painting for Zama.

Greg has very kindly painted 160 (!) minis (the ones on the tray), but unfortunately they took a bit of a pasting in the post and will need a little tender working care to get them into the field.  I retouched a dozen last night, though, and I think it'll be relatively quick; hopefully I should be able to finish about a dozen a night.  As well as these, I have 28 more unpainted infantry and 24 mostly unpainted cavalry.  Plenty to do...

BTW this is my 100th blog post- thanks very much to my readers!

Friday, 18 September 2009

My favourite troop type....

... are Thureophoroi.  I don't know why this it, I just love them to bits!

My good mate Nick Speller has just sent me 32 beautifully painted Thureophoroi, which will enable me to expand my existing 4 units of 16, to 4 of 24 ( http://bigredbat.blogspot.com/2009/03/many-completed-thureophoroi.html )


I thought people might like to see them before they are based, as they are from 3 different manufacturers and are a useful comparison of sizes.  The first four are conversions from Foundry peltasts.   The rest of the first and second lines are the new(ish) Polemarch figures, and the lower two rows are Crusader miniatures.  Most of the shields are Old Glory from a grognard mate in California, but a few are Essex with cast-on javelins.

My favourites are (very narrowly) the Foundry minis; there is something intangible about them that sets them apart, for me, even though the Polemarchs http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=327 are more appropriate figures. The Crusaders I find just a little on the short size, and I'm not a fan of their crouching poses; nonetheless they are nice enough.

These minis will be in the big Zama game standing in as Carthaginian militia, alongside a similar number of proper Carthaginian minis. I hope to base these in 3 or 4 nights, then I'll get started on Greg's Numidians.

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

Aventine Hastati Completed

Last night I finished the first of 2 units of Hastati.  With the quicker painting method, and the red primer, they took 15 painting/basing sessions, comparing favourably with the 20-odd for the Triarii.
This is another unit that looks better from behind!  I do like the active pose of these Aventine minis.

...and here they are with the earlier Triarii.  I think the LBMS shield designs set them off, nicely.

Only another 80 minis to go to complete the legion!  Gulp.

Wednesday, 9 September 2009

Hasty Hastati 6 - Mostly there!

These chaps are getting seriously close to completion!  I'm 11 sessions in and 3 more should finish them, including basing.  This is rather faster than the Triarii and should enable me to finish one legion by Salute.

In other news... Greg has kindly offered to paint some more miniatures, Hannibal's Bruttian veterans from Southern Italy.  These are going to be a mix of Aventine and Crusader miniatures.  Also, I've identified the materials for the base boards and will get on with them once I've finished my dissertation.

Friday, 4 September 2009

Hasty Hastati 4

Here are the rapid Romans after 3 more painting sessions (bringing the total to 6). I think they are going to be quicker to complete than I'd anticipated- 4 more sessions should finish them, and with 2 for basing, that puts them around 2 weeks a unit.

This is just as well, because 160 beautifully painted minis thunked onto my doorstep this morning from Greg; vive la France! This means I now have rather more than 200 minis that I need to base for Zama; at least 3-4 weeks work. Gulp.

In other news, I've been fretting about how I'm going to (cheaply) make an 18' long table. I was planning to re-use Greg's excellent Dwarf Mine boards; but I have, instead, decided to make a new terrain that I might be able to adapt for future C&CA games. My latest idea is to go for a very thin (10mm) foam layer stuck to 9mm MDF boards. But MDF Comes in Imperial sizes, and foam in metric; I'll probably need to get the MDF cut specially. All needs careful thought...

Wednesday, 2 September 2009

Numidians- hordes of them!

http://gloarmy.blogspot.com/2009/09/peau-de-vache.html

Greg (above) has finished the second lot of 80 Numidians which look splendid! The photo is clickable, and well worth a click, too. Together with the 80 city militia he painted before, and my own cavalry and elephants (links to a few, below) they will give us the majority of the Numidian minis we need for Zama, next year.

http://www.displacedminiatures.com/BigRedBat/image/2331/21989/
http://www.displacedminiatures.com/BigRedBat/image/2331/22808/

Meanwhile I'm painting my Aventines. Over the last 2 nights I painted the flesh tones; no photo today. I'm trying to simplify my painting technique because I have so many figures to paint. I'm 5 days in and estimate the unit will take about 15 days overall to paint and base, which is pretty good, at around half the time I spent on the earlier Triarii.

Tuesday, 1 September 2009

Monday, 24 August 2009

Zama Paintathon II

That Frenchman is at it again! He's currently painting 70+ numidians for me. I'll post an update when they are finished...

(Photo "borrowed" from http://gloarmy.blogspot.com/)

Saturday, 22 August 2009

Aventines sorted!

I'm back from hols and managed to do the finishing touches on the Aventine Etruscans, which is just as well as another 40 or so just arrived!

I'm really pleased with them. You can see I'm going with a horse theme on this legion.

They actually look better from behind, where you can see the detail on the armour. Pics are clickable.

Shortly I'm going to start a unit of Aventine Principes. I'm particularly pleased with these latter, because Keith and Adam apparently designed them after I suggested that I'd need some for my Allied legion. They are tidy little minis, in animated attacking poses, and should be a relatively straightforward paint.

Saturday, 1 August 2009

Linky to the Zama Paintathon

Mon ami Greg yesterday, in one day, painted no less than 80 Carthaginian levy spearmen for the Zama project. Vive la France!

http://gloarmy.blogspot.com/2009/08/rattrapage.html

It has occurred to me that at this rate, he could finish all the minis we need for next April, by around Thursday lunchtime. ;-)

Aventines Day 14

Just as one unit approaches completion...

Another 5 arrive!

Life just works like that, sometimes.

I'm really delighted with the new Aventine minis Keith has sent (the principes and equites for my Italian legion, and a bunch of Volscian hillmen), which are of the same high quality (nary a hint of flash) as the last bunch, and even as neatly packed as I've ever seen! He even chucked in the newest Volscian command pack, which looks brilliant. The Volcians have a real sense of movement that one rarely sees in a 28mm mini and I'm itching to paint them; dare I squeeze a unit into my schedule?

Wednesday, 22 July 2009

Honest, I have been painting stuff...

I've regrouped after my brief holiday refurbing 1980's D&D Minis, and am back in the saddle with the ancients painting.

Above are the Tegeans, that have long been lurking on the painting table; they are all retouched and ready for varnishing. Unfortunately I have been waiting 2 weeks for the Testors Dullcoat that I need for the next step, so they are in a holding pattern! Grrr.

I'm very excited about these minis; my first unit of the excellent Aventine minis ( http://www.aventineminiatures.co.uk ), and at the same time the first unit I'm specifically painting for the SOA Zama game. They are going to be a long job, but I'll make sure that I work on them every day until they are finished.

They represent the Triarii of an allied legion; this will ultimately include 16 Triarii, 32 Hastati, 32 Principes and 32 Velites. Keith at Aventine is painting a matching allied legion; we'll need 2 Roman legions, later on. There's more information about the Zama project here: http://bigredbat.blogspot.com/search/label/Operation%20Zama

Sunday, 5 July 2009

On the Painting Table...

It's been a slow week painting-wise, because Mrs Bat has been suffering from the dreaded lurgi.

However, the Tegean unit (Spartan allies, above) is approaching completion; I've painted 7 figures to match 20 very nicely painted minis I bought on eBay (I'd love to know who originally painted them, please let me know if you recognise them). I just need to finish the shields and do the basing.

And above, primed, are the long-awaitied Aventine North Etruscan League minis, which are also the first unit of my Allied Italian legion, for Zama!