Showing posts with label Parthians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parthians. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 August 2023

Herding Cats


I'm currently working on a Parthian army, but I've been enjoying the build stage (maybe it's the plastic glue fumes) and may be overdoing it. I have around 60 assembled and primed, so far, against a target 80. They are a mix of Gripping Beast plastic and Aventine riders on GB horses. Most will have steel horse armour, some will have bronze and some (the grey-primed) a fetching red. I hope to have at least 40 ready for the TtS! Open tournament in Edmonton on Saturday 13th October.  

Today I released the latest version of the TtS! Ancient Army List eBook; a bumper edition with two new lists and loads of updates with a lot of background material. It's turning into quite an encyclopedia- 164 lists, 331 pages long. I've already started work on the October release, which is going to be a Late Antiquity Special with lots of material about the Goths, Franks, Saxons and Vandals. If you've previously purchased the lists you should have received either a copy or a download link, if you've not yet purchased it, you can find it here.

In other news... my friend, the talented military historian Brent Nosworthy is pleased to announce the availability of an uncorrected, unedited beta version of his latest book, The Advent of Linear Warfare: Circa 1580 to 1648. This book traces the evolution of linear warfare first through the Spanish/Italian phase and its continued development next by the Dutch during the Nine Years’ War, then under Gustavus Adolphus’ leadership during the Polish-Swedish Wars, before assuming its final form under French leadership when they entered the Thirty Years’ War. It is available for free in PDF format for everyone who subscribes to Nosworthy’s Encyclopedia of Battle Tactics Patreon Page. Subscribers also have access to an ever growing number of highly detailed articles that analyse tactics and grand tactical issues during the age of muzzle loading small arms. I recently subscribed- got the book- less than three quid a month, money very well spent! You can find it here. 

Here are some Saleh Early Imperials that I need to finish off to complete last week's units. I am trying something a little different- grey primer and a white spray highlight from the front, as getting the shields properly smooth and white has proved to be both challenging and time-consuming.

Finally, some of you must have already encountered Yarkshire Gamer's World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules on Facebook. I say this with some confidence, because both the TtS! rule sets have made it through to the second round, where To the Strongest! is currently pitted against Saga, and For King and Parliament will shortly be head-to-head with Hail Caesar! It is an extremely silly idea to compare sets from different periods against each other, but at the same time a whole lot of fun. You can vote for TtS! or, indeed, any of the other rules systems (there is some really high-calibre opposition; not least Saga!) here.

Friday, 14 July 2023

Some of our cataphracts are missing


I finally managed to get hold of some decent metallic spray primers and seized a narrow window in the weather (between too hot and too wet!) to prime the cataphracts. I went mainly steel and gold, with some grey which I'll paint them in reds depicting lacquered or enamelled horse armour.

Here are some of the humbler horse archers. I bought most of these assembled, on eBay, but they needed a little repair work which I did last night. I am going to need a whole lot more of these- I have a hunch there's a bag of them somewhere in the loft.

I am also searching for some Parthians I was working on earlier this year. I stored them away, for safety, but I cannot for the life of me locate them; they are probably in one of five hundred unlabelled Really Useful Boxes. :-/

Realistically they won't be finished in time for the Britcon tournament next month in Nottingham, so I'm eyeing my collection for other relatively portable armies. Incidentally, if you are free on the weekend of 12th/13th August we are very keen to find another player as we currently have the Dreaded Odd Number of players. It's a relaxed event, not too competitive, pint of beer at the side of the table sort-of-thing. Last year I quite enjoyed seeing the Lardy stuff in the annex, and spent too much on books and the Bring and Buy. If you think you might be interested, please email me.

Friday, 7 July 2023

Nine out of forty cats

One of my four major projects for this year is to get a long-projected Parthian army on the table. Phase I includes these forty cataphracts, which is more than enough for a standard To the Strongest! game (the photo is "clickable). So far nine are partially painted. Phase II will provide 24 horse archers, most of which are happily already painted by chum Nick Speller, and phase III will double the numbers of cataphracts and triple the number of horse archers, and add some stalwart Daylamite hillmen and foot archers.

The miniatures are a 50/50 mix of Aventine (back) and plastic Gripping Beast Parthian riders (front), all on Gripping Beast horses, for reasons of portability (it is intended to be a "travel army"). The two types of riders match well stylistically. The Aventines fit neatly onto the GB horses, and provide a variety of poses and the necessary command minis and standards. The only major changes I'm making is to replace the plastic konti with metal ones, because they are slimmer and more pleasing to the eye.

With any luck I'll have them finished for our TtS! tournament at Britcon in August- I hope to see some of you there - please email me if you'd like details.

In other news... I've just updated the Free To the Strongest! Army list eBook, and am in the process of sending a copy out to everyone who has ordered a copy in the past. If you want, you can download it for free from here.  I've also put the Ancient and Medieval Army list books on promotion for a few days, and some of the chits are 25% off.

Wednesday, 28 June 2023

Portable Parthians

 
I have, perhaps unwisely, started another army. I have a gap for a lightweight ancient army that I can carry on the train to distant tournaments such as Britcon and Godendag or Glasgow. These are the horses from the Gripping Beast Cataphract set combined with (mostly) riders from the super Aventine Miniatures range. I'm experimenting with basecoats; a couple have gold and chrome primers, above.

Below, for a bit of a laugh, I'm trying the "nail varnish" metallic shades from my ScaleColour 75 boxes; paints I have never previously used, and, frankly, never expected to ever use.  They are really odd, but I have a feeling that they might just work. If they do work, there are some other even bolder colours I might try later on, some pinks and a green... it might become a very flamboyant army!

Friday, 23 June 2023

Racking II and prepping

It has been on the hot side for painting, so I've either been writing TtS! army lists (for the July-Ancients  and August-Medieval releases), racking the BigRedBatCave or prepping minis. 

Above is the main area of the cellar, now racked along one side with six 90cm wide storage racks. There is potentially room on the other side for some more- perhaps three or four. That is pretty much the last storage space I can generate in this house. Once that's full, I'll have to start selling stuff in order to fit new things in. And I still have a ton of boxes in the loft that I need to move down into the remaining spaces, perhaps enough to fill them.

Below are some minis which will become Parthian cataphracts. My plan is to use (mostly) Aventine miniature riders on plastic Gripping Beast steeds, alongside some of the GB riders from the new Parthian set. The advantage of using the plastic Nisean chargers is that the army will be light to transport, so I can use it at tournaments like Britcon or Godendag to which I travel by train. I will spray paint these in metallics (per the two test figures on the left, Gold-fingerrrr) and then paint the non-metallic areas and ink wash. Sounds simple- probably an awful lot of work in it, for which reason this army may not be ready in time.

By the way, I just booked my tickets for the To the Strongest! tournament at Britcon in Nottingham in August- it's a great show, and I really like Nottingham, too. I hope to see some of you there!

Wednesday, 14 December 2016

Parthian shot


Here's a WIP shot of the Parthian light horse I'm assembling for the WHC ancients day in March, when they will form part of Seleucus' host for Ipsus. Here are 30 of the 40 I need, all painted by Shaun McTague and high-lighted by me. Most of the riders are Aventines on a range of horses including some plastic LotR steeds that actually work quite well, being very animated. Once I have the remaining 10, I shall get basing!

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.