Monday, 29 June 2009

Empire Models Armoured Elephants... completed!

I love these models, and it was fun painting them but they were a lot of work and am delighted to have finished them!
The detail on the models is terrific, and I'd commend these weapons of Mass Destruction to any aspiring Eastern potentate!
I've named these two after the titans Oceanus and Kronos. I plan to add a third, when Empire's new armoured elephant comes out. And then there are rumours of Pyrrhic elephants from Aventine... and I also need some elephant guards.

But these will have to wait; I've got a handful of Tegeans to finish, and then it's Operation Zama!

Friday, 26 June 2009

AD&D; a la recherche du temps perdu

Tomorrow I'm going to introduce several of the LittleRedBats, and assorted friends, to AD&D.

A good portion of my twenties was spent playing the game (particularly the Lost University Years, over which we shall draw a veil), but I don't think I've rolled a d20 in anger, since I got into figure wargaming around 1985.

Digging out the old manuals has been an almost archaeological experience; I've had to borrow various tomes from one of my gaming mates, and I still lack a screen and the combat tables. Luckily I still have a lot of the old miniatures. Skimming the rulebooks today it is all starting to come back to me, but it is daunting that I remember so little, when once upon a time I must have almost known them by heart!

I've decided to stay thoroughly retro and eschew all the more modern versions of AD&D, so that tomorrow will be almost an exercise in time travel! Last time I visited the village of Hommlet, it was 1980...

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Little Caesars and LittleRedBats

A TMP post reminded me of a photo I snapped in Venice in 2003. Walking around a corner, I came across these beautiful statues and couldn't resist getting a photo of my boys next to it!

Wednesday, 24 June 2009

Pimp my Nellie 6 - Assembly!

It has taken me 10 days to paint 12 crewmen (the ones on the beasts plus four spares not shown), and they came out pretty well in the end. I stuck an officer in one of the elephants for variety. I found that 3 crew fitted better than 4 in the howdah, and felt that there was also slightly more historical evidence for 3. In hindsight I regret painting both with the saddlecloths yellow ; I might repaint one for variety, in green, perhaps.

So now they just need basing... a few days work in parallel with the Tegeans I have started painting.
Re names; I'm still mulling. I'm thinking maybe something from Greek mythology...

Friday, 19 June 2009

Operation Zama 2

...so I got together with Ian to have a look at how the game would work out on the table. We put 3 Command and Colors Boards in a row and laid out blocks representing the forces calculated earlier on the spreadsheet, which used about 90% of the available width.

The table will need to be 16-19 foot wide, by about 4 foot deep, and 2 hexes deeper than the standard C&C board, to permit each side to deploy in 4 lines with a suitable gap in between.

After shuffling some blocks around, we decided that we need to increase the overall numbers a tad because the Romans needed more velites (which bring the numbers up to 1300 minis; gulp).

So today I'm going to make a sketch of the deployments and make a few subtle adjustments to the spreadsheet (adding 64 velites). Ian will then create a diagram of the battlefield which I'll post here. Hopefully, it will be the largest C&C game ever, by a fair margin.

What we'll need to do is assign units to different people to paint. I'm excited to report interest from several different quarters (indeed countries), and have just received an offer to paint an entire 108 man Allied legion; more anon!

Wednesday, 17 June 2009

Operation Zama

...so I'd been planning to paint a load of EIR Auxilia this year, and then a Hellenistic army after that; but it turns out that the next SOA Battle Day in 2010 is going to be Zama and I've decided to change everything.

I've never yet managed to field an army for any of the SOA days (there isn't usually enough notice for my slow painting), so this year, given plenty of notice, I have decided to go for it in a big way. My EIRs and my Foundry/GB Successor pikes will all need to go on the back burner and instead I'm going to need to raise a couple of new armies. I had always intended to do a Polybian Legion or two; they have just moved up the painting order! Should tie in with the Aventine minis I'll be starting in 2 weeks.

I want the game to be really big, so I'm going to forge an alliance of friends and other clubs in order to raise the requisite armies.... if you are thinking about going to the Battleday next year (in Bletchley on 24th April, 2010), have DBx-based 28mm figures and either play Command and Colors, or want to find out about it, please do drop me a line!

Sunday, 14 June 2009

Pimp My Nellie 5

Well the elephants themselves are pretty well painted; and I'm very pleased with them. I still have the small matter of a dozen assorted crew and hangers on to paint, though, and the bases; another week or so's work.


The beasts painted up very well; lots of detail to paint, but it is all in good relief. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I substituted Crusader shields for Empire's, because I already had the appropriate Crusader Seleucid transfers, which make a certain statement! I tried to make the colour of the elephant drapes tie in with the shields, but got the red a little wrong.

I was particularly pleased with the "rear elevation"; the crevices in the skin took a wash very nicely. All in all these are splendid beasts and I'm itching to get them finished...