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!
Friday, 3 July 2009
Elephant Size Comparison Shots
I promise that this is the final post featuring elephants for the time being! I'm going to compare the Empire Models (Indian) elephant, on the right in each photo, with three African elephants from other ranges, in part to convey the sheer mass of the former. Indian elephants should be much larger than African forest elephants, and Empire's certainly is! All photos are clickable.
The African elephants will all feature at the Society of Ancients Zama game, next year.
First (above) we have the Gripping Beast Carthaginian elephant http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=154 . This would convert very well to become a Ptolemaic elephant at Raphia; it is very much smaller than Empire's Indian, but then it should be! The bulk of the Indian elephants at Raphia apparently gave them a considerable advantage.
The second elephant (above) is an African from Essex http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/frames25mmcont.html . I feel this is the least satisfactory of my Africans, and won't be buying more; it doesn't look much like I think an African Forest Elephant should appear. It is very plump and rounded, with 'orrible thickish legs.
Finally, we have a heavily converted Renegade elephant http://www.renegademiniatures.com/numidian.htm
. The basic Renegade elephant is an unhappy composite between an Indian and an African elephant, with features of each; however, extensive work with greenstuff makes it into a rather satisfactory African Forest nellie, in my view at least, and it is my favourite African at the moment (not least because it was the cheapest, at £6).
Altogether we will field 11 elephants for the Society of Ancients Zama game next April; my six, another 4 from my mate Dr Simon, and one that still needs to be sourced. In our first game trialling the battle, they managed to inflict a surprising amount of damage against their Roman foes; rather more, in fact, than they should have!
The African elephants will all feature at the Society of Ancients Zama game, next year.
. The basic Renegade elephant is an unhappy composite between an Indian and an African elephant, with features of each; however, extensive work with greenstuff makes it into a rather satisfactory African Forest nellie, in my view at least, and it is my favourite African at the moment (not least because it was the cheapest, at £6).
Altogether we will field 11 elephants for the Society of Ancients Zama game next April; my six, another 4 from my mate Dr Simon, and one that still needs to be sourced. In our first game trialling the battle, they managed to inflict a surprising amount of damage against their Roman foes; rather more, in fact, than they should have!
And now for Something Completely Different...
Monday, 29 June 2009
Empire Models Armoured Elephants... completed!
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
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Pimp my Nellie 6 - Assembly!
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...
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