Thursday, 18 February 2010

Viva Espana!

I received an unexpected package in the post from Nick Speller today, containing the Spanish cavalrymen for my Numidian General's bodyguard.  He's done a fine job on these, as ever!   The minis are Companion, Foundry and Crusader, mounted on whatever horses I could find; a couple of the Aventine horses mixed in very nicely.  I added rosettes, medallions and fringes to some of the horses, for a Spanish flavour.  Ole!

 
I'll base them over the next week, and post a proper picture when they are done.  They may well become my nicest cavalry unit.

Wednesday, 17 February 2010

And now for something completely different...

I played a 1941 Western Desert game last night, with Ian "Erwin" Notter, using adapted Memoir '44 rules (you can see Rommel's "hand" in the background).  We commanded roughly a brigade each. 

 
These minis are absolutely ancient; when I last played with them, Consul was but a gleam in his father's eye.

I launched an attack on the right, then an attack in the centre.  Here my lancers are about to bravely charge the enemy anti-tank screen (successfully as it turned out, although they had all perished by the end of the game).  

There was gratuitous destruction, with more than half the total troops on the table slaughtered, before we called it a night.  The central ridge changed hand half a dozen times.  At one point a panzer company broke through to the British gun line, but was destroyed by the gunners firing over open sights.  I think I may have gained a moral victory...

Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Not my Dumbos

A couple of my collaborators on the Zama project are painting up their dead nellies.

 
The above is Craig Davey's poor beast; I very much like the way he has positioned a wounded velite and a dead Carthaginian next to it.  Both poignant, and also has a sort of "yin and yang" symmetry.  Top stuff!

Greg Privat of Gloranthan Army is working on one, and has gone for a very grand approach indeed!  This link goes to his post; I'd strongly recommend having a look!   Greg has also started painting the last few Bruttians for the Carthaginian army, and some casualty figures.

I've got my last 2 on bases, and will start painting them shortly.

Monday, 15 February 2010

Not my Legion

This is the first complete Allied legion for Zama, owned and painted by Aventine Keith. 

On the day, this legion will probably have my white-shielded velites, and the red shields will be screening Keiths will-need-to-be-painted-soon Roman legion.  They'll be in 4 units of 8 figures, 2 stands deep.

And here they are from behind... I do like all the red tunics!

Sunday, 14 February 2010

Board

The time has finally come to grit my teeth and start decorating the 8 terrain board we need for Zama, so today, I started work on a test board.  This is one of the 9 mdf/styrene boards I fashioned back in November.

 
Above is the board with patches of tebby bear fur PVA'd to it.

 
Above, my youngest son has trimmed the fur "fields" with electric haircutting shears.  This was pretty quick to do.  The "wolf" fur on the right makes a pretty good crop; the shorter, paler fur at the back, will make useful long grass.  I've also roughly scribed some "tracks" into the board.

I intend the overall look of the boards to be a dry, dusty autumn look, with mostly harvested fields, some ploughed fields and scattered olive trees.  However, none of the terrain will have any impact, whatsoever, on the battle.

Saturday, 13 February 2010

My own Velites Finished

Here are the 32 velites from yesterday; thoroughly finished.  These will probably be my only contribution to the Roman legions in our game (although I have an emergency reserve of 32 part-painted Renegade Principes in case we are struggling; I hope not to go there, though).
 
The shields are a mix of Renegade and Aventines, and the transfers, mostly VVV and some LBMS.  I was particularly pleased with the way the grass came out.

Friday, 12 February 2010

My own velites WIP


A quickly snatched photo; the minis are now repainted, with new shields and mounted on BRBbases covered in BRBgunk.  Hopefully they'll be finished today!  I'll take a proper photo tomorrow.