Monday, 22 October 2012

Revolting Goths


I've just finished painting my first unit of Gothic deserters, please have a click.

In all honesty I hadn't planned to paint a unit of Goths, but I was stripping apart my old Viking army in order to sell it, and discovered 16 bounty Germans hiding in the rear rank.  I couldn't resist adding a couple more elements and some lovely LBMS shield designs to round them off.  Most of the minis are Gripping Beast, with a few Black Trees amongst them.

They are destined to become enemies for my (alas so far largely projected) Late Roman army.  I like them slightly more from this angle, where it's easier to see the new shield designs.


Sunday, 21 October 2012

Chalons, 451 AD

Yesterday I played a fine game using the Comitatus rules, with their author, Simon MacDowell.  We refought the battle of Chalons as a rehearsal for the game that he has planned for the Society of Ancients Battle Day in Bletchley, next April 13th.  Simon was a generous host and I frothed over the miniatures in his display cabinets...

Simon has started to write the battle up here.  Rather than steal his thunder, I'll show some shots of his excellent miniatures.  These were 15's, but have more detail than many of my 28's.  I played the Romans, or rather the side that included a few token Romans amongst a host of Germans!  This unit were some of my Auxilia Palatina. 


Below is Flavius Aetius, last of the great Western Roman generals, and his Comitatus.


...and here is Attila, Scourge of God!


Unfortunately I forgot to take a closeup picture of King Theooric I, the Visigothic leader, who also played a siignificant role in the battle, but here he is, charging at the head of his Comitatus (left, below).  Simon had suggested that I hold him in reserve, but I preferred to use him in the manner of Theoden King, at the Pelennor fields...


The shields of the Visigothic foot, beyond him, are splendid!

EDIT- Simon McD reminded me that there is, indeed, a closeup of the impetuous Theodoric:-

Wednesday, 17 October 2012

One hundred Spartans (and some Greeks)

Last night we had another play test of the ancient rule set I've been working on.  We pitted Wabby George's newly restored Thessalian army, against my own Spartans, generalled by Ian as King Agis.  All the below pictures are clickable.


Above, Wabby George, the Thessalian Hegemon, looks rather nervously across the table towards the elite Spartiates on the right wing of the Spartan host (as well he might!).  Below is the Spartan army, with 3 mora of allies in the foreground and two of Spartans, beyond them.



The Spartans and their allies advanced quickly (above).  The allied hoplites, left foreground, suffered heavy losses from accurate (lucky!) fire from the Thessalian psiloi.  The Spartan hoplites inclined to the right in an attempt to run down the Thessalian cavalry, and a gap opened in the line, between the Spartans and allies, through which a unit of Thessalian psiloi penetrated.  The psiloi outflanked the rightmost mora of allied hoplites, and peppered it from two sides with slingshot and javelins, until it was on the very edge of disintegration (below).



The Spartan situation, above, became desperate as a succession of melees went badly, and all 3 of the allied units were on the verge of flight. 

On the Spartan right, however, things were going better.  Rather than tackle the Spartiates frontally, the Thessalian cavalry fled from the table.  The right hand Spartan unit had a good deal of trouble passing a movement test to turn through 90 degrees...



...but eventually they, and the neighbouring unit, managed to re-align and they were able to start to roll up the enemy line (as in the battle of Coronea), enabling the Spartans to snatch a (rather expensive) victory from the jaws of defeat.

The game was good natured and very enjoyable.  I took away a few actions to adjust the rules, which I've done, and I hope to be able to play another test game in a week or so.  It was great to see George's new troops, and I'm now resisting the impulse to add a bunch of hoplites to the burgeoning painting queue...

Monday, 15 October 2012

Article on "Rome"


No pics to post as my various current projects are all slowly grinding along in parallel, a fair way from completion.

Eldest son sent me this article on the veracity of the military scenes in HBO's Rome.  It has reminded me why I enjoyed the series so much!  Must watch it again... it had me gripped from the very first scene.


Friday, 12 October 2012

Surplus Hoplites


These chaps are Foundry Hoplites (plus 1 Essex miniature) that served as Blue Dragoons in my Hordes of the Things Lunar army.  I'm planning to repaint them, shortly, for use as regular hoplites...

Wednesday, 10 October 2012

A rare night's gaming


Last night a near-full muster of the local Muswell Militiamen gave my draft rules a bit of an outing along with my Celts, who haven't seen daylight since Zama.  The game went pretty well; despite losing their flanking cavalry, the superior discipline of the legions eventually told, and led to them breaking the line of warbands.  I have a handful of revisions to make to the rules, and expect to give them another outing next Tuesday, with Gorgeous George's Greeks.

My painting table is below.  Inexplicably an unexpected Gothic invasion is delaying work on the chariots.  The Goths, who have languished unnoticed in amongst a box of Vikings for 3 or 4 years, charged forth with a shout of "Paint me! Paint me!" and are consequently in the process of being tarted up and expanded to 24.  Worse still, some part-painted Celtic foot have pushed in behind them... and there is a chap carrying a tray of what look to be unripe tomatoes....


Tuesday, 9 October 2012

Chariot frames


My chariot project is proceeding slowly.  Above are the primed frames and wheels.  You may just be able to make out that I've added javelin quivers and severed head tropies to some of the frames.

I used an Army Painter primer on these, and it gave a very grainy finish, with the paint adhering particularly poorly to the metal parts, such that I can rub it off with my fingers.  Other minis I primed with Halfords sprays in the same session, were perfect.  This is far from the first time that I have had trouble with AP primers, and, despite the convenience of being able to prime in their useful base colours,  I won't be buying any more.

The horses are also primed, the bases made and the charioteers are off with Nick to be painted, so this project is, gradually, coming together.  I'd have got the chariots assembled if it wasn't for an incursion of Gothic intruders (of which more anon).

Monday, 8 October 2012

Surplus Crusaders


These stalwarts are Gripping Beast Normans or First Crusaders, and I'm parting with them as part of my plan to focus on the armies and enemies of Rome.  

There are based on 60x60mm card, with magnetic sheet underneath.  They could be easily removed (I'd be happy to do this for you) and rebased for Saga, etc.  I'm looking for £30 plus postage at cost.  My other for sale items are here.

Friday, 5 October 2012

Coh. V Dalmatorum


This is the last cohort of Romans I'll produce for a while; they are an auxiliary cohort I started just before Partizan, that I wanted to wrap up.  They are a bog-standard unit of auxiliaries of Dalmatian origin, all Black Tree miniatures, and, for once, almost exclusively* painted by me!  This is one of my favourite LBMS auxiliary shield designs.  As ever, pics are fully clickable.

They are my 15th auxiliary infantry unit and I now, albeit temporarily, have more auxiliaries than legionaries (something that very few wargamers can say!).  Once I have based one final auxiliary cavalry unit, I'll have hit my resolution target of 60 double elements of auxiliaries (414 minis), and I'll be able to move on to expand the legions.  I do prefer to paint auxiliaries to legionaries, though, I find them more varied and interesting.



*Three of Legatus Hedlius command figures crept in

Thursday, 4 October 2012

Surplus Vikings

8 Gripping Beast Vikings, ready for war.  They are magnetically based on card on a 15mm frontage.  Pics are clickable.




I'm looking for £3.50 per mini which comes to £28 plus postage; am also open to swaps.  You can post here in comments, or email me at the address on the front page.

This link is to my other for sale items.

Cheers, Simon

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

Ala Gallorum Petriana, and 400K!

This is my second Ala of Auxiliary cavalry; the Petrian Gallic wing.  These were probably raised at the beginning of the first century, and served on the Vitellian side, under Caecina, in the 69AD war. After the war they came to Britain and were stationed in Northumberland and Cumbria for the next hundred years or so.


These were painted for me by Dr. Simon's excellent mystery painter, but I did quite a bit of highlighting on them, too, varnished and based.  Pics are clickable.  All the miniatures are Black Tree.  At 24 men, it is the right size for a Quingenary Ala, but as a wargames unit, it is a little unwieldy, and I shall probably make future units a little smaller at 18 figures, and consider them to be understrength.


In other news, the tracker ticked past 400K visits today!  Thanks very much for all your visits, so far, and onwards and upwards to the half million!

Tuesday, 2 October 2012

Some Ancient Vikings for Sale!

I'm making some space in my War Cabinet for new projects by selling a couple of armies I'm less passionate about.  These Vikings are a mixture of the early Wargames Foundry range, with some Citadel and, I believe, a couple of Old Glory.   They were re-painted and based around 5 years ago, to a good tabletop standard. They are magnetically based on card on a 20mm frontage.  Pics are clickable.



I'm looking for around £3 per mini which comes to £72 plus postage; am also open to swaps.  You can post here in comments, or email me at the address on the front page.

This link is to my other for sale items.

Cheers, Simon

Monday, 1 October 2012

Traffic Jam

The painting tray is overflowing with chariots.  My plan is for a first wave of 9, but I want to go to eventually muster 20 or so.  Most of the crews have gone off to Nick to be painted (he'll do a far better job with plaid than could I).


In the foreground are the chariot horses, which I hope will be fairly quick to paint...  and I need to finish basing the cohort of Dalmatians on the front left, to clear a bit of space!

Saturday, 29 September 2012

Relic Miniatures Gallic Chariot

I mentioned in yesterday's post that, along with all the wheels, Mike from Relic Miniatures kindly sent me a sample of one of his chariots, which I'll briefly review here.


Above is the chariot, straight out of the bag.  The figures are very nice true 28mm, but I won't focus on those, as my current interest is much more in the vehicle and steeds.  

You'll see how lovely and slender the chariot pole is, and the frames on the cab.   The wheels I frothed over in my earlier post.  The whole piece appears to be cast in a strong pewter, which helps give strength to the slender pole.  There was no flash, but there were a number of small vents to clip and file away; however this didn't take long.


Above, I quickly assembled the piece, which fitted together very nicely.  The photo isn't great but you might be able to make out the crisp detail underneath, such as the ropes.


Above is the assembled Relic chariot, and below is one of my "Frankenstein" chariots, for comparison.  I think you'll see that the Relic chariot is rather more elegant, in a number of areas.  Firstly, the very nice Relic horses above are much more animated than the Newlines I will mainly be using.  A very minor observation is that, as this is a Gallic chariot, these are small horses, rather than the ponies that would likely have been used in backward Britain and Caledonia.  The chariot frame is very detailed with ropes and one of the more svelte frames I've seen, and the chariot pole is lovely and slender.


You'll have gathered that I'm quite a fan of the Relic model, and will certainly add more to my fleet when time and funds permit.  Thanks Mike!

Friday, 28 September 2012

Got wheels

A timely delivery of Relic's very nice chariot wheels has enabled me to replace the clunkier Wargames Factory wheels.  Here is the "before"...


...and below is the rather more elegant "after"!  Much closer to Wetwang, I think.


At Mike's suggestion, I have further shortended the chariot pole, which I think really helps with the look of the chariot.  I've built oval-shaped bases out of plastic, laser cut ply and magnetic sheet, so that I can make the chariots skrimish.  The round plywood disk raises the chariot to the level of the bases of the horses.

Mike also kindly sent me a complete chariot, which I'll assemble over the coming days, and post here; it's a lovely piece.  Thanks Mike!

Thursday, 27 September 2012

Chariot Wheel Size Comparison

I'm constructing a fleet of chariots for my Ancient British, and I though others might like to see some of the wheels that are out there.

Firstly, this is the ideal I'm aiming towards; a wheel of similar size and proportion to those on the below chariot reconstruction.  You'll notice that the rim is pretty thin... this isn't a feature on many of the models out there!


Below are the wheels from the models I've collected so far.  Isn't it astonishing how varied the size and shapes are? 


The smallest wheel is from Black Tree Designs; at 12mm diameter, it would suit a 15mm model better than a 28mm!  Laughable.

The second, is from the more recent Foundry range.  It is in my opinion too small, and has a very ugly thick rim; looks like it should be on a wheelbarrow.

The third, from Newline Designs, is rather elegant, if a little on the small side for me (I guess it is true 28mm).  It doesn't have a raised hub, though, which is a pity.

The fourth, from Relic Miniatures, arrived today from Canada and is lovely (thanks Mike!).  It is a good size and very elegant.  It is ready drilled on the back to take an axle, too.  Absolutely my favourite wheel; it is beautifully modelled and cast.

The sixth, from Renegade Miniatures, I quite like, even though it has a thickish rim.  If I didn't have Relics, I'd certainly look at these.

Finally, the Wargames Factory wheel is the largest by around a millimetre.  Again, I was planning to use these, until Relic's lovely pieces arrived.  I now intend to save these and use them as waggon wheels for a projected baggage train.


I'll do a picture review of the very nice Relic model in a few days time.

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Cohors Hedlium

The official name of this cohort is Coh. I Cannefatium, but they will operate under the name of their prefect, Hedlius (I bought most of the minis, painted, from Legatus Hedlius).  They will be brigaded alongside my Batavians, who they joined in the 69AD revolt.


I finished them just before Partizan but this has been my first chance to take photos.  They are mostly Foundry Salehs with a slight admixture of Black Tree for variety.  In general I'm going to use Salehs for all my German and British-origin cohorts, and Black Trees for Danubian and other cohorts.

Monday, 24 September 2012

Cohortes Praetoriae

These are the two cohorts of Praetorian guards that I needed for the Ad Castores game.  There were 9 cohorts of Praetorians in the Othonian army, but only 3 were sent northwards, initially, to resist the surprise transalpine Vitellian invasion.


Most of the miniatures are the single Foundry Saleh pose, which luckily I love.  They were superbly painted for me by my friend Nick Speller.  I do love the striped pila shafts he painted...  I added the shield transfers, some highlights, varnished and based them.  The grimacing Optio in the front rank is a Black Tree conversion, and the cornicen and signifer are converted A&A's.   I'm particularly proud of the standards, which I extended by a cm or so, to make them suitably imposing.  The shield transfers are, of course, LBMS.  


Since originally sending these off to be painted, I've picked up some 3 dozen more unpainted Praetorians, and I'm minded to paint another cohort or two, so that I can use some of the lovely red LBMS transfers.  And after all, at the battle of Cremona, there were Praetorians on both sides!

Sunday, 23 September 2012

A few Foundry Spanish for sale



I've a unit of the Foundry Ancient Spanish from the original Punic Wars range, and a command stand, which I've decided to part with to make way for other projects (nb SOLD 25/9/12). 


The command stand includes a Gripping Beast general (named Indibilis)


Friday, 21 September 2012

Chariots of... plastic.

For a couple of years I’ve toyed with building a large force of British chariots, to use with my Celtic army.  I collected no less than 20 metal chariots from five different manufacturers (Renegade, Black Tree, Gripping Beast, Newline and Foundry*).  Unfortunately, none of the models are good in all respects; some horses were too large or ugly, chariot poles long and very thick, and generally the chariot cabs looked like they had been knocked up out of offcuts of two-by-four timber.  As for the wheels, they varied from too small to absolutely tiny.

I had had been planning to chop them all up to make a dozen or so decent chariots out of them, but it always looked like an insuperable task.  A couple of weeks ago, I picked up some Wargames Factory chariot parts from Steve on the WAB Forum (thanks!).  I’d always been put off these models, by the dodgy (doggy?) horses, over-long pole and thick chariot floor.  However, looking at the models, afresh, the cup is more than half full, largely because they are plastic and easy to chop about.


I’ve replaced the thick floor with Wills plastic card, and cut new axles from brass rod.  I cut the pole length down by 6mm or so, and trimmed away the flamboyant up-turned ends off the yoke.  I’m going to position the axle slightly behind the midpoint of the cab, as I’ve seen on the Wetwang chariot.  I have some ideas for what to do with the WF chariot crew.  Finally, I will replace the chariot horses with some of the nice metal ponies from Newline, of which I bought earlier.  

I’m really pleased with them so far.   In an ideal world, I'd use a wheel with a thinner rim, but I've not yet been able to find a suitable alternative.  Because the models are plastic, the conversion is very quick and they are also much lighter and more resilient to dropping than their metal equivalents.


They are very cheap and have pretty much the look I’m after.  Wargames Factory; who’d have thunk it?


*I don't have any of the newer Warlord or Relik chariot models.  These look very nice but I suspect that they may be a little small for my needs