Saturday, 12 January 2013

Cleopatra is a harsh mistress...


I'm plugging away with my Ptolemaic phalanx, but it is proving quite a job! 

Above are batch 4 (blocked in, not yet stained) and batch 5 (half painted, right), which, when finished, will give me the 96 phalangites I need for my second and third pike blocks (of 11!).  I'm going for varied bright colours for the tunics based on the new Stephane Thion Lagid Army book.

I've fired off 100 pikemen to Dr. Simon's painter, to get them blocked in and will be getting another 64 painted ones from Raglan, so I think I'm slightly ahead of where I need to be at this stage.  No room for complacency, though! My mate Nick is going to paint Ptolemy and his bodyguard, too, which is a result.  I'll be using Aventines for these.

I've also been amending my draft rules to include heffalumps and long pointy sticks.

Finally, my mate Ian has lent me his treasured Bar Kochba account of the battle, which looks like it will be invaluable for understanding deployents and what actually happened on the day.  Already I've decided that I'll be drawing up parts of my phalanx 6 deep, perhaps even deeper... 

Wednesday, 9 January 2013

My first magazine article


My first magazine piece, about basing miniatures, came out today, in Wargames, Soldies and Strategy 64.  Woo hoo!  If you want a copy, you can buy it here.  WSS is a great little magazine, and I hope to post there fairly regularly.

Interestingly, Guy the Editor comments that I must disagree with Dr. Phil Hendry's approach to basing.  I actually really like Phil's bases, especially those on his Roman and Sassanids.  He is very consistent, which is what I aim to be, too.

In other news, we played our first game of the New Year last night; the classic Avalon Hill boargame Successors.  This will hopefully make a great background for a campaign, later in the year, once I have enough miniatures painted.

Tuesday, 1 January 2013

One last resolution...


...this is the sorry state of the floor in the gaming/dining room in the BigRedBatCave, as of this morning.  There are a mountain of gaming boards at the rear, debris from xmas and a couple of boxes of cider (why?).  Over the next few days, I plan to clear the lot!  Once clear, I'll hopefully be able to get some serious gaming underway, again.

Monday, 31 December 2012

Pikemen of various hues


Like buses, pike phalanx seem to come in threes.  Yesterday, Simon MacDowall posted his splendid Silver Shields, and I see that tonight Craig has just posted his proud Pink Pikemen (so numerous that he can't capture them all in one photo frame!).   Here is the left-most unit of my own forming Successor phalanx, the Libyan.

Their position on the extreme left of the phalanx, next to the guard units, suggests to me that they were considered more reliable than the local Egyptian phalangites.  They were led by Ammonius the Barcan.  His name sounds Punic; could there have been Carthaginian mercenaries present amongst them?  Raphia was, after all, fought in the same year as Lake Trasimene... 

The phalanx is a recent expansion and repaint of a repaint of an eBay purchase.  The purple linothorax must be due to the availability of Murex sea-snails along the Punic Coast (or could alternatively be due to me being too lazy to change the colour).  They are a real mix of the various Foundry pikemen.

Anyhow I'm delighted to squeeze these into 2012.  I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!


Sunday, 30 December 2012

Resolutions for 2013

Following my plans for 2013, posted yesterday, here are my resolutions:-
  • I shall complete, play test and publish (probably on-line) the Ancients rule set I’ve been developing
  • I shall finish my Ptolemaic phalanx for the game at Partizan; ten units of 48 phalangites, one of 48 agema and peltasts, and 3 dozen Cretan archers.  At the time of writing I do not have a single, complete unit, although I have around 120 figures painted.  To achieve this, within the timescale, I recognise that I will need to get a couple of hundred part-painted for me...   and also the cavalry and nellies
  • I’ll buy the parts and paint the cloth for a deeper wargames table, probably 160cm (4’8””), which is about the widest table that my lounge can take, whilst simultaneously accommodating half a dozen gamers with expanding waistlines
  • Finally, I’ll improve on my woeful record of local gaming, and get some decent games under my belt, at least one every other week
Plenty to be doing, especially the Ptolemaics! 

Saturday, 29 December 2012

Plans for 2013



I thought it might be fun to look ahead and make some plans for 2013.

Next week, my first published magazine article, about basing, comes out in Wargames, Soldiers, Strategy; I'm very much looking forward to that!

The Society of Ancients Battleday on April 13th is an absolute must, as it features the interesting battle of Chalons.  Moreover, I don’t need to paint any miniatures (getting to use Simon MacDowell’s lovely 15s), and hope to play the patrician Aetius.  Moreover, my army will include a bunch of Riders of Rohan lookalikes and an ageing Gothic Prince with a death wish.

The next week, 20th April, is Salute, which I always enjoy!  I don’t currently have a game scheduled, and in any case prefer to wander about and catch up with mates, whilst trying to avoid spending any money (usually unsuccessfully).

My first big battle for 2013 will be the Partizan game, on 2nd June, which I’m organising with Craig Davey.  I’m recruiting a massive Ptolemaic pike phalanx for this, and need to get some nellies and cavalry painted for me, too.  It'll be a game to look out for... I suspect rather more 28mm pikes than have been seen together, previously, on a table.  In fact, if all the pikes were laid out in a line, they would stretch almost 100m.

Finally, in September, I’d like to go to the “Other Partizan”, and run something else, perhaps giving my Romans another outing; an excuse to finish another legion, or two.  Maybe Sulla's Chaeronea, or perhaps Thapsus.

I also hope to fit in a few other trips to shows, as time permits; I would welcome ideas for events not to be missed, and hope to catch up with more of you along the way!

Cheers, Simon

Friday, 28 December 2012

My wargaming year


Firstly, I'd like to hope that all my visitors have had a very happy Xmas!  In the BigRedBatCave, the turkey carcass is now picked almost clean, the pudding eaten, and my thoughts naturally return to gaming (if, indeed, they ever left it!).  Today I'm reminding myself what I did this year, and tomorrow, hopefully, formulating my plans for next year.

I'm a bit of a home lover.  Every time I ever do one of those personality tests at work, they come up saying “under no circumstances should his work ever involve travel”.  Despite this, one of my unwritten objectives for 2012 was to get around the country a bit more, and I’ve managed three wargaming trips to the "lead belt", and one to Suffolk.


On the first trip in March I visited Roger, and played an excellent game of Borodino (above), the only big Napoleonic wargame I’ve ever experienced.  I painted a lot of figures for this, which have sadly not been used since.  I’ve also failed to complete my planned cavalry brigade, largely due to not having any imminent plans for using in anger, and my napoleonic blog has been "resting".

In May I visited Salute.  I wasn't running a game, so had more time than usual to wander around, and catch up with old friends.  My favourite game was the Victrix 54mm Napoleonic bash, shown below, but, as ever, there were some lovely display games there.



May also marked my first visit (hopefully of very many) to Partizan, where I very much enjoyed re-fighting Heraclea (above) with Craig and The Aventines.  Fantastic armies!  I had so much fun, I went North for a second time in September, to re fight the battle of Ad Castores, using Dr Phil’s new Augustus to Aurelian rules, my Early Imperial Roman army and a great deal of simulated Italian vegetation.  Finally, in November, I visited Simon “Comitatus” MacDowell in his Suffolk fastness, and played a very enjoyable game of the Battle of Chalons, using his beautiful 15mm collection (below).  

 
Life on the home front has been somewhat difficult, with the sad loss of my father-in-law, with associated inquest, probate, will, house sale, flat purchase and move for my mother-in-law.  This, amongst other challenges, have badly disrupted my local gaming activities and consequently I’ve played fewer games this year than in any recent year.  I’ll need to sort that, in 2013.

On the plus side, I have managed a fair bit of painting, repainting and basing.  I completed 28 units, the majority of 24 infantry; perhaps 450 miniatures in total.  Altogether this is rather fewer miniatures than I had hoped, but they were mostly of excellent quality (the Goths, below, are a particular favourite of mine).  


In terms of my modelling objectives I partially achieved 2, completing most of my Napoleonic French cavalry Brigade, and most of what I planned for my Early Imperial Romans 60/60/60 project; now only short 150 legionaries.  I’ll need to revisit the Romans, at least, in the summer.  I completely failed to paint anything for Runequest, my third objective.  Despite the work, the lead mountain grew by an alarming 661 unpainted metal miniatures, and now boasts a substantial plastic foothill.  I also sold off my old Viking army which raised funds to offset some of my all-too-numerous eBay and other hobby purchases, and made a little space for my recent painting.

Tomorrow; looking ahead to 2013!