Monday, 11 February 2013

More white shields



Another 21 finished (bar varnishing).  For some reason, I find the Polemarch rather less interesting to paint, than their Foundry equivalents; I'm really not sure why.  However, I've now got enough minis finished, to be able to start thinking about basing up another 2 phalanx blocks.

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Meganotpolis

Played a game last night with Ian and a new local gamer, Jay.  Unfortunately I've not time to write the game up, but it was very loosely based on Megalopolis, the "Battle of Mice", between Alexander's regent Antipater and Agis of Sparta.

The game was mainly an excuse to a) get my emerging Raphia  phalanx on the table, and b) test the latest incarnation of my rules.  Both objectives were achieved.


Above, Spartans and allies in the foreground defend the pass against the advancing Macedonians.


Above, some lucky (and anachronistic) Macedonian thureophoroi broke through the Spartan line.


Some extrovert Galatians chasing away the Cretans guarding the Spartan flank.


Eventually, Macedonian numbers (and pikes) told and the Spartan line crumbled.  Agis (on the small hill, centre, above) finally fell, and the Spartans were defeated, in very much the same manner as in the original battle.  Also, as in the real battle, there was barely a Macedonian left unwounded by the end.

Today I've been making the latest amendments, and hope to get another test of the same battle under my belt, tonight!

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

A footnote to star bursts...

Steve at Little Big Man Studios has very kindly published the transfer sheets I suggested to him a few days ago.  There is a new black star burst set and a new red set, which complement the existing red set, giving 72 subtle variants on a theme. They have terrific battle damage and staining on them, and are a must if you fancy raising that white shield phalanx you've always needed...

Of course I've bought some of the new sets, and now need to paint even more pike men...

Sunday, 3 February 2013

Starburst

No, not the confectionary (which I still think of as Opal Fruits), but half of the shields I need for the Egyptian portion of my phalanx, mostly with the classical Macedonian starburst design (clickable).  The concept is that these are cheap wooden shields covered with felt (or perhaps locally available Egyptian linen or cotton), with designs painted on, for the cheap, emergency, wing of the phalanx.


I've used the excellent Little Big Man designs, from two different sheets, and painted some plain white shields to go alongside them.  I've distressed them, somewhat.  I think the black and alternate red designs give a nice variety to the designs, and Steve of LBMS has very kindly offered to make up a new sheet for me.  I'm about 10 days away from basing up the next 2 units.

I love putting on shield transfers, I find it very relaxing.

Friday, 1 February 2013

Rear rankers


I've finished (bar shields) another batch of 18 pikemen, this time rear-rankers for the Egyptian phalanxes.  8 were painted and kindly donated by Craig, and I just needed to add pikes, and painted 10 more in a similar style.  I absolutely love the unarmoured Foundrys, they are a pleasure to paint!  The chap in the blue chiton is a pleasing conversion from a hoplite, who actually looks quite Egyptian, rather than Macedonian.

Behind are 21 more Polemarch phalangites, at an early stage. 

If anyone has any of the Foundrys in the straw hats, I'd love to buy or swap for them, a dozen or so would be very useful, indeed.

Rear rankers does sound unfortunately like Cockney rhyming slang...

Wednesday, 30 January 2013

A lucky gap between his teeth...


This is something of a departure from my normal posts, as, by choice, my non-wargaming life rarely intrudes on this blog.  However, this is just too good an opportunity to pass up, as it features my father Dennis Miller (below), my mother Shirley (in the background), my very late Uncle Roy and the most of the  Royal Marine School of Music, in Portsmouth.  The below Youtube link explains all...


There is also a link to the BBC South News article.  Here’s a very dramatic link to the British Pathe news article about the loss of HMS Barham, in 1941.  And some more info about the Royal Marine Band School, who gave him a tremendous reception...

I wasn't able to be there on the day, due to the snow, but it has been great to see the links, and I think my dad carried it all off, very well!  He looks very much like a visiting retired General...

He has often observed that, if he hadn’t been born with a gap between his front teeth, then he would have been the other boy bugler on duty, opposite Roy, on the other side of the Barham’s bridge, that day.  They say it is lucky to be born with such a gap; I should add that I was born with one, too!

Tuesday, 29 January 2013

Pike Block


Just now, I am painting an awful lot of pikes, and so have developed a system to streamline painting them, built around my invention, the “pike block”.  The major advantage of using such a block it that it’s not necessary to handle the individual spears at each stage of the painting process, which saves a lot of time: it’s a pike production line!

My pike of choice is the Wargame Foundry 100mm.  I cut the pikes down to random lengths between 90mm and 99mm, because  I feel this makes the finished unit look more natural.  These spears don’t have a shaped head, but are a lot blunter than the attractive but lethal North Star pikes (which I do use a lot, on other projects).  The downside it that I need to paint a trompe l’oeil pike head on each, which, luckily, isn’t quite as hard as it sounds.


The “block” itself, above, is assembled from Jenga blocks, glued together and with a layer (or two) of magnetic basing stuck to it.  The magnetic basing holds the steel spears in place whilst I paint them.
  • First I wash and dry the pikes, and prime white
  • Next I paint one half of the pike in Games Workshop Tallarn Sand
  • I paint the final 8mm or so of the pike in Tallarn with a touch of black mixed in
  • Next I paint 7mm of the head in black, leaving a 1mm ring of the shaded Tallarn, visible, this now forms a shadow under the spear head
  • I then paint over the black (leaving as thin a strip of the black as possible to delineate the edge of the spearhead) with a dark metallic, such as GW Leadbelcher
  • Next I paint a slightly lighter strip in GW Ironbreaker, around the 3mm tip of the spear, to depict the blade, and another 2mm band next to the black band, to depict the socket
  • The remaining visible 2mm of Leadbelcher, becomes the waist of the spear
  • I put a tiny dob of GW Runefang Steel on the very tip of the spear
  • Finally, I turn the spear around and paint the other half of the shaft

The stages are depicted above.  The tips look a bit rough, but much less so when on the stand of figures, as below. 


The process sounds complex, but it is quite feasible to paint 40 pikes in an evening, and they look great from a distance, as the eye fills in the details, giving the spears a real impression of having shaped heads.