Monday, 29 April 2013

Rearguard


These are the last bunch of recruits for the Raphia project*.   They will be the rear rankers for the Machimoi phalanx.  Pikes have not yet been issued; in their absence, at the rear right, you may be able to make out a couple of miniatures practicing their karate moves.

*...but I'm currently chewing my nails over the 150 miniatures still out with a painter

Saturday, 27 April 2013

Elephants and Cretans

These are the Ptolemaic Raphia elephants; mostly based now (no tufts, yet), but no crew.


I have enough additional escorts (not shown) for one more elephant, and think I should add one more as 5 is a bit of a random number, and 6 would enable me to use them un-escorted, in pairs.

I had a bit of good news yesterday; I've got a large table to take an enlarged version of my Thapsus game, to SELWG, on October 13th.  This will enable me to take my rules on a new outing.  I'll want to get a load more legionaries painted... luckily I have quite a few that Nick painted for me last year, ready to base.  I'll also need some more terrain, including some Roman ships...

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Cretans WIP

There is going to be a 1 metre wide screen of Cretans, Neocretans and elephants, screening the front of the wings of the Ptolemaic army.  The below were beautifully painted by mate Nick Speller, and will be based shortly...


It's not very clear in the above photo, but they are painted in 3 different shades of red, and are a mix of Foundry and Gorgon archer miniatures.

Sunday, 21 April 2013

BigRedBat's Salute Highlights

I spent yesterday dashing madly around Salute, abut only managed to get a few snaps of games that "grabbed me", and often didn't record the groups that produced them.  I'm afraid it is a selective and incomplete list, but here goes!


The above game is Wargames Soldiers and Strategy's Wrath of Heaven, where I helped out for an hour.  The terrain was beautifully detailed, and the minis delightful, mostly painted by one of the WSS staffers (Christine?).  Mark who ran it was a natural GM, and the kids who played had a lot of fun.  Even the one whose ninja he cruelly slaughtered. ;-)   I very much enjoyed hanging out with the WSS crowd, including Guy and Jasper.


The above Siege of New Victoria game, set on Mars, was an absolute corker; half a dozen airshps battled above the fortress.  Oshiro model terrain did the terrain, and I believe Red Planet Miniatures the models.


The above "30 Seconds to Dog Green" Battlegroup Overlord, game was absolutely stunning, especially the cliffs, beach and bunkers.


This 28mm Normandy  game was called "Inland from Utah".  I was very taken with the column of obsolescent German (ex-French) armour.  I didn't recognise the Airfix Le Haye Saint until tonight!


Talking of armoured columns... the South London Warlord's Slammers game was a stunner.  The buildings were incredibly detailed, a labour of love.


The table was about a mile long!  These guys seemed to be lurking in ambush.


The other Warlords game was all Harryhausen, in 1/12 scale, such a brilliant idea.  The skeletons were scary... and I was worried what the Talos might get up to.



Above is a lovely Troy, Aeneas and family were busy escaping from it.  Run by the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp.


I spent a very happy 20 minutes discussing the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, with a chap at this table.  Very nice 10mm Pendragon miniatures, and plenty of them.


Above and below is the 54mm Victrix game.  The detail on the minis was astonishing, I was very taken with the hobnails on the boots (below).


Last but not least, the Dux Bellorum games run by Guitarhero Andy, James Morris and Steve (Jones?).  The games looked great, we had a nice chat and I gather that they deservedly won an award.

I forgot to take pictures of the huge, and stunning, Waterloo game.

I didn't manage to meet half of the people I wanted to, and have probably forgotten half of those I did meet.  However I did meet a whole "list" of gaming bloggers, including Big Lee, Postie, The Angry Lurker, Tamsin, Sebastien and Stephen of the Legatus blogs.  I also met various Lardies, my mate Nick Speller who gave me some newly painted toys (of which more anon), Simon Comitatus MacDowall, and an old friend, Craig Cartmell, who wrote "In Her Majesties Name", which last demo looked superb, but which I also failed to photograph.   Apologies if I also met you and have forgotten to mention it!

It was a very enjoyable day.  It seemed very busy, compared to last year, but not unduly crowded.  On the whole I felt that there were fewer impressive demo games, but it didn't seem to matter, as much fun was had by all!  I'm very glad that I went, after all.

Friday, 19 April 2013

Spring cleaning...

I’m having a “flash sale” of minis (if they don’t go today, it’s the Salute Bring and Buy for them!)


I have a large number of Foundry World of the Greeks phalangites, all in attacking poses to take levelled pikes.

3 packs of armoured phalangites

4 packs of unarmoured phalangites 
3 packs of Eastern phalangites
42 loose unarmoured phalangites
24 loose armoured phalangites
4 loose painted armoured phalangites

Total 150 minis.  I’ll do the lot for £90 plus postage, less than half the price from Foundry.


I also have 42 Crusader Successor pike, including command, like these.

I'm looking for 60p a figure (half the list price!), for a total £25.20, plus postage. If you are at Salute, I could give them to you there.


Finally, I have 96 Crusader Early Imperial Romans spare- 87 legionaries, and 3 each centurions, signifers and cornicens, like these.
I'm looking for 60p each plus postage (£57.60), which is also about half the list price. I could deliver at Salute. 


Alternatively, I'll potentially trade for other Ancients ranges.  


Cheers, Simon


Tuesday, 16 April 2013

30 more pikemen


These are the last of the Foundry Ptolemaics.  They need staining, highlights and varnishing.  Then I have a final 50-odd un-armoured pike to face (who will hopefully be quick to paint), and a scary amount of basing...

Monday, 15 April 2013

New walls


Not the walls of a 28mm model city....


...but the walls of our new bathroom, finished at last, which is clearly inspired by the walls of a 28mm model city.  And below is the icing on the cake, my new (but as yet unshelved) wargames storage space.  This is around 70cm square by 2.4m tall, an awkward shape but I have a cunning plan to maximise the useful space.  I'm currently giving some thought to shelving.


If you live in the USA or Australia, this probably doesn't look like much, but in London every spare cubic centimetre counts!