Saturday, 22 March 2014

Setting Sail

Legatus was asking me how I was planning to tackle the sails on my Swan-neck, so here we are!  Get them oars on, Legatus.  ;-)




The sails are attached to small rare-earth magnets, to help with storage, and give me options of furled or unfurled (I have plans to use her in-harbour).  I need to think about rigging; despite storage issues, I might manage a few ropes.  The steering oars are also attached with rare earth magnets, for storage purposes.  I still have a bit of snagging to do, but the build is essentially done (which is just as well as I am very tight for time!).  


Finally, a huge intercontinental thank you to Thomas Foss of Skull and Crown blog, who sent me the below resin cataphract liburnium.  This is exactly what I've been looking for as the basis for a scout ship, or Rhine patrol boat, and I've already been giving a deal of thought to how I'll convert/assemble it.


Thomas also sent me some of his lovely Napoleonic cut ply figures, which I look forward to painting in due course!

Wednesday, 19 March 2014

Ford Dagenham, 55BC

This is an Essex-based British chariot assembly line, c.55BC, desperately building weapons to repel Caesar's invasion (at Salute in April).


Mate Nick has sent across the charioteers, just in "the nick", as they say, and the chariots, horses and bases are also underway.  It is going to be a busy week or so!

Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Giraffe-necked trade ship

Here are a couple of snaps of the model I'm building for the Salute game I'm putting on with WS&S.




The model breaks down to fit into a Really Useful 7L box.  There's not a great deal more modelling to do; steering oars and sails, hopefully a single session of modelling.

Giraffe-necked, I hear you say?  I fear that I may have gone a little overboard with the swan...  ;-)

Monday, 17 March 2014

Goths

Around six months back, I bought some very nicely painted minis from mate Redzedz.  Some I've put by for later projects, but there were enough (with the addition of a few figures I painted myself) to complete a couple more Gothic units.  All photos are "clickable".


Above are the warriors.  Several of them are deserters, or carrying captured Roman shields; I added LBMS transfers to several of the minis.  I went for a suitably irregular basing style, similar to that on the Celts.  Most of the minis are Gripping Beast, from a variety of ranges, but a few are Musketeer and one or two are possibly Westwind.  


The skirmishers (above) also came out very well.  I added coloured borders on some of the tunics Shaun had painted, to match another unit I finished earlier, but I can't paint embroidery on them, as well as he can.


Finally, here is the war leader.  I based him at an angle, so that his sword would point upwards.  The shield transfer worked very well.  I might go back and add some detail to the draco.

These give me a total of 5 units of Goths; not yet an army, but definitely the beginning of an army.  

Friday, 14 March 2014

4Ground


I received a long-awaited package from 4Ground, today.  This is a component sprue from their Roman watchtower, and I have great plans for it (and its fellows).  It was kind of them to do a special run for me.  Watch this space...

Wednesday, 12 March 2014

Seeing the back of my Celts!


At last, the final warband is complete! Above are the backs of yesterday's nobles, and below the new unit of warriors. Most of the warriors in this new unit are Renegade Miniatures Celts, a fine range once the swords have been cut down or removed. Almost all are eBay repaints. The standards are a converted from an Aventine Roman one, and from part of a charm bracelet.


The chap front and centre appears to have suffered an accident (misplaced basing material from the original painter). I like to think that he has spotted a pilum coming his way!

I still have a good few chariots to sort, and, over time, I'll need to re-base my existing Celts to match the new basing style.

Tuesday, 11 March 2014

Celtic nobles


This (clickable) photo is of one of the two Celtic units, that I've just finished.  In my rules, a Celtic player can choose to either have the nobles mounted (horses or chariots), or dismount them to stiffen one of the warbands, giving it a slightly higher save than the others.  This unit depicts said dismounted Celtic nobles and their retinue, which is why most of the front rank warriors are armoured. In use (tonight), there will be another 24 warriors behind this front rank.

This unit marks a departure for me, as the troops are all based on a single stand, 18cm wide by 6 deep. I've come to think that there's no point in basing Celts on smaller elements.  I mean, it's not like they are going to form column, to march up a road!  

Minis are mostly Renegade and Black Tree designs, but with A&A shields with LBMS transfers. I painted half from scratch, and the others are eBay repaints.