Friday, 10 April 2015

Pre-ordering To the Strongest!


I have the proof copy is in my hands and it looks brilliant; the quality of the paper is excellent and the images and diagrams are really crisp. :-)

If you would like to pre-order a copy of the book, it can be now purchased in the BigRedBatShop. The physical book version retails at £19.99, and the digital version £9.99.  Both versions can be purchased together for £24.99, a saving of £5.

If you previously bought the previous digital version, the new extended version will be emailed to you on the 27th of April. You are also entitled to a £5 discount off of the cost of the physical book; just buy the book in the normal manner, drop me a separate email at simonmiller60 (at) gmail.com and I will refund £5 against the cost.

If you are attending Salute you can pre-order and collect the book from the Agema Miniatures stand (TE11), saving the cost of postage. Simply purchase the book in the normal manner, drop me an email at simonmiller60 (at) gmail.com l to let me know you will be collecting it and I will refund the postage costs. I will post out the remaining orders early in the week after Salute (i.e. from 27th April onwards).

Salute is also be a great opportunity to pick up chits and victory medals, post free!  I have just added some shock missile (pila, angon or soliferrum) and lance markers to the shop that will be handy with the new version.

Here's the pre-order link for the rules, again:  BigRedBatShop

Whilst you are picking up the rules, you might like to take advantage of one of the the several excellent deals on their own products that Agema Miniatures will be offering on the day.  They have their Legion Deal (1 x box Legionaries, 1 x box Velites, 1 x pack metal command) for £30; a Praetorian Army Deal (2 x Legion deal, plus a pack of metal Army command, all for £60) and a buy three, get one free deal on all their metal blister packs. 

Thursday, 9 April 2015

Majestic cypresses

I've had some issues recently with my camera and haven't been able to photograph some of the models I've been making for my Salute Game "Bloody Cremona, 69 AD".  Today, happily, that is resolved and I can start to catch up.


Here are some new cypresses. I love the pencil-thin cypress tree. They always remind me of the Dylan lyric "I waited for you on the running boards, near the cypress trees, while the springtime turned Slowly into Autumn." I am especially keen on these particular cypresses because I made them and they cost almost nothing, unlike model cypresses which cost a couple of quid each (and aren't as nice IMHO). They stand around 6" tall (next to the 28mm figure).

A WIP Cypress is shown to the left.

In order to make the trees, I twisted a double thickness of black pipe cleaners together to make the trunk, and then other pipe cleaners around them to achieve the characteristic pencil thin shape, slightly wider at the bottom. I then dipped the trees in diluted wood glue and applied a couple of coats of fine sponge (two colours, mixed), later revisiting to touch-up any bald patches.

The trunk was glued into a hole drilled into an MDF disc and this, in turn, glued to a coin to act as a counterweight. I textured the bases and later I will partially flock them. Job done!  

I would really love to make some characteristic Italian umbrella pines up but I fear that time will preclude this...

If you are coming to Salute, please drop in to see me at my game (GM11 on the Salute map, near to the seating area that is furthest from the entrance).

Wednesday, 8 April 2015

Sneak-peeks of To the Strongest! v1.1

Very shortly I'll start taking pre-orders for the new book version of my "To the Strongest!" ancient and medieval wargames rules and the associated digital version (which will be free to those who purchased the previous version). 

In the meanwhile I thought people might like to see some pages from this new extended version of the rules, which has benefitted from a glossy makeover by Aussi mate Millsy and editing/proofing by various mates but especially Aaron Bell in Japan. Here's the new front cover (all images are clickable):


Next are some other pages, chose more or less at random. There are some rule changes to the previous version; legionaries now have a pila to throw, for example. There are a couple of new troops types, too: war wagons and heavy chariots. I will be providing a summary sheet listing the various rule changes. 


I really like the photo on the page below, which I hope helps to make the point that the game can be played in 15mm (or 10mm, 6mm or even 2mm!) as well as 28mm. The production-value of this version of the rules is much improved, and both versions have an Index. The digital version will retain the popular hyperlinks.


Lastly, diagrams have been made clearer and more examples have been included to help players to pick the rules up quickly.


I am momentarily expecting the proof-copy to plunk through my letterbox. Assuming I'm happy with it, I'll put them up in the shp for pre-ordering! I will have both versions ready by Salute (25th April), and if you are attending you will be able to pick up a copy (and perhaps chits and whatnot) there and save yourself postage.

Best, Simon

Thursday, 2 April 2015

Arriba Espana!


Today I uploaded another army list to the BigRedBatShop; this time ancient Spanish, and I thought I'd show a pic of the few Spanish caetrati (round shield bearers) that I finished some years back. I have more in the loft that just need basing, just not enough time to do it! It was interesting to research this list.  Over the last decade opinion seems to have shifted towards a regular battlefield role for the Spanish, compared to previously, when they were considered more as guerillas.

The new list can be found here

In other news, mate and proof-reader-extraordinaire Aaron has played a game of To the Strongest- you can read his after action review here and here.  

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Like frogs around a pond

Plato described the Greeks living round the Aegean "like frogs around a pond."

I've just uploaded some "To the Strongest!" army lists covering the Greek states for the Peloponnesian War and after. Over the coming weeks I'll add the equivalent Achaemenid Persian lists. They can be downloaded for free from the BigRedBatShop. These are still somewhat "under construction," and I would value comments or suggestions, via the email address on the front of the blog.

I have a fair-sized Spartan army but would dearly love to paint some more hoplites for this period... especially Thebans, I'm a big fan of Epaminondas!

Wednesday, 18 March 2015

Every journey starts with the first step...


...and the journey to Salute starts with these three units.  I've picked all of the painted Saleh Roman minis I can find (not many) and de-flashed and primed enough others to make three cohorts. If time permits I'll also paint another unit of Gladiators.

At Salute I'll be running the First Cremona game I ran at Partizan last year.  This will be an extended version of the below game with more terrain and a few more units.  Hopefully be worth a look!


Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Gratianenses iuniores


This is a regiment of Late Roman infantry known as the Gratianenses Iuniores, from the Magister Peditum's Italian command.  They are Auxilia Palatina- well hard!  The photo is clickable.

The minis are all Black Tree's painted by Shaun (Redzed), I merely did a little work on the shield designs, some weathering and based.  They came out really well and I'm shortly going to pick up some other units from Shaun to join my swelling Late Roman army.

In other news... mate Millsy is very kindly laying out the print version of  "To the Strongest!", which is coming on brilliantly and in the meanwhile I've been working on the army lists.   

Today I posted an updated version of the "Late Antiquity" army lists, filling gaps with new Herul and Later Visigoth lists. This booklet contains the Later Romans, Early Byzantines and their enemies. I've edited all the lists in this booklet to make them ready for the April release of v1.1 of the rules. These include changes included the return of the pila* (shock missiles) to baggage. You can download the lists for free from:


I also updated some of the Medieval lists.  Later this week I plan to update the lists in the "Rome's Empire" booklet.

*Shock missiles are like javelins but thrown as the legionaries (or Franks) charge into contact, potentially disordering their enemies.