Friday, 12 June 2015

Money for nothing

I've recently added some splendid new Victory Medals (for To the Strongest!) to the BigRedBatShop; some lovely chunky and misshapen replica Armorican silver staters for your celtic warriors...


 ...and replica silver didrachim and gold staters with Athena and an owl on for your hoplite armies:



To celebrate the launch of the new medals I shall be giving away a set of the replica Armorican staters (my personal favourites, despite my well-known misgivings about celts) to a randomly selected person who "likes" this post, either here or on the To the Strongest Facebook account.

If you share this I'll give you an extra entry to the draw, which will be held one week today at 12:00 GMT.  

All of the coins (including the earlier Roman releases) are available here:

http://bigredbatshop.co.uk/collections/all/victory-medals

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

Basing and more basing

I'm busy basing up units mostly of painted minis. On the left are four units that I bought from David Imrie that I'm expanding.  I've painted some minis to match, but it is slow work trying to match David's wonderful brush.

In the front and below are six units of light infantry that I recently bought off of Steve Jones. These are also very well painted, with many having elaborate tunic borders.

Steve also very kindly sold me around a hundred hoplites (not shown) that I will be able to use to build my Athenian army up to a critical mass. These are stunning models, and I'm really looking forward to getting grips with basing them.

For those with an interest in To the Strongest! I have recently loaded up several new army lists notably a later Achaemenid Persian list, a Medieval Swiss list, a Palmyran list and a Pyrrhic list. I'm working on a Camillan Romans and will shortly have a look at Burgundians.  The lists can be downloaded from here:

http://bigredbatshop.co.uk/collections/all/army-lists

Saturday, 30 May 2015

Fazzur Wideread and Euglyptus the Fat


This is a recently refurbished command stand for my fantasy gaming using "To the Strongest!" set in the world of Glorantha. It depicts the Lunar general Fazzur Wideread remonstrating with his commanding officer, Euglyptus the Fat, at the battle of Building Wall. The battle was a disaster for the Lunars and Euglyptus was either poisoned or drowned in a barrel of lampreys (depending on who you read) shortly thereafter.

Friday, 29 May 2015

Spartans - a new phalanx


These are the Spartans I was working on last week, finally flocked. Here they are drawn up four ranks deep, but I will use them three ranks deep on the table. All of the Spartiates are eBay repaints, and Agis is by mate Nick Speller.

In the centre is King Agis on one of my new semicircular "attached" command bases. To his left and right are two single figures that I use as hero markers in "To the Strongest". The piper on the right plays as the silent and menacing Spartans make their approach march. The officer on the left is about to sacrifice a goat just before the final charge to contact.

Have a look at the spears- most are the old Foundry pins with spearheads painted on so that they look like they have shaped heads. I still like to use the pins as they are more blunt than today's lethal spears with their shaped heads. I'm running low on these so if you has a spare pack lingering in a drawer, please drop me a line, I can swap modern pins with you.


Above is Agesilaus, who I believe was painted by Dave Woodward. Below is another Spartan officer. Note again the new half-round bases.


Finally, below is King Agis, again, at the battle of Mantinea in 418 BC again painted by Nick Speller. King Agis was under something of a cloud at the time, having carelessly lost an allied city to the Argives. The Spartan ephors placed him under the supervision of ten advisors, called xymbouloi, whose consent was required for whatever military action he wished to take. Not an ideal model for command in battle; things went a bit pear-shaped, at first, when the army was surprised by the Argives!



Thursday, 28 May 2015

Did I mention that I hate Celts?



This is the front rank element for my eighth Celtic warband, and a new general. It is a single 18cm wide element with 23 miniatures on it that were painted by Nick Speller - thanks Nick!

The general is a lovely mini that came from North Star, and marks a basing departure for me as he is on a semicircular base. This will be the new standard for attached generals* in my collection; they sit snugly next to a unit and yet can be quickly removed. The name will go on the front of the base so that it can easily be seen; this one is named Brennus.

Below are a mix of new and re based slingers from a variety of painters. Most are on the new 18cm bases. 


If you are at Partizan on Sunday, I'll be running a largish game with lots of Romans and Britons- please do drop by, say hello and even play for a bit, if you have time! 

*In To the Strongest!, attached generals are those who are attached to a specific unit; detached generals can wander freely about the battlefield.

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Maximinus in the Middle


Above are some lovely Middle Imperial Romans that I bought from Saxon Dog last year, now in the early stages of being assimilated. I have extended the size of David's bases to 18cm wide by gluing my own (lurid orange) magnetic bases to the edges. I will need to paint around a dozen miniatures to make up the numbers. David also sold me some lovely cavalry (not shown) so with the couple of units I already have painted I should have the basis of a modest army.

Until recently, Middle Imperial has been very much the "forgotten front" of the various eras of Roman armies. The Caesarians have Caesar's histories, the Early Imperial's Trajan's columns and the Late Romans the Notitia - there is nothing quite the same for Maximinus in the Middle, Severus and all of the numerous Emperors of the Crisis of the Third Century, very few of whom ever lived to collect their pensions. There is less written about the period and only a single, albeit rather wonderful, range of minis in 28mm by A&A sculpted by Adam "Smithy" Smith.

A couple of things could be about to change that. The author Harry Sidebottom is in the process of writing new a series of books about the Crisis of the Third Century, which will complement his earlier Ballista novels which I greatly enjoyed. I attended the launch of the second book in this "Throne of the Caesars" series last week and am reading the first book. There is more politics than in the previous series, but the books are no less interesting for that; I'm learning a lot about how the Roman court worked.


The other development is that Sam "Longstreet" Mustafa is writing a new game called "Aurelian" which is set in the same period and should (on the basis of his other rules) be a must-have. As with Blucher, this will have card units which will make the period very accessible for those who lack suitable minis (and who, aside from Dr. Phil Hendry, Tarty and Raglan, has?).

These developments explain why the MIRs have made it to the top of my painting queue. I already have a Middle Imperial list for my own "To the Strongest!" rules and just need to get around a dozen units finished to give it a go... oh and I'll need some Germans or Sassanids for them to fight, when not fighting each other.

Saturday, 23 May 2015

The only good Celt...


I'm running a big Roman vs. Celt game at Partizan next Saturday and am basing/rebasing a few more of my least-favourite-to-paint* enemies of Rome. The minis on the left were painted by mate Nick Speller, who did a fantastic job (there will be close-ups when they are based). 

On the right I have repainted some chipped eBay purchases and am mixing them into an existing unit of slingers. I am gradually moving to larger and larger bases, and my old 6x3cm bases are being replaced by 6x6s and even 18x6s, which are much quicker to get onto the table and move during a game. I have discovered that I can glue new bases (the orange ones) onto the edge of existing bases, which means that I don't need to completely rebase the existing minis.

*I loathe painting Celts and believe they got what was coming to them!  ;-)