Wednesday, 17 June 2015

Standing in the footprints of giants...

Last year I bought some lovely Middle Imperials from David Imrie, and recently, with great trepidation, I started to paint the few additional minis I required to complete the units.

I have expanded the units from David's 12cm frontage to 18cm, which is the size of unit I prefer for my 28mm gaming. In the sagittarii unit below, David's figures are the central five and my two are on the wings. Mine aren't as good as his but they work reasonably well together as a unit.


The second unit (below) are lanciarii.  I only had three of David's minis, so painted the other four on the wings.  Fortunately poor focus conceals the worst of my daubing. The base came out well; I extended David's original base with strips of card and matched the style.


I think I am possibly unique in terms of base size- I've not seen anyone else making such hulking great elements. I find that they really help with setting up games quickly. Since in my rules light units die on the first hit, there is no need for casualty removal!  ;-) On these bases I've decreased the number of minis from my usual 9 to 7, which I think actually improves the look.


Finally, in the closeup you can see how much better painted David's mini (right) is than mine.  But they will look the same from 18" away (or so I keep telling myself!).

Tuesday, 16 June 2015

Athenians for sale

As part of a recent purchase I picked up some nicely painted 28mm Greeks from the older Wargames Foundry Greek range, that are a little smaller than the hulking WotGs that I collect.  I've rebased these on 12 cm wide elements for Impetus (or for that matter To the Strongest!) and they are for sale at a modest £50 plus postage for the pair.



I also have another 8 similar but unpainted Foundry Greek riders for £12 and 19 primed 1st Corps Persian Immortals for £8.  If you'd like them, please drop me a line at the email on the blog header! 

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.