Sunday, 16 August 2015

Equites Romanes


This is a unit of Aventine Roman Equites that Shaun Watson (Redzed) painted for me, that I've finally finished basing. They are lovely models that will guard the right wing of my Polybian legions. Now I need to get some more Italians allies painted up for the other wing. 


In other news, over the last few weeks I've uploaded another bunch of army lists for To the Strongest!

  • Philistines in the Cradle of Civilization booklet
  • Early Achaemenid Persians to the Kingdoms of the East booklet
  • Camillan Romans to Rise of Rome booklet
  • Scots Irish in the Rome's Empire booklet
  • Early Bulgars to the Late Antiquity booklet
  • Nikephorian Byzantines to the Early Medieval booklet
  • Norse and Medieval Irish, Arab Conquest, Ummayad Caliphate, Teutonic Knights, Sengoko Samurai and Ikko-Ikki, to the Later Medieval booklet

They can be downloaded for free from the BigRedBatshop. I'm on a bit of a roll with the Medievals and expect to publish the various Medieval Russian lists this week.

Tuesday, 11 August 2015

Fun at the Wargames Holiday Centre



I have another weekend of To the Strongest! gaming at the Wargames Holiday Centre near Basingstoke on the weekend of  6th to 8th November.  The games I anticipate running include:


  • Thapsus - Caesar vs. Pompey and Juba in North Africa
  • Megalopolis - Antipater’s Macedonians attempt to seize a mountain pass from the Spartans; this game reduced us to tears of laughter, back in May.
  • On the road to Ravenna - Late Romans, Roman deserters, Goths and Huns battle it out in Northern Italy
  • Zela - Caesar chastens Pharnaces’ Pontics; or not, as the case may be…
  • Athens and Sparta – will Athenian numbers triumph over Spartan prowess and drill?
  • Take the High Road - the Romans intercept a raiding Pictish army


There will be as many minis of as my car will carry - and I have a very big car!  :-)  We usually have three or four games set up at a time and people get to play most or all of them over the course of the weekend. If you've not played before I can instruct and give you a rule book to take away at the end.

We usually stay in the local Hilton which is very nice and surprisingly cheap.  A fine time will be had by all!

If you are interested drop me a line, or contact Mark Freeth here.

Best, Simon

Monday, 10 August 2015

I've not given up painting, honest...

...I've been working on too many things simultaneously to actually complete any of them. Here are the painting trays, which are packed with beautiful minis painted by Redzed that I've been basing. Five units nearly finished.


There is a regiment of Republican Roman cavalry, two of Late Romans and two of Goths or Vandals. I have some more minis painted by Saxon Dog that I am going to base as a third regiment. One day I'd like to play Adrianople. Proper photos to follow in due course.

In other news, I've been chatting with Bill at Footsore Miniatures. When his US website is up he'll be selling my rules over the other side of the pond. He has started a lovely Irish army for To the Strongest! for a Clontarf battle he is planning, have a look here!  

Thursday, 6 August 2015

Last of the Romans

During our recent family holiday I was lucky enough to be able to visit the church of San Vitale in Ravenna, to see the stunning Byzantine mosaics there.


Above is the photo of Emperor Justinian, with religious figures on the right and guards on his left. It has been suggested that the bearded figure immediately to Justinian's left is Count Belisarius, which is partly why I wanted to see the mosaics! I very much hope to raise a Belisarian Byzantine army at some stage. The shield is stunning, such vivid colours.


Above is the Empress Theodora with ladies in waiting.


And finally Christ Pantokrator, echoing Justinian who appears to have had something of a messiah complex.

The mosaics are absolutely stunning and well worth a visit; also don't miss the small mausoleum behind the church where you can see some beautiful mosaics really close up.

I'm just finishing some basing and will have some wargames material to post soon.  Finally, if you play "To the Strongest!", I've recently been putting up a bunch of new army lists details here; there will be several more to follow over the coming week.

Wednesday, 22 July 2015

To the Strongest! with the Essex Warriors

Here are some pictures of Last Sunday's games of To the Strongest! that I played with the Essex Warriors in their Writtle fastness.  

We fought Nicopolis 48BC, a scenario set during Caesar's Civil War, twice. A Pontic army under Pharnaces, son of the near-indestructible Mithridates, attacked one of Caesar's subordinates in Armenia. The Romans were soundly defeated, but soon after Caesar arrived in person and defeated Pharnaces in less time than it takes to say veni vidi vici.

I used pikes for the Pontic army, although it is more likely that by this time they would have been imitation legionaries. Pikes are so...  moreish; and they might have been there.


Above is the view from behind the Pontic lines. The Romans look somewhat outnumbered! Below the Pontic scythed chariots are revving up. They performed very poorly in the first game but rather well in the second.



The Roman line is thin and mostly of raw recruits, to boot. The skirmishers are less than enthusiastic asiatic archers.



Above, Pharnaces' bodyguard see off the Roman cavalry. Below the Romans (unwisely) advance to meet the phalanx. No good ever came of fighting a phalanx on the flat...



The Roman left (top above) was made of sterner stuff; the veteran XXXVIth legion. These performed well in both games.


Above, thureophoroi steel themselves for the fight.


In the first game (above)  a single phalanx fought three cohorts to a standstill. Below, in the second game, the Pontic's Skythian cataphract allies (on the right) rolled up the Roman wing.



The Pontics won the first game and the Romans (very narrowly) won the second. Below are some of the Essex Warriors; a fine bunch of chaps! Around a dozen Warriors played across the two games. I hope to revisit later in the year!


Tuesday, 14 July 2015

Small but beautiful

Not everyone plays TtS! in 28mm; this week I've seen some lovely pics of 6mm figures. First, here are some pics of part of Ray Ashton's collection in Australia.


His Romans are on the left and Seleucids on the right.  I am guessing that the Romans might be Caesarians; it looks like the Seleucids moved first.


The lines close. I like the subtle grid; easy to see if one wants too, but unobtrusive.


The minis look terrific in closeup! Below, Ray is using activation chits instead of cards. These are de rigueur for the smaller scales where cards don't always fit into the smaller boxes.


I think it is a terrific looking game! Note the dinky elephants in the background... I gather that the Seleucids won by turning a flank. 

In other 6mm news, Richard Crawley has made a splendid 6mm wagon laager for To the Strongest!; you just have to have a look at this:

http://thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/laager-laager-laager.html

I could be very tempted to collect some 6mm myself, perhaps in periods like pike and shot that I've not previously tackled. Space is at a premium here in the BigRedBatCave...

Finally if you are going to Historicon this weekend, please drop by and say hello to the chaps at Footsore Miniatures. They are the exclusive US distributor of my rules and I'll be working on some projects with them in the coming months. They will only have two dozen hard copies on their stand at Historicon, so if you want to pick up a copy without paying for International postage, please get in sharpish!