Wednesday, 10 February 2016

The hills have I


Today I shall mostly be flocking hills for the To the Strongest! World Championships at Chagrove in Oxfordshire on Saturday. By the time I have finished these should match the Deep-Cut plains mats that we will mostly be using.

If you are in the area and fancy dropping in for a look or to join in, please drop me a line!

Monday, 8 February 2016

Seleucid line cavalry


These are some Seleucid line cavalry that I bought from mate Craig Davey for my planned Raphia game at the Wargames Holiday Centre on the weekend 22nd - 24th April. Unfortunately they were very roughly handled during their long march southwards (from Leeds) but they are now, happily, restored to peak military efficiency! Pics are clickable.

The miniatures are all Aventines and very nice they are, too. Happily Craig's basing style works very well with the Deep-Cut Mats.


I have been very busy writing, shipping, basing and painting recently which has cut rather into my blogging time. Have no fear; normal service shall be resumed shortly!

Thursday, 28 January 2016

Wedges


Pharoah Ptolemy is still recruiting furiously for my big Raphia game. Here are two regiments of Ptolemaic xystophoroi (lancers) in the process of being based as wedges- units in wedge can charge on a diagonal without the usual difficult activation penalty.. Both use Polemarch riders on Aventine steeds. The sharp-eyed will recognise the unit on the left from the cover of the rules (below), they were painted by Welsh Raglan. The all-new unit on the right was recently painted to match by Shaun McTague. I am really pleased with them and might go on to raise a third ilai.  


Unfortunately I couldn't get a table at Salute so Raphia only be played at the Wargames Holiday Centre on the weekend after Salute (22nd-24th April), along with the Sabis, Leuctra, Cremona and a Late Roman bash. Mark still has a couple of places...

Friday, 22 January 2016

Seleucid levies for Raphia

I recently bought these chaps from mate Craig Davey and re-conditioned them after they took a bit of a pasting in the post.  


There are two units of levies equipped from Seleucid arsenals, hence the uniforms and similar shields.


Each unit has some light infantry archer support (behind), for Raphia these will probably be deployed out in front as skirmishers.


In the Raphia game at the Wargames Holiday Centre in April, the levies will be somewhere on the left of the Seleucid line, probably as javelinmen, raw in To the Strongest! parlance. I won't expect much of them but they certainly make a brave sight in their red tunics!

In other news... I'm getting ready for the "To the Strongest!" world championship in Chalgrove, Oxfordshire. Around 20 competitors will compete for the title "World's strongest!". We still have room for a couple more contestants so if you are free on Saturday 13th February please drop me a line at my email address- I can loan you one of my armies for the event, if you'd like.

Friday, 15 January 2016

Raphia re-inforcements...

Mate Craig has very kindly sold me some more of the miniatures he painted for our joint Raphia game back in 2013. These represent Arabs levies in Seleucid service; they are unlikely to be the most resilient element of the Seleucid phalanx.


To some extend numbers will compensate for lack of quality... there are 80 of the blighters.


The minis are mostly lightly converted Perry Ansar and Copplestone archers.  They took a bit of a pasting during the journey South, and one element enjoyed an unexpected four day sojourn at the bottom of the BigRedBatCave's recycling bin, but they are now happily restored and ready for the late April game at the Wargames Holiday Centre.

In other news... I am having a flash sale of the To the Strongest! rules (to cover the purchase of Craig's Seleucid cavalry). If you'd like to pick up a set with a 25% discount, please drop in at the BigRedBatShop and enter "LAKEPEIPUS" at the checkout. I'll also include a free pack of ammo chits with every physical order. 

Sunday, 10 January 2016

Another one bites the dust


This is the seventh phalanx of my recent offensive, bringing me to 120cm. These are Ptolemaic Chalkaspides (bronze shields). After this there are (just!) two more to go, although there will need to be a ghastly week of base grouting and painting at some stage. Most minis painted by Shaun McTague, pikes, washes and varnish by me. Tonight I break ground on phalanx 8.

Friday, 8 January 2016

Retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites

I came across this today at Blogger; Google are (most unhelpfully) closing down Google Friend Connect for non-Blogger sites, so if you are non-Google and use GFC to visit the BigRedBatCave or other Blogger sites) I'm afraid you will have to find another way. I am very disappointed with them.

"In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs. 

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer"