Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Raphia Elephants

No, not ones made out of twisted straw but rather of tin and lead!


Here are the four new elephants for the looking Raphia Game. All of the elephants and most of the crew were painted by mate Shaun McTague although I added some detailing, notably the skin pigmentation, washes and based them. All of the photos are clickable!

Three of the elephants are superb Aventine Miniatures and the fourth (on the right) is a solid lead beast from Timeline Miniatures with an Aventine howdah and crew. She weighs an absolute ton!


Above and below, Shaun did a magnificent job on the drapery.


I have finished these with a Pyrrhic vibe- later I plan to get some specifically Seleucid armoured elephants painted up, with proper red ears.


Above, Indian elephants tend to fade to pink as they get older; think bald patches. These are very old nellies, being part of Alexander the Great's own herd, passed down to Pyrrhus like family heirlooms through several generations of Successor owners. 


The elephants are escorted by Wargames Foundry javelinmen that I bought from Steve Marshall.


Last but not least the tusk-less cow (above) is a Timeline Miniatures model with an Aventine Howdah. I think of her as Mrs Jumbo and that is, of course, Dumbo behind her. At the battle of Beneventum the Pyrrhic elephants panicked after such a cow became concerned for her calf and rampaged back through their own lines.

There will be 11 elephants altogether in the Raphia game. Because there is no room for baby Dumbo at the Salute Inn, the battle will instead be fought exclusively at the Wargames Holiday Centre over the weekend after Salute (22nd-24th April), along with the Sabis (thousands of Celts; I bloody hate Celts!), Leuctra (with a spanking new Theban army), the vast Cremona 69AD game and a Late Roman bash. A weekend at the Wargamees Holiday Centre is a very fine experience, indeed, and Mark tells me he still has a couple of places left... you can book here.

Monday, 29 February 2016

The To the Strongest Wales Open May 21st 2016


Mate Ross Broadstock is organising a To the Strongest Tournament in Cardiff on May 21st. I will coming and hopefully even playing!

The scale is 28mm- if you don't have an army Ross, friends and I will be able to loan you one. Because no re-basing is required, it is a great opportunity to dust off that WAB or DBx army that hasn't seen action for a year or two. I will assist with writing your army list. There will be a trophy and prizes.

Please contact Ross (at) figurepainting dot co dot uk to register - I look forward to seeing some of you in Cardiff!

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

Polybian Roman army list


With lots of help from mate Millsy I've published a rather spiffing extended Polybian Roman army list for To the Strongest!  This has a lot of pictures of the minis in my collection within it, many of them Aventine Miniatures painted by Redzed.  You can download it for free from here.

Thursday, 18 February 2016

New nellies for Raphia



I'm currently working on elephants for the Raphia game. These lovely Aventines were painted by mate Shaun McTague (with lovely decorated cloths) but I am adding detailing, notably giving a couple the skin pigment issues that one sometimes encounters on Indian elephants (below).


Unfortunately I've not been able to get a table at Salute this year; apparently there isn't enough space for all the proposed games. The battle will therefore only be fought at the Wargames Holiday Centre near Basingstoke on the weekend after Salute (April 22nd -24th)- Mark still has a few spaces. I will, of course, take lots of photos for those who can't be there!

Wednesday, 17 February 2016

Hills now on sale


Regular readers may recall that I made a great number of hills last week for the Chalgrove event. I designed these to complement the Deep-Cut "plains"battle mat, which is a somewhat darker green than the traditional flocks used on many a wargames table. The below hills are 16cm diameter; there are also oval hills some 31cm long.


I've used three different coloured flocks and two different grits to give them a very naturalistic look. One of the hills can be seen in action (photographed at SELWG in natural daylight) below. If you'd like one, they can now be found in the bigredbatshop!


Tuesday, 16 February 2016

The 2016 To the Strongest! World Championship at Chalgrove

On Saturday I travelled up to Chalgrove for the second "To the Strongest!" worlds, where I enjoyed a fine day's gaming with a great bunch of chaps, most of whom are in the photo below.


The event was organised by Steve Dover (third from left).  This year it became a proper World championship with Alex Myers (fifth from left) travelling from Ghent to participate, not to mention Ross from Wales (fifth from right).

I took all too few photos of the games, alas - I was too busy answering questions and enjoying watching the games develop.  


Above, my EIRs under Neil Shuck's command fight Franks or Vikings. Below Alex Myer's Alan camp was an almost unassailable fortress; uphill and packed with mobs.



Above Nick Simmerson's Greeks won the best painted army prize; the shields were super!  Below Simon Purchon's Sassanids tackle a Late Roman army, if I recall correctly.


And finally here's another shot of Nick Simmerson's phalanx.


It was a super day, with 21 very good-natured games played. In the end Simon Purchon won a decisive overall victory with his Sassanids who combined fire-power with manoeuvre and impact. Colin Hoare's Marian Romans marched into second place and Peter Ryding's Mongols whipped their subjects into third.

Here's a link to Neil Shuck's post on the event.

Thanks again to Steve Dover and the South Oxfordshire Generals for organising and hosting the event, and thanks to everyone who participated!

Thursday, 11 February 2016

The hills have I- part 3


The hills are pretty much finished- once dry I'll remove the surplus flock and the gravel and dark green layers below will show through. You may be able to see that the colour is a good match for the Deep-Cut plains mats (in the background). I'm taking no fewer than nine mats and forty-five hills to the Worlds at Chalgrove on Saturday!