Wednesday, 14 December 2016

Like buses

You wait weeks for a post, and then two come along at once.


Here's a very bad photo of some lovely minis that Shaun (Redzedz) painted for me; it really doesn't do them justice (see here for better photos). These Foundry Casting Room Persian heavy cavalry will also be in the Ipsus game at the Wargames Holiday Centre next March, in the role of Satrapal horse.

I'm basing them on my irregular magnetic "Batbases" which are 19cm wide with a break in the middle (so I can easily indicate when the unit is disordered). The bases are grouted and ready for painting!

Parthian shot


Here's a WIP shot of the Parthian light horse I'm assembling for the WHC ancients day in March, when they will form part of Seleucus' host for Ipsus. Here are 30 of the 40 I need, all painted by Shaun McTague and high-lighted by me. Most of the riders are Aventines on a range of horses including some plastic LotR steeds that actually work quite well, being very animated. Once I have the remaining 10, I shall get basing!

Thursday, 8 December 2016

Turning out the lights


Over the summer and autumn, I've been refitting and extending my Numidian army. The above photo is of the light troops, who will form just over half of the completed army. So far, I have 22 units of nine light infantry and 22 of  five light cavalry, grouped into pairs (for TtS! players, they will be 2 hit light units each with 4 ammo). None of the bases are properly flocked, yet, I have that joy to come!


All are based on my magnetic "bat bases" which are 19cm wide. They fit together in pairs with a disguised seam. The cloth they are on is the sagebrush steppe design (which is much greener than the Deep-Cut photos suggest) and which is great for North Africa.


A lot of the minis were painted by Shaun McTague and Nick Speller, others came from eBay. I even painted a few, myself.


The minis are a mix of the excellent Foundry Numidians, Foundry Greeks and some A&A miniatures for variety. I do love the Foundry range- next time I see them I'll suggest they add some more minis to round the range out.


The other half of the army (not shown) will comprise King Juba I, General Petreius, Marcus Labienus, Spanish and German heavy cavalry, a mass of formed infantry and, of course, the elephant corp.

The completed army will have its first outing on the next Wargames Holiday Centre Ancients weekend- 31st March to 2nd April 2017. This time Mark Freeth and I have booked a large room at the Basingstoke Hilton hotel to accommodate what promise to be four (perhaps five) extremely large games. I'll talk more about the other games in the coming weeks, but they include a rather larger Successor game than was Raphia. We have a maximum capacity of 20 but are already more than half booked so if you fancy coming please email me or Mark, ASAP.

Thursday, 24 November 2016

Carthaginian veterans

I'm conscious that I've been posting much less frequently of late- it's not that I've been painting and basing less, but rather that I've not had sufficient time to take pictures and post them. I shall endeavour to post rather more regularly! Here are some 28mm Carthaginians veterans. Around a half were painted by Shaun McTague, and the other half by Steve? from Newark Irregulars.


They are a mix of A&A, Crusader and Aventine. At some point soon I shall base them as four units of  grim Carthaginian veterans. I feel a Zama coming on...

Sunday, 6 November 2016

Magnesia at Crisis

I've just returned from a splendid trip to Crisis in Antwerp with mates Ian Notter and Andrew Brentnall. The show war excellent, the Tin Soldiers great hosts and I ran into dozens of wargaming chums including many who I've previously only met online. Andrew displayed considerable sang froid in the face of some challenging roadworks and diversions. Antwerp is a great city to visit and a good deal of food, beer and wine was consumed!

Here are some photos of the game, which we ran using my "To the Strongest!" rules. All the minis were painted by Ian, and he took the great photos, too.

Deployment; Seleucids on the left.  The mat is a gigantic "Sagebrush steppe" mat that I've had specially made; it is 16' long!

The Roman camp; my only contribution! The Roman legions are Donnington.

Seleucid phalanxes interspersed with elephants and screened by innumerable lights. The Seleucids are mostly Xyston.

View from behind the phalanx, towards the cavalry on the Roman right.

Roman triplex axies; we used the "alternative Polybian list- worked great!

Late in the battle- cataphracts charge! The Roman triarii fought like the veterans of Zama they were and skewered Antiochus!

The Roman line bows but does not break.
We had such a fantastic weekend- I very much hope to make it back to Crisis next year- perhaps with a different sort of pike!

Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Magnesia 190 BCE at Crisis

A quick reminder that I will be visiting the Crisis show on 5th November in Antwerp, bringing a "to the Strongest!" participation version of the Battle of Magnesia, 190 BCE. The game will feature my friend Ian Notter's 15mm collection, and Andrew Brentnall (with whom I'm working on the ECW rules) will be with us too.


We will be at g10b01 in Hall 2, near (but not too near!) to the toilets- I've circled the location in red.


We will run the game twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. If you would like to play, please email me via the address to the left.

I won't be selling stuff at the show, but if you would like to order anything from the BigRedBatShop for collection at Crisis, please do so and I will refund your postage and bring it over with me. Postage free and with the current low, low pound, it's a great opportunity to pick up a set of the rules, some of the chits or one of the excellent Deep-Cut mats at a very much reduced price! Last orders for collection will be tomorrow, Wednesday 2/11/2016.

Friday, 28 October 2016

The 2017 To the Strongest! World Championships

The third annual "To the Strongest" World championship will take place in the (otherwise) quiet village of Chalgrove in southern Oxfordshire on the 25th of February 2017. The event is a friendly contest, hosted by the South Oxfordshire Generals, in which players get to fight three battles during the day against ancient or medieval armies. We hope to have thirty or more entrants this year. The atmosphere is more good-natured than competitive.


If you'd like to throw your hat in the ring, you can choose your army from any of the official "To the Strongest!" ancient and medieval lists, up to 130 points. If the list isn't already written for your favourite 28mm historical army, let me know and I will write a list for you. If you don't have a suitable 28mm army, mail me and I will lend you one from my collection. 

There will be prizes for the winner, for the best army, for sportsmanship and also a "wooden spoon." 


In addition to the ancients tournament, Andrew Brentnall and I will be bringing a demonstration game of "For King and Parliament", the English Civil War version of the rules that will be published in Q2 next year, and will be able to answer questions about it.


The "Worlds" is always a great event.  If you can make it, please email me at the address in the panel to the left and I'll forward your details to the organiser, Steve Dover. We hope to see you there