Friday, 3 March 2017

Stunning New Aventine elephants!

Chums at Aventine have produced some new resin elephants (metal tusk and tail) which I received samples of, yesterday. These are Keith's pics but they are identical to the models here in the BigRedBatCave.



The new elephants are the same size as the previous metal ones, but superior in several respects:-

  • there is less assembly as the body is solid
  • the skin texture is really great- better than before- lots of shallow creases in all the right places
  • the legs are thinner; more realistic in my opinion
  • they weigh virtually nothing (which certainly cannot be said of their metal brethren!) - easier to carry and cheaper to post.

I gather the separate metal howdahs should be available in the next few days and a Macedonian rider with pike is to follow. I will encourage an Indian variant.

I must confess to a personal involvement in this as I  introduced the casting company to Aventine, so I am feeling more than a little smug. :-)

Thursday, 2 March 2017

The "To the Strongest!" Worlds!

On Saturday we fought the third annual "To the Strongest!" World Championship in Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, hosted by the South Oxfordshire Generals.

This year we had 29 players (up 12 from, I think, 17 last year). I'm afraid I didn't take a great many photos, but Ian Notter took some (thanks Ian) and I have combined them, with mine, below. I apologise in advance for all errors in description of the armies and if I have no photos of your army!


Above a shot of the players setting up, from the relative safety of the kitchen. Below Tim Thompson and Philip Marshal in their first game- Tim was using Later East Romans and Philip, foreground, their EIR ancestors.



Above and below are Roger Calderbank's Sung Chinese- an unusual and colourful army with a great camp- from the Oriental booklet. The firelance cavalry in the foreground above have explosive lances!



Above, Indian Emperor Baz cogitates, as well he might for he faces the Shahenshah Simon Purchon's fearsome Sassanid Persians. I believe Barry is now doing sterling service in a new role as a mounting block. ;-)


This beautiful army (above and below) belonged, I believe to Chris Winter- lovely Vendel Pyrrhics. (Correction- Chris Winter brought a different Vendel Macedonian Army; I think this army belonged to Kevin Lucas). Due to a misunderstanding about the rampage rules (backwards, not forwards!), the army included no fewer than four elephants and two scythed chariots! As well as looking good, I believe the army did very well.




Below, I need to send some shock markers to Ross Broadstock.  ;-)  Ross has a YouTube account of a TtS! battle which is great to watch.




Above the Pyrrhics (correction; Imperial Seleucids) again and below veteran Late Romans (Tim's, I think).



Above that's my belly; I think the army on the right are Alex Meyer's Nikephorians. Ales and his mate Jan came all the way from Belgium! Below the handsome Victrix Polybians belong, I think, to Andy Green. From memory they are fighting Mike Guest's Ayyubids.



Above this was another stunning pike army, possibly Nick Abbott's Seleucids? Below, not sure. Many of the games were played on Deep-Cut mats that I sell- this design is Sagebrush Steppe, the most versatile design I reckon. Rather greener than the official photos suggest. Below Tim's Romans, I think?



Above, foreground, are Emperor Baz' Indians, fighting Bevan Marchand's Medieval Germans. Below another shot of the Imperial Seleucids.




I  recognise the laager above 'cos I lent it to Nick Speller's Huns. This flank attack on the Hun camp looks ominous.

I have quite a few photos of the excellent Edgehill battle that Andrew Brentnall laid on but I shall save those until tomorrow!

Results are never the most important element of a To the Strongest! event, but Simon Purchon's Sassanids won (again!!!) and I recall that Peter Ryding's Mongols were in the top three- shoot-y cavalry armies, in experienced hands, seem to do very well- they seem to be able to win decisively and score highly. Someone can perhaps remind me who the other placed player was? (Update- Chris Winter came second- doing very well in his first TtS! outing.) I think Bob Ullman won the prize for the least-high score- traditionally the best prize.


Lastly here's the group photo. As far as I could see everyone had a great time; the atmosphere was very convivial. A huge thank you to everyone who came (especially the Belgians and Welsh who had such long journeys) and of course to the South Oxfordshire Generals for hosting, especially Steve Dover for organising and scoring and the volunteers who ran the kitchen. Also thanks to Warlord Games who very generously donated prizes and to Trevor Holcroft who donated the first price. On to the 2018 Worlds; I think we may need a bigger venue!

Monday, 13 February 2017

We happy few



These happy few represent Henry V and the centre battle at Agincourt, and were all painted by David Imrie (Saxon Dog). Most are Perry plastics but I believe there are also a couple of his "Claymores" in there. I have simply re-based them on a Batbase for 15cm grid. Will these remain a happy few or grow to become a full army? Probably the former, I'd say, as I couldn't match the quality of the paint jobs. Pics are clickable.


Above, there look even better from the back- I love David's work on the surcoats. Below- not too shabby at an angle, either, especially the standard bearer on the left!


Friday, 3 February 2017

Persia!


These are Foundry Casting Room Persians, which were superbly painted for me by Shaun Watson (Redzed). He has really outdone himself!


The range is a partial one but could be combined with the Foundry Persians to tick most of the boxes of a Persian army. Would need a fair bit of conversion work, though. I must confess, I am tempted...






They are amongst the finest minis in my collection and will form three units of Satrapal horse in the coming Ipsus battle at the Wargames Holiday Centre.

Friday, 27 January 2017

Cantabrian circle


Are you old enough to remember the Cantabrian circle rule in WRG 5th Edition? It must have made a big impression on me, 'cos most of my light cavalry seem to be getting based that way. These light cavalry are circling to throw their javelins. These Greeks will mainly serve with my Athenians but their first outing will be in the big Ipsus game in Basingstoke, when they will proxy Tarentines.

They are are on a pair of my 19cm magnetic bases that fit together to make one large base, and will constitute what I am calling a "combined" light unit, which I'll be publishing a new rule about soon. http://theminiaturespage.com/rules/boards/msg.mv?id=5685

I am pleased to report (from my tracking spreadsheet) that I am 66.4% of the way through basing the extra 836 minis I need for the games; slightly ahead of schedule!

Tuesday, 24 January 2017

Eastern horsemen


With the bulk of the new Numidians on bases, I'm now turning to the East. Above are four units of Parthians, three of Persians, two Tarentines and a couple  of units of Spanish. Most of the minis were painted by Shaun McTague except for the Spanish who are from Nick Speller.


The Parthians (above and below, with Persians on the right in each photo) are a mix of Aventines and A&A. A lot are mounted on spare Riders of Rohan horses that I had lying around. The Aventines are really splendid and I will need a whole lot more of them in due course.



Above are the Spanish and some Carthaginians for the Metaurus game and some Tarentines for Ipsus. Very useful troops for the Successor Wars, Tarentines, Below are Medes (Casting Room miniatutres from Foundry) and more Aventine Tarentines.


These 120-odd cavalry are the bulk of the remaining basing for the big games at the end of March and I'm very happy indeed to see them on MDF! All the bases are my 19cm BatBases- if you look carefully you can see where the magnets are glued in. Now, where's me grout?

Tuesday, 17 January 2017

The To the Strongest! Worlds- a reminder!

There are now just over six weeks to go to the third annual "To the Strongest" World Championships! These will take place in the 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 ancient or medieval battles during the day. 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 (that’s 50 to 150 minis depending on the army, based for any rules system). 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. 


The 9AM to 5 PM competition will be a three round, round robin format using the TtS! rules (version 1.1 with errata). We’ll be using 6' x 4' tables, marked up with a 12 x 8 15cm grid. Cloths and terrain pieces will be provided but please bring them if you are able. Tournament ranking will be determined by how competitors do in each of the three rounds. There will be prizes for the winner, for the best army, for sportsmanship and also the traditional "wooden spoon." Tea, coffee, hot chocolate and probably biscuits but no lunch provided. The entry fee is £9.


Alongside the tournament, Andrew Brentnall and I will be running a demonstration game of "For King and Parliament", the TtS!-based English Civil War version of the rules that will be published later this 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 email address to the left and I'll forward your details to the organiser, Steve Dover. We hope to see you there!