Thursday, 18 April 2019

Mancetter to Salute- Part II



Apologies for the delay in posting the second part of this- I have been frantically busy since Salute! All of these lovely close-ups of our Mancetter 61CE  To the Strongest! game were taken by Alan Daniels.


The chariots are mash-ups of the Wargames Factory kits with Newline and other ponies.


Above is my favourite warband, based on Tacticus' account of the druids at Mona. "On the shore stood the opposing army with its dense array of armed warriors, while between the ranks dashed women, in black attire like the Furies, with hair dishevelled, waving brands. All around, the Druids, lifting up their hands to heaven, and pouring forth dreadful imprecations, scared our soldiers by the unfamiliar sight, so that, as if their limbs were paralysed, they stood motionless, and exposed to wounds. Then urged by their general's appeals and mutual encouragements not to quail before a troop of frenzied women, they bore the standards onwards, smote down all resistance, and wrapped the foe in the flames of his own brands."


Celtic women cheer on their menfolk. I see that d****d scene-stealing flock of sheep has crept into the foreground!


Another chariot. The look of the chariots was much improved by the recent flockathon.


Some of the warbands include armoured warriors, representing dismounted noblemen and chariot warriors.


Above is a downhill shot. The legions in the reserve line were not much engaged; the fight falling to the the auxiliaries, further down the slope.


Finally I was really chuffed to receive the Bill Brewer Memorial Award for best presented game: runner up; a super seal on the event. I'd like to thank everyone who helped with the project, especially Shaun McTague and Ian Notter, and, on the day- Ian, again, Mike Brian, Tim Thompson, Andrew Brentnall and Neil Graber. Also, of course, everyone who played or stopped by for a chat! And lastly the Warlords (especially Philip Andrews) who run the event with great (and often unappreciated) efficiency.

Onward to Salute '20... for which I already have half a plan!

Monday, 8 April 2019

Mancetter to Salute! Part I



Here are some lovely photos that chum Ian Notter took of our To the Strongest! Battle of Mancetter 61CE game. The shot above catches the back of the laager, warriors, slingers, Roman skirmishers, Auxilia line, legionary line and flanking horse.


Here's a wide shot. You can see that the British line is wider than the defile between the two forests, and the size of the hill which was perhaps 20cm high. 

The British had 12' of light troops and 12' of warriors, 2' of chariots and 4' of laager. The Romans had 4' of lights, 7' of auxiliaries, 4' of legionaries and 2' of cavalry. I might revisit this battle another year if I can get a few more units of warriors painted. :-) 


Above the shots show the forests. These attracted a lot of praise; they were assembled by the simple expedient of sticking ALL the trees that Ian and I own together, in close proximity to each other. The tall trees that people particularly liked, come from Debris of War.


Another show-stealing element was the flock of sheep in the foreground. From 1stCorps, and painted by chum Shaun McTague, these aroused more interest than the 900 freshly-flocked Celts. :-/


Above, druid offer a much-needed sacrifice. Below, a downhill shot, taken from behind the Roman lines. You can just make out the British women in the distant laager.



The British warrior units are three ranks deep, bolstered by heroes. These turned out to be quite formidable of which more, in part II, tomorrow!


And finally, here's a photo of me grinning like a loon, nicked from Antonio Dimichele.  As you can see, I had a VERY good time!

Tuesday, 2 April 2019

Meet the Flockers!


Here am I (left) with chum Ian Notter (right) with the 100% flocked and tufted British army that we've just completed for our huge "To the Strongest! Salute game. Many thanks to Ian- it's not something I could have done all by myself- I think I would have gone mad! Well madder, anyhow.


There are 18 warbands, each of around 36 minis for a total of 640-odd hopping mad Britons. Many of these (250+?) have been freshly painted by Shaun McTague, others come from Shaun Watson. Most of the original warband were painted by Nick Speller some years ago and have all been re-based. I reckon there are at least 90 standards and 30 carnyxs.


Here are 90 skirmishing slingers that will screen the brave (suicidal?) uphill charge. All of the units are based on irregular-edged bases from my TtS!20 series, which should blend nicely into the terrain cloth.


Here are twenty light horse and some command stands.


On the left are 18 British chariots. On the right, the wagon laager.


Finally, here are sundry baggage elements and battlefield dressing.

I'm really delighted to finish these off! Please come by and see our huge Romans vs. Boudicca game, "Mancetter 61 CE", using the "To the Strongest!" rules, at stand GA12, just to the right inside the Salute entrance- the first table you'll come to! I'll be the one in the shirt. :-)

Thursday, 28 March 2019

Flocking Britons Day 4


Day 4: The entire dining room is covered in a thin layer of flock. Beer in hand, Ian is contemplated the last remaining unflocked unit of slingers.  After this there are the 18 chariots and the laager to reflock, and then about 2000 tufts to apply. I am 92% there according to my spreadsheet!

Tuesday, 26 March 2019

Flocking Britons


Chum Ian on Day 2 of the annual pre-Salute flockathon.  That's around half the Britons.

Saturday, 23 March 2019

Gardes, Gardes!


I was doing a photo shoot yesterday for some new Flatpack Terrain river and track products that I'm selling, and found I needed some marching figures. In my loft I found these; they've not seen the light of day in five years or more (photo is clickable). My Napoleonic collection remains somewhat "in the closet", but I couldn't resist setting them out for a photo, especially as I'm currently working on a related project (below) with chums David Imrie and Lionel Bechara.

Lionel painted and David has highlighted and weathered.

With six battalions each of 24 Garde Chasseurs, it occurs to me that I'm within shouting distance of being able to field a full eight battalion division of them, which, with the Garde Grenadiers, would give me all the Old Guard infantry for Waterloo or the winter 1814 campaign. I also have most of the Young Guard, already based, much of the Garde cavalry and some of the artillery. It strikes me that they would work very nicely on a 20cm grid. Now if someone would only write a decent set of grid-based card-driven Napoleonic rules... ;-)

Wednesday, 13 March 2019

Celtathon V


I've been posting less, of late, on account of all the basing I've been doing for my Mancetter 61CE Salute game. 

Above are the warbands for the game. The sharp-eyed will observe that five bases are still "blank" - I have just completed the 175 required minis but not yet based them. 


Here's a closeup. Each warband consists of around 36 minis (so there will be 650 in all). The minis are a mixture of all the larger Celtic ranges, particularly Renegade, Black Tree, A&A and Foundry. Many are conversions. Most were painted by Shaun McTague or Nick Speller, with some by Shaun Watson. I did some snagging and many of the shields. The bases are grouted and primed and, in a few cases, partially flocked. There's a heck of a lot of flocking to be done...


Here is a closeup of many of the blank bases. Each unit has two- a TtS!20F and a TtS!20G that fits across the back and can be angled or turned about to indicate disorder. You'll see I've chamferred the edges to give them a nice low profile, fitted magnets into the holes and primed them in an earth shade.

The slingers are mostly done, too, and you can see them here. The laager and the chariots are all complete. All in all, there should be around 900 Britons on the table, and perhaps 600 Romans. In the finest traditions of Salute, the glue will still be drying on the road to Excel!

If you are coming to Salute and would like to play in one of the two games (10AM and 2PM), please drop me an email at the address above left, and I will book you in. I also have a couple of free tickets that I can give to people familiar with TtS! who can play/help to run the games. I hope to see lots of you there! I won't be selling at Salute but if you'd like to buy anything from the BigRedBatshop now, and collect at Salute, that's fine- just let me know and I will refund your postage.