Australian WWII 28mm

Finally finished the remaining Aussie figures. (Artizan Designs). Once I sat down they were painted fairly quickly but Christmas, beer, Boxing day, beer, cricket, beer, G&T's by the pool etc reduced time spent in the wargames room. Well, it is summer after all.
I think I'll have to invest in a decent photographic lamp.  I'm still working on the Roman cav........slowly.

Christmas Greetings

No photos, just a short note wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy new year. Hope everyone gets what they wish for and have a wonderful festive break with family and friends.

And thanks for everyone for commenting and watching the blog, I've picked up some excellent tips on the way from your own sites. Not a bad way to interact with fellow hobbyists around the world, certainly saves on airfares.

Merry Christmas..............

Roman Cavalry

I finally finished four cavalry the other day. These are part of a 12 figure unit from Aventine Miniatures and represent Republican Roman cavalry. (I  keep thinking, all this time to paint this unit up and they're best kept away from the enemy as they were below average troops. Guess they stay longer on the board then!!!!!)

So, like I mentioned, 4 down and 8 to go. I think I'll have to buy some more grass/flowers etc as the bases look a bit sparse.

Based up Aussies

Based up the three Aussies I painted the other day. I wasnt to sure how much was needed without going overboard. Any thoughts on the matter?

The Sun was out so I headed outside to take a few snaps...........what happens????  the camera runs out of batteries and I couldnt find any spares. Gotta buy a proper lamp!!! either that or I need to go fishing!!!!!

Some Republican Cav on the way soon.

WWII Australian

I knocked up three Australian WWII figures this afternoon, had to have a break from the Romans. The figures are from Artizan and the sculpts look great. Again, as I photographed them late in the afternoon the lighting is pretty poor.

I tried two different colours for the uniforms, (Vallejo Olive Grey 888 & Brown Violet 887) but the photos dont show it too well. I kept away from army painter and just went back to my old way of highlighting.

New Romans

I received an order from Keith at AVENTINE Miniatures ( www.aventineminiatures.co.uk ) the other day which consisted of a unit (12) of Roman Cavalry, a unit of Tarentine cav (12)  and two mounted command packs which consisted of three figures in each pack.
My first thoughts were, these are absolutely fantastic miniatures! The sculpting is very clean and crisp with next to no flash at all. I'm hoping my painting does them justice because my photography didn't.

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The unit comes with shields and spears but I replaced the spears with my own with are actually steel pins, no chance on bending now.
Ive just finished another Hastati unit, which I'll post soon, and I intended to completed the Triarii and the 2nd Principes unit so the legion would be complete.....BUT!!!! the cavalry has arrived.   

Magnesia cont...

As mentioned earlier, playing on a Sunday gave us ample time to complete this game which took roughly 8.5 hrs give or take a bit for lunch etc.
A few more shots of the armies facing each other.

One of the Seleucid Generals giving his troops the pre-battle speech, either that or its aa ancient war dance.

With a roll of the dice, the Seleucids would stall for two turns. This gave the Romans the chance they needed, so a general advance was given along the line.

The light infantry joined combat along with the Roman allied Pergamene general who charged into a large unit of Elymaian archers on the far left Seleucid flank.

Right flank of Roman line showing Pergamene allies confronting the vastly numbered Seleucid hoards.

With the light infantry duel going in favour of the Seleucids, the main Roman line entered combat. With the Selecuids so tightly packed, everytime a unit broke from combat the effects were far reaching as fleeing units disrupted others. Whole pike units fled off the field without a Roman coming near them, not to mention the odd cataphract unit as well.

The elephants were yet to see combat and the scythed chariots were having little effect.

With the Roman left flank gaining ground every turn, it was just going to be a matter of time. The far right Roman legion turned to assist the hard pressed allies who were putting up a valiant fight but the numbers were beginning to tell.

Eventually the Roman left flank took control with units reaching the board edge and catching the enemy Army Standard Bearer in combat, (after the elephant at the bottom of the picture smashed my roman unit to a pulp, brave lads as they held out for a few turns). The center phalanx units were falling back and 3 elephants suddenly went berserk

This was how the game finished. We could have fought on but the Romans had the advantage at this stage and as it was 7pm Sunday night we decieded to wrap it up with the Romans taking VICTORY!!!.

The Pergamene Allies played a big part in delaying the left Seleucid wing and thus gave the Romans time to destroy the Seleucid right.

Great game lads.  

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Magnesia

We gathered early on a Sunday morning in my loft, (always a hard ask for me after too many reds the previous night), and arrayed the armies of mighty Rome and her Pergamene Allies which faced off against the vast hordes of the Seleucid empire.8 elephants!!!! (Thanks to Chris Richard-Scully for the following photographs)



We had four generals and roughly 11,000 to 12,000 points per side. After setup, morning coffees, and friendly banter and greetings the game started at about 9.30 - 10.00. We concluded at 7.00pm.

Many thanks to the lads for playing and supplying figures, (Chris, Cookie, Steve, Dave, Paul, Claude and Martin) with special mention to Paul who organised the army lists and the game itself) I only managed to supply 3 small roman units, but one did survive the battle!!! 

I'll post the outcome in the near future 

Aventine

Just a quick update on the figures I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Finished the AVENTINE figure but he hasnt been based as he's going to command a Hastati unit. Plus the two extra velites (Renegade) to increase the unit to 12. (little bit extra staying power)

"Right then, back to the painting board!! er, I mean back to the front you two!!"

The army grows!

Finally finished my 3rd Roman unit. At least I'll have some figures on the board for the Magnesia re-fight in two weeks time.

Unit of Renegade Hastati. Only three more units of these little buggers to go!!! (Which means I also have 3 units of Principes, 2 Triarii & 1 unit of Velites. Oh yeah, and the cav. How could I forget those.)

My Republican Roman army so far. Slowly chipping away, beats me how some people churn out large quantities of great looking figures all the time. And I havent even been out fishing lately!!

Velites

Not much to report, other than I'm still purchasing more figures than I'm painting.............I'm sure I made a notation somewhere that I was going to cease this behaviour.
Anyway, phoned UK tonight and put an order in for a load of AVENTINE Republican Romans. Mainly cav, well come to think it, its all cav and a couple of LBM transfers, cheers Keith. I'll post a couple of snaps of them when they arrive. I've also ordered a couple of packs of ARTIZAN Aussies from NORTHSTAR.

So with additional figures en route I've been trying to maximise my output. I based up my first unit of Hastati today and I'll post some photos of them over the next day or two. This is a shot of the second Hastati unit underway. Thought I would also increase my velites by an extra 2 as well.

These are the two velites concerned, so just need a quick coat of 'Army Painter' and shields and should be good to go. The second Hastati unit are again all RENEGADE figures with the exception of the unit leader.

This fine upstanding gentleman is from AVENTINE. I believe hes from a Latin Allied command pack which I received it from a friend of mine, cheers Sculls. I thought the figure would make a nice change in the Hastati ranks as all the renegade commands are the same. I'll have to give him some special attention. (I mean the figure, not Sculls). Well enough of this nonsense, time for chores before I'm in trouble.



More Romans

Its getting harder to complete figures as work picks up this time of year and the days are getting warmer. 32C today and a lazy 36C tomorrow, but I have managed to produce the second unit of my slowly growing Republican army.

A unit of Principes using Renegade figures. The figures were given a couple of highlights before army painter was used to give a slightly dirty look.

I've opted for plain red shields for my first two legions, (2 x Hastati, 2 x Principes & 1 x Triarii) and depending on how they look I may do the next two as Latin Allies with some type of shield design,
if and when I get that far.

WW1 ANZAC Infantry

I painted these figures up last year or maybe the year before, and as yet they havent fired a shot in anger.(Where is 'Johnny Turk', Paul?)  I believe I purchased them from Brigade Games and are a combination of ANZAC infantry and dismounted light horse with a few Poms thrown in. http://www.brigadegames./

I posted these after seeing in ...............................................................................................................

Doc's 'Art' of War  blog, his WW2 Aussies battling it out with the Japanese. One can never have enough Australian troops.......looks like it might be off the the Pacific. Now where to find good figures?????????

4600pts Republican V's Seleucid

The lads came around Friday night for a game of Republican V's Seleucid WAB. This was used as a lead up to a Magnesia refight (12,000 pts) that hopefully will be played next month sometime. With roughly 4600 pts aside (give or take a few 100) a large number of figures took to the field, including my 10 velites. (have to start somewhere!!). We fought across a 8 x 6 table with 4 players aside.

A great evening had by all and many thanks to the boys for providing the figures, especially Paul who fielded all the Seleucids. (gotta love the elephants and scythed chariots). The figures used were produced by a number of manufactures including Aventine, Gripping Beast, Old Glory and Renegade to name a few.

The battle opened with the Seleucids storming across the field but coming a little to close to the Roman left flank which provided an opportunity for the Hastati to charge the heavy cataphracts who promtly lost the combats.

This was a disaster for the nearby Seleucids and created a general rout in the area.

 The Romans smelt an early victory and surged forward but over extended their lines.

At this point those magnificent armoured beasts saw the opening they were waiting for and commenced to scatter the whole Roman left flank.   

In the meantime the pike units marched onwards but one was promptly flanked and destroyed   

On the Roman right flank, one elephant was sent packing by the Cretan archers, however one remained and the pikes closed in. The cataphracts rallied and the Seleucids came on again!!





At this point I forgot to take any further photos as I was controlling the units getting charged by the pikes coming off the hill on the Roman right flank (to much excitement). In a nut shell one of the Hastati broke causing the mounted Tribune to panic. He fled 18", what a time to roll 3 six's. So much for a Senator's son. The remaining Roman units all passed and decided enough was enough. 

The following turn a pike unit broke and fled and was then rear ended whilst still fleeing by a stampeding

elephant.

With that we called it a night. Thanks to the lads, Claude, Cookie, Matin & Paul (Seleucids) and Carlo, Chris and Steve (Romans).

PS. My only painted unit (velites) managed to bring down one phalangite before retiring behind the battle line.Does that make them veterans?

More Romans

Finally got to put brush to figures today, not much mind you. Still chipping away at the Republicans, bottom four just need basing and a spray of matt. Have to find time to squeeze it between wife, 2 x kids and dog and lets not forget the fishing now that the warm weather is beginning.

Went out in the mates boat on Sunday, perfect day with massive rays hanging around, whales breaching within 50m and a couple of small sharks pulled on board. We released these little buggers. (Forgot the camera) Not much in the way of table fish but caught a bag of cod for bait to be used around new year when we target the big stuff..