Merry Christmas

Received this the other day.....................Had a laugh.

Hope you all have a very merry and safe Christmas,

Cheers,

Guido.

Aventine Tarentine cavalry

Finally finished the Tarentine cavalry I've had for nearly a year. Figures are from Aventine Miniatures and shield designs are from LBM.
The figure with no shield will be used as a command figure.

The name Tarentine clearly derives from Tarantum, the large and powerful Greek city on the west coast of Italy formerly named Taras (modern Taranto),  whose conflicts with the native Italian peoples were to prove an alluring attaction to military adventurers from the Greek peninsula in the late Classical and early Hellenistic eras. By Polybios' day however, such "Tarantines" did not come from Tarantum; rather any cavalry that fought in the manner of Tarantine cavalry were described as such.¹

1. See Duncan Head's discussion of Tarantines in his Armies of the Macedonian and Macedonian Punic Wars, WRG (1982)

Painting desk

Thought I'd drop in a quick post, was going to do it once I completed the unit I'm working on, (Tarentine cav), but that could be a little while yet.
Anyway heres a shot of my messy painting area, a few different items scattered around, even a few orks if you look close enough. The tarentines are there nearing completion, only took about 12months to get started.

Next is a few items some recently purchased from e-bay, I knew I should have kept away I hate that site, and a few others Ive had for a while which I intended to start on................................sometime.

The book "Victoria's Wars" I picked up from my local club. Not a bad read if your into that period. The figures are mainly ancients including Romans, Germans, Celts and Greeks. I'm sure you all know how it goes, paint 10 and purchase 100.
Happy painting!!

Old Glory Greek peltasts

I was only recently boasting the other day how I havent been sick much this year........................famous last words, caught a cold/flu last week, so painting pretty much came to a halt.
But, I did manage to finish the below peltasts beforehand though. I believe they are Old Glory miniatures, chunkie arms but they should fit in fine. Shields are again LBM with some highlites added.

 
The next project will be completing the Aventine cavalry, before tackling the pike units I received from Keith at Aventine last week. I managed to make a start over the weekend.

Tarentine

Just a couple of quick shots of one Aventine Tarentine calvary. (hey I'm a poet!!) Still needs a shield.

As the 2  new pike units have just arrived I'll be looking are trying to complete all 3 units ASAP as Ive had the cav unit for nearly a year now.

I didnt really know how to tackle the saddle cloth but on Dean,s blog http://wabcorner.blogspot.com/ he gives a very good demo. Thanks mate.
Sorry about the yellow tinge but I photoed it under floros inside, when the suns out and I've completed it I'll give it another crack.

Roman Commanders

Dont look now, but..................two posts in one month!!!!
Some new minis finished. Mind you, these figures have been sitting on the painting desk for a while now.

The mounted commanders  I received from Keith, at Aventine Miniatures some time ago, and the foot slogger is a spare Renegade mini I had laying around. Banner is a LBM design.

The CinC is mounted on a round base as I intend to use the new 'Clash of Empires' and its a good excuse to do mini dioramas. I probably would have used smaller round bases for the sub-generals but I didnt have any at hand and I had completed and based one of them a few months ago.
And yes, I think the banner belongs to a cav unit from a later period but hey!, it suits me!

Dark Age Plastics

Only 4 months since last post so I should be able to produce a truck load of painted miniatures...............no such luck.  I had a grand fishing trip up north with a few mates back in July and since then wargaming and painting has dropped off the agenda. I did get a bit bogged down with the WoTR figures and I think I needed a change.

In order to get back into the painting mood I decieded to have a crack at the Wargames Factory  viking bondi set which I had purchased a while back.

As these were dark ages figures I used Army painter on them to quicken the process and give an overall dirty feel to the unit. Just had to manage the assembly step first.

Block paint the figures, cover with Army painter, a few highlights, a couple of LBM  shield designs and hey presto a new bondi unit.

For plastics I was happy with the overall results but I still prefer metals myself. Although this dosent stop the purchase of any new plastic box sets just so I can have a gander at them.

Anyway, they did the trick as since completing them Ive finished some Aventine Roman commanders and started a few Greek peltasts. Oh yeah, Ive also managed to purchase a truck load of new unpainted figures.............you know how it goes, paint one and buy three to replace it on the pile!!!!.

Power of the longbow

Just finished a few longbow figures off for the WotR project. The Perry plastics are beautiful figures and the detail is superb, maybe to good, as I find the faces very difficult to paint. I guess once they're on the board I wont notice them that much.

I haven't used army painter on this lot which has slowed the painting time quite dramatically. I keep eyeballing the box of plastic Gripping Beast Saxons that arrived last week in the post.............mmmmmm army painter should knock them off in no time at all.

Anyway I digress, I've given the archers livery coats in the colours of  William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent, also known as Lord Fauconberg.

Lord Fauconberg's reputation has been summed up in the following words:
"No other veteran of the Anglo-French Wars won such distinction in the Wars of the Roses"

Don't know if that will help me once the dice start rolling!!!.

 

Sneek Peek "War of the Roses"

And now for something completely different. I've had a crack at some of the Perry plastics, which are superb figures by the way, just to see how I manage with the paint side of things. I played around with the armour and used a dry brush technique. It looks OK to the naked eye but a bit hit a miss once photographed. A couple of shots with and without the flash.  

 I'm not to sure how to base them as yet, maybe paint a few more up. I tend to paint enough figures for a unit then base them in one hit. The worst thing is gluing the buggers together, good for variety bad for my temperament. Guess I might be ordering the metals soon!!!!

 As for which side to take.............leaning towards Yorkists.

 Oh yeah,......... I've got to purchase some new decent brushes as the faces are quite detailed, ............any suggestions?

Finished warband

I managed to finish the bases on the rear ranks and spray them over the weekend. 

So now, combined with the lads in front they fit in nicely.  These figures will portray a unit from one of the 'Kingdoms of Caledonia'.................Pictish, Strathclyde, Scotland etc. One of the benefits of this type of figure is that they are fairly generic and be used from ancient periods to late medieval.

The question is now..................what to do next???

Back to the Warbands

June already, I cant believe the year has gone so fast.


Anyway, on to more interesting matters. I purchased a couple of packs of crusader miniatures a while ago to complete a warband I started last year. As they were to make up the rear ranks, it was a quick (and I mean quick) paint job followed by the magic "army painter". I've also used a few other figures (foundry & GB) to make up the numbers.

Progress so far................

 Quick slap of paint..........a couple of pieces of detail on clothing here and there.

 Army painter.......then glued to the bases.

I'll complete the bases hopefully over the weekend and finish with matt varnish. Then for something new!!

Roman Light Infantry & allies

A couple of shots of a Cretan archer unit I quickly painted up last week. I received the figures (foundry I think) from a friend of mine. Thanks Martin.
A was going to spent a bit more time on them, but they only ever last a turn or two on the board.

 I had a few remaining velites so I decided to finished these as well. Now gives me a total of 20. One conversion with the sword.

WAB on a Sunday

Headed off to Cookie's house a weekend or so ago to partake in a Dark-Age WAB fiesta. Cookie cooked up a BBQ for lunch, which we washed down with a few cold beers, and we made a day of it.

We didnt work out any points between the armies, it was just a matter of throwing on the table what we had with us. As it turned out, there were a hell of a lot of Vikings so we suggested the game represent a second Viking invasion shortly after 1066 V's a combined army of Normans and Saxons.

What a blood fest, the game started at 9 in the morning  and we called it quits at about 6pm. Victory seemed to be leaning towards the combined Norman/Saxon army. Even though we used WAB, this size of game would probably have flowed a lot quicker with the new "Hail Caesar"  rules.  Guess I'll have to try them sometime as I recently purchased them along with "Clash of Empires". Both sets look OK.

Figures were from a number of manufacturers, with even a few plastics thrown in. (Much to Cookie disgust!!) 

Thanks Cookie, great day had by all.