Hoplites

Finally finished 4 units of hoplites based for TtS.
Figures are Foundry miniatures and some of the shields have LBM transfers on them.
I wish I could say I painted the lot but I only did about one and a half bases worth, The rest I purchased second hand off a friend. They had hand painted shields which looked great. I just changed the old lead spears for steel ones and redid the bronze.

 I've had enough of hoplites for a while.

On the paint table

The Battle of Akragas - 406BC

I've taken this from the first battle in the Command & Colors:Ancients game. Carthaginian V's Syracusan forces.

I converted the units listed on C&C  using the army lists from To the Strongest and will use To the Strongest rules to play the game. 

As it worked out, the points come out exactly the same. There are no terrain features for this battle, so just a straight head to head.

Now just have to finish this 10 days straight stint at work and I might manage to get to play it. 

I was one hoplite block short, so 4 units are only 3 deep instead of 4. (doesn't really make at difference as they still operate as a deep unit).  Hence the hoplites on the paint desk .

I guess you can never have enough hoplites.

Italian Hill Tribe units.

Four Javelin units based for Simon Miller's "To the Strongest" rules. 

These were a re-basing of the original unit I painted up in 2014. (see below picture) (where did those 4 years go?) 

 The figures (Aventine miniatures), are based on 120mm x 60mm bases for use on gaming mats with 150mm grids. Although I did split one base in case I use my 200mm gridded mat.

Unit in 2014 based for Warhammer Ancient Battles rules.

Italian hill tribes

A couple of 'Aventine' Italian hills tribesmen I painted to add to my units to make up some numbers. (I found them buried in my lead pile).  I'm not sure what the lads with the swords are but I believe they are Aventine figures as well, and, they will fit in as command figures.

I am in the process of doing some re-basing so I will show the results shortly.

Chariots

I needed a couple of heavy chariot units for my Carthaginian forces and after looking on the net  I ordered  a pair from 1st Corps miniatures.  Yeah I know they are 'successor' chariots and Carthage didn't use scythed chariots, but what the hell, they looked nice.

I will use changeable crews to depict whether the chariot is heavy with lance or scythed. I intended to magnetise the scythes on the wheels but decided I would probably lose them so they are glued in place.

The colour scheme I took from the net as well, as I saw a pair painted by a professional painter,  Jose-Manuel Chasco.

The bases seem a little bland at present so I may add some discarded shields and weapons later.   

More Italians

Middle of winter and I have the flu, God I hate the cold, bring back the heat please. I have slowly been adding to the Italian platoon and below is what I have completed to date.

All minis are "Perrys" except the HMG team which is "Warlord".  The Warlord minis are a lot smaller in size, maybe they are just young teenagers manning the gun.

I have just a few more units to add, mortar, anti-tank gun etc then that should suffice for now.

Cheers.

Italians

A few more Roman bases completed. Auxiliaries, I did complete a third base but forgot to photograph it. 

And 3 half size bases, (60mm x 60mm) of legionaries. Probably should have completed a few more but the painting mojo deserted me for a while.

 THEN.............like we all do do, I got side tracked on another small project. Perry Miniatures WW2 Italians. They are still from the Italian peninsular I guess. (MG team from Warlords)

I used a painting guide supplied from Mark of 'Over Open Sights' blog. Very very helpful. If you haven't already check out his blog and view his brilliantly painted figures. http://over-open-sights.blogspot.com

Just ordered the rest of the platoon............................................gotta stop buying more lead.

   

Cheers.

Additions to the War Cabinet

A few more additions.

 Another German Warlord from err, Warlord Games

 Romans from Blacktree Miniatures.

 4 x units at this stage (120mm wide x 60mm) . I might add another half base to each to widen them.
I used the same size basing as my ancient German because of the chunky figures so now I'm thinking of placing the Germans on deeper bases to represent 'deep' units for "To The Strongest"

BUT!!! I hate re-basing...

Ancient German Command

 A command pack from Warlord Games. The Germans have attached commanders in "To the Strongest" rules and I had seen something similar to this elsewhere (brains fading), and thought it was a good way to represent it. 

 My CinC is mounted on a round base to differentiate between himself and the sub-commanders.

 The base was just a mdf beer coaster I picked up from a hardware store and sliced in half. Cheers.

Ancient German warband No5

Another warband finished and a wee bit of rebasing.

 After much deliberation I've settled  on my basing sizes. (Is this where I place my disclaimer)  Cavalry will now be on 120mm x 80mm and the warbands on 120mm x 60 and 60mm x 60mm.

This allows for any changes in grid sizes when using the "To the Strongest" rule set.

The cav was a pain to remove and rebase but achieved it without damaging the figures.

 Thinking maybe I should have made the warband bases slightly deeper as I'm currently painting a few Romans, as a break from the Germans, and the figures are from Black Tree Miniatures which are quite large. As a result they look great on a 60mm depth base which is the same as the Germans.

Maybe I'll just combine two warbands to give the impression of depth, Bugger, I'll have the purchase more figures.

Anyway, this is the completed Ancient German hoard so far. Will have to get them to the club sometime for a game and maybe combine with another German tribe for the evening.

Lacking a few lights sub-generals at this stage.

Cheers.

Presently on the painting desk.