I read a book. Imperial Romans. Warfare. Good

I was lucky enough to get this novel for Christmas. Invictus by Simon Scarrow is the latest adventures of Macro and Cato novel and sees them facing rebels in Hispania. Great read. I haven't read a book in a long while and it reminded me of just how much enjoyment I get out of it. After finishing this I went on line and ordered some more books to read which I will let you know about in the future. That's something I also have not done in a long while.

Plenty of great wargame inspiration in this novel. From smaller skirmish missions to siege warfare. One day I may even put some more paint on my Early Imperial Romans..one day.

Cheers from Brendon

Ceaser novel series - well worth a read

Not posted in a while but I have not done all that much wargame hobby stuff either so not much to report really.
I recently completed reading an Historical Novel series by Conn Iggulden. The Emperor series is based on that most interesting of Emperors Julius Ceaser and follows his life till his death and the 5th book is after his death.
Any Wargamer who reads these will find a truck load of inspiration for projects, scenarios and general hobby mayhem. There is lot in these for gamers. At the end of each novel the Author points out any differences he may have deviated from history and also some further reading. Some parts of Julius's history is not covered in detail as he was one of history's massive over achievers. Immersive reading material like this should really motivate me to get back to my 28mm Early Imperial Roman project. But it still remains on my 'round to it' list even though I actually purchased some additions for it.
I really enjoyed the Mongol series by the same author as well. The next logical step seems to be reading the series based in The Wars of the Roses.

Cheers from Brendon

Romans x 4

These are my first submission for Curts world famous Painting Challenge.
Warlord 28mm Plastics. 3 Auxiliary blokes and 1 Veteran Legionnaire.  After a long absence from the brush it was a good intro back to it. These are the first Auxiliaries for my collection and I found it odd that even though it's the same manufacturer they are bigger dudes than the Legionnaires. No big deal really. Just an observation. Another aspect of the Oval shield figures is the consistent attacking poses. I like it and they look dynamic but it may cause ranking up issues in a large unit block. I will be creative when it comes to basing the rest of them to get them to jigsaw together in some way.

I used Army Painter Strong Shade in a can but applied it with a brush and some thinners to get control of it. After it dried I also went back and painted some highlight areas. Mainly the red and any skin. I also used Army Painter Matt spray for the first time and I may have used a little too much as it worked really well and went over some armour again to regain a little of the lost metallic look.

Currently I am reading the latest Macro and Cato adventure 'Brothers in Blood'. Very enjoyable and just makes me want to paint more of these soldiers.

Cheers from Brendon (The Kiwi)

28mm Cowboys and two Romans

This wasn't the last submission for the Painting Challenge. It was sent before the Shieldwall final stand but due to the very busy time it wasn't posted until after the final Bonus Theme post. These figures I pushed over the line to completion as they had sat in a very close to completed state for a while on my table and some longer than others.

An Early Imperial Roman Army Standard figure by Warlord games and a Gladiator from Foundry. I managed to get a few of the Gladiators in my collection completed in the challenge. Still some to do though. 

The Standard bearer had a lot of flash to remove and many others have mentioned that this is common with Warlord Metals. Takes a bit of time to fix but it's a great figure with nice detail.

The Black Hat Gang below continues to grow after having been started near the start of the challenge. Only a few more of these Foundry Cowboy gunslingers remain in the unpainted outlands. 

This wounded cowboy below has been sent to Curt in Canada as the entry fee figure. Foundry actually sent me two of this guy like they had for the HUGE hatted twins above. I thought it is a cool looking figure.

 Not my best photography but not my worst as well. The light was problematic on the day I took these. But you get that in the Wet Season.

Cheers from Brendon
PS: Win free stuff here at Model Dads Blog site. Looks like a nice kit.

Pax Romana

Warlord Games 28mm plastic Roman Veterans. I expand my Imperial Romans at glacial speed while entire Empires rise, crumble, then rise again. I started this bunch before I had my operation in early Feb but slowly finished them when recovering. I had done most of the work so there actually wasn't a lot to do before I submitted them to the Painting Challenge.
I was inspired to go back to my unpainted Roman horde after reading some Novels. Macro and Cato's latest adventure in 'The Blood Crows'. A great read that sees them back on the happy old frontier in Britannia. I also read by the same author 'Arena'. Originally an e-book down loadable in several parts but it must have been decided to print it as a novel. Both books I got for Christmas from the family. Great presents. Arena does not feature Cato and the action takes place before he meets Macro. The story is about gladiators and one in particular who Macro is the trainer. Of course it's wrapped up in political intrigue but I enjoyed the ride.

Back to the figures. If you are considering an Early Imperial Roman army and are looking at the Warlord plastic sets then I would recommend you get the Legionaries, Praetorian, and Veteran sets at the same time.
They all have slightly different parts but are compatible with each other. Get all three and you will have a much bigger variety of choices in arms and how they are positioned. As you can see above the Veteran set comes with some heads with bandages (which is a cool detail) and helmet variations. It comes with damaged shields and lower leg armour as well and sword arms with armour.
As usual for the other sets if you assemble the standard bearer as usual the standard ends up on an angle. I wedge the base so it ends up more up right. I just prefer it that way.

As last time I did these I used Army Painter Dip strong tone but painted it on to get more control over it.

No flock on the bases yet as I was going to do that when I have more completed.

Not sure when I will paint some more as I have a 'Last Stand' project to complete at the moment as the final submission for the Painting Challenge. Something to do with Dark Ages.

Cheers from Brendon

Roman Auxiliary Shields

Yeah I have not posted much in while but it does not mean I have not been busy hobby wise.

These plastic shields are a part of a Warlord plastic kit. The set came with clear decals so could go on any colour you decide. I had actually had a delay with the transfers as the set that came in the box was  a misaligned print. The colours missed the backing part but after two emails Warlord was good enough to send a replacement with a spare sheet which is good as the Auxiliary Cavalry didn't come with any. 

These should look good when the figures are completed.   

Gaming wise I have mostly been playing Flames of War in the WWPD overlord campaign. Great fun.

We have some games using the latest compilations and lots of improvements but lots of new options to try out as well. Lots of twists to lists that we have used in the past like making a mechanised Panzer Lehrr into a fortified company by adding minefields, HMG bunkers and dug in Panzers.

Cheers from Brendon (The Kiwi)

Praetorian Guard

After dip and with the shields attached Warlord Games Praetorian Guard. I have also matt varnished them but I gloss varnished the shields and some small areas of armour. I don't know if they had shiny shields back in the day (nor care really) but that's how I am going to roll with my Romans. The gloss will hopefully help protect the transfer. They historically may have been painted leather covers on wood so perhaps it was less likely they had a nice shiny finish. By the way the shields take a lot longer to complete compared to the one decal regular legionnaires. Two transfers per shield combined with curved edges to trim = sheeeesh. But it gives a great result.

White is not a colour that I have a good history of being happy with when it comes to painting figures but these seemed to work fine. The Strong Tone wash which I thinned down worked well in my opinion. I could have considered adding a little red somewhere on the figures (scabbards or even the punk rock Mohawks perhaps) to tie in with the shields. A small purple border is something I also considered for the leaders white cape toga like thing draped over his arm.

As you can see it is a unit of 16 but the foot print for most games is for a unit of 20. The kit comes with some small round shields so I might consider adding those to hang off the belts of the standard and trumpet blower. I am yet to flock any of my Romans so far...another one of the jobs in my 'round to it' file.

Cheers for now from The Kiwi (Brendon)

Going the extra mile

I saw a fantastic speaker recently at an industry presentation. My industry is G.I.S. (mapping) and he described many of us as the types who will just not let go from finding a solution to our geographic problems. Being the last speaker he mentioned that some in the audience had dropped away but thanked us remainders for being those that will go the 2nd mile. He elaborated on that old saying and it was interesting as I had recently read about the Roman soldier (Marius' Mules) and the weight of his gear while on the march and that is perhaps where the saying comes from. The speaker told us he was in Rome and he asked a local about the 2nd mile.
The answer is interesting. A Roman Soldier way back then was permitted by Law to ask a Jewish person to carry his load for 1 mile. Non compliance with the request could result in severe punishment. From what I can gather a Legionnaires load was around 45kg (99lb). After 1 mile of 'helping' to gain a further mile from this 'volunteer' the Legionnaire would offer to tell a few storys of the places he has been, the battles he has fought in and so on. So the pay off for the 'volunteer' was really in the second mile. Sure he got no money but I bet he got some amazing storys.
Anyway it is just a bit of trivia but perhaps it applies to Wargamers as well. Here are some images of my Praetorians and Legionnaires in progress. At this stage it is just before I apply Army Painter dip but this time with a brush and some Turpentine for thinning it on the miniatures. The one at the back not on the tray are completed except for soem flock.

 

I will have some images soon of them with shields attached and after dip. I am enjoying this method at the moment. I am also super pleased to hear from a friend recently who is going to work on making a British Celtic force for me to play games against. Should be Britannia-conquering-tastic.

Cheers from Brendon (The Kiwi)

In progress

I should have been focused enough to get my Normans for Saga completed by now but that has not been the case. Perhaps because I have not placed a self imposed deadline for them or I am no rush to get them done. Recently it was actually more a case of...'I feel like building instead of painting', that has slowed progress on them. I acquired a box of 20 Roman Praetorian Infantry (Early Imperial, Warlord Games, 28mm) a while back and decided to start putting them together. I also wanted to try out an idea for basing them in a non traditional each figure gets a 20mm base uniform way. I actually wanted to spread them out so I had a few spare figures to help contribute to a different unit. A big unit of 40 Legionnaires. After cutting, trimming back flash, gluing onto plastic Renedra bases and adding sand mix this is the result. The Renedra 20mm base sprue has a good variety of sizes, mostly 20mm squares but a few larger ones that make it a breeze to mix it up.

As you can see the 2nd row has 4 figures (Top photo). Middle back base (20 x 40) only 1 figure. The weapon pose of that figure makes it tricky to place in a unit in the traditional way unless he is at the back row. The odd thing about the standard bearer is that once the arms are glued on it looks as though the standard is on tilted towards the front. I placed some rocks under the figures front foot so he is on an angle to help get the standard a little more straight up and down. In most standard 28mm wargames 1 human figure = 1 x 20mm base they may be only 16 figures but they take up the same foot print as 20 figures.
The green movement tray is from Renedra and a great price by the looks on their website. I discovered this product from inside a unit of plastic Dwarf Beserkers by Avatars of War. I will get some more for my Roman army. The modular approach to basing has also meant that I can reconfigure them into a 2 figure deep style unit that some wargames might use.
For the first time in a long time my Romans are not being purchased from unit selections from a rulebook like we usually do with our collections. I am just going on gamers instinct really. History and rules be damned. I am building them because I like the classic Roman toy soldiers. My only 1 guide has been 'Kings of War' fantasy Humans. Units of 10, 20 or 40....easy peasy. I don't even know another gamer at my club who has a 28mm historical Ancients army and nor do I care if I am the only one who is building one.

I have made some progress on my Saga plastic Normans and was pleased with how the padded armour is looking so far.

A light brown base , then khaki on the diamonds, then German Camo Biege (Vallejo Colour) for highlights. I will use a darker brown in some places like under the arms to help give them a little more contrast but they are basically done (the armour that is).

Above is the rest of them including some infantry (2 with Dane Axe will make for Joms Vikings or Anglo-Danes with big axes). It is surprising how different it is painting dark ages figures compared to Romans. Romans...I don't have to choose colours much as they are uniform...Normans...no two need look the same.
So many choices.

By the way if you like making funky Saga Warlord bases then check this competition out at The Tapestry blog. It's a great blog for Saga players.

Cheers from Brendon (The Kiwi)

Romans! Lend me your dip!

Like many gamers I have been very curious about Army Painters quick shade dip method. There is only one way to assess it and that's have a go yourself right. So that's what I did.
For a long time now I have had visions of Roman toy soldiers simmering away in my mind. Maybe it's all those Macro and Cato novels I have read or maybe it's that opening sequence from the Gladiator movie. A while back I acquired a box set of Plastic Legionnaires from Warlord games. Great figures. Body's that just require a head, one arm, and a shield glued on. In fact it is probably the shield that will really set these figures off.
Not much flash or mold lines on them that I noticed. I went for a much more coarse grain of base materials than I have used for my Saga figures. That was a good idea because unlike my Saga figures that really require I glue the base material on in two stages to cover that feet base edge with a finer grain beach sand to build the ground up I did these just the once (another time saver).
Army painter actually uses Warlord Roman figures to demonstrate the Army Painter dip method among many other figures they have used as well. So on went base colours after glue was all dry. Straight forward really. Metal colour, Skin, then anything else. I went for just Khaki on the base as this is a fairly light colour and I wanted something to contrast the strong shade dip. I am not going for any particular environment with my colour choice. Just generic war gaming bases at this stage.

As you can see I thought the colour I used for my skin base was a little dark (GW Dwarf Flesh) so I added some lesser amounts of Vallejo Flat Flesh. Darker skin may actually be OK for Romans on campaign in some Barbarian infested part of the ancient world. Any way I will see what happens after the Dip.

I sprayed them with some Tamiya Flat Clear Spray after leaving them to dry for a night and stuck the very cool shields on.

The Dip method was an interesting experience. I did it in the backyard as you can imagine it can get a bit messy when you hold the figure with pliers and flick off the dip as best you can. One figure actually feel in the dip, so I just pushed the pliers in and grabbed it out. Give it a good flick and it seemed much like the others.
It ended up pooling in a few areas but overall I thought it was a good result. It indeed does seem a good time saver. I could leave them as they are or actually do  little more highlighting on them. The skin sort of has a dirty look about it which is actually OK by me as war (and the ancient world for that matter) is dirty after all. The pooling maybe for two reasons. My flick technique not aggressive enough and/or the heat of the day. Probably around 32degrees Celsius in my backyard when I did it. Flicking these rapidly through the warm air probably starts the drying almost instantly. So perhaps a little turpentine thinner in the dip may suit my environmental conditions. Alternatively painting the Dip on may help give more control. But I really don't want to be smelling this stuff for any longer than I have to.
Anyway I will have another go at this and I am happy with the result. It does take a little getting used to looking at these with the difference in methods used previously but it really does work I think.

Cheers from Brendon (The Kiwi)