First off the line in 2013

Nothing much painted over this break, seem to have finished a number of big projects and have been contemplating what to do next. I knocked off a couple of Hat 1/72 Theban cavalry to fill out an orbat for an upcoming BBDBA game that I am hosting. Not much pose variety but accurate figs:

I also played around with the new camera a bit more on close-ups. Look - the cat has eyebrows!

(I think he is actually a Lorax).

Naked Greeks and Muslims

I added some more hoplites to the growing Greek-Persian Wars project, these are Hat 1/72 from the Theban army box and I intend to use them to represent Persian-allied Greeks of Ionia or Boetia. They are okay I guess, a bit flat in terms of sculpting, but the shield transfers help them out and hide their naughty bits.

I also picked off a few more Muslims for the El Cid project, these are 28mm Gripping Beast (I think) that I picked up in the MayDay auction. I stripped them and painted them as North African invaders, the banners are from LBM Studios and I think really help make the unit pop. They are pricey but really worth it.

Bondi and Spartans

Here we have a unit of Viking bondi (Crusader 28mm with LBM shield transfers) for my Saga Warband. Nice models, and the LBM shield transfers are superb.

And also a large batch of Zvezda Spartans done in red and bronze. There are 9 stands here (4 figs on 60 x 20 bases) that will factor into a big Greek-Persian Wars battle I am working towards later in the year. Not bad for 1/72 plastic.

Next, some hirdmen waiting for painting, and I might start on some 1/72 Persians.

Rodrigo Diaz and more Spartans

I chiseled away at the El Cid lead pile this week, here we have Rodrigo Diaz himself, mounted and on foot, with his vassal Alvar Minaya, also mounted and on foot.

These are nice and chunky Crusader 28mm, I really like their dark age ranges. Have done a lot of their Normans and Huscarls.

I also finished another battlegroup of Spartans, this is a mixture of the two Zvezda box sets, the new Spartans and the older mixed hoplites. I think Zvezda are my favourite 1/72 manufacturer, love those Corinthian helmets.

1/72 Hoplites

Last week I blew the dust off some 1/72 Greeks and Persians for a change. There are some Hat figures here, which are very so-so, flat poses and require you to make and affix own spear. Pain in the butt! I used VVV shield transfers.

I also found some Caesar hoplites that are much more 3-dimensional, and come with spears.

More ECW, and it's all Greek to me...

Over the last week I completed one regiment of Parliament horse, this is more of the large lot of Warlord plastics that I obtained this summer and this regiment is done with heavy armour and mostly pistols, meant to be trotters in caracole:

I also rebased a bunch of 1/72 Greeks for a DBA army to play in our autumn campaign. This army I may either sell or loan out for somebody to use. I created enough elments to run it either as later hoplite Athenians or Mixed. It has a reasonable number of light troops and some mounted, so it will be reasonably competitive. Athenians have mounted elements and Ag 2 littoral, which I like, or Mixed have more light troop options plus Ag 1. Some fellas like low Ag.
  

I am split on whether to sell or loan it. I like the army- the mostly Zvezda figs are nice- but if I loan it out and it gets busted up I will be miffed. What do you reckon it would be worth? I will also be basing up a Macedonian/Successor army and a Classical Indian army.

Next up: still waiting for a big order picoarmor to arrive on the slow plane from the US....

Spartans for DBA or HOTT

I just finished a 1/72 Spartan army for DBA or HOTT. I could not resist the well-sculpted Caesar models, and I have always had a soft spot for hoplite armies, and Sparta in particular. I used some VeniVidiVice shield transfers and a couple of special additions for HOTT elements and away we go:

All elements arrayed

The army includes the following elements:

Psiloi (DBA) or shooters (HOTT) by Zvezda

Single base of auxilia (DBA) or warband (HOTT) (i.e. light hoplites)

Up to 10 elements of ubiquitous spear

Hoo-haa! The hero Leonidas in the background...

Leonidas (HOTT hero), standing and gesticulating in defiance of the gods and anyone else who wants to have a go. The columns are wooden dowel pegs from Ikea.

The "evil flying pony" (HOTT flyer), my daughters were hoping this guy would end up in pink..

The obligatory, ill-tempered, Lacedaemonian Cyclops (HOTT behemoth)

Our strategos (Spear General)

Next up: I dunno. I might tackle my 15mm Achaemenids, or perhaps work on ECW a bit.

Greeks throw off the Persian yoke of tyranny!

So tonight Mark came over to play a bit of DBA. My Greeks had a bad time of it last time out, losing both games, so tonight I was hoping for some revenge.


(Mark playing with his camera and not paying attention to how many elements he is putting on the table).

The first game saw my Greeks as defenders, and we threatened a littoral landing on the right flank so Mark deployed defensively:


(notice anything fishy about this picture?)

With Mark deploying in a strong defensive position near his baseline, I landed midboard with the plan to join up with the main forces as the right flank- I was going to fight diagonally across the board.


(and that little prick of a psiloi hiding in the bushes eventually killed a hoplite at +2:+2 by doubling me)

I was stuggling to implement my plan, my cavalry had overlaps on bow in the open for 3 successive turns missed every quick kill by rolling 1s, Mark was pipping 6s like crazy, and eventually I lost 4-3 when his warwagon drove along the shore and got in behind my lines shooting us in the arse before I could kill 4 Persians in the trenches.

The second game saw some more dreadful die rolling on my part even though I got the matchups I wanted. I was rolling 1s and 2s everywhere and lost 4-1. I was ready to quit DBA forever. I even threw my die in the garbage, fortunately there were no hammers handy.

Game 3 started, this time it was going better for me and I had him down 3-1. But as I am looking at the board there are still a bloody lot of Persians left to fight. So I count the elements, and there are 11 Persians still on the board and 3 in the dead pile. I ask Mark how many elements the Persians are supposed to have, and it dawns on him- he has been playing with 14 elements all night long (see the first pic above for yourself)!!! He almost soiled himself from laughing so hard. He forgot to bring his rulebook, he explained, so he didn't double check the army composition against his list before we started like he does usually. And I never counted his army either.

Aha....

So we play one last game, this time 12-12, and the Greeks finally pulled one out 4-1. Two differences. First, we had the same number of elements to start with, second, the die I was using obviously saw what happened to his predecessor, who was festering in a pile of coffee grinds in the bin. So he towed the line and produced reasonable results.

I liberated the offending die from the bin, and put him back in the box to tell his mates to behave better next time or it will be the hammer.