Auxilia palatina and friends

I completed six bases of late Roman auxilia troops by Foundry. I have decided to do the Battle of Adrianople using BBDBA to focus my painting, so these will be the 2 bases of auxilia required for each of the 3 Eastern Late Roman armies that I will need to put together. I also experimented with the Army Painter "jungle tufts" on the bases, which I think worked quite well. I think they are a better product than the GW tufts.

I also did a couple of giant bats by GW, I may use these as flyers in my undead themed HOTT army for the next EDBAG campaign. The tufts on these bases are Army Painter "highland tuft" product. Very dead looking...

Is it easy being green?

I can't decide whether green tunics are too much for my next unit of late Roman infantry, along with green shields. Or should I stick with a simple sandstone tunic with red trim. What do you think?

Late Romans

First project of 2013 is a Late Roman army in 28mm starting with heavy infantray. These are Foundry, very nice sculpt by the Perrys, who are my favourite. Beautiful figs, just a joy to paint. I have another 2 units of unarmoured foot, and will likely order some archers and cavalry for my birthday later this month to round them out.

 I also experimented with some different basing materials, I used Woodland scenics ballast for the ground, cork for the rocks, and GW tufts for the grass bunches. I also based everything on 60mm frontages since they will be used for either WAC/WAB using casualty markers or element based games such as Dux Bellorum or DBA.

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).

New Year

As 2012 closes, and the world didn't end, it's time to take a bit of stock of projects completed and ongoing. I painted just over 1200 figures and models this year, about half of which were 1/72 scale. In this scale I completed a Swedish army for Maurice, Greeks and Persians for Impetus, Napoleonics for Lasalle and CCN, and various WW2 for small unit games. Next abundant were 28s which are Ancients, Medievals and ECW. Completed projects included Reconquista Christians and Moors, Celts and Romans, and Scots and Parliament for ECW. A couple of DBA armies and WW2 micro/pico scale stands. 

2012 output:
pico - 25 stands
6mm - 35 vehicles, 100 infantry
15mm - 65 foot, 12 mounted
20mm - 534 foot, 104 mounted, 16 vehicles
28mm - 261 foot, 106 mounted, 1 giant
54mm - 16 foot
Total - 986 foot, 222 mounted, 51 vehicles, 25 stands of picoarmor & a giant

In 2013 I have plans to continue WW2 in all three scales (go figure.....must be nuts), 28mm Late Romans and enemies, more 1/72 Napoleonics, and I am hoping to do some Fantasy stuff for D&D with the kids when my Reaper Bones stuff arrives in the spring.

Gaming-wise, I played less DBA than in previous years partly because one of my best gaming chums moved away (boo!). Command and Colors will continue to be a favourite next year, and I have high hopes for War and Conquest to take the place of WAB. I also look forward to figuring out Maurice and perhaps some more Lasalle.

Later folks- best wishes and good luck for 2013

What did Santa bring?

My haul this year included a new camera- a Samsung compact smart camera that is probably too smart for me, and cost well above what I spend. But it's lovely, thank you to the missus, and I hope it will improve the quality of the photos on my blog- and in doing so cast a better light on the shortcomings of my painting ability! Also received was a copy of War and Conquest

3 boxes of Sarmatian cataphracts

CC:N Spanish Expansion (great game!)

Here are the first photos from the new camera. The models are WF cavalry cobbled together from bits of Germans, Saxons, Persian and Celtic sprues and meant to be Gothic for my late Roman project (starting in 2013). I also experimented with some new basing materials including leftover grout for the base (too coarse, I think DAB or polyfilla is better), new Javis flock (too green methinks- will have to work on the blend) and GW tufts under the horses. The tufts are potentially useful but you really have to apply them to flat surfaces, so I used them right underneath the horse.

Year in review coming up on New Year's Day. Happy Holidays everyone!

WW2: Fireball Forward!

I have gone on a bit of a WW2 kick recently after watching Band of Brothers again. I picked up an intriguing new set of rules for small unit battles called Fireball Forward (http://fireballforward.com) which has some really interesting ideas and mechanics. So I painted up a few teams of 20mm Germans (hard plastic Plastic Soldier Company) and US Airborne (Italeri) to try out a few scenarios:

In the background of these pics are entrenchments made from cork and modelling clay, plus paper cutouts of the 105mm battery for the first scenario for Easy Company behind the lines at Utah in 1944. I solo playtested a few times and I think these rules rock..some really good ideas and interesting game play decisions...check out the YouTube tutorial if you are interested.

Oh yes, and Merry Christmas to you all! Have fun and play safe over the holidays.