First Game In...........................

 Finally got a game in and it was against Matt, a Macedonian V Seleucid tilt, only 500 points to get back into it and were we rusty!

I had the Macedonian's and wondered why I had so many more troops, his cataphracts cost more but I was starting to worry I had miscalculated. Turned out I had not and some of Matt's choices are point heavy. This was to tell at points in the game.

Both of us really struggled with getting troops to move forwards with my left wing flying ahead before stalling and started to really suffer from skirmishers nipping at my now exposed cavalry.

My far right faced off against the same light cavalry and whilst Matt won the first two rounds he was unable to break me and in the end we both well back shaken and disordered.

Matt would regain his order before me but neither had the opportunity to challenge the other for the remainder of the game as rolls were getting worse not better.

Still on my right and still unable to move a thing! My only saving grace was Matt was not able to move either. Matt would like you to know at this point I had moved most of the way back to my start position, he was not wrong.

Meanwhile half of my phalanx had been moved forward to threaten Matts Cat's, the rest was struggling as much as my cavalry.

The big face off would be on my left as I faced four units of Cats with my three units and a light cavalry unit, see above left as he threatens the mighty Cats.

A close up as he did so well. Not getting many casualties dealt but was the king of disorder on those Cats.

I had some success driving back Matt's annoying lights but the damage was already done.

Meanwhile the only movement seemed to be my lights pushing the Cat's back, I was fortunate that Matt failed a few pre move disorder removal checks or I would have had both flanks crumbling at once.

It's a funny old game, if I could just have attacked I could have taken advantage of this situation but alas.

In the end I against probability drove Matt's right most unit back disordered. I had support in the other but Matt rolled well, I rolled the opposite and oh well scrub one unit of mine.

It was my turn but Matt could make a move and so positioned himself for a flank charge, looks very much a bad situation but the rules whilst not allowing me to counter charge did allow me to wheel and meet him halted and not in my flank. It would have been different if it had been an infantry unit.

Back on my right things continue to not do a lot.

Finally the blocks crash into each other, well as I can't counter I stood and took it on the chin. My supports helped to keep it close as whilst I lost more casualties it still counted a draw.

Round two would have favoured me as long as I got my other two blocks into the scrum. I suspect the melee would end up splitting down the middle with both sides more or less spent and little to offer the rest of the battle.

I had survived the almost flank charge but could not afford to be pushed back which was a real possibility having lost the first round of combat. Given that we stopped at this point it's a mute point but we both agreed that no matter what happened here the game was up for my guys as both flanks had to go Matt's way whilst the centre was going nowhere at best.

No doubt we could have done better, both failing to get round to reading the rules and I especially should not have been pushed around as much as I was. Got to get better at owning the edges but I will say the dice did not like either of us but seemed to dislike me more. Matt though did make the best out of the chances he had.

15mm Companion Cavalry For Sale

Another two units finished but this time in 15mm. These are from Magister Militum from the Chariot Miniatures range. Chariot have been my favourite Ancient figures from when I first got into Ancients in my late teens. Though in those days I was building my Persian army using the WRG rules. That was a tough gig.

I plan to sell these for £30 a unit post paid in the UK or £55 for the pair post paid. Outside the UK I would charge any postage at cost over £5.00 They were for my army but I don't really need them and to be honest it will help with the shortfall of my wage which actually is more like 50% not the 80% talked about due to commission etc that I would also have earnt.

I really love the realistic pike like lances that these guys are equipped with. They do rather get in the way when painting but it's worth it.

I have done my usual basing of sand and masonry paint drybrushed and then flocked and added three different coloured tufts.

The guys on the right are actually Prodromoi but these I have based up as standard cavalry. I do have a unit of these as light cavalry but they don't do well in Hail Caesar and to be fair they don't stick out much.

Good job the lances straighten without the paint popping off, these I did not notice until looking at the photo's.

So in HC and Field of Glory this would be a unit whilst DBA and DBM your looking at four!!

Not the bright yellow you see on a lot of cloaks of companions. Personally I am a bit sceptic of those. Typical of a basic paint job it's ink over a flat colour but looks alright.

The second unit's a bit more punchy in colour but not smack you in the face bright. I actually prefer these to the first unit.

Three of these have silver helmets to break them up a little. The first unit has two silver helmets. Looking at images on the nett I saw a fair few with mixed colours.

All these boys have leopard skins for saddle cloths, they were fun to paint lol. I still have a few units worth of other Greek cavalry (and others) and three or four units worth of hoplites so I may well be visiting 15mm Ancients again in the coming weeks.

15mm Macedonian Phalanx or Two

These are the first figures finished post challenge that was not actually started during the challenge. I don't even know the supplier of the figures as these were given to me by a friend years and years ago now. I ended up just doing a very basic paint job on them but they look OK on the table.

All but sixteen of the figures needed the pikes adding which was OK as I have plenty of wire to snip and glue in place. These continue with the plan of putting all the figures on a single base for use with Hail Caesar which will make it far easier to move them around the table.

The shields have Little Big Man transfers on them costing £3.50 per sheet. I needed two sheets but that leaves me with enough spares to do a third unit which I will do at some point. Very fast service and low cost postage means I will be happy to use again.

The transfers went on with ease though I really need to improve on my placement as you can see from the photo's.

This unit has a mix of different helmets which with the varied positions of the pikes make them look a bit more interesting.

The second block has two different makes of figure and I have put the ones with cast pikes to the front as their shields are domed whilst the rear ranks have flat faced shields. The front rank could possibly be Essex but that is a guess.

With these two blocks I now have about three blocks more than I need. However as I have far more Persians than you would expect to see in a game it's possible for my extra blocks to be used in a monster game sometime. Of course I can always use more pike in a game and cut back on other troops.

With Joy of Six just around the corner I am starting to feel the need to make good progress on our display game for next year. As such I have the Cataphract's  on the painting table at the moment. I plan to get them done before the end of the month and either move onto some SYW or keep on  with the Ancients and get the five phalanx units I have in stock painted. I still need to buy more of these as well as plenty more figures before I have all the units required. With over 4600 unpainted figures in hand I am not exactly short of stock, just seems I have the wrong figures at the moment.

Persian Satrap Cavalry Part 1

OK almost a month between posts! Still sluggish from the Painting Challenge but my mojo is returning as I finish off the figures started during the challenge. It is  unusual for me not to paint from start to finish so having unfinished work for any amount of time is not the norm and I think has really hampered me in getting at them again. I just have a few bases of Greek command in 6mm to finish, something that should get done in a single session if I get down to it. However todays post is about some old Chariot Miniatures I bought over a year ago that I needed to buy four more figures to finish off. The next post will be more Persian Satraps but with a difference.

As mentioned I had to buy four more figures from Magister Militum to finish this unit as they hold the licence to make Chariot now. I have bought quite a few minis from MM and always really happy with the service. Anyways this finished unit will give me far more cavalry than I should expect to need for a game but if I ever want a massive game I at least have most of the troops I would need.

I went with a very basic paint job as I wanted to get them off the table so missed a few details I really should have dealt with.  However they will look fine on the table. As I plan to rebase all my old 15mm to the newer basing style these could be needed just to get a game in anyway.

In reality my Persian army should really not want for anything as I have far more units that I could expect to use though it does allow me to go horse heavy or infantry heavy however I decide to build an army for a game.

I have between two and three units of hoplites worth of figures left to paint (from the same Chariot purchase) so will get these done at some point. Meantime I have a couple of phalanxes with my name on and in 15mm too. After that I will get back into doing a couple of SYW units before getting on with the 6mm Seleucids.

Talking of which I was over at Lee's a couple of weeks ago where he pointed out that I had done my maths wrong. I have ordered the required four 96 figure phalanxes but in fact I missed another FIVE off so need to get even more. That will be just under 30 blocks for the game! We will be starting the rule playtests and scenario tests at the same time. Shame most of it will be just bases for the time being.

 

Challenge Accepted Clearing The Decks

You are probably already aware that the 7th Analogue Painting Challenge has already gone out and of course I have accepted the great opportunity that Curt has so kindly offered us. After all one cornerstone of blogging is to bring your work to a wider audience so the chance to be seen by so many more of my peers really is a great incentive to give it a shot.

Today has seen my prime hundreds of figures to join the hundreds already primed. The fact that all those primed today have been 6mm should not detract, well that's how I see it. The next batch should be 15mm

All part of this prep is also the finishing off of some of the figures I have waiting around for me just to do that last bit. I should finish off my Santa Clause before the weekend and that just leaves me a couple of command stands and a battalion of converged grenadiers for my SYW Prussians then the queue will be cleared. I will then probably paint up a few more figures as the clock clicks down to 20th December, the start of the challenge.

These limbers have been waiting finishing for twenty years! originally bought for my ECW army they will be seen with my SYW Prussians for the time being but when I finally get a game with my ECW they will be back home.

I can't remember who made them or even if the drover came with them. So a bit of a mystery but I bet someone remembers.

Another limber that will stay with the SYW unless I get told it is incorrect for period. Not only do I not know the make but am sure the limber and horse combination are likely not to have originally been together. The metal looks a little different and I seem to have plenty of these two horse models but this seems to be the only limber I have!

Still it can be used with the Prussian horse artillery I have yet to paint. That will be another of the challenge projects I must make sure happens. During the challenge a fair bit of French and Prussian SYW will be seen, possibly the biggest supplier of points for me in the challenge.

In a recent game against Matt I was short by at least one command stand so thought I should make up one as soon as possible. The centre figure is an old Chariot Miniatures figure painted many many years ago whilst the other two are Essex that a mate had not quite finished.

Again they have sat on my desk gathering in dust since before the last challenge. Whilst the middle figure has had only a slight touch up on the metal area's the two others have almost had a complete repaint as the paint was either missing in parts or been shined up from being rubbed.

I wanted to keep Martin's original look as much as possible though I did change the leather armour from blue to brown on the nearest figure in the pic above and turned the back and brest to a brass/bronze look.

I left the horses alone as much as possible though I gave a ink wash to them and tails and main needed a fair bit of help. The new stand will allow me to be more flexible in the next game. I also have another two or three command stands to paint that will again see light of day during the challenge.

It's a great feeling to have cleared up the half painted left for ages figures, just a shame it's taken so long given how quick it was to do once I sat down and got on with it.

The Wargame Curse

Something most wargames have done at least once and few actually enjoy is the rebasing of figures. I actually did not find these an issue but ask me again when I have finished doing them all.

After my last game with Matt I decided I really needed to rebase. The movement trays work well enough but when you have six or more units in a line it adds quite a bit to the length.

It also means I will be able to change the actual basing style to my current look which in itself is a major improvement.

So this makes two blocks done with I think five to follow. I also have the figures in hand to paint up another two blocks. I will be buying two packs of pile from Age of Empires that will give me another three blocks but that will be something for next year. This year I hope to paint up a couple of Companion cavalry units I bought in March!

Meanwhile a lot less painting this last week though I have managed to paint up a few bits. My main focus has been prepping figures ready to paint. Not only for the Challenge but also the run up but I have now prepped more than I expect to paint during the Challenge itself.

 I hope to get a couple more blocks done before the challenge starts but I doubt more will be done during the challenge. I also plan to rebase all the other units with the old flock finish, that's a lot of figures so if I have them all done for this time next year I will have done well.

I already know I can't make Warhammer in March and with Triples cancelled I can only hope I make York in February, otherwise it's going to be a long gap between shows. I still have plenty of figures in hand (over 5,000) and actually still have plans on painting most of them but I still find myself needing different figures LOL.

Forged In Battle War & Empire - A Closer Look

I recently took a look at the yet to be released War & Empire 15mm 1st Century Roman Auxiliary Cavalry pack that will be released in Autumn. You can see my first thoughts here. To get a better look at the figures and indeed half decent images I needed to prime and ink them. For some reason this took longer than I expected, mostly down to running out of primer!

Whilst you can see a fair bit of detail with the raw material, so much more pops on inking. I was impressed before but now I am super impressed. The detail is really crisp but is not over stated allowing you to paint up the full detail or step back a little if you don't want to spend the time on doing a full on job with them.

All three command figures have lovely detail and the horses are well proportioned and have a great breadth, a world away from the examples from the last post. The horse furniture stands quite proud making them easier to paint, that's a big plus for me as it's one of my least favourite bits to paint.

This shot really shows off the detail, all have neckties which is a really nice touch. I showed the figures to Lee a couple of days ago and he also was really impressed. 

The rear figure has an ornate horn that's going to really stand out once painted. I am looking forward to getting these painted up as they will be a joy to paint. 

The three command stand figures all have cloaks that will add a nice splash of colour and the sculptor has added some nice movement into them.

Not that the troopers are spared nice detail. The armour is nicely detailed with good finishing detail where the armour ends in pointed links, a real nice touch.

I am a real fan of the multiple horse and rider poses which will really make the unit have that more real look about them. Between the spears held in different directions to the shields being at different angles you get the diversity but not so much it will be a chore to paint them up.

Another big plus is the fact that all riders fit the separate horses really well, I really dislike the balancing riders or the search for the correct horse to rider (often in vain) so this really makes me a lot happier. Small detail to some, big point to others (me especially). The width of the base also is a point worth pointing out, whilst I like Essex figures (excepting the perched riders) their thin cavalry bases are the bane of any gamer when it comes to basing. These are about right, not so chunky as to be difficult to hide but wide enough that they can stand with little fear of them toppling over.

So with priming and inking my already high opinion has risen even higher. I will certainly be getting some of their Macedonian figures at The Worlds after all you can never have too many pike can you?