Red means danger!

Well...for whoever gets in the way! :) Here's the latest bunch of Magister Militum Romans, this time in a fetching scarlet tunic, which is the very height of fashion amongst discerning Ancients gamers these days! You should be able to spot the shield I had to fix. It's the second from left in the first photo which is a bit more dipped than the rest. Due to the miscast that figure sits a bit more forward, butit's not too bad!

Why everyone should have some modelling putty lying about

Typical! After just singing the praises of Magister Militum I broke open the next pack of gladius wielding world conquerors to find that some of the Republic's equipement suppliers are letting their standards slip:

If there's one thing I hate more than flash and mould lines is a miscast figure like this! And it's not like it's somthing you can easily ignore...half the shield is missing! So I decided to break out the greenstuff and try to remedy the situation! I could have used Miliput, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to get a bit of practice with the GS:

It's not the smoothest of finishes, but it should be good enough! I'll maybe keep track of this guy as I paint him and see just how well he integrates!

Polybian Romans - Essex vs Magister Militum

For about a month or so I had 4 bases of primed Magister Militum (MM) Republican Romans sitting about my painting area and really just getting in the way. Once I finished the gladiators I decided to just slap some paint on them and get them out of the way, but as I started I soon found out that these wee figures really, really take paint well! In all honesty I wasn't trying to be particularly neat and tidy and was painting faster than I normally do, but they seemed to come out really nicely!

When I originally decided to do 15mm ancients I didn't really know which manufacturers were out there, but I had seen Magister Militum at Claymore and was highly impressed with the quality, so it seemed pretty straightforward to buy from them and I ordered the equivalent of a couple of FoG battlegroups (in mixed poses and with both pila and gladius) to get started. I was pretty happy with the figures, but they got shelved as something else came up. I then spied an Essex Roman DBA army on eBay and got it quite cheaply and endeavoured to paint it all up (as seen on this blog before). Once I'd seen the finely detailed Essex figures I thought the MM looked a little rough around the edges, but painting really brought them to life. So, I thought I'd take some comparison pics to illustrate the differences and maybe help anyone thinking of using these manufacturers to decide which they like best.

First off, the Hastati. The most obvious differences here are the different stance and the lack of a bronze plate on the back of the MM. The plumes on the helmet are also somewhat different and the shields are slightly different, but not by much. On close inspection, the MM are beefier than the Essex and would actually stand a bit taller if it weren't for the more dynamic pose, but from arms length they mix with no problems at all.

Essex on the left and MM on the right

Essex still on the left

This shot shows the tunics off quite well

Next are the Principes. These are the figures that are the most similar to look at from a distance. When you get a bit closer, though, I think the mail looks more finely detailed and regular on the Essex than the MM, which is what drew me to the conclusion that MM were a bit rougher round the edges than the Essex. Also the tunic and mail are a bit shorter on the MM, but the shields are again quite compatible despite the MM being a bit more oval. Both sets model the Montefortino helmet quite closely to the pictures I've seen, but again, the MM have higher, more impressive feathers on the crest. As with the Hastati, the MM are bulkier then the Essex, but will mix and match OK on the tabletop. I suppose that comes as no surprise!

Just to mess with you the MM are on the left in these pics

This angle shows how the Principes will mix well

This angle shows the difference in texture of the mail. The Essex are a
bit dull, though, due to slightly too liberal application of matt varnish!

My personal preference for the Hastati lies with the MM due to the more action-like pose and the lack of the back-plate which shows off the tunic a bit more, but that is not to say I suddenly dislike the Essex. The Principes I am less inclined towards a preference due the similarities, but I think the MM slightly win out due the pose and the somewhat more imposing crests. If I had to only buy one of these ranges I would probably go with MM, but I think Essex are maybe a shade cheaper and are by no means a poor alternative. Also, Essex often have 3 for 2 sales on DBA armies. The ratio of troop types in a DBA army mean that this would be a very cheap way of putting together a core force and is how I gained at least half of the legionaries I have!

We salute you...!

So I've just managed to finish my first painted figures of 2011 and thought I'd share them. These are a Murmillo and Hoplomachus gladiator from Crusader. My WWII Brits and Fallschirmjager are Crusader as well and I really like their figures. For the Murmillo, I think that's the first shield I've painted since I played Warhammer in the 90s so I blatantly plagiarised a shield from a Murmillo on the Crusader website! :) I think it looks pretty good, though. For the Hoplomachus I was torn between going for bronze or iron for the shield, but I knew I wanted the face plate to be iron, so I thought an iron shield would tie up all the iron rather than having bits of bronze and iron here and there which might look a bit fussy. So the bronze helmet and greaves nicely frame the figure with all the metal in between being iron. I think I made the iron a bit too bright, though, so I might go back and darken it down a bit.

The flesh is also a bit of a departure for me. I normall use GW Dwarf Flesh with a wash of Devlan Mud and then highlighted with Elf Flesh and that works fine for faces and hands, but we have a bit more on show here! So I thought I'd try just painting it. I originally picked a triad from the Cool Mini Or Not ethnic skintone guide but found the contrast a bit too much, so I just added a bit of Vallejo Chocolate Brown to Cork Brown for the base, Cork Brown for mid tone and Cork Brown with some Flat Flesh for the highlight.

Murmillo

Hoplomachus

Hope you like them!

All quiet on the blog front!

I find that, sometimes, I get a bit burnt out with painting and just can't get on with it. This seems to happen more often after I've been racing through the figures trying to get them done in time for some project or particular game. Most of September was like that, especially after I came back from holiday. But I'm starting to get a bit of momentum back now, thank goodness. Unfortunately, like many other gamers, I also can't help but get distracted by that shiny new army or project! I really need to stay focussed and get the current project done before I move onto something else...but that pile of 6mm Napoleonics is looking very appealing at the moment! :)

So what's the current project? Well, I managed to get another Roman battlegroup for FoG or Armati or Impetus or Tactica II or whatever done, but the main effort is now directed at a Full Thrust starter fleet!! The evil ones at the club introduced me to this game which is a lot of fun and, like Check Your 6!, pretty cheap to get onto the table. A double starter fleet from Ground Zero Games only cost £25 for 8 ships a side...plenty to get started with. James has also agreed to paint one side (FSE) so that I can concentrate on the other (NSL) which means we have an excellent chance of getting a game in a couple of weeks. And so, without further ado we leap from ancient Rome to the far future...

Small, but perfectly formed?

On Friday I finally managed to get the Romans and Seleucids on the table for a first taste of DBA. OK, a couple of elements of the Seleucids weren't finished and I haven't made camps yet, but we just decided to get on with trying it out. Terrain was also a bit of a problem as I don't really have anything small enough, but we reckoned that was no bad thing as it allowed us to concentrate on the rules and learning them. Being the first attempt at DBA by either Carl, James or myself I'm pretty sure we probably did something wrong, but overall I think the games were decided by the right deployment and strategy rather than any quirks of the rules, so overall I was very pleased with how the battles 'felt'.

We laid a pretty flat table with a river and one hill and then diced for the invaders table edge (the Romans were the aggressors...who else?!). Below is the starting setups.

I played the Seluecids and set up with my pike block between the hill and river with the elephant and one psiloi on their left and the cataphracts on the right. The hill was held by the auxilia, warband and psiloi, with the scythed chariot on the far right. The Romans (Carl and James collaborated in playing them) started in two lines with the spears on their right and half the blades on the left of the first line. One cavalry element was on the right flank and the psiloi on the left. The General lurked behind the first line and the rest of the blades in the rear line (not in shot). I thought that having a full quarter of your army so far in the rear immediately put them at a disadvantage. I think they should have been a lot closer to the front line. Also, none of us realised how little effect a river has and we seemed to treat it as a real barrier, so the battlefield was a little more squashed than it should have been.

The first few turns saw the lines approaching each other cautiously. As neither of us really knew the rules I think none of us really knew what was going to happen. I decided to throw my chariot at his psiloi in the misunderstanding that they would mow them down, but all I got was a recoil before the chariots were destroyed. Afterthought showed that this is actaully the right outcome...what was I thinking? Chariots against loosely ordered men that can dodge out the way? At least I could be satisfied it didn't count for a lost element! :)

To even things up, though, the Romans pitted their cavalry against my elephant without realising the inevitable outcome and were quickly destroyed. This seemed to stall the Roman advance...I think the wall of pointy sticks coming at them was a bit intimidating. At this point I was reasonably confident the double ranked pikes were safe from the triarii spears so I looked towards pitting the cataphracts against his hastati. I moved the auxilia and psiloi to neutralise the Roman psiloi and split the warband off to joint the cataphracts to get into position to prevent an overlap.

Finally the battle lines clashed as the cataphracts went in with the phalanx and elephant trailing behind. One element of cataphracts was recoiled, but the general and the warband at the end of the line steamrolled the hastati and at that point victory seemed assured. On my right flank I lost a psiloi to the velites, but the Thracian auxilia held their own.

The coup de grace was delivered by the general and warband charging the principes in the second line and destroying the end element. In the meantime the phalanx and spears got into a shoving match with no outcome other than recoils, but that was expected. Thus the Roman invasion of the Seleucid Empire was snuffed out...! :)

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and the subsequent one where we reversed roles. We were so engrossed by then, though, that lack of photos means I won't recount it, safe to say that the deployment once again settled the engagement almost before the first pilum was chucked!! Did I like DBA after all the build up and painting effort? Yes, I did! I get that it's abstract, but much like Commands and Colours, it feels like a full blown ancients game. We sat and thought about the tactics and the matchups, rather than numbers and charts, so it really does live up to the quick play claim. We finished both these games in 2 and a quarter hours...not bad for a first go at a rule set. Also, the results were quite credible. In the first game the Roman flank crumbled leaving the Romans defeated and the second the game was won by the Roman cavalry riding down the Seleucid psiloi and the phalanx breaking ranks due to a threat on the flanks. this let the Roman gladius to get into a single rank of pike with only one outcome!

 But I feel I'm preaching to the converted! I'm reasonably sure that we're in a very small minority of wargamers that haven't played DBA before!

Principes done!

Here's some photos of the completed Principes for the DBA army. I have to say, I'm really liking prepping this army, if for no other reason than I've done 6 bases and I'm half done!!

For these, I decided to do white tunics and shields again, as the chainmail really makes them stand out from the Hastati but keep some uniformity. It also means they could be grouped together into a single battlegroup for FOG eventually. However, I decided to try a different tack with the white this time. The Hastati were base coated with Vallejo German Camo Beige and highlighted with Iraqui Sand and white, which worked well, but I felt the contrast was a bit too much and it made the shields a pig to paint. For these I used Vallejo Beige to basecoat with Pale Sand and white highlights. I think the shields look better but perhaps the effect is too subtle on the tunic sleeves, though the Principes can afford better bleach! I will be doing some white tunics on the psiloi too, so I might try to meet half way and start with Iraqui Sand. We'll see!

Veni vidi pictorati

OK, the Latin's probably wrong, but you get the idea...!

Well amongst the furious painting of 1/285 aircraft for the Check Your 6! campaign (more on that later) I have only managed to paint up some 15mm Romans from my Essex DBA pack!! These are the first Ancients figures I think I've ever painted and I'm quite happy with the result. On to the Principes now, which should be a lot quicker due to all the chainmail. The intention is to get playing DBA quite soon and then build on the bases up to a FOG army. That'll take a while I think, but as long as we can play DBA in the meantime, I'm happy. Of course, it means I'll need to paint the Seleucids, too, to guarantee an opponent (I'm a staunch believer in doing opposing sides in whatever period I intend to game). Enough of the waffle...on to the Hastati :-

I'm undecided on whether to get shield transfers for these. They would look good, but I actually quite like the plain white shields, too. I might buy a sheet just to try them out...hmmmm! The bases need painted and dressed, too. Hopefully get that done tonight.

I mentioned the CY6! game at the top. Well, I'm pretty annoyed with my camera that told me the battery was fine when I left the house, but decided to tell me it was empty when I started to take pictures. James had a genius idea to recreate the key moments at home which I'm going to do, but it'll take me a couple of days to get round to it, so the battle report will have to wait.