Schools out for summer!

Well, I've officially finished my first year of uni! The assessment period was pretty intense, but I've managed to get through it. Now just to wait for my marks!
Needless to say, with all this crazy uni business, I've not had a lot of time for painting, but as I'm not going back to study until the end of February, I've got a little time to catch up. :)

These guys are the first of two bases of Franks i need for my Basic Impetus Patrician Roman army. The figures are from gripping beast, and while i would have liked to include a few helmeted figures, I'm actually really happy with them. I've gone for colourful-yet-dirty look for the tunics, as the sources are universal in disparaging the barbarians for their ostentatious dress, which was generally seen by the restrained Romans as effeminate. The shields patterns are from LBMS.

So, I've only got two more bases to complete this army! Very scary indeed. At the moment I'm about 80% of the way through a commission of Late Romans, so might post some pictures of them when I'm done. It's a 12 man unit from the Primani legion. After that, i'll be finishing off the last two bases, another lot of GB Franks and some of the fantastic Goth cavalry by Bill over at Musketeer miniatures.

What with all this spare time, while I'll mostly be busy with commission work, I've also decided to set myself a new project to stop myself going mad. Back in 2008, i spent a few months travelling around Europe with my girlfriend Laura. We spent a bit over two weeks camping in Normandy. Besides enjoying he fantastic food and great cider, we visited quite a few historical sites. By the end of the two weeks, my very patient girl was, shall we say, a little over bunkers. Still, i made it up to her by a few days in Saumur in the Loire valley.

Anyway, perhaps the most captivating and emotive place I visited was Sword Beach, particularly Hillman battery, located just inland above Colleville-Montgomery. I've always wanted to do some kind of project based around the landings on Sword, originally in 28mm.

Well, inspired by TSM's great Sword-related terrain over on the Guild and the SD forums, i've sold off all of my 28mm WWII figures, and am diving into 1/72, or 20mm WWII. I've dug out my copy of the Too Fat Lardies 'I Ain't Been Shot Mum' company level rules, and have decided that i'll base my project around these, as i really like the 'big man' philosophy of Rich's rules. I bought IABSM a year or so ago for a WWII Hungarian project that's still at least partly in the lead mountain.

So, my initial plan for Sword is to do up some terrain based around capitaine de corvette Phillipe Kieffer's Free-French commando attack on Ouistreham, specifically the Ouistreham casino and the huge Observation Bunker. I visited the Observation bunker, which is now a great little museum about the Atlantic wall. The bunker itself is a very imposing structure, and provides a great view Sword beach from the top. I've included a few pics i took of the bunker below. In the one of the view from the top, the modern casino is the blue roof in the centre of frame. Over on the french language Blitzkrieg forums, I've found a very inspiring 20mm Ouistreham casino by Captain Yaputo. As was the case on D-Day, despite 'the Longest Day' and a fair few premade scenery items, Yaputo has modelled the bunker with the casino building demolished and with the AT ditch and fence. I'm going to use this for inspiration.

As far as forces go, I'm initially looking at painting up a Commando Troop of around 60 figures, and a couple of opposing German platoons. Being 20mm and WWII, they'll take a lot less time than intricately detailed 28mm Late Romans!

While AB make the figures I need and look fantastic, my crappy student income means that the majority of my troops will be coming from Britannia, possibly with Battlefield commandos. I do really like Britannia figures though, and some of the guys over on the Guild forums have shown just what can be done with these figures.

Anyway, enjoy the pics of the Franks, and i'll endeavor to have some pics of the Primani up early next week.

Le Grand Fromage

Here i am back again with another update. The final assessment period for this semester is in full swing, but amazingly I'm still managing to keep up some semblance of progress with my painting.

Here are some pictures of my latest base, (actually finished around the time of the Equites Batavii) representing the Magister Militum of the Patrician Roman Army, the Patrician warlord himself. As the Impetus rules call for more than one general, i decided that the foot general would not really cut it as the overall commander, and so decided to paint up something a bit grander. The figures are Gripping Beasties, and i must say i love the pose of the general.

The very ostentatious clothing on this guy I copied from an illustration of the 'last of the Romans' Flavius Aëtius, the patrician warlord who faced down, among many others, Attila the Hun. As usual, i've taken the shield pattern from the Notita Dignitatum, this pattern is that of the Equites under command of the Comes Domesticorum, the Count of the Household troops of the Eastern empire. I figure it is as likely as any to be used by a Late Roman Magister or perhaps even the Augustus himself fighting the Persians in the east. Either way, the bloody angels and lovehearts almost drove me insane! The banner is hand painted over a laser printed Burgundy coloured template i made up ages ago. I just had to have something with the ubiquitous IN HOC SIGNO VINCES (in this sign, conquer!) i've seen on countless miniature army banners.

I figure that this base will be suitable to be used for a late Eastern and Western Roman army as well as the Patricians, and even for Justinian Byzantines. On an aside, if anyone is looking for a great boom set in the later empire, I've started reading Harry Sidebottom's Warrior of Rome series which I'd highly recommend.

Next on the painting list, the first base of Frankish heavy infantry are finished and varnished, and i've just been putting the finishing touches on the basing. Hopefully i'll get some pictures up in the next couple of days, i'm very happy with the GB figures, and with the LBMS shield transfers. I had used LBMS transfers before with some Crusader vikings, only to have them shrink. I've discovered my mistake, failing to gloss varnish the shield before and after applying the decal, and not waiting for the transfer to dry before applying matt varnish. :)

Anyway, next up on the painting bench are a bunch of Late Romans, BTD figures i'm painting up as the Legio Primani for a commission. I'm also hoping to have time to get the base of Musketeer Gothic heavy cavalry completed, but it all depends on how conscientious i am with my uni work.

Here come the cavalry

Well, the first assessment round for this semester is over, and so I've finally been able to get on with some painting.

The other week I received my order from Dadi & Piombo; the 'full' version of Impetus rules plus the two expansions. Looking at the army lists for the Late Roman East and Western armies, I'm happy to see that the Basic Impetus Patrician army I've been working on provides 90% of the bases needed for either of these forces, so it should be relatively painless to switch over to the full system. I'm really looking forward to building some kind of camp/baggage train, which is another addition in the full version.

One of the additional units needed to expand the army is this lot of Roman medium cavalry hot off the painting table. The figures are from Gripping Beast, but as I've never been overly keen on their horses, I've mounted them on the Aventine nags. I must say I'm really impressed with how these go together, and the smaller size of the horses works perfectly for the smaller breeds prevalent in Late Antiquity.

These are painted up as the Equites Batavii Iuniores, one of the vexillationes palatina from the Gallic field army. The shield pattern is taken again from the Notita Dignitatum. Inspiration for the colour schemes I've taken from the Osprey Warrior on Late Roman cavalry, and the commander is based on a plate from the excellent Ancient Warfare magazine on the Belisarian era. Next up on the painting bench I've been working on the first of two units of Frankish heavy infantry. Stripey tunics, braids, angons and franciscas here we come. :) I'm actually enjoying working on something even less uniform and more colourful than the Romans. I've put up a work-in-progress picture, they're some very characterful figures.

I've also made an addition to my Sassanid army. After reading a bit on the Savaran cavalry, i now realise that using Parthian horse archers to represent these is fine for the very early era, but as time progressed these would have been more heavily armoured. Accordingly, i went ahead and ordered a bunch of Savaran armed with swords, bows and kontos(es?), riding a mixture of barded and unbarded heavy horses. The figures look great, and should give the 'heavy but not too heavy' look I'm going for on these bases.

Anyhoo, hopefully i'll get the Franks finished off in the next week and get a chance to post another update. After the Franks, i've got some commission work, more late Roman infantry.

More Archers... and some group shots

Well, I'm taking a break from working on an essay to post this little bit of an update. Last night i put finished off the basing on these guys, the second base of Black Tree Design archers. These are the last of the 'Romans' for the Patrician Roman Basic Impetus army, the rest are Barbarian foederati.

On my first archer base I had all of the tunic details as blue, that's before i decided for the army would have an eclectic non-uniform look. These guys have a mix of colours, so do look a little different to the other base. I really aim for having each base standing as an individual, so trying to make this look different from the first base with the limited poses (4) of the BTD archers was a bit of a challenge. I bent the arms of these guys a little so they look like they're firing at a longer range, while the first archer base were firing straight forward. Anyway, i'm quite happy with the result.

I've also put below some pictures of the force as it stands at the moment. So far i've got

1 x Command base (foot)
1 x CL [light cavalry] base (Hunnic mercenary archers)
1 x CP [heavy cavalry] base (Equites Catafractarii Ambienenses)
1 x FP [heavy infantry] base (Petulantes Auxilia Comitatenses)
1 x FL [light infantry] base (Defensores Seniores Pseudocomitatenses)
2 x T [archer] bases

I must say it's actually starting to look like an army, and I'm pleased with how well the villa fits in with the feel of the army. I really need to get started on a terrain mat, as the sheets of cardboard I use as a backdrop for the photos is now too small!

My orders from Aventine, LBMS and Gripping Beast/Musketeer all arrived this week, all the suppliers have been great, the Gripping Beast guys even upgraded the shipping to courier free of charge!
In my uni work down time I've been busily at work cleaning and undercoating, Laura and I have started watching Mad Men, so i've been doing lots of work in front of the telly.
I must say I'm really happy with the Aventine horses. I love the GB rider figures, but their horses have never looked 'right' to me. The Aventine horses look great with the Gripping beast riders, and they're about the right side for the small horse breeds available to the Late Romans.

Once this essay is over and done with, I'm going to get started on a CP base of Late Roman heavy cavalry. I'm still cleaning up the Musketeer Goth cavalry and the GB Franks which I'll need to complete the Patrician Romans. The Roman heavy cavalry are cleaned and primed, and they are essential if I'm to field a Late Roman Eastern or Western army in addition to the Patricians. Hopefully i'll be able to knock these over relatively quickly and get some pictures up soon.

Oh well, back to HIST1052: Australia and the World. :)

Home on the (Anatolian) range

Well, it looks like University is back into full swing. I've already completed one assessment for my Early Roman Archaeology class and have got four more due in the next fortnight. I really had expected that the student lifestyle would be a lot more laid back than this. :/

Anyhoo, I've been plodding along with the last base of Roman archers, I'm actually hoping to put the finishing touches on them once I've posted this.
I finally got my tax return, and that which didn't end up going in loan repayments was sent off to the lads at Gripping Beast, Aventine and Little Big Men in return for a plethora of Late Roman, Barbarian and Sassanid Persian goodies. Andy and Darren at GB were particularly helpful, they happily allowed me to mess around with the composition of their army deals.
My plan for the next six months or so is to paint up the following:

Late/Patrician Romans

1 x CP (Equites Scutarii) 4 GB heavy cavalry per base
1 x CL (Equites Sagitarii) 3 or 4 GB armoured horse archers per base
2 x CL (Equites Illyricani) 3 GB javelin armed cavalry per base
1 x FP (Auxilia Comitatenses) Another 10 figure BTD/GB Heavy infantry base, this time the Celtae Seniores.
1 x FL (Auxilia Pseudocomitatenses) Another 8 figure BTD Light infantry base, the Romanenses this time.
1 x Mounted Command stand - GB General, Standard bearer and musician.

Barbarian Foederati

1 x CP (Gothic Cavalry) 4 Musketeer heavy Goth cavalry per base
2 x FP (Franks) 10 figure GB Frankish heavy infantry per base

Sassanid Persians

1 x Mounted Command stand - GB General, Standard bearer and musician.
1 x CP (Pushtigbhan) 4 GB heavy armoured cavalry with kontos per base
3 x CM (Asavaran) 3 GB Parthian Horse archers per base
1 x FL (Daylaimi) 8 GB Light Infantry per base
2 x FP (Leves) 10 GB Heavy foot per base
1 x EL (Elephant) 1 Aventine Elephant and crew per base

In order to field the full Basic Impetus Sassanid army, I still need to get a base of archers, but it's a decent start. From Steve at LBMS I've ordered the fantastic Sassanid banner sheet along with a bunch of shield decals for the Franks and the Sassanids.

So, while waiting for tax and now for the figure orders to arrive, I decided to have a crack at some terrain. I've wanted to build a Late Roman villa complex for a while, and had collected a fair bit of research info. I dug that out, along with some foam-core board, corrugated cardboard and blue foam and set to work.

As my armies will focus on the conflicts in the East between the Late Romans/Byzantines and Sassanid Persians, the villa i envisaged would have been able to be defended, but also home to a high status landowner. To achieve this, I made sure that besides the main gate and a small side door, there were no doors or windows which would allow an enemy to break in. I've left the roof of the long building to the right of the courtyard loose, with a view to eventually detailing the interior. The stone work under the portico is all from blue foam, using a method stolen from the terrain maestro Theomar Pius. The cobbles are a textured card i picked up from a local Spotlight sewing store in their wedding invitation section. I think they came up well, and i'm planning on building a few stretches of Roman road using them. The tiles are corrugated cardboard sheets, which i lightly scored across the 'grain' with a sharp scalpel then crushed down with a pencil along these lines. I think they look quite effective.

Oh, and i almost forgot. The pictures are taken with my new camera, a Canon IXUS 120IS. I must say I'm really impressed with the picture quality.

The base size is just within the basic impetus size limit of 20U (or 40cm square). This base is about 30cm by 35cm. I used the same basing style I've been using for my army, so hopefully they all tie in. I'm really quite happy with the result, and am now enthused to build a few roads and perhaps even a Sassanid Persian building of some description. Zoroastrian Fire Temple anyone?


I'm currently taking on commission work. All enquiries please contact me vie email, fiene.ben@gmail.com.