How about some Late Romans?

Here is my Late Roman army that was originally mounted for Warhammer Ancients but now is mounted for Dux Bellorum. 

 Roman Infantry with the Dux Bellorum with his body guard of Huns right behind them.

 More Infantry - all of the shields were hand painted.

 The Boss and his comitatus of Huns.

 Light skirmishing cavalry with javelins.

 The Heavy cavalry.

 Infantry skirmishers with javelins.

 I always thought the dismounted officer was sculpted with great character.

 The super heavies - Clibanarii cavalry. I love the book Island of Ghosts and imagine that they are the inspiration for Arthur's Knights.

 Archers or separate the two bases and they become skirmishers.

 Those Saxon Warbands don't look that tough.

Wargames Foundry Early Imperial Romans

I've been reorganizing my computer files and found some pictures of my old Warhammer Ancients Early Imperial Roman Army with figures by Wargames Foundry. As you can see (or not see!) I was also learning how to take close-up pictures with my digital camera. These are some of the best Early Imperial Roman figures I have owned and Wargames Foundry did a great job with the sculpting.

 Great mounted Centurion figure!

 Here comes another legion.

 My interpretation of the II Legion in Britain.

 Auxiliary troops; I think I painted on the vexillum Cohort II Astur.

 Syrian Auxiliary archers.

 Love this figure.

 The Emperor.

The grizzled Roman veteran (you always play better with a hat!)

Late Romans and Other leftovers joining Romano-Britain Shieldwall!

One of my favorite historical and gaming periods is the Late Roman/Dark Ages period.  I have gamed the period in 15 mm with DBM and in 28 mm with Warhammer Ancients.  One day perusing Issue 62 of  Wargames Soldiers & Strategy I came across an article and scenario written by Steve Jones for the Osprey Games rules Dux Bellorum.  His Romano-British armies mounted on a 120 mm frontage were impressive.  I bought a set of the rules, played a few games with sabots and was hooked.  I was determined to re-base my units on 120 mm frontages and have never regretted doing so.

My Late Roman army with 120 mm frontages.

 Shieldwall infantry with the Roman general and cavalry behind.

 My Early Saxon army.

 

 Warbands and skirmishers.

Once I was finished re-basing, I had leftover Late Romans, Western Barbarians, some Roman Cavalry and assorted mounted Germanic cavalry.  How could I not do Dark Ages Britain without King Arthur?  With what I had leftover I'm able to do four units of Riders, two units of Shieldwall and once unit of mounted skirmishers.  For any dismounted skirmishers I decided I could borrow from the existing Late Roman and Early Saxon armies.

The first three stands of cavalry.  Figures are a mixture of Wargames Foundry and Old Glory.  Arthur's unit is the one with 2 flags.

As gaming projects come and go I had put off repainting the rest of the cavalry and Late Roman infantry that would make up the remainder of the army.  One of the clear goals I set for myself this year was completing King Arthur's forces.  Here is a photographic journey of the start of the conversion:

Mostly Wargames Foundry Late Romans that I have started to repaint tunics and shields.

Various figures from the period that are joining the forces of the Pendragon.

 As you can see many of the shield designs are based on Steve Jones's army.

 

Bullying about Toy Soldiers?

I discovered The Miniatures Page  (TMP) in 2002 and have found it a useful and amazing source for hobby news.  Bill Armintrout does a great job with his site and I salute him for it. Through TMP I have come into contact with many others who enjoy this great hobby.  On the other hand, with the exception of message boards that have a narrow focus, I have become more and more disenchanted with the general tone, disparaging remarks and personal attacks on the general message boards. I would like to assume that I am immune to cyber-bullying and I have not personally experienced the phenomenon. I have dealt with bullies in real life and have learned how to deal with them. 

 Representatives of the evil, capitalistic gaming business empire?

But what's up with the bullying on TMP?  When you think of it, no matter how passionate we are about our hobby, at the end of the day we are playing with toy soldiers!

The electronic world and the internet has brought us the ability to exchange ideas and share information about our great hobby.  I love the internet and the resources it provides. Healthy, lively and respectful debate is good.  When I taught Military History, I used to tell my students if you bring in 20 historians into my room you will get 20 different answers as to who was the better general, Grant or Lee.

Unfortunately, over the years, I have noticed an increasing trend in the wargaming community with constant complaints about successful business models in the hobby; primarily Games Workshop (GW) and Battlefront. If you don't like them, don't buy their stuff!  GW and Battlefront have probably done more to introduce people to miniature wargaming than all of the other companies combined.

GW produces the Warhammer series of rules which have in the past been adapted for Ancients, ECW, WW I, etc. GW also publishes the excellent Warmaster set of rules and was responsible for Warmaster Ancients. And if you haven't noticed, Black Powder and Hail Caesar are the direct descendents of Warmaster. They have been innovative with multi-part hard plastic figures which historical miniature lines are now benefiting from the ground work they laid.

 

 I will personally help Battlefront destroy World War II!  What?  It's only a game. You mean New Zealand is not trying to take over the world?  And why do the hobbits live there now?

Flames of War?  It's a game. What, you say tanks don't line up and fire at the enemy?  Dang.  Thought I saw that in the desert and in a few other urban environments.  Do we use terrain in rule life. Yep.  Do we sometimes line up in real life. Yep.  Oh well . . . I'll stop. This might start a new thread on TMP.

 

It's elementary my dear Watson.  Wargames Foundry is trying to make a profit.

 

And yes, Wargames Foundry figures are expensive. There are cheaper alternatives.  I love Wargames Foundry figures; I look for them on eBay.  For awhile, every time Wargames Foundry raised their prices, you would think it was a personal sign from the antichrist if you followed the message threads on TMP. Wait a minute, they are toy soldiers right?  And the purpose of Wargames Foundry (I'm making a bold assumption) is to make a profit, or a least not a loss?  Let the market decide.

 

Anyway, I like Warhammer and used to play it a lot; it's the rule set I used for ancients for over 15 years. My fantasy gaming is basically Warmaster and Lord of the Rings these day, but we used to have quite a bit of Warhammer Fantasy in the house. My favorite army, because I could use it for historical play, is the Kingdom of Bretonnia. Heck, I like flags and heraldry!

 Historical or Fantasy?  Maybe both?

So here's to you Games Workshop, Battlefront, Warlord Games, Wargames Foundry, Perry Miniatures and others!  Thanks for investing your time, money and effort to provide me with a pleasant hobby. After all, for many of you it is your livelihood and puts the food on the table.

And yes to the message boards on TMP: They are toy soldiers. I have seen real war and this isn't it.  It's a fun hobby and let's keep it that way.

Regular 6 out.

150 Followers? How did that happen?

I was getting ready to do an update on my English Civil War project and I noticed that I have 150 followers!

In celebration I thought I would upload some oldies by sentimental goodies.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I painting and gaming with them.

Wargames Foundry Early Imperial Romans.  This was a fun army to paint and looked great on the battlefield mounted for Warhammer Ancients. I think the centurion is actually a fantasy figure that was available from Games Workshop.  I sold this army when I decided to concentrate on the Late Roman period . . . but with those hard plastic figures from Warlord Games I may have to revisit this period.

A great Wild West shoot out after El Dorado Jo stole the gold from McNamara's mine using Play Mobile figures!

  

If you are going to play Warhammer Fantasy, how can you not have lots of greenskins and trolls?  Just point them in the right direction and yell "Charge!"  I really love the troll figures from GW.

My favorite Warhammer army is that of Bretonnia.  Here is a picture of the mounted yeoman.  The Bretonnian army can double for the 100 Years period if you are not a nit pick for historical detail and just love to game.

I became fascinated with the War of Spanish Succession during my first tour in Europe. Just a colorful as the Napoleonic period but with less "decorative attachments" to paint.

Figures are about 98% Dixon in 15 mm with the odd Hallmark figure thrown in.

My armies for the War of Spanish Succession are my largest with approximately 50 Infantry Regiments, 25 cavalry regiments and a bunch of artillery.

A few pictures from my American army for the American Revolution that was also sold to finance other projects.  Figures are Wargames Foundry, Perry Miniatures, Old Glory and Dixon.  Yep, the Perry Range and new hard plastic are calling my name . . .

Love the Late Roman Period and Dark Ages.

The very first period I gamed was the Napoleonic wars with 20 mm Airfix soldiers.  Above are 28 mm from Wargames Foundry and Front Rank Miniatures.

Perry Miniatures hard plastic 28 mm French Infantry painted as the 4th Swiss Regiment of Foot.

British Army for the Peninsular War.  Figures are Wargames Foundry and Front Rank in 28 mm mounted for Volley and Bayonet.

The Black Brunswickers from Perry Miniatures.  The mounted British officer is from Front Rank.

World War II is always a good period to game.  Since I am a military historian, and I know tanks are cool, the majority of my armies do consist of infantry.

German paratroopers.  Painting camouflage in 15 mm is an interesting challenge.  Fortunately Battle Honours has some excellent painting guides.

If an army has highlanders or bagpipers, I'm going to paint them.

The barbwire was actually easy to make with hanging wire and toothpicks.

Currently we have armies for the German Afrika Korps, British 8th Army and Australians in the desert, British in Europe 1944 - 1945, Germans in Europe 1943 - 1945 and Soviets 1942 - 1945.

In one of our games, this was the lone surviving British anti-tank gun that stopped my attack in its tracks.

For people starting out painting figures, I recommend the American Civil War.  Uniforms are easy to paint and most everyone knows something about the conflict.  The figures are 15 mm from various manufacturers.

Okay . . . Zouaves are a little bit harder to paint.

Last but not least, I have to thank my lovely bride of 28 years who allows a grown man to play with toy soldiers . . . I mean historical miniature figures! Thanks sweetie!