Selling and getting out

Hello all! Apologies for the lack of updates but the reality is, I haven't done anything in the hobby for over a year. I've not really had the time or space to keep getting men out to paint. I've had so much on this year with my last year at University and job hunting. Additionally, I simply can't afford to keep on with the hobby. I have hundreds if not thousands of pounds worth of hobby materials that I ideally need to sell to keep living.

If anyone is interested in helping me out, please get in touch. I have a variety of periods from ancients to moderns including a vast amount of American Revolution figures which need shifting. I also have a number of model buildings which would be for sale. Drop me a comment if you're interested.

I'll try and post more of a inventory list and price structure soon but it will be very reasonable.

Thanks!

Eddie.

Romans for re-basing

For ease of movement around the gaming table, these Spanish legionaries are being re-based! Rather than based on 25mm square individual bases, they will be multi-based, four to a base. This will make them look a lot more realistic and make them easier to move around the table.

This unit is currently missing its standard and musician but these are part painted and should be finished soon. I also plan to add another 8 legionaries, making a unit of 24 figures in total.

I also plan to rebase these Spanish cavalry troops as their bases are too small and they cannot be moved in a column because their tails overlap and touch. I plan to mount them on 60x60 bases (currently on 60x40). I am however having a bit of trouble as they're stuck to their wooden bases rather well! They were textured using a paste mixture similar to that used by BigRedBat but I'm struggling to get that off! This unit of 9 cavalry troops will last my Romans for quite some time before I HAVE to paint some more horses (I hate painting horses).

Just a quick question, in the WAB rules, would you count these as heavy or light Spanish cavalry?

Targets for 2011

I didn't even come close to meeting any of the targets I made for 2010. This was because I had nowhere near as much time as I thought I'd have. My workload at University dramatically increased and then a full time job in London over my summer holidays meant I went for four months without picking up a brush. This year will be little different but I have a few smaller projects I hope to complete and here they are:

Priority:

Ambush Alley - this exciting project has recently been featured on my Black Powder blog and has been something I've been working on in the last week or two. Because of the small number of figures required for the project, it's the kind of thing I can see being completed over the next year. It's also 15mm so if it goes well, it will open a whole world of opportunities for other periods including WWII and the ACW.

Secondary Projects:

Romans - I've just realised that a 1500pt WAB army is primed and just waiting to be painted so there's no excuse not to get atleast some of this painted in the next year.

Spartans - I've long preferred the exploits of the Greeks to the Romans since I was a kid and I'd love to start my small Spartan army that I've been threatening to do for a year or two now.

On hold:

Crusades - this small project may well make an appearance sooner or later on this blog. It's part completed but as I'm painting it using the convention layering system rather than the dipping technique, it's very time consuming.

English Civil War - not sure why I haven't progressed with this but I have two armies that just need painting!

American War of Independence - this is such a massive project that I foresee it taking many years to complete and requires more of my time than I can currently give it. There's no way I would consider abandoning it altogether as I've invested so much time and money into it and my passion for this period in history makes me want to keep returning to it.

British intervention in the Sudan - currently thinking of giving up this project as I don't have many figures for it so it wouldn't hurt too much if I sold them and re-bought them some time in the future

Possible blog title change?

Hello all, I'd like to start by wishing you all a very happy new year but I need your help. I'm considering closing my Model Macedonian Army blog and merging it with this one (the more popular of the two) to create an ancients blog, just to keep it simpler. I've been getting back into ancients in recent weeks so hopefully you should see some more posts on this site relating to my Roman and various Greek-era armies.

This is where you come in. I'd like to hear your suggestions for names for the new site. If you have an idea or suggestion, please leave a comment below. I'll run a poll when I have a few suggestions.

My Black Powder blog which includes gunpowder-based periods e.g. ECW, AWI, Moderns etc, will still run as usual.

Governor Barbula pays a visit to his generals

Governor Barbula first came to our attention on this blog in this post in October of last year and since then he's been a busy chap! His plan to march on Rome with his army of loyal followers and band of mercenaries has been picking up speed over the last few months and has just this morning been photographed visiting one of his generals at a training camp just outside the city walls.

This can only mean one thing, his army is nearing completion and he is merely making the final preparations before he sets his plan in motion. It should be an interesting and testing few months for the Roman Empire...

Partizan - Newark 5th September 2010!

Just a little reminder that I will be putting on my first game at the Partizan Show at Kelham Hall in Newark tomorrow (Sunday 5th September. Doors are 10am - 4pm and I think it's £4 for adults and £2 for concessions.

It's a Spanish Peninsular Napoleonic game which features 3 companies of French pitted against Sharpe and his rifles (assisted by some pesky Spanish Guerillas). I'll be in command of the French and Paul Darnell of Touching History will be in charge of the combined allied force. The photo at the top of this post shows the terrain we will be gaming on!

In this photo, my mighty French force advance along an exposed road, open to fire from Sharpe and his 95th rifles (hopefully they wont be as accurate as they're famed for in tomorrow's game!)

Another French force advance towards the town using the cover of the farmer's fields and a low stone wall to avoid the fire coming from the guerillas holed up in the town.

I think our game will be in the main hall so it should be easy to find. I should also be easy to find if you fancy a chat! Just look for the young looking chap next to the game and that'll probably be me - I'll have a checked shirt on if it's any help.

I'll post pictures of most of the games on show at Partizan throughout this coming week along with photos of our game and a battle report. I look forward to meeting those of you who visit the table and fancy a chat.

Campaign Map Progress Update

Just a quick update to show the map so far. As you can see, the sea has been completely coloured in. The next stages are to colour in the land and divide it up amongst the tribes and also to add a key, title and any features such as existing towns to the map. After that, I'll try and write down some of the rules and perhaps post them on here.

Thanks again for the interest!

Campaign Map Update

Just a quick update on how the campaign map and rules are going. The picture above shows my progress with the map on Photoshop (I've been colouring in the sea hence the seemingly slow progress!). I've also marked out the major rivers and you can just see Gaul in the bottom right of the picture (coloured red, marking it as Roman territory).

I'm currently deciding whether or not to try and divide Britain into provinces or regions. In the previous post, I mentioned I was adapting a game meant for raiding Vikings along the Eastern coast of England and that didn't use or need the country to be divided up. But i'll have to do a trial run.

In the game, you also have the option of building roads, towns, ports and various forts and defences to guard your land which are all marked on the map in turn.

I'll probably work on this again this evening and may do a post either tonight or tomorrow. Thoughts and suggestions welcome!

Just a quick update - Campaign...

I've been very busy lately, hence the lack of updates.

I used to play a campaign with Saxons and Vikings on the English coast some 10 years ago which only involved a map and some dice (and a pad of paper to keep notes). One person played as the Vikings and one as the Saxons. It was much like a role playing game where you rolled on events tables and could construct buildings, roads, forts etc to keep you newly acquired or heroicly defended lands safe. Remembering this, I've decided to adapt the rules for a Roman conquest of Britain. I think it would translate perfectly but will need some modification.

I'm just working on the map and the events table at the minute but expect an update in the next couple of days.

The original was a very fun game. You either had a choice of gaining lots of money through pillaging and raiding along the coast or trying to grab some land and try and settle.

Any questions or suggestions are very much welcome.

Conquering the lead mountain (4)

Here's the fourth drawer which has been labelled 'Misc. Ancients' and includes Greeks, Spanish, Parthians and a number of other different races and cultures. This probably has the most in it out of any of the other drawers and also includes some painted and part-painted miniatures which you can see below.

Expect photos of the last two drawers tomorrow. I can know go to bed and I've cleared it off soldiers and modeling supplies. I will also be going to the local hardware store to pick up some basing material so I may do a post on that too.

When I first started sorting out my stuff it suddenly hit me that I have A LOT of stuff but actually, now I've sorted it into these drawers, it feels like I have a lot less than I thought I had (although I've still probably got too much!). This would take me many many years to paint so I'm not quite sure what to do with some of it as I may never get round to painting it.

On another note, visitor numbers to the blog have shot through the roof since I've made these posts so that's very exciting too!

Conquering the lead mountain (3)

Here's the most relevant drawer to this blog - the Roman drawer. There's lots of packs of Copplestone Foundry legionnaires and all-sorted auxiliaries plus a few painted figures in here. This isn't the extent of my Roman collection as some of it is being stored elsewhere in a Warhammer carry case.

Conquering the lead mountain (2)

Here's the second drawer done. This contains my English Civil War project, incorporating figures from Renegade Miniatures and Bicorne Miniatures. It's a project I should be underway with but sadly I just haven't had the time to do much more than just paint those few figures in the bottom right hand corner (2 of the three aren't even finished!). Hopefully this will pick up soon.

For more information about the project you can go to my other blog by clicking here. I've decided to just operate two blogsnow. This one for all my ancients projects and the other for all my projects that involve guns such as English Civil War and American War of Independence. If you're even remotely interested in any of these periods, please follow my blogs!

Conquering the lead mountain (1)

I've desperately needed to sort out and reorganise my wargaming and hobby supplies for some time now and I've chosen today to finally do it! I've got boxes, blister packs, cans of spray paint and half painted miniatures all over my desk and my bed so this could take a while (I may not be able to sleep tonight unless I get it done!). I'll do a series of posts throughout the day documenting the contents of each of the 6 drawers which were previously full of Warhammer but now lie empty by my desk. The first drawer is shown below.

This draw contains all the bases I need for the various periods I game in and these come from East Riding Miniatures but the small square and circular are from Foundry. There's also all my spare weapons such as pikes, javelins and spears along with all my spare shields and some tree stumps from Redoubt Enterprises. There's also my penknife which I use to trim flashing and the files and drill I got from Games Workshop to tidy up the mould lines. Also present are my toolset from Foundry and some 'green stuff' used for modeling and some lolly sticks which always come in handy!

Hopefully this series of posts will be very interesting for the fellow gamer as it reveals the real inner workings of my hobby and what it consists of.

Don't vote Conservative today...

...or my parents, who are both public sector workers, will be out of a job.

Also, I will have to live in poverty for the rest of my life.

Expansion of the farm

You may remember the farm I had built for me in an earlier post, well, I've been inspired by a photo I came across to build a vineyard that will sit adjacent to it.

This photo which comes from Paul Darnell's Touching History blog shows the sort of thing I'm aiming to achieve. Bill Gaskin made the vineyards, terrain board and painted the figures - Paul made the hundred or so buildings.

The vineyard looks like quite a simple design. A large rectangular base with some stakes stuck in it with wire running between them. Then some trunks added and some foliage. Can't be too hard - can it?!

I've bought issue 1 and 2 of Paul's 'Touching History' scenery making guides in the hope something like this is covered. These books cover the Spanish Napoleonic period (don't worry - I'm not starting a new period!) and the English Civil War which will be helpful for my other project. I thought, as my Romans will mostly be fighting in a mediterranean environment, the Spanish scenery would be fairly similar and so this book would be useful!

Travel Chaos

As I'm sure you're aware, there has been unprecedented disruption to European air travel as a result of the volcanic eruption in Iceland. What was meant to be a nice little break in Florence, Italy, soon became the holiday from hell.

You'll be pleased to hear I'm now safely back in the UK and ready to get back on with my ever-growing list of things to do. I have a very busy period over the next month with coursework and exams for University but finish on the 25th May. Following this, I'll be focussing solely on my wargaming projects until the end of July when I go to London to work for the rest of my summer holidays.

I wouldn't expect many updates between now and then but I can assure you, when I have a spare few hours, i'll be working hard on my Roman and ECW projects along with my multi-period terrain board!

Apologies for the lack of posts since Christmas when it was all looking so promising! But thank you to those who keep coming back for reference or new visitors looking for help and advice! For details of my ECW project, check out my other blog here.

BigRedBatRiver

Here are a few snaps of the river I received a few weeks ago from prolific blogger and wargamer Simon, otherwise known as BigRedBat. They're made from modelled polystyrene but I can't tell what they've been textured with.

They'd make great additions to any battlefield from Ancient times to WWII and beyond. They could even act as canals, given the raised lip of the bank

This pic shows the full extent of the pieces that make up the model river and as you can see, there's quite a number of different options for potential layouts!

Things I hate this week: basing and the weather (it's stopping me going out to undercoat and varnish figures!). Into the ECW and AWI? Click here for my latest project.

Quintus Pompeius Falco

Quintus began his career as a Quaestor in Rome but his talent for management and financial acumen was soon recognised and saw him reassigned to Spain where he would oversee the development of this new and prosperous land. Quintus spent much of the day studying his charts and writing letters to his superiors in Rome, detailing his progress. There was little time for fun and games.

Under his leadership Spain flourished. Towns sprung up across the country and new roads were built to connect them to the thriving coastal ports that fed the empire with food and tradable goods. Mines were constructed to extract valuable resources from the land and farms fed the burgeoning province. Not even the widest or fastest flowing river could stop his expansion, he simply bridged them and continued with his aggressive expansion. Of course, the locals didn't take too kindly to the loss of their land and rebelled, causing widespread damage to the new Roman infrastructure. This angered Quintus who had spent many months trying to Romanise these people and bring prosperity to the land. He raised an army and marched on the rebel camp, slaughtering all who defied Roman rule. You do not want to stand in the way of this man or you'll end up as part of his next project, probably as part of the mortar!

Fortified Farm

As mentioned in the previous post, I recently received a farm house from Paul Darnell of Touching History fame. I had an idea to eventually fortify the Roman/Greek farm for a future defense scenario and have had a go at this by using a wooden palisade wall with a ditch. I can't wait to use this on the gaming table! It looks great!

What do you think? Any comments or suggestions? The photo is fully clickable.

Roman farm

I received this rather marvelous model Roman/Greek farm in the week from Touching History's Paul Darnell. You can see it pictured above with two of my half-finished Romans for purposes of scale. They are both 28mm Foundry Caesarian Romans.

In time, I intend to add some removable barricades for a defense scenario I have in mind and add a vineyard and olive grove. The farm buildings represent only a quarter of its eventual size as I'm going to add another three terrain tiles the same size as this one to hold the olive grove, country lanes etc. It should become an awesome centerpiece of any battlefield!

I really like this building. Buildings of a similar style were scattered all over the mediterranean where the Greeks and Romans had any influence and so making it an incredibly versatile piece of scenery. I can use it across hundreds of years of warfare and in different locations around the mediterranean.

For more information on my Macedonian/Greek project, go to my other blog here.