Sunday 31 July 2016

Finally Marians!

And a new metal Newline Greek...


...(with Little Big Men shield decals)

Good afternoon,

Finally, after what seems like ages, my double DBA Marian army is pretty much done.







Many thanks to Andy Gorman and Mark Ottley for painting about half of it!!

Replete with...

  • 2 x Equites General elements
  • 1 x Equites element
  • 2 x Allied Gallic Cavalry elements
  • 2 x Allied Numidian Cavalry elements
  • 16 x Late Republican Roman Legionaries elements
  • 4 x Psiloi elements (including Balearic slingers)
  • 1 x [Mediterranean type] Auxilia element
  • 1 x Camp element and...
  • 1 x element of Camp Followers
I could also add some Gallic warband, German Auxilia or Psiloi, and, once they're painted, Greek or Macedonian Cavalry. I've got a Numidian Elephant that I could add to the mix, but it's got a much more arid base flock. Like, without a touch of green!

So now I can finally refight the civil wars, or my double Parthians, or [double] Ancient Brits, or...any number of my other armies. These Marians really got around!

Nick

Sunday 24 July 2016

Brexit - The Gift That Keeps On Giving...Again...

Good afternoon,

A couple of days ago I received my second Brexit inspired purchase from the UK. Newline 20mms.

Hoplites (Command and Advancing)...


(They weren't quite as compatible with the HaT figs as I had envisioned. Still, they look great!)

...Macedonian Command elements...


(Which now bulks out my number of Macedonian pikemen DBA elements to 16 - two more (eight figures) and I'd have enough for a triple Alexandrian Macedonian army!)

...Late Imperial Romans...


(To supplement my MiniArt LIR Infantry and HaT LIR Cav)


...and Huns.



(To supplement my not-as-historical-as-I-had-hoped-but-still-quite-lovely Lucky Huns.)

As the Macedonian command packs came with two trumpeters, I decided to spread them out. For example, one went to this Hoplite element.




I quite like the way the Little Big Man Studios shield decal worked with this one. Now I just have to wait for the Army Painter Dip to dry...

Nick

Thursday 21 July 2016

Suddenly...Polybians!

Good afternoon,

As I put away my newly completed Velites...


...it suddenly occurred to me that, after, what, about 17 years, I now have a fully painted Polybian Roman DBA army!


Replete with...
  • a camp element, 
  • camp followers,
  • an Italian Ally Auxilia element, 
  • two Equites, 
  • two Triarii, 
  • three Princeps, 
  • three Hastati and 
  • two Velites.




Whoo Hoo! Now I just have to start hacking away at my Carts...


(My first application of my new Carthaginian Little Big Men Studio shield transfers. The shields were kinda of dirty, which kinda worked for the edge spearmen, but, well...not so much for the trumpeter. Still, way better than I could have managed by hand.)

Nick

Tuesday 19 July 2016

Brexit - The Gift That Keeps On Giving...

Good afternoon,

Still getting over the flu, and it's back to work tomorrow, so...yeah, not the most fun I've had over any given school break. But there you go.

On the plus side, the shield transfers that I ordered from Little Big Men Studios arrived today.


Enough for my Macedonians, Carts and Hoplites.

Now I just have to wait patiently for my Newline order - more Macs, some Hoplites, a few Huns and LIRs.

Thanks to Brexit for the falling Pound!

I've also been hacking away at some Velites and Numidians...


...Parthians...


...some of whom have lost their bows, and even some mounted skellies.


I've also just undercoated the last three elements of Marian Roman legionaries (and the last two elements of Parthian light horse) so I'm hoping that I can get my Marians finished by the start of term. I hope.

Nick

Tuesday 12 July 2016

X Wing South Island Regionals

Wouldn't that rip your nighty? First week of the school holidays and I've caught the flu that's was ravaging school last week. Bother!

 Anyway,  good afternoon,

Last week I participated in the X Wing South Island Regionals. It was a lot of fun. And to which I took a fun wee list.


Manaroo moves first, focuses (should have target locked, but I only understood that 'till after), giving everyone else a focus, thanks to mindlink, then everyone else moves, also focusing (thus getting two each). At the start of the combat phase, ideally, Palob steals a focus from a nearby opponent, thus giving him three (or Manaroo gives hers to Palob, and receives one back herself thanks to mindlink), then Kaatoo steals Manaroo's focus, and she gets one back (thanks to mindlink), leaving Marnaroo with one focus, the Black Sun Ace with two, and Kaatoo and Palob with three- which he needs. One for the blaster turret, one for attack and one for defence.

Had Manaroo TL'd then Palob would have had re rolls when he desperately needed them. All the focuses in the world won't do you any good if you roll blanks!


'Course, when one got stressed...





Anyhow, once again I got top...of the bottom third, but...


...a good time was had by all!


Nick