A place where Ancient Ancient armies can peacefully retire to...
Possibly.
Oh, and some pulp. A few things on 6mm SciFi tanks and stuff. And the toy soldiers. Especially the War of 1897... And now I seem to be starting on 20mm Napoleonics as well!
email GarrisonMiniatures@gmail.com
Although I've started lots of Roman armies in the past I can't pretend I've always been enthusiastic about them. This one is just about my most successful attempt to date.
The cavalry. Back row heavies with a unit of each of the three Garrison heavy cavalry figures. There is another cavalry figure I've got and will probably do a unit of those - the other unit either replaced or was replaced by the ones with plumed helmets. Front rank African light cavalry is a very useful figure - Moors, Numidian, Egyptian ... As far as 'needs' go the cavalry are complete but will almost certainly be expanded in future!
The right flank infantry are the most interesting troops a far as I am concerned. Front ranks velites with wolfskins - what's not to like, need more. Middle rank auxilia are cavalry conversions and are my favourite Roman LMI auxilia with pointy sticks. Need more. Rear figures are Praetorians but I'm thinking that they might be useful as Late Republicans - not quite right but I can live with that. Need more.
Centre and left flank. Garrison artillery not exactly the best engines but... Slingers next to them have been painted as Spanish, white tunics and black cloaks. I'll be putting them in the Carthaginian army eventually and paint up another unit for the Romans. Middle archers, very Airfix in style, and the rather stiff 'ordinary' Auxilia - won't be increasing either of these units, archers because I've got enough, others because I don't like the figure! At the back, marching legionary - my favourite legionary figure. Need at least one more unit (probably more than one) which has been cast (several years ago!)
I've been working on several armies recently and building up numbers withour really thinking about where I am... So intend to do a number of what are really interim Reviews over the next few days - should settle what I still need to do. Starting with the Gauls. Worth remembering this isn't just one army - it includes Gauls, Ancient Brits, Galations, Fantasy and assorted Celts fighting for Carthage...
The basic army as it stands. In general terms, there's the fantasy element on the right, Ancient Brits on the left, Galations back centre, and 'standard' LMI Warband figures all over.
A few more chariots would be nice, so I thought I'd include a picture with my Minifigs chariot force... not sure how many more chariots I'll add, at least six more planned.Looking at this picture, could aim for for another 14-15 though... As for cavalry - generic army could do with at least one unit of HC, ie standard bare chested figure with bronze cuirass painted on...
This is the 'fantasy' flank - infantry and cavalry wearing bison headdresses. No idea how this lot will develop.
Galations at the back. Probably need another 100+ infantry.
Ancient Brits, light cavalry, slingers and LMI infantry. I need at least one more LC unit plus chariots... and got 24 slingers in an army that can take up to 150... Probably settle for another 24?
Quick look at the army from a different viewpoint. Chariots in front, second row cavalry, then light infantry and finally the bulk 'line' infantry units. The only reason I can justify saying it's about half finished is by saying it represents at least four different armies plus mercenaries for a couple of others! Think I still need more light infantry... perhaps a unit each of archers and javelinmen as well as whatever I do with the Ancient Brits.
Quick update on Sarmatians - gather from Pete the latest mould has been made and will soon be with me...
Years ago I tried carving away the bowcase of some Sarmation cataphracts to see if they would work as generic cataphracts.
Having put a couple of these on a mould I was using I found myself with enough riders to produce a unit of 'Parthian' cataphracts - although obviously most cataphracts look alike so...
As for those bronze armoured horses, I'm taking it from the Phil Barker version of 'Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome' - 'The riders armour was usually iron, but the horses was often bronze, which was less adversely affected by corrosion from the horses sweat.'
Meanwhile, I've also started on two units of actual Sarmation cataphracts - heavy cavalry version, unarmoured horses.
For this unit I've painted 9 bases to give a 27 man unit rather than my normal 24 figure unit.
This means I can combine 2 units to make a 48 figure warband without having two command groups. Warbands tend to be impulsive; the command group here seems to be having trouble holding the unit back - those warriors are really champing at the bit...
I've now got a reasonably diverse range of figures available including some swordsmen.
Command group - officer is converted from the standard bearer and includes a dismounted cavalry figure.
The use of paint pens really makes a difference when painting colourful cloaks...
I asked Google AI 'write a 490 to 510 word Lovecraftian story based on a researcher as Miskatonic University'
The result:
'The parchment did not crack; it groaned. As a junior archivist at
Miskatonic University’s Orne Library,
I was accustomed to the musk of decaying history, but the "Cyllenius
Fragment" emitted a scent of ozone and stagnant seawater that defied the
dry Arkham air. My mentor, Dr. Armitage, had warned me against
uncurating the acquisitions from the Innsmouth raid, yet the thirst for
forbidden lineage is a draught that once tasted, never satisfies.
By
the light of a guttering lamp, I traced the ink. It was not black, but a
bruised, iridescent purple that seemed to pulse beneath the surface of
the vellum. The script was a frantic hybrid of Latin and glyphs that
resembled the rhythmic twitching of a crustacean’s limbs. As I
translated, the stone walls of the sub-basement began to lose their
solidity. The familiar dampness of the library basement shifted into the
crushing pressure of an abyssal trench.
"The
stars are not positions," I whispered, my voice sounding hollow, as if
echoing through a vast, leaden bell. "They are apertures."
The text spoke of the Great Weaving,
a time when the sky would peel back like a cauterised wound to reveal
the gelatinous void beyond. I felt a rhythmic thumping—not my heart, but
something beneath the floorboards, a heavy, wet percussion that
vibrated in my marrow. The shadows in the corner of the room detached
themselves from the stonework. They did not move like shadows; they
flowed like spilled oil, possessing a hateful, sentient geometry.
I
reached for my spectacles, but my hands were slick with a cold,
translucent ichor. Panic, sharp and metallic, tasted of copper on my
tongue. I looked at the window, expecting the familiar silhouette of the
Miskatonic campus, but the glass revealed only a swirling, cyclopean
vista of emerald suns and towers built of calcified bone.
A
sound began then—a piping, dissonant flute melody that bypassed the
ears and vibrated directly against the brain stem. It was the idiot
music of the vacuum, the soundtrack to the mindless churning at the
centre of infinity. I realised then that the Fragment wasn't a record of
the past; it was a beacon. My reading had provided the final, psychic
resonance required to bridge the threshold.
"Ia!
Ia!" The words bubbled up unbidden from my throat, no longer my own. My
skin felt tight, itching with the phantom sensation of scales.
I
looked down at the desk. The ink from the parchment was crawling onto
my sleeves, etching the same rhythmic glyphs into my very flesh. I tried
to scream, but my jaw unhinged with a wet, sickening pop, stretching to
accommodate a language no human throat was ever meant to shape. As the
lamp finally flickered out, I wasn't in the dark. I saw everything—the
crawling chaos, the blind dreamer, and the terrible, shimmering truth
that humanity was but a brief, accidental flicker in a universe of
ancient, hungry gods.'
It then said 'Would you like to explore another archival discovery from the Miskatonic vaults, or perhaps focus on the biological transformation of the researcher?'
Now, a lot of people hate AI and go on about how it can kill creativity and art and all that. Personally, I'm the sort that can (and have) build a computer or upgrade a laptop and have been around computers since abot 1973-4. So I'm quite happy with AI bearing in mind how careful you have to be when asking AI to do something - I use it a lot on the likes of Quora but make sure I'm using it to put things I already know in order - AI can make some ridiculous mistakes - I have been known to ask it to correct a statement several times. Having said that I can think of a lot of uses for AI in writing scenarios, etc - might look into this further.
Incidentally, that 'Cyllenius Fragment'...
'Based on the provided search results, there is no single, widely recognized "Cyllenius Fragment" in classical literature. However, the term "Cyllenius" relates to Hermes (derived from Mount Cyllene).
Search results show potential connections:
Archaeological Finding:A fragment bearing the legend "[th]" and referring to a wooden phallus of Hermes Cyllenius is mentioned in a Cambridge University Press archaeology article.
Literary/Author Reference: "Cyllenius" appears as a name in lists of authors or editors, sometimes associated with Bernardo Cyllenio (Bernardinus Cyllenius).
Poetic Reference:The Travels of Cyllenius. a Poem. in Sixty-Six Cantos is listed as a non-fiction work from 1796.
Note: The results also mention "Cyllenius" in contexts of 700-600 BC (Loeb Classical Library) and within the works of John Dryden.'
Just read on the Ragged Soldier blog about the death of George Gush - seems he died last year.
I remember George very well - few memories of us in the 70's standing next to each other at various conventions moaning when we saw people fielding unpainted figures in competition battles! Must have spoken to him several times before I found out who he was - saw his picture in a magazine and recognised him. Don't know if he ever knew my name.
Actually, he might have done - was talking to Alan Watson, editor of Sword and Lance magazine and he mentioned he wanted to speak to George about an article George was doing. Alan didn't know what George looked like, but by coincidence George passed by as we were talking so I yelled out 'George', he stopped, I introduced him and left them to it!
For those who don't know him, George, he was the author of a useful book and set of wargames rules... even has his own Wikipaedia page, something I'll never have!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gush
(Sidenote - Alan published my very first paid wargames article. It was over 50 years ago!)
Still sorting it to a degree - might change a couple of things.
The cavalry figures are unarmoured horse archers, one of which is on an armoured horse.Useful for a number of things - light cavalry, early unarmoured cavalry, etc. Going clockwise from these are a couple of conversions I did years ago - basically Fantasy Arabs. Next, Gallic standard bearer with cockerel standard to give a bit of variety. Then a couple of Sarmation standard bearers to replace the one that didn't work last time. Another Fantasy Arab - should have kept them together for the photo. Then three lancers with the bowcase removed. Apart from Sarmations that don't have bows, gluing a mace to the right side would make a useful Parthian. Or any other cataphract really.
