Latest frm Steven - Rebel Minis

Hi Dad, 

Took a break from tanks to paint some Rebel Minis cavemen which arrived after my big prehistoric update.

REC3 Cavalryman half armour, spear and shield

 

Almost the last unit of cavalry. REC3.

Not really my favourite - don't think I'll be doing any more units of this figure.

Still,it completes collection of units.

Except for this figure. These lousy photos are of a couple of figures I've included on the Roman mould I've sent off to be made. They are Garrison - virtually the same pose and style as REC4. Helmet the same as REC2. Best guess? An original version of REC6 that was discontinued and replaced by the figure with the oval shield. At some stage a unit of these will be joining the army!

With this unit finished it's time to tidy up the painting area ready for the Christmas tree to go up, so no more painting until January. 

Auxilia from REC4...

The original idea was to use these for another cavalry squadron... then I thought 'actually, nice pose for an auxilia figure.'

So left foot bent forward, glued on a thin card base to make painting easier...

For me, it's a really good auxilia figure! Prefer it to RE14B, it's nearest equivalent in the original range!

Still to do - 24 figure unit of RE14A, couple more units of the Praetorians to act as late republic, possibly another unit of  RE6A, the marching legioary. Currently being painted unit of REC3, Cavalryman half armour, spear and shield.

Ordering Roman and Gallic moulds...

 Figures collected for new moulds...

Firstly, a Roman mould to enable me to produce some figures faster than I can at the moment.

On the other hand, the Gallic mould is more to extend the range - especially by giving the Celts a few swordsmen! 

Other moulds planned for the New Year will/should include a couple of Sarmation mould - one infantry, one cavalry. The original idea was to just put all the Sarmations on one mould and send all three away before Christmas, just didn't prove to be practical.

A Gallic chariot

 

Well, of course I was going to look at making chariots for the Gauls...

I literally used things that were just lying around! The chariot sits a bit high off the ground, any future ones I'll probably use smaller wheels - possibly Rose 20mm artillery wheels. On this particular chariot body the axle is a bit further back than I like.

Size comparison with the Airfix chariot.

Construction... for the sides I just used a couple of pieces from an Airfix chariot. I'm not sure what the body of the chariot was from - either Khmer or possibly the 28mm AG/AB Range of  Celts. Could even finish up making future chariot bodies totally from scratch.

SA1 Sarmation infantry with spear and shield.

 

When sorting the ex-Harry Gauls I found a number of Sarmations filling out the ranks. I've now rescued these and put them together as Sarmations.

Normally, a figure such as this would be LMI rather than LI, but the DBA list I'm using has them as LI so...

At some time in the future I will, however, do a lot more and use them as 'Greek Black Sea infantry' on LMI bases, as well as using them in any Dacian army I may or may not do! 

GAC1 Cavalryman with spear and shield and cloak unarmoured

 

GAC1 Cavalry figure with a GA1 Mounted general/officer/noble in command and converted standard bearer.

At some stage I'll do another of these units, possibly including some figures converted to swordsmen.

Not often that I go for a back view, but the use of paint pens makes a big difference on how I do cloaks (and shields!)

I would expect to do at least one other unit based on this figure, possibly including some sword wielding conversions. This figure also makes a good infantry conversion, again probably including swordsmen conversions.

RE12 Roman slingers

 

Started painting these before I got sidetracked by the Gauls!

For the paint scheme I've painted them in a Spanish Carthaginian scheme - purple edged white tunics and black cloak. I wanted to see how well they would look as Balearic slingers with the possibilty of producing them with the shield detail sanded down. Probably won't bother, this lot does the job OK anyway. I did think about the sword being on the right, but then I spotted the fact that a lot of the Gauls had their scabbards on the right as well. So I'm just writing it off as a Garrison thing :)

Gallic (Hykranian?) cavalry

Based on GAC4, Cavalry standard bearer, this lot would make nice fantasy cavalry! 

 

The cavalry are simple conversions - officer is the standard bearer with the standard cut down and hammered into a sword, the other ranks just had the top of the standard cut away and the end hammered and cut into a spear point.

The standard bearer can also be simply converted into infantry giving useful variations for the infantry with 'horned head dress'

Tanks everywhere

Latest update from Steven...

'Quick update. Decided to get some intensive practice with the air brush by doing the colour modulation on my German tanks... all 77 of them. Even though they are a long way from finished, they are still quite a sight. I like how the Maus' turret is larger than some of the smaller tanks in their entirety.'

Last Gallic warband based

 

Or, at least the figures I got from Harry. 

It was short a few figures including a standard bearer - about six figures all together.

I'm currently going through the cavalry - one unit nearly finished, another cast but hasn't been undercoated yet. Realistically about five cavalry units needed, plus perhaps another unit of light javelins and 150 or so warband infantry - half Gallic, half Galation!

Quick photo of Gallic swordsman conversion...

 

Fom GA4, GAC1 would be another good alternative but wearing a cloak.

Mollie Tuttle - early cds

 

Big fan of Molly Tuttle so when these very early and totally unavailable cds came up on ebay... sniped the auction and got them for just over a tenner each! I bid well over twice that but didn't expect to win - so I'm happy. On the other hand her band Golden Highway has broken up so no more Bronwyn or Shelby...

The Galations

 

When I was going through the figures some of the GA4 spearmen were painted slightly differently to the rest. Naturally, I thought 'OK, make them medium rather that light medium infantry and call them mercenary spearmen from beyond the Alps'.

Then I thought 'why not do all the spearmen on MI bases and call them Galations?' 

So I now have 80 Galation spearmen... which really means I don't have enough of either the LMI or MI for full armies, which means I probably need a load more figure...

Incidentally, the lack of swordsmen in the range bothers me. I've looked at the various figures and this figure looks like the one that works best as a swordsman. So need to do some of them as well...

Gallic light javelins

 First, quick reminder of what day it is. We owe a lot of servicemen and it's only right to make a big thing of it. Thank you.

Simple conversion of GAC2 - Cavalryman with javelin and shield, unarmoured. Left foot bent forwards and stuck on a base... I can live with the thin legs.

I'll probably 'need' a couple more of these units as well as a couple of units of them as light cavalry. Paint pens are a major boon when it comes to doing the cloaks and shields!

Going a bit overboard on Gallic conversions...

 

Might get back to the Romans eventually.. original figure in the centre, officer and spear/shield cavalryman conversions - gives all the figures for an interesting cavalry unit...

The cavalry figure mounted on bases as infantry (just pointed the left foot forward for the standard bearer, cut down standard and hammered flat for officer. Two other standard bearer conversions in centre. 

Lousy picture - spear/shield cavalryman given a standard.

This lot, together with other Gallic conversions, make an army more viable. Meanwhile, all the figures with bison headresses give an interesting option - a fantasy army of Northern Barbarians...

More 'Christmas dividend' stuff...

A bought item... money box acting as a biscuit tin but really an interesting balloon... love this, don't intend to paint over it, just pretend it's different things...

 

Sorting out old cake decorations yielded quite an eclectic mix... 40-50mm tall models so fit in with some of my 42mm stuff (?).

Already got a load of stock cars, really must make a race track (A3 3mm MDF boards!)

And a few odd bits - Santa is 40mm tall. Probably dates back to the 1950s or 60s!

So, quite a lot of stuff being added to the wargames heap.

The Night Before Christmas

 

As you've probably realised, I'm always on the look out for potential wargames figures and objects. Came across these in B&M in Wisbech... About 67p per figure.

Figures range in size from 30mm to 50mm. Lots of uses... At least, that's what I intend....

Slings and Arrows...

GA8, Infantry with bow unarmoured (plus GA3 officer!). A few of these were mixed in with the warband units so I've painted up some extras and made a unit of them.

I did convert this figure into Scythians, then decided it was just as good using them as is and letting paint mask the differences!. Seems to work OK.

Next lot are an unintended conversion. GA4, Infantry spear and shield. Except on a lot of them the tops of the spears kept breaking...

As the result reminded me of a sling, and as there wasn't a slinger in the range, bit of green stuff to bulk out the bottom of the spear shaft... I now have two 12 strong units of slingers...

Comparison between the original and the conversion. It works well and, if used for Ancient Brits, one I'll probably finish up making more of...