Starting Gallic chariots

 

First three cast using the SKT Celtic chariot ABS1. Horse is the classic GA1 general's horse - I'll probably use a plainer horse for future chariots. I'm anticipating another six after these.

I'd always thought ABS1 looked huge and originally intended to scratch build. Then I cast an ABS1 to get ideas about the sides, put my half built chariot next to it, and realised that, if I simply slightly modified the chariot pole and moved the yoke closer to the cab body, ABS1 would be better! So scrubbed the scratch build.

Spanish round shield cavalry

 

Bare chested riders with trousers painted as bare legged riders with white v necked tunics edged in purple...

They look OK at a distance - fine as wargames figures just not up to close inspection.

Standard bearer is a Gaul with the cut down helmet... Boar standard, as per figure 118 of Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars. Though mine has the boar facing forward, not to the rear.

I've painted the hair as a linen helmet - it's too long at the back but looks OK. Red cloak - black is apparently mostly a highland thing, red often used by others. I'm just going to use either as I feel like - gives variety.

Summary: Not the most accurate figures you'll ever see, but overall they seem to work all right.

New mould -Sarmations and Dacians RY157

 

Got mould RY157 back from Pete. I've leave it a few days to post cure before I check it out. 

The mould covers all the Sarmation and Dacian infantry plus Sarmation cavalry riders, Both standard bearers are conversions. As far as I know none of the DA figures were ever issued in the past.

This is the nominal mix for the next mould. The Gauls basically cover the ones that weren't too successful before - one thing I'm not sure about is whether to add a load more Gallic figures to this mould. On the other hand, I think I have spent more on the Gallic moulds than I really wanted to. The Sarmation figures are two different one piece mouldings, three on unarmoured horses, one on an armoured horse. How well RY157 works will probably determine whether or not I add another armoured horse archer and fill out the mould with more Sarmations. The one piece casting is a medium cavalry figure so the half armoured horse is not a 'correct' figure - paint conversion! - but I can see me doing an army with lots of the other figure...

Martian Tripods

 

Originally bought two, misplaced one (habit of mine), got two more for Christmas from Steven and Sarah... so finally found the misplaced one but it's still unpainted. I'm not sure where to go with these - leave it at the four or go all out and eventually build up a force of about twelve. At about 7cms tall they can be used with just about any scale from 6mm upwards to 28mm.

There are two different models - one as a straight gunship, the other with 'grasping appendages' - either command or to collect victims for 'research' purposes...

Note for some reason I couldn't get the link to the Minifigs/Matchlock Miniatures to work! Just came up as a blank screen.

Proof of concept - Kushite and Spanish cavalry

Looking at the Roman and Gallic cavalry, naturally my first thought is 'what else can I use them for'.

Firstly, the Gallic cavalry figure wears trouser and is bare above the waist. Spanish long shield cavalry aren't like that at all.

Using paint to show tunic and boots instead of trousers seems to work OK.

The only physical change I made to the figure was to grind down the helmet crest to give a plain helmet.

The head on this figure looks very Egyptian so I'm looking at using him for Egyptian/Kushite/ Blemye cavalry.

The only modification I made to it was to grind down the raised shield pattern.

For the armour I did alternate copper and iron scales. The colour scheme is quite... well, colourful.

Conclusion - both 'conversions' worked quite well and will be very useful in the future.

Celtic swordsmen and others

I've completed the first unit using a mix of converted sword and spearmen.

It gives a better impression of a warband with a range of different figures.

So now I could probably get by with another 7 or so units...

One figure gives me an armoured swordsman or spearman converted from the infantry standard bearer.

Infantry conversion from a cavalry figure - simply turned the left foot forward and put it on a base. There is also a swordsman version of this.

Finally a simple conversion of the infantry spearman.

A lot of the conversions on the mould broke up when the mould was being made. As a result, they needed some work doing to them. As such, I'll be sending a load of them off to be made into a new mould... a mould that will also include some Sarmation medium horse archers. It'll be a while before I get this mould made - got plenty of other stuff to do first...

A late mould (should have been sorted before Christmas!)

 

Originally this lot should have been sorted before Christmas - just didn't make it. As far as I know the Dacian officer and falx warrior were never issued (although I did put them in my catalogue!) and the two standard bearers are both conversions. So this mould is a pretty good expansion! Anyway, it's now been collected by the post office.

More Gallic cavalry

This lot means I've now got three Gallic cavalry units. Again, I've made good use of paint pens for the shields and cloaks.

I'm probably going to do one more unit, the next lot being armoured. That will be simply achieved by painting the torso bronze...

Finally, a command group I should have painted earlier! This means my Dacian light cavalry can double up as Ancient British light cavalry.

Statuesque Miniatures cloth animals by Steven.

'Hi Dad,

I have painted the cloth animals by Statuesque Miniatures you sent me. They were painted, by my standards, quite quickly. About 90% of the painting of the miniatures themselves was done by stippling the paint on using the sponge backing from blister packs.

I continue trying to improve my photography:

·       I have discovered a new setting (telephoto) on my phone which works better,

·      Set the camera to a 5-second timer to reduce camera shake,

·      Supported my hands more with cushions (a proper tripod would probably be even better),

·     Directed light from my painting lamp into the light box, so light is shining on the miniature from all angles.

    I think it is better now (still not perfect). I have also included a photo of a caveman taken under the new conditions to provide direct comparison with earlier photography attempts.'

Dacian light cavalry

 

First actual wargames unit of the year painted and based - which gives me the entire 'allowed' native Dacian cavalry...

Unchanged Gallic cavalry with a tunic painted on instead of being bare chested. Standard is my converted Sarmation standard bearer figure.

I've given quite a few of them 'tartan' tunics and cloaks on the grounds that they could have worn tartan tunics and cloaks :) Tartans simply drawn using paint pens.

Must do some archers and light infantry javelins at some time... Archers using my universal archer figure? possibly add a short cloak? - also need to convert a figure to act as a Dacian infantry standard bearer.

Gods of Egypt

Very slow start to the New Year but finally starting to get things done...

First ones finished are some Minifigs Gods of Egypt. There should be six of them, but one seems to be MIA somewhere between getting it's undercoat and reaching the painting table.

The pictures on these look a lot worse than the figures! One hint about this - their clothing is acually ivory without even a hint of blue! 

Another lot of figures nearly finished is this unit of Celts repurposed as Dacian light horse. There is another unit of Celts undercoated - I've also undercoated a couple of extras so that I can use these as Celts by changing the command element!

And finally a couple of Minifigs Martian tripods undercoated. All the Minifigs figures were kindly donated by Santa (OK, Steven) while the Dacians were test castings from my new moulds.

New moulds RY155 and RY156

This one fills in a few gaps in the classical Roman Range.

 

Mostly an attempt to expand the Gauls by giving them a few swordsmen as well as upgrading the cavalry moulds. Not 100% successful - some of the conversions didn't survive the mould making.

Haven't a clue what happened to the colours on this photo - the blues seem to have gottten lost somewhere. It's a royal blue tablecloth for instance! Meanwhile gives an idea of the 'new' figures - they'll really need another mould.

Been a bit windy...

 

So that's one unexpected job to sort...

Happy New Year everybody!

New Year's games ...

Drinks and nibbles (Philly cheese, salmon, lumpfish caviar and quail eggs on blinis

And drinks time...

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!