Lord of The Rings

XIV Legion WIP

Almost done now, the shields are painted and everything has two coats of Matt varnish (very important with Army Painter). I just need to flock them now and they're ready to go.

Two Cohorts of the fighting 14th in double quick time. Soon they will join the third cohort in the Army of Britannia.

Edgehill Battle site.

Well I finally made it to Edgehill and driving along the top of the sheer drop you can see how the hill got its name.

I was a little disappointed to find I couldn't go down onto the battlefield as It is owned by the M.O.D and restricted to the public. However there is a good vantage point from the castle pub on top of the hill.

Stowe House.

At the weekend I took a drive up into Warickshire to find the Battle site of Edge Hill, on the way I passed the grand house and grounds of Stowe in Buckinghamshire.

Battle Of Nantwich

Greek Mercenaries in Roman Service

Here is another idea I'm playing around with inspired by a Simon Scarrow novel. A unit of Greek mercenaries fighting for Rome. In the book the Greeks are fighting using their Hoplite equipment. This is a nice idea but I think I will tweak it slightly to bring them up to date with my Roman forces of 69AD.

So to do this I will give them a variety of different shields and helmets to reflect the later time scale.
I have a number of round shields (with bosses) and will be using Warlord plastic Roman heads on Crusader Carthaginians.

Not sure when I'll get chance to do this but I think it would make for another interesting character unit.

I think a black snake would make for a good mercenary symbol.

Prince Rupert's Blew Regiment of Foot

Last weekend I finally took the leap and went along to a Sealed Knot training day. I had looked at all the regiments in the society and tried to find the one closest to me, I was delighted to find it was Prince Rupert's. It must be one of the most famous civil war regiments and its strange geometric patterned banner is legendary.

I had great fun and the best thing about the day was just how nice the other members were. I didn't really know what to expect but found the day brilliant fun. The amount of concentration on my face says it all, I was so determined to get all the maneuvers right.

Writers Block!!!

Tonight I just had to clear my head before I could get back to work.

Dipping with Army Painter WIP

So far so good, next up some highlights and a little matt varnish, not to mention a mountain of shields. Once added to my others this lot should make up three 18 man cohorts of the 14th Legion.

I painted the odd little touch to give them more character like beards and wrist guards.

Dipped in strong tone they start to look battle field worthy. I actually like the effect the stain leaves and could easily just leave them in this state, but the painter in me has to tweak the odd highlight or three.

The last thing I painted on the figures were the pilums, leaving the silver spray on the shank and butt end.

The troops start to look a bit more human.

Once all the tunics had been painted I painted in the flesh using Foundry's Flesh 'B' colour.

" I LOVE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE HERE...MAYBE WE SHOULD GO OUT FOR A DRINK SOMETIME?"

I then worked my way inward with the other colours. I tried to keep these down to a minimum when it came to tunic colours etc, this would make highlighting a lot quicker. As these were being painted to match a unit I had acquired from eBay, red was the main tunic colour used.

I have decided to paint them up quickly using Army painter and after a bad start with the stuff, now I am a complete convert. I have sprayed these guys with a silver car paint which stays metallic even when matt varnished, great for armour.

I have been quite taken with the plastic Romans and Celts from Warlord games and decided to make up a couple of cohorts at the weekend. The fun of putting them together just never gets old.

Celtic Hit And Run

These fast Celtic horsemen thunder through a Roman foraging party and snatch a standard. They carry it into battle as a mark of their bravery and to taunt their most bitter enemy.

The horsemen is from AandA Miniatures and the standard is from 1st Corps.