Snapshots of history

Roman slingshot, I placed my hand in the shot to give a sense of scale. After seeing them in books, I thought they would be larger than they were.
A suit of Roman chain mail remains frozen in time as It was left thousands of years ago.
For all those painting Celts at the moment, here is a reconstruction of Celtic Cloth.

A wall to keep out Celts

Here is the wall that was built around Verulamium after the Boudiccian revolt. Note the characteristic layers of red tiles in the flint stone work.

Verulamium Museum

Here are some images from the Fantastic Verulamium Museum. Verulamium or St Albans as It's known today was the second Roman town to be raised to the ground by the forces of Boudicca in AD 60, after Verulamium was looted and burned, she moved on to Londinium.
This stunning Mosaic floor belonged to a grand house that was built after the Iceni revolt had destroyed the town.
It had under floor heating and a section of the floor has fallen away to expose the hypocaust below. The level of craftsmanship involved to produce such a piece of work was breathtaking.

Celtic Skirmishers

Here is another quickly painted unit of Celtic Skirmishers. I used the excuse of painting some more fantastic Warlord Games plastic celts to produce another unit.
The Noble is mounted on a small native pony to keep pace with his mobile force of javelin men.
Tufts of grass from Silflor Models were added to their bases to give the effect of rough terrain.

I liked the effect so much, I decided to go through my entire collection of Skirmish troops and do the same.

Vickers team in France 1944

Here is the finished Vickers machine gun. I added some flowers from Silflor Models to add to the realism.

Steady Lads...Steady!

Germanicus encourages his soldiers. "Their bodies, while grim enough to behold, are powerful only for a short-lived onset and lack the stamina to bear a wound". For a short Mediterranean man, coming face to face with a giant from the dark, untamed forests of the North must have been utterly terrifying to say the least.

Victers Section

Finally!!!! I've finished some more Brits after being snowed under for two months. I feels sooo good to be painting again I can't begin to tell you. I think It must be good for the soul. Anyway, here they are ready for action, finished!

I like these bigger bases as Its gives me a chance to create little dioramas. Bolt-action Miniatures produce a wealth of ammo boxes and spare rifles etc to really help me get creative with them . I added bits of broken balsa wood to act as Debris and gave one of the Vickers team some added protection in the way of sand bags, these were sculpted from 'Green stuff'.

Those damn dirty natives!

I couldn't help myself the other day and had to paint some ancients again. These are hard plastic Celts from Warlord Games. I love them because they are so fun to put together and paint. I like to use them as skirmishers a head of the War bands, so stick them two to a base.

I find them more satisfying to paint than 'Metals', I think It must be the fact I created the pose of the figure, I'm not sure.

Naked is sooooo last year Hermann!

The changing fashions of Ancient warfare.

I couldn't help myself this week as Foundry produced a crazy deal on their 'collection' ranges. Going there to look at successors, I was side tracked into buying some Ancient Germans. I have always loved their Ancient German cavalry but could never go the distance on their new wacko prices.
I have amassed a giant German army from Black Tree Design but always promised myself some Foundry Cavalry when the time was right. Well, with this deal bringing their crazy prices down to what they were about three years ago...the time was right. Thanks for the tip off Big Red Bat.
However, attached to one of these collections was a group of naked savages. Now to appease my friend on the war games table, I may have to cover these sky clad warriors with a little 'green stuff'. As the period we are playing (early Imperial), warriors had become a little more modest with their equipment. Hermann, didn't get the memo about the new dress code.

Death to all ROMANS!

Does size matter?

"Sir, It looks like he bought his cavalry from Renegade Miniatures!!"


Let It be known that Renegade Miniatures make some fantastic figures and with their new Regiment deals, they are unbeaten for value. However; be warned, their horses are rather on the large side.

Examples of play

The Senate is ready

The Senate is finally ready to begin voting. After some play testing and a little tweaking, the Senate can get down to the serious business of arguing, shouting, back stabbing, bribing, coughing, sleeping, sulking and voting.

The minor changes to the Senate's voting are as follows. The Master Veto piece if picked, does not have to be played if the player wishes not too. The pieces once chosen are laid down face up so the player can see them but the other player can't. They can also be placed down in any order. This makes better sense as It allows the player to see and use any special pieces to his advantage.
The Master Veto must be used at the end once all the votes are in and counted. The same goes for the red Army counters. There is also another piece not mentioned before, because I couldn't think of a use for it. This is a red Veto piece. This piece can be either laid down as an Army vote or used to clear the Senate as a Master Veto counter. Once a Master Veto piece has been used to restart the voting it can not be returned to the bag and must be set aside. If the voting ends in two options drawing, each player takes two more playing pieces from the bag. This carries on until a decision has been reached. There all done...let the voting begin.

The New Face of WAB

Not being one to follow the chat forums, I am always the last to know everything, so It was with concern that I found out last night that Rob Broom had been axed by GW. After years of dedication to the Warhammer Historical scene, he has been fired and replaced by Forge World, a Sub-company of GW who make resin models. So there you go....slightly worrying news to my mind about the future of WAB there.
I suppose It's fair to say that with all the recent competition in the market lately, the pressure has been on to get results. The Osprey backed 'Fields of Glory' must have sent shock waves through the ranks at GW with its glossy photos and Angus McBride illustrations. Even I, a great WAB supporter have wondered at their recent out put of Pirates, Cowboys and now Tall ships from Warhammer Historical in favour of the much needed support for the existing game. Maybe this was the early warning signs of the Gw take over, who have an M.O of rewriting their supplements and rules every four years. Pushing new titles and forgetting old ones.
Another reason I am a little concerned with the news, is that Rob did give his supplements out to enthusiasts of the periods concerned and although they may of taken a little longer to produce, the end result was usually one of quality. Now that GW have taken WAB back and given it to a sculpting sub-company, what will be the end result. I dare say we will see a lot more publications to rival the dreaded wolf at the door, 'Fields of Glory', but will they be all glossy photos and no substance? To quote a friend " They may know their Space marine from their Squat, but know squat about their history!!!"
I just hope that this doesn't effect the supplements that are in production at the moment like the Successor's and the new long awaited Roman supplements. I guess we will have and wait and see.
In the mean time, Good luck to you Rob and thank you for all your hard work, don't let the B@%tards grind you down!


(Above picture) 'Ugzod the Axeman' is now available from Games Workshop for £8.95.

The Senate has decided!

Here is an example of play for the Senates round. As you can see a large amount of war mongers voted to take the fight to Secundus, but were out voted right at the end by the more cautious Senators. Veto wins the day and no military action is taken this round. A few Senators voted for attacking Alanicus and one voted for attacking Rome itself and taking back the traditional seat of power. This time Secundus was lucky and play tested results show that poor old Secundus is more likely to get it than any of the others. After being forced to flee Rome it's safe to say that the Senate really have it in for poor old Secundus.

Finished Playing pieces

The entire deck of Senate playing pieces. As they are they work very well but there is room to add other pieces if needed. If the voting ends in a draw with equal votes for two options, then the players each take another two tablets from the bag and add them to the result. This way the voting can go on for another two or three rounds, these long debates equal the Senate voting for days on a course of action. It's always good when they go on for ages, you know it was a hard fought decision then when the final tally is counted.
The red tablet for the army vote, this is added to any pile to either prolong or decide a vote with the help of a high ranking general or two. Though be warned; the Army lot are very fickle and their allegiances may change like the wind, it has been known for them to back two separate motions at the same sitting.

The Senate prepares to vote

An idea came to me the other day how to make the Senate a player character within the Roman Campaign. I thought I'd design a voting method that allows independent choices to be made with in the decision round of the game turn.
Two players pick five tablets from a bag and arrange them face down on the table. Next, they take it in turns to flip them over. There are ten for Secundus, ten for Alanicus, ten for Rome and ten Veto's. The pile with the most tablets wins the vote and the army of the Senate marches on the elected result.
To add a little extra fun to the election results, there are two Army tablets. These are the favour and weight of the army. If a player picks one of these he can put it on any pile he chooses, thus giving the army's influence to a vote. There is also a master Veto tablet, this represents the casting vote of Plaudicus who as Consul has the heaviest vote. If this tablet is laid, the whole Senate has to be returned into the bag and the voting starts again.
There is also a tablet with II painted on it, if this is laid then it must be returned to the bag and two others picked in it's place. It may sound very simple (like most of my ideas and rules) but it's great fun and really works. In fact it's probably more fun than rolling on the table of the gods and I never thought I'd ever say that!

Sir Ralph the Armchair historian

Reminds me of the time back in the Raj.....

Wheres Wally?

Spice can also make a difference on the Infantry bases. A little touch here and there can really add some fine detail.
He who controls the Spice...controls the universe!