Ancient Celts raid the Workbench

This is an idea that has been with me for a while and in the end, I just had to do something about it. The Idea is too make one of my friends into a Celtic Chieftain to use in the Roman Campaign.

To give the Clan an Identity, I have decided to give some of them bear skin cloaks and make them warriors from the Dumnonii Tribe. This is just fiction on my part and comes from a Rosmary Sutliff book, where the Dumnonii were great trackers and huntsmen.

German detail

This image shows more clearly the spade tucked into the belt of the loading trooper and also some of the face detail from the Bolt-action figures, a nice little set really!
Stay tuned for the second half of the Section, including the MG-42 and the Medic.

Bolt-action Miniatures

Hello there, and welcome back. As you can see this week I have been painting more Germans, only this time, from Bolt-Action miniatures.
These five figures come from a ready made ten man squad, straight off the shelf and at first I wasn't overly impressed. However, on closer inspection I found them to be full of character with nice little details that made them all great individuals. An example of this, is the soldier reloading with the spade tucked into his belt for any close combat surprises.
I also liked the mix of uniform types in the squad, ranging from smock coats to covered helmets to Zeltbahns (quarter tents warn as camouflage). In all, It gives a very nice feel of a late war German Section.



This Section leader among others is painted with 'German field grey' from Vallejo paints. I thought It made sense to buy the right colour, just to be sure and to save hours of mixing time on the tile. I also stuck a spare helmet on him just In case he needs it ...well those Americans do love their Artillery!

Iron-mitten is one year old this month

Secundus has to tolerate the naked Celtic dancers (male), at his birthday celebrations on the eves of March. He doesn't enjoy festivities of any kind, especially ones that mark another year of his life passing. However, his fish-sauce flavoured crisps make the days events tolerable......that is, until they run out!

The Patrol spreads out.

The section fans out to sweep the area and Hans readies his MG-42 to cover his team mates.

Schmitt stays well back and radios in to the Platoon HQ to report enemy contact. Well, he says that, but in fact it'll be some time before these Germans see any enemy, first I have to finish off their own Platoon and maybe a Platoon of the dreaded SS.

The Patrol

Here are some more images of my German Section out on patrol somewhere in france.

Tough 'Sarg' leads point and has been joined by a radio operater, to call in support if he needs it.

However, with the Panther tank attached to his squad he won't need much extra support at all.

German Section

At last I've finished my first German Section, with it's rifle section and it's support section. Below can be seen the fire team with their MG-42 machine-gun, this would get into a strong position and lay down supressive fire. Once the enemy were pinned down by the heavy machine gun, the lighter armed rifle section could then out manoeuvre the enemy and finish them.
Here can be seen the seven rifle men and their supporting fire team. Each team was lead by an officer armed with a sub-machine-gun (MP-40)



As the Panther tanks takes up position on the ridge, the Obergefreiter shouts commands to his Section to take cover.

German Detail

Here are some more shots of my Germans. I have started to paint them in fives, as this allows me more time to paint each one and give them greater detail. Little things, like giving each figure eyes and stumble helps to give them personalty.

Here is a close up of the Rifle section officer, the Obergefreiter, with his MP-40 submachine-gun.
You can see how giving him eyes has given him an instant character all of his own.

The Eagle has landed!

For my German infantry I went with Artizan Miniature's late German range and I was not dissappionted. After what seemed an age of debating and reserching I finally decided to base my figures on 1p pieces. The pennies give a nice weight to the figures and for the price of one round plastic base, I can base twenty seven on pennies. Also, because I will be spending longer on each figure, I stuck them with Blue-tac to old paint pots to make it easier to handle them and get to the detail, I saw this trick on the Inter-net a while ago and thought It would come in handy.

With the Skirmish rules being 1:1 ( one figure = one man) I thought I would make every figure a personalty and try to give him as much character as I could. This was started by trying to hide as best I could the penny bases with Milliput. I first pressed Milliput around the figures feet and then with an old dentist tool, sculpted bricks and bits of rubble into It. To add some finer detail, I painted on blobs of PVA glue and then dipped the figures into fine sand and gravel.

So here they are, the beginning of my first German section (nine men). They are wearing the Marsh camouflage smock jackets of the late war.

Panther Medium Tank

After a painting Romans for many years I thought I'd tackle something alittle more up to date. I've decided to start a collection of world war two forces in the 28mm scale. Too my delight I found out that the Corgi models I already owned were the right scale for 28mm figures, but being the perfectionist that I am, I had to replaint them to bring them up to the spec of my other figures. Below are three stages of paint job from start to finish. I decided to repaint the Panther tank in 'Ambush' camouflage, Autumn 1944.

A fantastic web-site to go to for all your tank modelling needs, is www.missing-lynx.com. It was while there that I got the idea for caking the tracks in mud and grass. This effect was easy to do and just involved mixing PVA glue with grass flock and painting it on to the tracks. When dry, paint and dry brush in mud colours. I added some tiny finishing touches to help bring the tank into scale with my 28 mm troops, the German helmet as well as a rolled blanket was bought from Bolt-action miniatures. They were great to talk too and sent me free figs and ideas and also put me in touch with the Missing-lynx web-site. So far so good, now I have one of the best tanks of the war, but what about the Infantry you ask well lets see.

What's on the work bench?

Well, as you can see the V Alaudae are coming on nicely. As a Gallic Legion, I have decided to give them green shields which to me (for some reason) is a very Gallic colour. On futher reseach, Alaudae means 'lark' and it is thought that the Legion was so named because of its feathered helmet crests. As you can see, my lot have taken theirs off, in readyness for battle. I have also kept their helmets bronze to give them a more out of date look that would befit many Gallic units.

What a pair of mugs!

As the Editor for the UK's leading War games blog 'Iron Mitten', I receive hundreds of letters each week asking me about collecting and painting Roman miniatures and the Roman Campaign in general. Carol Spaggott from Hertfordshire writes "When are you two going to get down to the business of playing a battle and actually face each other on the table top!". Well thanks for your colourful letter Carol, most of which I can't repeat on line. As you know Carol, war takes time and Rome wasn't won in a day. Just for you though Carol, here's a picture of Secundus meeting Tullus face to face on the table top.
The British Empire was won on the back of lots of cups of tea and the growing Empire of Secundus is of no exception! Cheers Iron mitteners. Keep the Letters coming in everybody,(not you Carol).

The Eagles dig in (Campaign 52)

The troops of Secundus get their first glimpse of the enemy, when they arrive on the border of Alpes Gallia and start to dig in. This is the first time the two armies have actually seen each other face to face. Both sides now knew that it was only a matter of time, until they received the order to attack. It would be Roman blood, not Barbarian, that would be trampled into the fields of Gaul.

Meanwhile in Rome, Secundus is busy putting down a small rebellion and has started plans for an Amphitheatre, to lift the spirits of the groaning populous.

Tullus Takes Africa (campaign 51)

May, saw the armies of Tullus sweep through the province of Africa Proconsularis, which came over to him without a fight and added yet another province to his Africian domain. The next three months were quite slow for Tullus, seeing only the construction of roads and a garrison being built in Narbonesis. Tullus now moved his northern army, made from elements of the III and the VII into Narbonesis, It looked like Gaul would now play host to the first of the mighty battles that would rage across the Empire.

The 'EAGLE' novels

I'm enjoying the first one so much that I bought a few more to keep me going. The first one in the series is the one with the dagger on the front ' Under the Eagle'. I highly recommend them, they make my three hours travelling everyday to Londinium and back just fly by and for that, I love them!

Starting a new Legion

Over the past few weeks, I have started on another Legion. It's alot of work but I love it and it's great to finally get round to painting all those bags of figures I've had laying around for years.
This Legion has a very Gallic feel to it and so I have decided to make them the V Alaudae. This Legion also had the nick name ' the larks' due to the colour of their helmet crests. I will post piccies when I have them.

Simon Scarrow books

At last I have been lured into the world of Fiction by the superb Simon Scarrow 'EAGLE' novels. Being one for a well written history book, I very rarely visit the world of Fiction, that is until I found Scarrow!
Scarrow has written a series of books following the adventures of two roman soldiers, a Centurion and his Optio as they struggle through the rigours of Roman military life. In the first book they are stationed in Germany (my favourite place for Romans!) but later they must prepare themselves for the invasion of Britain (AD43). So far, so good and I am really enjoying the first book.
Scarrow really knows his stuff and it shows. 'This is historical fiction at it's best' Secundus.
These books are packed with great little details and loads of imagination, they really get the old creative juices flowing and are a wealth of inspiration. For me, they have the added bonus of involving the British Celts, making me want to cotinue my endless Celtic hordes...I really recommend these books for anyone with an interest in the Roman military and its way of life.

Secundus enters Rome (campaign 50!)

With it's army destroyed and it's Senate gone, Rome seemed almost devoid of life. Those who stayed were horrified to see the army with which Secundus entered the city. Soldiers, who looked more like wild animals than legionaries. Rough, tough veterans, interested in only one thing...personal gain of any sort!
All order broke down once the army entered the city and it took days to finally bring the looting legionaries back under control. Secundus was turning out to be a bad general in everyone's eyes, except for that of his men. They had fought a hard battle to get here and Secundus now let them enjoy the 'spoils of war' for a couple of days, as he called it. After all, they had earned alittle freedom. Rome had rejected Secundus twice and now he gave Rome two days of hell in return.

Merry Christmas from Iron-Mitten

Merry Christmas everyone and have a great new year. All the best, Simon

Tullus strikes back (campaign 49)

Febuary in the new year opened well for Tullus, with the descovery of a salt mine in Mauretania Caesariensis.
When news of Secundus's march on Rome reached the ears of Tullus, he decided it was time to make a strike of his own. Tullus had so far played it safe recruiting in Africa and the outskirts of the Empire, now, he ordered his Legate in Tarraconensis to invade Gaul. Lucius Silius Famia marched an army made from vexillations of the VII Gemina and the newly recruited III Augusta into the Gaulish province of Narbonensis.
For the first time since the war began, the two sides now faced each other across a frontier. By this simple move, Tullus had put pressure on both Gaul and on the capital, Rome itself.