This Blog smells of Heresy!

It's Friday...Rejoice!

" Yaaay at last, I can't believe it, it's Friday...Yay. I've never been so relieved. Too much? Ok I'll calm it down...Yay. "

Celtoc and his big sword.

Celtoc gets his new sword from Renegade miniatures and shows it to the village.

Dark Elves

A young Mengal Manhide pays a visit to a neighbouring settlement, within a month he will be it's new King. I have a real soft spot for the old pre-slotta Dark elves. They were designed by the perry's way back in 1984, but I didn't get around to collecting them until 1986, by which time they were all being re sculpted and suck on plastic bases. I managed to pick a couple up on eBay last month but they cost me dear. For some reason they remind me of my childhood more than any other figure range, which is odd because I only had a few.

The Cruel Face of War

My friend told me the story last night of the time he was barred from playing in a Games workshop shop because his figures were last seasons.

I have to say they do tend to update their ranges quite a bit, It's hard to keep up. Still the story still makes me laugh. They were the days...

40K Space Marine Game

I have to say I am getting very excited by the release of the new Space marine game from GW for the X box and Play Station.
I loved their Dawn of War series for the PC and so was delighted to find the the same makers (Relic) are responsible for Space Marine. I used to hate the idea of Space Orks until I watched the opening sequence for Dawn Of War, now I'm totally sold.
It's being released in August and I for one can't wait. Makes a nice change for me to be saying nice things about GW, but their figures and models are still over priced.http://youtu.be/aFHKIFDjk9I


After writting about it, I had to post a link to the opening of Dawn of War. Three or four years old now, but still a classic! It made me swollow my harsh words about GW and buy the game!http://youtu.be/UID6LEzvRRo

In memory of my good friend Owain Jones

Brothers in arms.

Finishing of the Legions

I have been racing through most of my old Legions and just finishing off the odd job here and there, this Pannonian Legion has been waiting for it's third Cohort for over a year, well, after a long drawn out march... here it is.

It still needs it's Primus Pilus and Eagle bearer to be totally complete, but they are on they're way. I also need to complete two other Eagle bases for two other Legions as well, but they too are on the to do list. When all is completed, we hope to carry on our Roman campaign but this time, using the COE rules instead of WAB.

These figures are from Companion Miniatures. The crested ones are from the Foundry Caesarian range. I used Citadel Ink wash to shade these as I wanted more control and a quicker drying time. Black Ink for the armour and brown Ink for the flesh and equipment.

Roman Cohorts in C.O.E

After looking through the Clash Of Empires rulebook today and seeing their examples, I thought I would redesign the look of my Cohorts.
My Legions used to be made up of 3 x 24 Legionaries, but now I have restructured them into 4 x 18. They look a lot better and feel a lot more Roman too. The chequer board formation also adds it's self to some of the Legionary rules within the game, like giving unit support to forward units.

The first Cohort at the front with the Eagle base behind it. Followed up by three more Cohorts, this is my new Legion look. In game terms the Legion obviously can't be too big, but I like the idea of lots of men and think this grouping has the right number and feel to it.

The left over Eagle stand will join one of these smaller 18 man cohorts and turn it into the first Cohort with it's higher stats and greater man power. We plan to actually turn the Eagle stand (Primus Pilus, Eagle bearer, Vexillium standard) into a Sub-commander in the game.

Anyway I'm very happy because the units look 'Right' now and should contrast nicely against the larger 40-50 man war bands, again bringing more realism to the look of the game.

XIIII back in white

Back to work tomorrow.

Romans, crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle. Bronze ones are my favourites...

Roman crest colours

After a lot of research this morning, I decided to repaint the XIIII helmet crests red. This was for a couple of reasons, the first was that I found the actual web site for the XIIII re-en actors and they carry red plumes. The second was that I thought red would make them look more Legionary rather than Praetorian.
However, after spending half an hour repainting...I have to say I think I preferred them as they were, so I'll be painting them back. The white plumes tended to stand out a lot better where as the red is instantly lost. They are meant to be elite Legionaries who wear their plumes to mark that fact, so maybe white is better after all.

This is the XIIII before the hair dying session. I think I prefer these.

Above can be seen a Warlord Games Praetorian, Gripping Beast Praetorian and Foundry Praetorian.

At least one good thing did come out of this mornings work and that's that I got to muddy up the shields a bit. Which I do Like.

Spray Can Method

Early days yet, but I hope this saves me some time. The rest of the Legion's cloaks were painted using Foundry's Bay Brown range. So I guess we'll just have to see If this lot fit in ok.

Figures from Companion Miniatures. A nice range of figures adapted from Mark Copplestone's range of Caesarians for Foundry.

My only moan is they are priced quite high and the Centurions have MASSIVE crests. I was lucky enough to pick this lot up a few years ago at Salute. I knew they would come in handy one day. " Just don't even go there Lucious"

Operation Work Sherk.

Tiding up the Empire at last, I thought It time I caught up with that to do list. After having great success with the spray can method of quick painting, I thought I would give It a go on these cloaked Legionaries.

Happy Easter

14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion

Emblem: Eagle wings and thunderbolts.
Birth Sign: Capricorn.
Origin Of Title: Gemina from the combination with existing Legion.
Foundation: Julius Caesar.
Recruitment: Originally Cisalpine Gaul.
BATTLE HONOURS: Pannonian war, AD6-9.
Invasion of Britain, AD 43.
Invasion of Anglesey, Britain, AD 60-61.
Boudicca's Revolt, Britain, AD 60-61.
Battle of Bedriacum, Italy, AD69.
Battle of Old Camp, Germany, AD 70.
Trajan's Dacian Campaigns, AD 101 - 102 and 105 - 106.
Quadi, Iazyge and Marcomanni Wars of Marcus Aurelius, AD 161 -180.

XIIII Gemina Martia Vitrix 1 Boudicca 0

I really enjoyed painting up the extra four men needed for the Cohort and it really showed me the beauty of these plastics. I sprayed them silver then painted the red tunic, flesh then brown for sandals etc. Dipped in the brown strong tone from AP they came up a treat. Unlike those dirty Horse archers, I did take the time to highlight the flesh and armour after dipping. Very quick and loads of fun. The shields were quite time consuming but worth It. Boudicca Is in for a big shock when she finally arrives from Norfolk.

Another thing I like about these plastics, is the fact you can turn the heads and add real variety into the units with the poses.

XIIII Stand like a wall against both Celt and fellow Roman.

These are very scary close ups but the unit does look striking on the board. I have to say that some of the poses aren't how I would have done them, but I really like these plastics from Warlord Games. For what It's worth, I think these look better glued with the head looking sideways over the shield arm as if the man is advancing. This also solves the problem of the large bases the plastics have and fitting the figures on my movement bases.

XIIII Gemina Martia Vitrix

Here are those Praetorians I bought from eBay last week. I have converted them into Legionaries as I already have a Praetorian Cohort and can't really field two. So now they are the most Famous Legion in the Empire... the XIIII.
To show off their elite status they wear the horse hair plume on their helmets in battle. I have ordered another box of these plastics and look forward to seeing another Cohort join them.

The shield blazon was adapted from the actual XIIII Gemina Martia Vitrix re-en actors. I have always seen them in books and on TV (slightly overshadowed of course by the Ermin Street Guard), so It was nice to put all their research into my Roman collection.

Celtic Light cavalry

Another 'quick' unit of Celtic Cavalry joins the War bands. I have a further twelve to paint and then that should be all of them. Although I have chariots, I have gone for four units of Light horse, I just think they will be more useful. I dare say that in a year or two I will get around to painting up those Chariots, but they just don't grab me at the moment.