My painting service!

As the world is going to end this year I have decided to jack the rat race and go full-time with my painting service. My website is now live but still a WIP LINK . This blog, as well as my others will remain hobby related. Apart from the little advert on the top right and bottom of the the blogs and this short post I will not be commercialising them.

a few more Apulians

Another nice phalanx of Apulians, again I have finished them off with the marvellous Little big men studios transfers. this time using a selection of Etruscans designed for Aventine miniatures and Italians designed for Grippingbeast. They all fit very well on these Crusader miniatures hoplons.

My favourite is the chap in the front row with the red cloak, who quite by accident has a matching shield and tunic. Gok wan would be impressed!

Imperator

Here he is, the Imperator ready to lead the Samnit chosen band. I have kept with the white and silvered look, then added a bit of colour with the purple. I also decided to give him a hoplon and a rather nice shield transfer from Little big men studios Etruscan range to fit Aventine miniatures.
This chap and the linen legion should really stand out on the battlefield against all the colourful units and bronze armour.

Samnite Linen Legion

According to Livy, the Samnite infantry were divided into two corps. The first wore bleached white tunics and silvered armour. the second wore bronze and muti-coloured tunics. It was the custom of the Samnites to concecrate themselves before battle, and this is why they dressed themselves in white and whitened their arms , as this is the colour of religious purity. In the middle of the camp an enclosure was erected made of wicker fences this was then covered with linen. Here a sacrifice was made according to the ancient rites preserved on linen rolls. The chosen band was created firstly by the imperator selecting ten of the most eminent of the Samnites. These then in turn chose a further ten each until they numbered 16,000 men. These soldiers swore a sollemn oath over the sacrifices, which were guarded by centurions with drawn swords. These were called the Linen legion after the linen roof of the enclosure. They were given silvered arms and crested helmets to distinguish them from the rest.  They were the elite of the army and held the post of honour , the right wing.

On the workbench this week

Sadly I didn't make it to Cold Steel last Sunday. Bloody car let me down.
I did manage to spend a bit of time painting though which was a small consolation.

On the table this week, are a large Samnite phalanx, the rest of the Apulians and some plastics in the shape of GB Vikings and Perry Prussians. The Samnites are now finished, so what to do next??

Apulians in detail

Here are a few pics of the Apulians in a bit more detail

I am pleased with the results.

Next up Samnite Sacred Band!

Apulians

Here is a rather large Apulian phalanx I have jsut finished.

I had trouble acquiring any decent reference material for these boys, so i kept them quite simple then added in some classic Italian style clothing, so hopefully I am not to far off the mark!
Figures are from Crusader miniatures, finished off with LBMS shield transfers, Italian ans Etruscan range fro GB and Aventine minis.
More detailed pics tomorrow

COLD STEEL 2012

Anybody out there off to "Cold Steel" on Sunday? If so i will see you there!
This friendly WAB tournament is held at Gripping beast HQ this time each year. I have my thermals washed and ready.
 I am resurrecting a late Roman army I painted well over 10 years ago for the event. pictures soon

Punic Heavy Cavalry

Here is a great unit of Carthaginian heavy cavalry, I used quite a bright pallet on these chaps as they would be the richest of the Punic citizens. I gave them all the same white horse hair crest to tie them all back in. Even Hannibal has white hair to match! figures are from Grippingbeast, the shield transfers are LBMS.

GBs vision of the great man himself Hannibal Barca. Well he certainly ain't no Hasdrabul the handsome, with his scarred face and only the one eye. But he sure gave the Romans are hard time.

Heads up!

Just a little advert for my great friend and long time wargaming enemy Pat "snake eyes" Smiths new blog. He has posted some fantastic pics on there already and I know he has a lot more to come, well worth a look if you like your eye candy. wargaming with silver whistle

NEW YEAR, NEW NAME

I have finally given up on running my 1066 campaign for the foreseeable future, so i have decided to change the name of my little blog to the more exciting "wargames and WIPs!" anything using the word W(h)ips  is exciting (so i am told by the Mrs. But she also said anything with the word wargames in is boring, so hopefully the blog will be somewhere in the middle).
I do still intend to do a 1066 campaign, as I have quite a few notes written out. but when I am not sure. I still want to paint my Vikings, Normans and Saxons!
I have quite a few posts to go up ove rthe next few weeks, just reall busy at the mo. So keep checking back.

ACW extravaganza!

Last year ended with a bang. I was invited down south for a huge ACW game, this game was played out on over 55' of table which was rammed with figures, absolutely thousands of them!
I wont go into to much detail here as the event should be published in next months Wargames Illustrated.
The host was David Marks, also present was wargames royalty in the shape of Jervis Johnson. Which was handy as we were playing Blackpowder rules. There were roughly 15 wargamers present, some I knew, most I didnt. It was a great day but also a long one for me and my good friend John, he arrived at my house at 0430 for a nice early start. We finally got back into Manchester at 0130...
Heres a few pics to give you an idea of the scale of this game

Main table

King JJ

right flank



in the corner you can see my thin blue line, my Zouves became legends holding off attack after attack



to left is a nice shot of me moving way to quick for the camera!