More Romans

I've made some good progress on the Romans for Zama. My box set arrived from Forged in battle so I set to work on the 2 legions I still require. First up is the 2 units of velites, 1 for each legion. These are slightly chunkier than others in my collection, but I really like the poses. For shield colours I went for a plain dark red for the 5th legion and a pale blue with some white shields for the 6th legion.

Next up was the Triarii, each legion would be a single base which I will combine to make up a unit for Midgard.

Triarii of the 6th legion

Triarii of the 5th legion

Combined Triarii for Midgard

The other Roman unit I completed was the Hastati for the 6th legion. These are mainly Forged in battle with a few from Essex miniatures mixed in. Despite the Essex figures being slender they have mixed in well.

Hastati of the 6th legion

I have also painted up the Princeps for the 5th legion, but ran out of time to get the bases finished. I did though use a few of the spare figures for a couple of heroes/commanders for Midgard. These include Scipio himself.

Scipio on the left

I haven't just been painting Romans. I managed to complete the last of the African spearmen for the Carthaginians. These are now at 6 units.

So looking at what's left for Zama. I need one unit each of Hastati, Princeps and cavalry to complete the Roman contingent. I have the figures just need to get painting. For the Numidian allies I need three more units of light cavalry and two units of peltasts, these figures are currently on order.

FPW - Battle of Bitche, part 1

So Thursday night at the club we had our second encounter as we build up to a large club game. This time Neil G would be against Thom. Neil was supposed to be commanding the Bavarian 1st Corps, but I got the boxes mixed up. So no Bavarians. We quickly switched the commands over and gave Neil XIV Corps, Andy would now have the Bavarians for his future game. Thom took command of the French 1st Corps with an additional Cavalry division.

For this game the French are the aggressors as they try to break through the Prussian positions at Bitche. The Prussians are actually outnumbered and need to hold for 8 turns. The maps was produced using AI, obviously before the Bavarians were replaced.

We have managed to play through the first 3 turns. So far the French have gone for a rather unsubtle strategy of just heading straight towards the enemy. The Wurtemburger's and Badener's just simply awaited them. The river has proved a bit of an obstacle to the french, the cavalry on their left failed to find a crossing point.

The set up

French chasseurs looking for a suitable crossing

Wurtemburg Division awaiting the enemy

Baden artillery deployed to cover the bridge

1st turn saw the french approach the river looking for crossing points

Sometimes it is better to take the bridge

Wurtemburg Jagers advance to deploy

Baden troops and artillery running low on ammo (rolling lots of 10's)

The french begin to struggle across the river

The last of the chasseurs trying to cover the advance

Wurtemburg Jagers also beginning to suffer heavy casualties

The thin blue line against the french

The remains of a pinned french regiment blocks the bridge, forcing their comrades to get their boots wet

Finally getting across the river

The game is evenly poised for next week. Both sides have been rolling some high dice for shooting, even at range causing some significant casualties. The only melee so far has been between some french hussars and a Wurtemburg line regiment. The hussars were simply destroyed in the engagement.

Next week will be interesting. The French are starting to get their infantry across the river and bringing the Chassepotte into effective range. The Baden line regiments are already feeling the effects. However German artillery has already successfully destroyed a number of the french batteries.

More Punic Wars

I definitely feel that my painting mojo is back. I managed to get 4 extra units done this week end with two more just needing their bases completed. First up is two units of Numidian skirmishers to support the Romans as part of the Zama project. These are from Essex miniatures.

The other two units I did were an extra unit of Iberian light cavalry and a Gallic warband. These are both 3d prints. The Gauls are up-scaled 10mm STLs but seem a little chunky. Still they will hide amongst the rest of the army.

On the painting table I have various Carthaginian units and the start of the Romans I need for Zama. I just need to get the bases finished on two units of Velites for these additional legions.

15mm Numidians and Italians

With agreeing to help Mitch out with the Zama game for Border Reiver next year, I needed 6 units of Numidian light cavalry as part of the Roman contingent. These are all from Peter Pig, lovely models and I much prefer them to the 3d printed ones I have for the Carthaginians.

I've also received a nice bundle of figures which should provide about 90% of the additional figures I need for the Romans. A starter box from Forged in Battle for the Republican Romans, Some Oscan heavy cavalry for my 'Italiotes', Numidian and Gallic skirmishers. I'm awaiting another order which will cover the rest of the Numidians that I will need.

I also completed a second unit of Carthaginian cavalry. These are also from Forged in Battle and are the last of the cavalry from the starter set I had. Just 1 unit of spearmen and some Libyan skirmishers and they are all done.

The other unit I completed was the last of my Italiote heavy infantry. These are all from Essex miniatures with the exception of the command figures which are from Old Glory. I also took the opportunity to get the Italiotes out for a photo. I just need to get the 2 units of Oscan heavy cavalry done and the contingent will be finished.

With these done it has me thinking about a Punic War campaign where these, Mitch's Iberian and the Gauls can be used as allies and enemies for both sides. I've even got some Hellenistic Greeks to finish that can be used for Epirus. Something to ponder.

15mm Carthaginians and allies

After a family trip away it was time to get some more painting, certainly helps not being back to work until Tuesday. The focus at the moment is on the Punic Wars as Mitch wants to do the Battle of Zama at the Border Reiver show next year. I'll be needing to add 2 more Roman legions and some Numidians to my existing 4 legions while Mitch concentrates on getting the Carthaginians done. 

So orders have gone in to get some of the additional figures that I need, meanwhile I had a load of my own Carthaginians to finish off, so decided to get them done in the meantime. First up is another pair of elephants. These are 3d prints from Mitch, he has the Cromarty forge 10mm STLs and just up scales them.

War elephants

Next up was some African spearmen from Forged in Battle, I have 1 more unit of these to paint up from the starter set I bought. This time I went for plain red shields, very uniformed.

African spearmen

Now I also painted up a unit of Bruttian/Italiote infantry. These can be used as allies for both the Carthaginians and the Romans. These were part of an EBay bundle I picked. Mainly Old Glory figures with a couple from Essex miniatures.

Bruttian/Italiote infantry

The last bit of painting I did was some extra commanders that I would need. Two for the Gauls, which are 3d prints and three Old Glory figures for the Italiotes.

Various commanders

So with these done I took the opportunity to review my Carthaginian forces (excluding the Italiotes). I still have a number of units to complete, some Carthaginian heavy cavalry, 2 x Spanish cavalry, African Spearmen, Gallic infantry and 2 x Libyan skirmishers.

So based for Midgard I can currently field the following units:

1 Carthaginian heavy cavalry

2 Gallic heavy cavalry

1 Spanish light cavalry

3 Numidian light cavalry

4 War Elephants

1 Gallic slinger

2 Balearic slingers

2 Libyan javelinmen

5 Gallic warbands

3 African Spearmen

2 Liby-Phonecian spearmen

So 26 units done and a further 7 to complete. I could do with some Spanish infantry as it is the one component missing. To these I can add the Italiote for battles in Italy, consisting of 4 heavy and 2 medium infantry, 2 light cavalry and some skirmishers.

A few more figures painted up

Over the last few days I've been painting up various figures to keep things ticking along. The first batch of figures are for my Carthaginians, some spearmen and elephants. These are 3d printed figures provided by Mitch. These elephants are slightly smaller than the last batch and don't have the howdah. I've two more of these to paint up. I also spent some time prepping another batch of figures, mainly cavalry, more spearmen and some Oscans.

The other figures I completed were some Elves for Warhost. These are a mix of the plastic Oathmark figures and some of the metal Warhost Elves with two handed swords. I painted these in various colours, but trying to keep them in theme with the plastic figures.

I just have another 4 archers to finish, then I'll need to point up the force to see what else I need. I've still plenty of un-built figures to work on.