Britons, Quar and a game

So I have been keeping myself busy this week, getting a few things painted and getting another game of Quar, a chance to try out the tractor rules. Firstly on the painting front I completed another couple of bases of Gauls, these are from Cromarty forge and are actually designated as Ancient Britons. A few more bare-chested warriors compared to the Gaul range.

The other completed work was a couple of more tractors for the Quar. These will come in handy as after months of indecision of a club game for Border Reiver, it looks like we will take the Quar. So the 2 tractors are a second Twaenyr, this time in reverse colours for my Toulmore faction. The other is a Chyweethl for the Royalists. I think I'm going to have a look through some old 40k decals to see if I have anything suitable.

And so to the game, a simple 300 point force which included a tractor. It was also the first opportunity to get some of the Toulmore onto the table. I took a Twaenyr and 4 rhyflers. Mitch took an Aerfyn tractor and 5 rhyflers. Just a few pictures from the game as we were mainly concentrating on getting the rules right. I will happily mention that my Twaenyr took out the enemy Aerfyn.

Toulmore marines in position

Rumble of the Twaenyr 

The Aerfyn hiding in the village

Scouting for the enemy

Aerfyn rumbling down the road towards us

Rhyflers take cover in the woods

Royalists come under fire

Aerfyn begins trading shots 

The Twaenyr lines up their opponent

Game over!!

Toulmore victory parade

Next week we will try out larger forces, this should give us some secondary options for attacking the tractors.

Punic War additions

So with the FPW game out of the way I turned my attention back to getting some more stuff done for my Punic Wars project. First up was 2 bases of cavalry for an allied legion. I made a decision that for the shields the majority will be red with a few dark greens mixed in. This will help differentiate them from the Roman cavalry. These were the last of my Z sculpt figures from Museum miniatures.

As my Roman forces are currently at just over 3 legions it was time to add some troops to the Carthaginians.  I did an order with Plastic Soldier company for some of their Cromarty 3d figures, more to see what they painted up like. So a pack of their Gallic warriors arrived. I must say they are nicely detailed and didn't take much cleaning up. The designs on the shields are superb, a shame my eyes are getting worse as I couldn't do them justice. You get 32 figures in a pack and as I am using 6 to a base this left 2 spare figures. Luckily I still had 4 old painted up Essex Celts which I simply added to one of the bases.

Overall, happy with how they turned out and will look fine at 3 ft away on the table. So another few of their breaker packs ordered to give me another 4 bases. Should be enough as Carthaginian allies. I may expand them into their own army sometime in the future.

Tarantine Cavalry

Just a quick post as I managed to complete some Tarantine light cavalry. The beauty of these is that they can be used on both sides. Makes them very versatile. The figures are all from Museum miniatures. 

I'm just waiting for the bases to dry out for another 2 bases of Italian infantry. I've also received my order from the plastic soldier company, they are some test figures from the Cromarty forge 3d printed range. Enough Triari figures to complete my allied legion as well as enough Gauls for 5 bases of 6 figures. The 2 spare figures will be painted up first and added to some old Essex figures I had left to complete a 6th base.

Gallic cavalry

So with a second free sprue of Warlords Epic scale Gauls, I decided to paint up the rest of the cavalry figures. This gives me an extra 3 bases of cavalry and a base of light cavalry. They aren't bad figures but definitely on the small size. I may try some of the old Museum miniatures Gallic cavalry as they are a close size match to bulk out the numbers, else I'll end up replacing them all.

Heavy cavalry

All the bases together

As an order arrived from Museum miniature it will be back to the Romans for some extra cavalry in readiness for an allied legion. I also have some Roman commanders to lead my legions as well as some Tarantine cavalry, 1 base each for the allied legions. The other 2 bases I will add to my Italians, of which Ihave 2 more bases of heavy infantry to complete.

More Romans

With a few days off work, I took the opportunity to get a second Roman legion done. Once again I went with the black shields to sort of keep a theme for the army. Their tunics though are a different shade and I added white to the helmet plumes. This way I can combine the bases when I try the Midgard rules in the future. All the figures are Museum miniatures 'Z' sculpt range.

Combined legions

Very happy with how these have turned out, I now need to turn my attention to the allied legions that were raised from the Socii to fight alongside the Romans. Now there isn't a great deal of information on these. It is assumed they would fight in the Roman fashion, but be probably less uniform as they would be drawn from different Italian cities. So looking through the available figures from Museum Miniatures, I'm thinking of using the Samnite figures for the Triari and a mix of equiped Hastati for both the Hastati and Princeps. I'll also paint the shields in a mix of colours to highlight that they are allied troops.

Enemies of Rome

Well if you are going to fight the Punic wars, you do need some enemies to fight. Now after a rummage through the lead pile I managed to pull out enough figures for 2 bases of heavy infantry and a base of medium infantry to represent one of the Italian city states such as the Campanians who decided to through in their lot with the Carthaginians. The figures I believe are from Essex miniatures, pretty quick to paint up and I've deliberately gone with simple shield designs.

I enjoyed painting these as they are a lot more irregular looking than the Romans. So I decided to order a couple of packs from Museum miniatures to add two more bases of heavy infantry and a couple of bases of Tarantine light cavalry. This will make a nice little allied force or even a small stand alone force to fight a Roman legion.

The next figures I painted up was some Gallic cavalry. These are from the free sprue that came with the Wargames Illustrated magazine. They do look a lot better than the last 'epic' scale I painted. I have enough of these for 3 more bases of cavalry and a base of light cavalry. I also did a size comparison against the original Museum miniatures and the new  'Z' sculpts. At a push I could add in some of the  Gallic cavalry from Museum miniatures as they don't scale to badly to these. However they do look small against the newer 'Z' sculpts.

L to R: Museum, Epic, 'Z' Sculpt

Now it will be back to some more Romans. I made a decision to paint the second legion with the same shields as the first, this way I can double base them up for Midgard, while also retaining the option as two legions for Basic Impetus.

More Republican Romans

 A few more Romans completed for my 1st new legion. 1 base of Triari, 1 base of cavalry and 2 bases of velites. All figures from Museum Miniatures and their 'z' sculpt ranges.

Looking at the completed legion, I only have 8 bases. I can of course add some allies for small games of Basic Impetus. Visually I am undecided and may look to double up the bases, I have the figures which were earmarked for a second legion that I can use. But I don't want to get carried away and end up with more figures than I actually need, as I want to also add the Gauls, Carthaginians and Italians etc or do I stick to the plan and paint up another legion and 2 allied legions using the same number of bases. That would give 20 bases of heavy infantry, 8 bases of velites and 6 bases of cavalry, as the allied legions will have an extra base, to which I can add small allied contingents as well as work on the other factions. 

I think this is a decision I need to sleep on.

Old figures / New figures and a new project "Punic Wars"

A while back, well in July 2024 I started to re-base my old ancients figures for use in Basic Impetus or even Midgard, when I get around to purchasing the rules. So this weekend I decided to try and get the bases finished. So first up are the a Hoplite Greeks, figures are all from Essex miniatures. I had lots of fun with these when I first got them over 30 years ago. Also the days before shield transfers, these were never my best work, but will never get re-painted, they contain too much nostalgia.

The next batch was some Republican Romans from Museum miniatures, pretty serviceable figures, need to paint up a couple of extra velites to complete another base. I've also ordered some test figures from Cromarty forge to get the missing base of Triari as I only have the Hastati and Princeps. 

It was while doing these I remembered the new Romans I picked up last year. The new Z sculpts from Museum Miniatures. Now the idea of a new project is forming, The Punic wars. Initially I want to concentrate on the Italian Peninsula, some Carthaginians, Gauls, Italians, Numidians, Spanish and Elephants. I've already dug around the lead pile and unearthed enough figures for 2 bases of Italian heavy infantry and a base of medium infantry.

So the new project is born and the first troops are completed. 2 bases of Hastati and Princeps completed. I've gone for black shield for the first new legion. Lovely figures and very quick and easy to paint up.

My idea for a legion will be 2 bases each of Hastati, Princeps and Velites, supported by a single base of Triari and cavalry. The Triari and Velites are already painted, just need their bases finished. The old Roman figures I have can represent an allied legion which will have the extra base of cavalry.