Sneak peak of things to come

I couldn't resist test painting a few Roman figures as the beginning of my upcoming Gallic Wars project.

These are all Wargames Factory Romans.

The four test figures - command for my 16 figure century.

The grim faced Centurion.

Legionary in drab.

They paint up quite nicely and although the detail is not as crisp as the plastic sets that have appeared since, they are still a good product.

I tried to use the Little Big Men decals that came with the box. I'm not sure if the problem is that they are a bit too old or not, but I found them fiddly and too easy to tear. After three attempts I gave up and just painted the shields. I don't think they look too bad and it was easy enough to do. The Gauls will have painted shields so both sides might as well be consistent.

I'm working on a 1:5 scale, so 16 figures represents 80 men, or one century. I'll have four centuries giving me one cohort. Adding in some skirmishers, a scorpio and allied Gallic cavalry, that will be my 1500 point Roman garrison which will be in the middle of a rebellion by local Gauls. Which Gauls will side with the Romans? Can the legionary fort hold out? These are the questions I hope to answer in a solo campaign.

I need to finish the SAGA Normans and my In Her Majesty's Name companies, and then the Gallic Wars will be all on.

They get painted 2 by 2

Two more Not Romans. I tried a different shield design, sticking with the same colours but bringing a bit of difference to the group.

Patterns certainly look a bit late Roman/Romano-British.

What a surprise, i now have a group for Dux Britanniarum. It was like i planned it...

Not the best photos but you get the idea. More of these on the workbench to train for the Runissians.

I also bought a sample pack from Legio Heroica of some Crusaders, Feudal and a Swiss pike man to see what they're like in the flesh. With them i should be able to start terrain and see how easy they are to convert, then maybe a full order?!?

Thinking of 15's

It's all a bit wet and grey here, and there's a flood warning so most likely no lycée tomorrow. Gives me more time to revise though (or wargame!)

I've not painted much, just advanced on some of the militia. I'va also made a build or two, nothing amazing to show.

I have been wondering about legio heroica and 15mm. As i said in a previous post, i'm planning to build a 15mm force or two, and at first i was not sure what period but i decided to do a Runissian force. I chose them as i really want to make some, and my attempts in 28mm were alright, but i want to give a different scale a go.

I want to make a force for Dux Britanniarum, or Dux Norvarje as it will be for my fantasy world. I will have one Runissian force, and i'm deciding whether to do a Kaliad force, based around spear men, shield bearers and mounted nobles and crossbowmen, or raiding Fraals, with light javelin throwers and a core of heavily armoured veterans.

Against Kaliads, the Runissians would be attackers, while if they were against Fraals they would be defending. I'll use the British and Saxon list from the book to keep it simple. I would also do some conversions, adding miliput to create full helmets, leather vests and boots.

Now for a little surprise; i already have some! They were the first historical figures i ever bought, some men of Carthage as it was my favorite force then. I also got a Roman force for my birthday, but in recent years they've been neglected. I also have a flames of war German force and some Soviets, and a smattering of Napoleonic Austrians and French (might be used for skirmishes or sold off).

I wanted to give my usual rules a roll with 15mm figures, so i decided to re base my ancients on single circle bases (before they were on DBA style bases). I also had a bash with some of them, using the Lord of the Rings rules. Here are some pictures:

I halved all distances and found they moved painfully slow. So i might use the normal distances, makes it look more 'realistic'.

Many of the Romans are only basecoated, while some are painted. I think i'll leave them, even though they are badly done. Painting 15mm seems a breeze compared to 28mm.

The Romans might not be painted to be Romans, maybe a city militia for some generic fantasy or even Romano-British???

The Romans won, as they had bigger shields and more training. It began badly, as the 'barbarian' cavalry threw javelins to effect but in the end the legionaries were too tough a nut to crack.

Don't worry! My Perrys haven't been neglected, i'm still chipping away at them and thinking of a livery for the Walker retinue.