SPAM 2008

Yesterday I attended the Society of Palouse Area Modelers' 2008 "Show Off the Good Stuff" show in Moscow, Idaho. SPAM is the local chapter of the International Plastic Modelers' Society. I had seven entries and received gold ribbons for each.

The lighting was fine for judging but terrible for pictures. You can see very well on my closeups, but anything I shot from a distance looks very dim. Sorry!

My BTD Americans

My 15mm Old Glory Tigers

My Scalping Party Diorama (Old Glory 25s)

My Old Glory Napoleonic French Skirmishers

My Marian Romans

My Foundry Hypaspists

My Old Glory Carthaginian Spearmen

These figures earned me the "Best Wargaming Figures" plaque.

Austin's 18mm AB Austrian Hussars

Dale's 15mm Battlefront Tiger Is

Dale writes about painting these models on his blog.

Dale's Battlefront AT Guns

Scott R.'s 15mm FOW Americans

One of Scott R.'s Tanks. Beautiful.

Victor's 25mm German Flats

This vignette won the plaque for "Best Figure (under 60mm)."

Remember, this is a flat!

Don and Scott R.'s Memphis Belle Diorama

This won the "Best Diorama" plaque.

Jack's 120mm Romans

Jack's 120mm Romans

Don's 1:48 Tamiya King Tiger

Don very graciously gave me this tank after the show. I'll use it for 28mm wargames.

FOG Game--Second Punic War

Last weekend Austin and Jon came to my place for a Field of Glory battle. I used my WAB armies on 60mm movement trays for the FOG basing. We fought a Second Punic War battle, with Hannibal's army facing off against mid-republican Romans. Here are the army lists:

Rome
1 Commander in Chief
2 Sub-commanders
4 BGs of Hastati/Princepes (4 bases each)
1 BG of Trarii (4 bases)
2 BGs of Velites (4 bases each)
1 BG of Roman Cavalry (4 bases)

Carthage
1 Inspired Commander in Chief
2 Sub-commanders
2 BGs of Libyan Spear (6 bases each)
2 BGs of Gallic Warriors (8 bases each)
1 BG of Numidian Javelinmen (6 bases)
1 BG of Balearic Slingers (6 bases)
1 BG of Elephants (2 bases)
1 BG of Spanish Cavalry (4 bases)
1 BG of Gallic Cavalry (4 bases)
2 BGs of Numidian Light Horse (4 bases each)

Initial Setup

The battlefield was a cultivated part of Italy. Scattered woods broke up the farmland. The Roman line is on the left with their one BG of cavalry on their right flank. That heavy infantry line looks very impressive, but the flanks look weak. At the very top of the table, on the Carthaginian right, you can see the two BGs of cavalry ready to pounce on the Romans.

Imperator Jon

Jon commanded the Romans, and I took the Carthaginians. This was only the second time we had played FOG with our little group, so it was still very much a "learning the rules" game.

Austin the Lawgiver

Austin refereed the game for us, looking up rules when we got stuck (which happened frequently). You can see the Carthaginian center here, Libyan spearmen on the left, elephants in the center (1/72 plastics from HaT), and Gauls on the right.

Gallic Advance

My savage Gauls, in various states of dress (or undress) made a striking contrast with the disciplined Romans.

Clash of Skirmishers

I began the game by advancing behind a screen of skirmishers. I did manage to kill a base of velites, but the skirmishing had no other effect on the game.

Cavalry on the Flank

As my Libyan spearmen got bogged down in the trees, my Numidian light horse moved forward to engage the Roman cavalry. I outnumbered Jon eight bases to four, so it should have been a cakewalk, right?




Wrong! The Romans attached a general to the cavalry and charged! I decided to stand and fight, which was a big mistake. The Romans reduced my lead unit to one base, which quickly routed.

Heavy Foot Fight

Jon moved his legions to the attack. My Gauls were equally good in the initial impact phase, but as the combat ground on, the Romans' superior discipline and armor gave them a huge advantage.

The Center Breaks

My Gallic battlegroups lost half their strength over the next two turns, and worse, they lost cohesion as well. Soon one unit broke, forcing cohesion tests on adjoining units, which broke, forcing cohesion tests on adjoining units, which also broke.

Vae Victus

I committed my elephants, but they didn't do much damage to the Roman hastati. My center was collapsing. My left flank was a shambles. My right flank cavalry was having a tough time getting into position. Six turns into the game, I admitted defeat.

We're still learning the FOG rules, and I made a number of mistakes that cost me the battle. Rather than bunching my Numidians up and closing to melee, I should have spread them out and worn down the Roman cavaly with harrasing tactics. Rather than advancing my center, I should have stayed put and given my cavalry enough time to get around the Roman left.

The genius of Hannibal probably would have won the battle. The mediocraty of MacPhee resulted in a defeat. Ah, well. Next time.

September Painting Totals

I've spent much of the past week prepping and priming figures before the cold winter weather keeps me from spray painting. Even considering that, my September production was way down. Here's what I finished.

28mm Marian Romans, 13 legionaries, 5 mounted officers
28mm Carthaginians, 18 Numidian cavalry
28mm Macedonians, 10 infantry
28mm Ancient Germans, 10 cavalry

That's a total of 299 Scott Painting Points, well below July (362) and August (654).

Sigh. Maybe October will be more productive.

1st Corps German Cavalry

I'm nearly done with my WAB Marian Roman army. One of the last units I'm fielding is a unit of 10 German cavalry. Caesar used German cavalry throughout his campaigns in Gaul, most famously at Alesia, where his German cavalry reserve rescued his main cavalry force from a near defeat.

My friend Jon is building an ancient German army using 1st Corps figures. I was impressed with their line and decided to give their German cavalry a try. With the exchange rate, these ended up costing me $3.52 apiece, just a little less than twice what I pay for Old Glory cavalry.

All 10 German Cavalry (click on any picture for a larger image)

And here they are. My sources state that the Germans wore very simple clothes, mostly undyed wools. I did add a little color, figuring that the Germans would have had natural dyes to produce a dusty red, dark blue, and vegetable green. Tactitus writes that the German shields were unpainted, but I'm very skeptical of that. Tacitus liked to portray the Germans as the prototypical noble savages, uncorrupted by modern luxury, and I feel pretty sure that his "unpainted shields" remark fits this literary conceit more than any actual fact. Comparative anthropology is my guide here; I can't think of any well documented tribal warriors who don't decorate their shields. Even the stone age warriors of pre-Columbian America had highly decorated shields. Still, in a nod to Tacitus, I didn't paint any ornate designs on these shields.

Four rider poses, two horse poses

The 1st Corps figures come in four variants, each with the characteristic top knot. I don't know if it's the type of metal 1st Corps uses or my old bottle of super glue, but I had a heck of a time gluing the spears into the open hands and getting the riders to set on the horses.

Because these Germans are in Roman service, I painted their cloaks in the characteristic mustard brown of the Roman military. That was my only nod to military formality. Other than their uniform cloaks, these Germans have a very motley appearance.

WAB Unit

WAB Unit

I'm very happy with the 1st Corps figures, and I will definitely buy from them again. I'm just waiting on an Old Glory order to arrive before I finish the last piece of my WAB Marian Roman army. Once my Crusader Punic Wars Roman penal legionaries arrive, I'll be able to paint a couple units of Romanized Gallic skirmishers, and Caesar's army will be complete.

28mm Old Glory Caesar's High Command

I bought Old Glory's "Roman High Command" from eBay. This is in Old Glory's Caesar's Gallic War range. It's a decent pack that gives enough Roman generals, legates, and tribunes to command my WAB Marian Roman army.

Mounted Officers

The seller claimed the package I bought was complete, but it had been opened, and it was missing one of the figures pictured here. The mounted figures are wearing breastplates with fringed leather armor. I painted them pretty simply.

Unlike Greek and Macedonian generals, Roman generals did not fight in the front rank of their armies, but they did stay pretty close to the front lines. I'm sure that in battle they actually wore helmets, but it seems to be a wargaming convention that Roman generals fight bare headed.

Or maybe it's just to better depict personalities, since helmeted generals would be hard to recognize. I think I can identify some of these figures from Roman sculpture. From left to right I believe we have Titus Labienus, Julius Caesar, a centurion, and Mark Anthony, but I could be wrong.

Dismounted general with aide

The pack includes a pretty nice dismounted officer, complete with horse holder and mounts. My friends Austin thinks that this is Caesar. I think it's the mounted bald guy. No matter. I painted them both the same so I can have Caesar mounted or on foot. I guess his hairline recedes when he gets on a horse.

I wanted Caesar to be able to join a cohort, so I based the foot general on a 20mm square base, cutting a slot so he can fit in the vignette.

Complete pack

Here they are: the figures that will command my Marian legions.

Old Glory Numidian Cavalry

Old Glory's Numidian cavalry have a bad reputation. They were released along with the Cretan archers and Balearic slingers in 1998 (edit whoops--not true of these figures. See last paragraph), and those figures are so very ugly that I won't paint any again. The Numidians clearly have the same sculptor, and some of the flaws of the two foot sets are on display here; the arms and legs look like sausages, and the faces are scrunched. Still, I'll gladly field these Numidians in my army, and I may even paint some more.

Group shot (click on any picture for a larger image)

I painted 18 of the Numidians in three days, which is pretty fast for me. The figures are wearing just a simple tunic, which made it an easy job. I decided against using the Old Glory javelins because the cast heads are just too big for the model scale. Instead I used simple brass rod. I didn't bother hammering it out to a point. I drilled out the shield hands so that each figure holds two javelins. The Numidians didn't close to sword fighting range (and these figures don't even have swords), so I figured each man would have a good supply of javelins.

The horses are different from the standard Old Glory horses which come with the rest of their ancients figures. The Numidians road bareback, sometimes using just a simple halter. These horses are sculpted without any horse furniture, except for one pose which does have the halter. The horses really save the poor figure sculpts, making a creditable looking unit of cavalry.

Numidian cavalry, side view

I purposefully kept the horses very plain looking so they wouldn't visually overpower the riders. I went with a variety of browns and bays with one grey. In this side view you can really see the strange musculature on the men, but you can also see just how well these horses are sculpted. The second horse from the left (front row) is the pose with the halter.

You can also see where I spent most of my painting time and energy: the shields. Most of my sources said that the Numidians probably just stretched cow hide over a wood frame and called it good, but I figure that most warriors would have decorated their shields in some way. The shields really make these figures pop on the table.

Shield designs, detail

I hand painted all the shields, using the excellent Little Big Men transfers for inspiration. They really are the best transfers available, and I'm planning on using them when I start my Crusader Miniatures hoplite army. Unfortunately, they don't make many transfers for Old Glory figures, so I paint the shields myself out of necessity. I used two different colors of bronze (one from Delta, one from Apple Barrel) on the shield rims. Many of the shields just got a drybrush of bronze across the face, as in the first shield on the bottom row. About half of the rest got a geometric design, and the other have got something cow-like.

Many gamers paint their Numdians as black Africans, I guess because they confuse "Numidians" with "Nubians." I'm not convinced that ancient Nubians would have been black, but the Numidians certainly were not. They were the ancestors of the Berbers, and so would have looked more like Arabs than black Africans. I painted these figures in exactly the same tones I used for my Carthaginian African spearmen, using dark flesh highlights over my custom mixed flesh base.

Numidian cavalry may not look very fearsome, but they are extremely useful for an ancients gamer. They fought with Hannibal against Rome, they fought with Scipio against Carthage, and they fought on their own against both Carthage and Rome. Roman armies of the 1st and 2nd centuries BC frequently used Numidian cavalry in their campaigns; the Romans prized light cavalry above all others, and Numidian cavalry is about as light as they come. For now, these figures are going in my Marian Roman army, but I'll certainly use them for Punic Wars battles as well.

All told, I like these figures. They're not as nice as most of Old Glory's cavalry, but they are servicable, and of course the price is right (these cost $1.80 apiece with my Old Glory Army discount). If you would like to try them, look in the "Caesar's Gallic War" range. For some reason, Old Glory put them there instead of with the Carthaginians, even though they formed the bulk of Hannibal's cavalry.

Edit: Allen Curtis writes on TMP that these are not the figures from the Gallic War range, but instead are the "auxiliary light cavalry" from the Imperial Roman range. I definitely ordered the Gallic War figures, but maybe Old Glory realizes what a bad reputation those have and so substitutes these figures instead.