Getting Ready for Tactical Solutions

I've spent the past two weeks painting like crazy to get my armies ready for our local convention. I'm running two games: Aspern Essling using "Age of Eagles" and Trebia using "Field of Glory." I've used rubber cement to affix my WAB based ancients to FoG bases. I painted two Carthaginian elephants, 15 Roman cavalry, and 18 Austrian cuirassiers just this week. I'm beat.

If you live anywhere near Coeur d'Alene, come check out the convention. It starts tomorrow afternoon and runs through Sunday. You can find all the info you need at the Tactical Solutions website. If you don't live near Coeur d'Alene, well, that's too bad for you. :-)

I'll update the blog more after the convention ends. I want to get up a review of the Crusader elephants I'm using. I'll get pictures of my games and post them here. And I'll be reviewing the new Wargames Factory plastic Marian legionaries. I've been chugging away on them for two weeks, and I'm almost done.

Once those Wargames Factory figures are done, I'll probably take a break from painting for a couple weeks. I might work on my DML Stug III, and I might just kick back and watch some baseball.

Crusader Roman Penal Legionaries

This is the last unit for my WAB Marian Roman army. These figures came in Thursday's mail. I painted and based them on Friday, sprayed them with gloss lacquer and then dullcote Saturday morning, and entered them in the modeling competition the same day.

I wanted some troops to represent the Gallic auxilia Caesar had with his army, and these figures fit the bill. They have Gallic helmets, shields, and swords, but they wear tunics with no trousers. I figure this would have been the appearance of Romanized Gauls of The Province.

All 16 Figures

I primed the figures black and drybrushed the helmets with Testors enamels. I used a mix of bronze, gold, and silver. The spears are from North Star.

The shields are hand painted. They just came out alright. I wasn't able to get clean designs on the shields, probably because I was painting these at 11:00PM the night before the show.

All 16 figures, rear view

The tunics are all unbleached linen, which I thought would be likely for auxilia. I used Delta Ceramcoats, working up from mudstone to lichen grey, to a 20/80 lichen grey/white mixture.

Here you can definitely see the mixture of Roman clothins and Gallic equipment. Those are definitely Gallic swords on their hips, but tha sandals and bare legs really make the figures look Roman: perfect for The Province, I think.

Pose 1

Pose 2

Pose 3

Pose 4

I'll be painting more Crusader figures while I get ready for my gaming convention in two weeks.

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.