Imperium Sine Fine 2

Here are the first few stands of the Foederati allies for the Late Romans. These figures were originally painted as part of the WAB army that all the Late Romans came from but have recently been rebased for Impetus.  

The cavalry are all Gripping Beast figures and all the shields except the oval shield are hand painted. The oval shield has a VVV transfer on it that has been over painted for tone.

These figures are all on the older style of Gripping Beast horses that thankfully have been remodelled. Unfortunately, however, for this base and another three to follow they will all be appearing on the older horses as there are no plans to re-do these at any point in the future.

A mixed stand comprising of t Gripping Beast, Foundry and an old Citadel figure on the far left. Again a mixture of hand painted and Little Big Men transfers have been used on the shields of this unit.

A close up of the Citadel figure with the bird of prey and supported to his rear by a Foundry Frank with the red patterned shield.

The most recent addition to this part of the army being some newly painted skirmishers as seen above and below. Figures again from Gripping Beast.

The skirmishers on their own showing both figure individually.

That is all for now, but there will be more Late Romans in the near future.

Cheers

Back to the Brushes 21

Managed to get a few pictures taken of the next stand of the Menapii Seniores yesterday. The bulk of the painting is now completed with only the equipment to be blocked and highlighted over the next few nights, the shields will of course be completed with Little Big Men transfers. Anyway enough rambling here are WIP pictures:

At present can't decide whether this stand should have a draco or a vexillum standard in the centre rear rank or nothing. Edging towards a standard but not sure which at present.

As with the skirmisher stands these figures are all from Foundry except for the musician who is from Gripping Beast. As can be seen from the first picture the musician is quite a bit taller than his colleagues but its not a major problem in this stand. In fact it would probably look worse the other way round.

Thats all for now.

Cheers

Imperium Sine Fine

The title of this post is latin for an Empire Without End and has been used a play on words to show progress on the Impetus Late Roman army towards the end of the empire in the West. The first stands of the Menapii Seniores have now been completed and based. They were used in the First Scottish Impetus Open last weekend in Falkirk as skirmishers but can also be used as lanciari depending on which list is being used.

The figures are from Foundry and are exceptionally well sculpted by the immensely talents Perry twins. Needless to say the sculpting helps in the painting as they are well defined and have good casting throughout the range. All that said that is what you pay for if you buy Foundry figures, or at least its part of what you are paying for...

The shields are embellished by Little Big Men transfers with a little hand painting on the rims and bosses as necessary.

Thats all for present and if time allows there will be some more pictures in the next few days.

Cheers for now

The First Scottish Impetus Open 2012

Last Sunday (22nd) saw the first of four planned open Impetus Competitions in Scotland, this one being hosted by Falkirk and District Wargames Club. A great day's gaming was had by all and given that the wooden spoon didn't come home to rest here, even better for myself. 


The three games played are listed below along side the results:


Game One: British & Welsh Kingdoms - Draw
Game Two: Parthians - Loss
Game Three: Anglo-Danish - Loss


The best result for yours truly was against the British & Welsh Kingdoms which was the most even of the games. The biggest surprise came from watching four large shield wall units of Anglo-Danes double move as mounted troops and then charge; not what was expected at all. The game in which the most was learnt was against the Parthians, from which a few pictures are shown below:

The main battle line

Cavalry action on the left flank

Overall, a great day's gaming in a relaxed atmosphere with good mix of opponents. As for results, well one off the bottom rung is an improvement since last time, but overall a poor day for the Late Romans:


1 Dax Robertson (Five Dynasties Chinese) 372 
2 David Burns (New Kingdom Egyption) 280 
3 Frazer Watson (British & Welsh Kingdoms) 205 
4 Kevan Gunn (Carthrginian) 175 
5 David Knight (Parthian) 171 
6 David Paterson (Viking) 169 
7 Richard Coates (Sicilian Norman) 132 
8 Doug Tompson (Syrian States) 110 
9 Ross Manning (Patrician Roman) 67 
10 Allan Ronald (Patrician Roman) 66 


There has been a fair amount of painting and basing of figures over the last week with pictures to follow shortly.


Cheers for now.

Back to the Brushes 20

Not too much to report in this entry, as things have slowed down here over the last few days. A couple of busy days at work with longer than usual hours and trying to get some decorating done in between eats into to hobby time. However, there is always time, even if only ten minutes here and there.

The following show some more work in progress shots of the Late Romans that are currently being worked on. These figures from Foundry started life as a planned unit of skirmishers for a WAB army comprising of either 10 or 15 figures depending on the game that was being played.

They are now becoming two units of FL and one skirmisher stand for the Western Late Romans.  One of the many things that appeals about Impetus is how much more that you can get from your figures over other systems and potentially even more if sabot bases are used over fixed bases. The musician figure at the rear of this stand is from Gripping Beast.

The colour scheme for this unit comes from the colours of the shield pattern being used; the Menapii Seniores from the Notitia Dignitatum as detailed below, third row last shield on the right :

The majority of each stand will comprise of green tunics with yellow trimming, but to break the units up there will be a couple of more expected coloured tunics; in this case white with yellow. This makes for a very colourful unit on the table, and whilst some may disagree, there should always be some artistic licence used when painting ancients. The shields will be completed with transfers from the excellent Little Big Men. Some brief details on the Menapii can be found here.

Lastly, here are a few pictures of the most recent work on the Dwarves for Songs of Blades and Heroes. The warband is moving on well and these and another two figures should be completed shortly.

That is all at present and hopefully there will be an update on both of the above later in the coming week.

Cheers for now.

And now for Something Completely Different 2

The pictures below are Norse Dwarves from the Citadel range released during the mid eighties. These figures have been great fun to paint over the last few nights. Well, the figure with Dragon helm was started some months ago and has finally been completed.

These figures will represent a veteran warrior and the leader of a Dwarven Warband in Songs of Blades and Heroes. This range of figures provides far more character than that of the current GW Dwarves and are perfectly suited for skirmish style games such as Songs of Blades and Heroes. Given their performance the other day they may well see a lot of action in the future.

Recently seen the above figure being offered on e-Bay for sale at £45. Needless to say this figure cost considerably less than that and limited edition or not you would have to be barking to pay that for him.

The remainder of the week will be spent getting some brush-work done on Late Romans and Vikings, oh yeah and ceilings, the joys!

Lastly a warm welcome to the newest follower of this blog:

• DaveD

Hope that you find something of use and interest here.

Cheers for now.

Comparatively Speaking 3

The following two pictures show three generations of Gripping Beast Vikings:

First on the left is a Hirdman from the original Gripping Beast Vikings range. He is followed by a Hirdman from the most recent range of Vikings launched at the same time as the highly popular plastic Hirdman set from Gripping Beast. The last figure on the right is from the newly released Jomsvikings, which are very nice indeed. Infact, all the Vikings in the Gripping Beast range are very nice, well sculpted and detailed throughout with good character as well. There is however, a slight difference in size between all three ranges and these pictures help to show this.

This is not meant as a complaint, more of an observation that figures from the same manufacturer may vary slightly within the range, especially if the range has grown over the years. This may cause some people problems if working on larger units but we are all different so it shouldn't look too bad. That said, all three ranges are perfect for skirmish based games such as SAGA or similar Dark Age style game.

Not much has been painted this week as the motivation to paint has been a bit off. Hopefully, this will change this evening and there will be some more pictures of Vikings and Late Romans to view over the next few days.

Lastly, a warm welcome to the newest follower of this blog:

• Tytan Warrior

Hope that you find something of interest and use within these ramblings.

Cheers for now.

Fury of the Norse

A few pictures of some completed figures for SAGA and the Analogue Hobbies Painting Competition to start the month off. First up we have a Varangian Axeman from Gripping Beast; this figure was painted for Curt, the competition's organiser, but was too late to send in as an entry. Not knowing Curt's intended use of the figure it has been based for a skirmish style game.  

With Gripping Beast figures there are a variety of ranges that can be used as Vikings offering variety in large units and style throughout. More of this will be seen in some coming entries to the Fury of the Norse.

Next are the completed fatigue stands for SAGA with figures from Old Glory.

That's all at present and hopefully there will be some more work in progress soon as well as completed figures.

Cheers for now.