On the Painting Tray: January 2016

Figures for Willy in Glasgow: an Aventine Successor elephant and crew of four, plus a dozen Aventine Parthian horse archers, including command. He wants these based in a closer formation than usual, to represent a transitional type moving towards the Sassanians, or a closer than usual formation for massed archery. I then have five Julii Caesares - yes, that's right, five of the same figure of the man on horseback, by Companion Miniatures. I'm going to paint them all the same, keeping one for myself that will be added to a couple of mounted standard bearers to make an army command base. No idea what to do with the others - yet. And if I get lucky, this month I will start yet another legion or two.

Towards the end of 2015 I finished two full legions of Marian Roman types. No photos yet, because of chaos created by the house move. Once I dig out my photography equipment I'll remedy that, and also do a final tally for the year.

Now that the family is here too, life in Cheltenham is beginning to settle down, so my painting should speed up again. Gaming will be a bit rarer than it was in Glasgow. There is a local club here, but it is quite a distance away. The plan is to go to larger shows rather than play at a club, which means less gaming overall, but more substantial bursts. This is a good location for travel, so it should be feasible. I'm already thinking of going to the Society of Ancients' Battle Day at Bletchley for the first time, adding my Romans to the mix for a huge game of To The Strongest! hosted by Simon Miller. It looks as though he has several others contributing, so it should be a big one.

In the meantime, the ancients campaign continues at a more sedate pace by email. Apparently the Romans lost against the Gauls of Tolosa, which means that I will need to update the strategy map and adjust army strengths. I'll then be able to work out what happens next...