On the painting table: January 2018

Germans, surprisingly enough. I reckon that I'll need one more war band like this and that will give me enough of the standard line of warriors for a decent-sized Tactica game. After that, it's light infantry, skirmishers and cavalry. Not to mention leaders. That should keep me going for a little while.

Then I'll have to make a decision. Believe it or not, this will give me only about a third of what I'd need to run a historical large-scale refight of massive engagements such as Arausio. So there will come a point where I need to figure out if I can stomach the idea of painting more Germans, or take a break and shift temporarily to something else as a breather.

On the painting table: November 2017

Slow, stately progress on another couple of Early German war bands; figs by Old Glory. Proof positive that I am still painting at times...

On the painting table: October 2017

More Early Germans - that is all. The start of semester this year has been even nastier than usual, so painting time is suffering...

On the painting table: September 2017

Progress on the Germans. These are the latest shots of the war bands in progress.

A few more have materialised this month.

And here is the current state of the painting queue. Since I'm not playing regularly, keeping momentum isn't easy, so I've compromised on little and often. I'm aiming to finish three figures a day to keep the queue moving, which means maybe an hour and a half at a time. This is manageable, given all of my other commitments. It means that progress is slow but steady; but at least there is still progress...

On the painting tray: August 2017

More Warband type German nutters:

These are coming along quite nicely. Originally, the intention was to keep the campaign going via email, but the Glasgow group has had a series of unfortunate health issues plus summer holidays, so nothing has been happening there. It's possible I might have enough Germans painted soon to play the next campaign battle myself, since I already have the Romans. Above shows the start I've made on the close formation warbands that make up the bulk of the forces; when these are completed, I'll have five units of 48 figures, and I'll need another three plus some other types.

This one shows the painting queue. From the left as you look at it there are some finished guys ready for basing, and then a production line of figs at various stages of completion. I used to paint in batches of six to eight figures at a time, but I've found that with work being so heavy I'm not able to commit to regular ongoing gaming. In turn, this means that motivation is dipping, not to mention time and available energy. The compromise is to paint three at a time, which produces an illusion of faster progress. It takes longer to get a full unit on the table, but I find that, psychologically, a quick turnaround of a smaller number of completed figures is now working better for me, because I can at least see some results reasonably quickly. Whatever works...

On the painting desk: July 2017

More Old Glory Germans:

Two almost completed 24-figure elite war bands that can be combined to make a particularly large one, plus the start of the command stands for two 48-figure war bands. With any luck, I'll find time soon to complete the elites. I really only need to add a figure or two and gunge the bases...

On the painting desk: June 2017

Started two smaller war bands of 24 figures each for the Early Germans.

These are really wealthy, because they all have swords, so that must make them bodyguard/elite units. Most of them even have clothing too. These can also be combined into a large elite 48-figure unit with two command bases. Figures by Old Glory, shields by a variety of manufacturers.

On the Painting Tray: May 2017

Made a start on a rather large Early German army. Figures are Old Glory 25mm:

My painting rate has speeded up slightly more recently, thanks to holiday weekends. These are the initial two of many war bands...

On the Painting Desk: February 2017

Numidians: 36 Light Infantry by Crusader and 24 Light Cavalry (Navigator) - 6 of these will have standard of various kinds. That is all.

On the Painting Desk: January 2017

More Numidian cavalry, this time by A&A Miniatures. These are quite large and some of them have bits of armour. I've had my eye on them for a while as possible auxiliary cavalry for the Romans, especially when it gets to the period of Caesar's civil wars. However, I could also do with some superior quality light horse, as distinct from ordinary Numidians, so I took the plunge and ordered 36 of them. I'll make these ones into open formation cavalry, and probably by another 36 at one point for use by Juba and his dastardly Roman allies. The open order guys will also do for Tychaeus' excellent horse at Zama.

On the Painting Tray: December 2016

Made a start on some Roman command:

November passed in a blur, partly because of work, but also because of settling in to new house. Part of settling is a desk bureau that Cathy got me as a housewarming/ Xmas pressies:

Quite plain on the outside, almost 1950s or 60s retro.

The lower half has shelf space and a couple of capacious drawers.

The top half has all the nooks and crannies I'll need for paints and stuff, plus a nice A3-sized writing pad. Cover that with paper = instant painting surface. This will live in our kitchen/diner and so will free up space for Cathy to use the computer upstairs without being bothered by little lead people constantly crying "Paint me. No! Me! Paint me!"...

On the Painting Tray: November 2016

A bit later than usual with this month's post about what's doing, because we have just moved house.

Proof positive that I have now set up a small painting space. This month I will mostly be producing army commander bases for the Romans: one for Marius, a Sulla and a Sertorius. Marius will be grim and serious; Sertorius will have his fawn (courtesy of Warbases); and Sulla will be reading from a scroll as he proscribes a bunch of senators. Should be a bit of fun...

A few Celtiberian horsemen and some Roman casualties. Also just finished is a legate for one of the legions.

Almost finished a unit of 18 Celtiberian cavalry, courtesy of swap with Mike Adams in the USA. These are Companion Miniatures figures, and are very rare indeed. I already have 36 painted as Iberians, so I gave these ones a wider range of colours and shields to make them a bit more rough and ready. They also have quite a bit or armour, as well as the obligatory head trophies dangling from the horses.

On the Painting Tray: September 2016

Almost finished 18 Caesarean Roman Equites by Companion Miniatures, plus 18 armoured Iberian cavalry by the same manufacturer at various stages of completion. I'm going to paint these as Celtiberians to make them stand out a bit from the 36 Iberians I already have, and also to use up some odds and ends of transfers, long shields and caetrae that I happened to have lying around. At the top of the photo lurks a Roman horse for a legate for the final legion I finished a couple of weeks ago.

Next up: five casualty markers for that legion, and then it's on to terrain and scenery for the Philippi project for the Society of Ancients conference. I still have six weeks, so I'm hoping that will be enough time. There's a lot of palisade to do, as well as a large swamp, a hill, a stream, a causeway and the Via Egnatia. Oh, and two large army camps. These will be a mixture of purchased pieces and scratchbuilding. Quite looking forward to it, to be honest, because it will be a nice break from figures for a while. The good thing is that I have already sorted most of the materials in advance while finishing the last of these figures for the games...

On the Painting Tray: August 2016

Romans, of course:

Companion Miniatures; white shields with red insignia. The legate is by Old Glory, and the dead 'uns are Warlord Games plastics. Or at least, they will be when they get their right arms...

I've made quite a bit of progress on this legion, because I have been on holiday time for a week, with another to go. Should see this lot done before going to back to work for a short time. Then I have more holidays. Just as well, since I've volunteered to run a three-part mini-campaign based on Philippi for the Society of Ancients Conference in October. I need all the painting time I can get for that...

On the painting tray: July 2016

More bloody Romans:

Finishing off a legion and starting another, the final one for the foreseeable future. Never say never, after all.

They are beginning to rank up very nicely, as I hope the second photo shows. Now all I have to do is find somewhere to game...

On the painting tray: June 2016

Took these photos at the beginning of the month, but haven't had the time to post them:

Romans, always with the Romans...

Some more finished than others. This is the penultimate legion of my Companion Miniatures figures. Embossed shields courtesy of Happy Gordon in Newcastle-ish.

On the Painting Tray: May 2015

Some casualty figures and the legate for the yellow legion I've just finished, plus the start of the next legion. The casualties are Warlord games plastics, on Warbases large round dials. These are not quite as large as my home-made ones, but are of much better professional quality, so should last for ever. The numbers on the dial go up to 12.

On the Painting Tray: April 2016

Finishing a second legion of Gripping Beast figures, courtesy of Roy. After that, I have two more Companion Miniatures legions to paint plus 18 cavalry. I acquired these as part of a swap with Gordon in Newcastle - he had extra command and the horsey guys. I am hoping that this will finish my Caesarean project, at least for the moment, although my painting speed at the moment makes it likely that it will be another few months before I get them all done - I'm aiming for the end of July.

Gaming itself is very rare at the moment. I have found a historical club in Cheltenham, but it's quite far away. So I'm saving myself for one-off occasions, and tomorrow will be the first time I make it to the Society of Ancients Battle Day in Bletchley for Pharsalus. If I can get to a decent-sized event say once every two months it'll keep me going. Apart from that, the plan is to have a large home office in the garden of our new house that's big enough to take a table tennis table comfortably. Move-in date is (hopefully) the middle of June...

On the painting tray: March 2016

Almost nothing was achieved in February - working too hard and too knackered afterwards to do much. So I'm just starting a legion I was hoping to start a month ago. Onwards and upwards, as they say...