Airfix Britons on the paint table

 I've been on a bit of a roll with painting recently with some ECW Epic Highlanders and Lucid Eye Elves on the paint table, and in a rush of blood to the head I've had a go at the 1st box (of 3) of the reissued Airfix Ancient Britons.

It's been quite a while since I've painted soft plastic figures and there were a few rookie mistakes with these.  I did remember to give them a good wash before I started but then forgot to give them a PVA undercoat which meant some of the paint struggled to adhere to the plastic.  Sorted in the end but annoying.

I also tried using Speed/Contrast paints which are pretty much my go-to paints these days.  For some of the figures this worked well... the Chieftain and the archers had enough detail for the paint to show up nicely... but some of the figures are quite 'flat' and I needed to go over these with 'ordinary' acrylics and then give them an ink wash rather than rely on the speed paints to do the work for me.

Obviously these are quite old school figures so don't have all the detail that we've come to expect in harder plastic ones so expectations need to be altered, but I was quite pleased with these.  3 boxes will give 70+ figures which should be enough for a large skirmishy style game.

Sheer nostalgia

 The very first 'proper' toy soldiers I remember were from a toy wild west fort that I got for Xmas... apparently my dad had wanted 1 when he was wee so I guess he finally got to play cowboys and Indians.  I also inherited some Airfix 1:32 WW2 soldiers from my big cousin, along with (weirdly) some Airfix footballers.

But... the first figures I remember choosing and painting were Romans and Ancient Britons from Airfix in 1/76 scale.  When I say 'painting' I think I had some enamel paints and daubed it badly over the figures (not sure my painting technique has improved that much!).  I have a very vivid memory of painting these at my Granny's house during school holidays in, I guess the early 70s.

So, in a fit of unabashed nostalgia, I immediately pre-ordered when Airfix announced they were re-issuing them.  The boxes arrived today.  Well, actually yesterday and today since for some reason they were sent separately and in huge boxes for a small package.  3 boxes of Britons and 2 of Romans, although I can see me adding to them.  Now they can join the painting queue while I think of suitable rules.

Teutoburg Wald #3... the Angrivarii Boundary

 So far we've played through 2 out of 3 of the Command and Colours Ancients Teutoburg scenarios which have all gone the Germans way, as you'd expect.  This time round we skipped on a few years and gave Germanicus a chance to exact his revenge against the Angrivarii and Arminius.

This time the Germans are on the defensive behind a wall of ramparts but the Romans have arrived in strength (somewhere around 60 000 troops against an unknown number of Germanic tribes)... historically it didn't go well for Arminius but could we re-write history?

The C&C map has the Germans holding a line of ramparts with a wood on their right flank.  I was tempted to leave the safety of the defences and charge along the line into the Romans but given my initial hand of order cards I had a chance to distract my opponent Anthony by pushing through the woods... I hoped this would at least allow me to keep his attention away from a general assault along the Roman line and sure enough it worked.  Thanks to some lucky dice rolls my warbands actually chewed up the Roman left flank quite spectacularly and, more importantly, left the main Roman forces standing around while he tried to shore up the flank.  Would it have been better to ignore the flank attack and push on in the centre... maybe... put it would have allowed me to run riot on the flank so I'm not sure the Romans had much choice.  

As usual all the figures are from Anthony's lovely 54mm collection

The battle was pretty much entirely decided on my right flank.  As always with C&C it can hinge on which order cards you receive and here I was pretty lucky.  Although I mainly had cards allowing me to act on the left and centre sectors, I kept getting a card each turn which allowed me to keep the attack on the right going... it could easily have stalled in which case I might have been tempted to go for an all or nothing attack along the line, but the Gods were with me and I always received a useful card in the nick of time!

I did have one other important ally in the game when Leonard, Chieftain of the Chattii Catii tribe arrived to boost morale!

yep... billions of pounds spent on developing AI technology and I'm using to
enhance cat photos (but he's so cute!!!)

Teutoburg Wald round 2

 A few weeks ago Anthony and I played out the opening Command and Colours scenario in Arminius' battels with the Romans in xxxx (report here)

Last week we decided to move on to Arminius's assault on the encamped Romans (spoiler... it shouldn't end well for the Romans!)  The Romans have built a fortification of sorts and can either fight it out or try and break free, gaining VPs for units that escape off the table.  Anthony (or possibly Antoninus) tried this first, but his cavalry came to a sticky end, jumped by several

warbands as it break out.  It did cause quite a bit of damage on the way though. (I think we forgot... again... about evading or the cavalry might have been able to retreat back into the camp)

The Germans advanced around the flanks of the camp and the heaviest fighting took place on the edges with the centre remaining pretty static... always a risk in C&C depending on how the command cards fall out.  After a bit if tussling over the palisade the barbarians were able to break into the camp and force the Romans back.  There was a bonus target of supplies in the camp centre, worth 2 VPs and I found myself getting drawn into a fight for this before I realised that there were easier targets elsewhere in the camp and the warbands began hunting down the remaining Romans.  

On paper it looked like a convincing win for the Germans but actually most of my remaining units were pretty beat up and wouldn't have lasted much longer so it could have been much closer.  Next up will be the Romans' Revenge... might not enjoy that one so much!!!!

Warlord Epic - Romans v Carthaginians

Haven't posted for a few weeks due to work and general business.  Here in London we're currently sweltering in a mini-heatwave which is particularly unpleasant to those of us used to cooler Scottish climates... it's definitely 'taps aff' weather, as they say in Glasgow!

A couple of weeks ago I had a game of Hail Caesar with Andrew, using his newly acquired HC Epic Scale Romans and Carthaginian armies.  These were a real bargain and he has masses of them.  We played a relatively small game and there was a lot left packed away in storage boxes (he even got those thrown in with the deal!!).  Epic scale equates to about 13.5mm or a small 15mm size figure and en masse they looked great.

The Romans definitely looked outnumbered on the table but had the advantage of better commanders, a hefty piece of artillery,  and more flexibility in manoeuvering and redeploying their legionnaries.  And they had their secret weapon... flaming pigs!  The Cathaginians on the other hand had the advantage of numbers... their units are larger and can soak up more damage.  And of course we had elephants...

Oink!!

The game was a close run affair... both sides were struggling with mounting casualties but the Carthaginians were better able to absorb these and continue fighting.  Sadly neither the elephants or the pigs actually got stuck in to the fighting (I think the elephants may have provided some support but there was no trampling involved).  The figures looked....erm... epic.  A really fun game and a rematch is definitely on the cards

Teutoburg Wald

 This week we had a great game of Commands and Colours using Anthony's lovely 54mm Romans and Germans.  The game is one that suits adapting to different scales.  I like the blocks from the original game but it definitely looks good with figures in different scales.  Small scale bases give it that epic look, while going grand scale has a very old school feel.

This scenario is from the earlier stages of the battle and sees the Romans being attacked while hemmed in by marshland to their rear (spoiler... this is a bad thing and the Romans paid the price for it).  The Germans are deployed on and around a central hill and my first instinct was to hold this and defend the high ground, but more sensible thoughts prevailed and I decided to do what the tribesmen do best and charge straight at the enemy, preventing them throwing pila and pushing the back against the marsh.

No subtlety... CHAAARGE!!!

My first combat was pretty spectacular and set the tone for the game... wiping out a Roman unit and killing one of their leaders!  This was followed up by wiping out both the Roman cavalry units before they could advance (we kept forgetting about the Evade rule which might have spared them but to be fair they could only evade into the marsh which wouldn't have been great.  It wasn't all one-sided though.  The Romans did wipe out several German units but there were always more to replace them.

There's a big hole where the Roman centre used to be!!

Great fun and looking forward t trying the scenario based around the end of the battle at some point.

I have been to... the London Mithraeum

 I had an hour or 2 to kill in London last Sunday afternoon while my wife was at an appointment so I finally got round to visiting the Mithraeum which is located within the Bloomberg building in the City of London.  I've been meaning to do this for years but never got round to it.  It's free to visit but you need to book a time slot online.

The Temple of Mithras dates back to the 3rd century CE and was uncovered in 1954 during an archaeological dig.  The museum comprises the remains of the actual temple itself, accompanied by a sound and light show which, to be honest, didn't really add a huge amount.  There is a great display of some of the artefacts found in the original dig, and then when the Bloomberg building was being built in 2010.

These are all displayed on a single wall with interactive tablets letting you find out more detail about each one.  It includes some fascinating items and, as usual I found myself drawn to the more domestic items rather than the military ones.  A large part of a wooden door, a paddle from a boat, shoes, writing tablets... one of which includes the earliest dated hand-written document known from Britain, a financial document of 8 January AD 57... all offer a fascinating glimpse into daily life.

The entrance lobby also features a really interesting art installation.  All told I was there about 30-40 miuntes... it's not the biggest museum but it's really interesting and free.  So if you find yourself with a spare hour in the City it's well worth popping in.

British Museum: Legion

I'm a bit late to the party but, like lots of bloggers seem to have done, I managed to get along to the British Museum to see the Legion exhibition.  The exhibition explores life in the Roman army and is a fantastic collection of artifacts both military and more mundane.  I combined the trip with an fundraising event in London for work but forgot that this was taking place over the Friday of half-term which meant that the museum was hoaching with families as well as the usual tourists and the queue to get in stretched a long way around the front of the museum!  The exhibition tickets are timed  though, so getting into this was fine and there was no queue and I was able to get in a bit early.

Obviously as a wargamer all the military stuff was of great interest but I also enjoyed the other bits... shoes, tent panels made of goat skin, and tent pegs which were quite like some I've used myself on camping trips!

So here are a selection of photos...

The only surviving example of a Roman shield

Model of the emperor carried as a standard

Another standard

Cornifex

Dummy used for sword practice and an ox skull holed by bolts.

Ship's prow

Draco standard

Horse harness

Crocodile skin armour

Goat skin tent panels

Tent pegs

Part of a leather shield cover

Leather quiver

Cataphract armour

And cataphract head armour

Sculpture of a prisoner

...and the spoils of war

Plaque of citizenship

If you're planning to go along, you'll have to be quick as it finishes on 23rd June.

Finally here are a few more random photos taken while I was waiting for my slot at the exhibition... hmm.... Assyrians.... now there's an idea for a new project!!