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Arthur and the Gang

     So, I finally finished the Gripping Beast Late Roman Infantry that I have been puttering away at for the last couple of weeks. I think they turned out rather well ( aside from the hand-painted shields, that is). Now all I have to do is build and paint the twenty-one cavalry  from the two boxed of Dark Ages Cavalry that I bought and round up some Welsh-looking lads to use a skirmishers and I will have my little army ready for battle.

 

a solid all-infantry force, but I need some cavalry and light troops 

A Sunday Post ... Perfect for a little religion

Well, I finally got the Temple finished.  The painting adds considerably to the production time as each side needs to dry before the next can be painted.  However, even my wife, who has nothing to do with gaming and an art background, was impressed with how this one looks when done. 


If you have been reading along with these reviews this kit is once again made out of 2mm mdf (the manufacturer claims 3mm, but that claim does not measure up!).  However, due to the significant amount of layering that goes on in this construction it has a much more solid feel when done.  This temple feels like it will survive the rigors of ham handed gamers!   

 

A visit to Menards

     Home Improvement and Builder's supply places are one of my favorite locations to find unusual accessories for wargaming. A while back I discovered Eco-Rug which makes a great table surface and I had some fun playing with that. A recent trip to Menards ( a Big-box home improvement store rapidly spreading across the upper Midwest of the USA) saw me finding several items of interest.

 

this delightfully textured square of high density polystyrene is intended as a base for air-conditioning condensers, to me it looked like a great base to fight the newly popular mirco-skirmish games (Frostgrave et al) on, in real,life it is a darker gray

Some Paint on my Post-Roman Britons

     Having returned from vacation I spent a few hours getting a splash of paint on the Gripping Beast Late Roman Infantry. Slow going but they are turning out fairly well.

 

the white tunics are a relief from the Imperial red

And Now we begin the Sarissa buildings

     While I await the Sarissa  storefront buildings I decided to start with some easy stuff.  So here I present the Bazaar section and the Slave market. 


      Now here is what a modern recreation of a Roman Market looked like

The last round of EAW buildings

     So here is a picture of the remains of an actual building in Pompeii.

     It was probably at least three stories tall originally.  Notice the balcony built into the face of the building above the large store front doorway.  The last building I purchased from Empires At War is their Three story building with balcony. 

Continuing efforts to fill those hills.

Onwards to the first of the more flat topped buildings.  These buildings do have a slope to their roofs so I will have to puzzle over how to correct that, but herewith the Coaching Inn and Two story house with balcony.  I also tried saving these pictures as 'medium' instead of 'original' so maybe that will deal with the photo size issues. 

Here is the Coaching Inn right out of the bag.  This one has a very innovating design element, so you have something to look forward to as you read further. 

Late Roman Infantry from Gripping Beast

     Not new, I know, but new to my workbench. These have been tempting me since they first came out. I have always had a soft-spot in my heart for Late Roman/Early Byzantine troops and these hit that spot dead-on. They also stoked the smoldering coals of my interest in Post-Roman Britain, the last vestiges of Romano-Celtic culture desperately trying to stave off the dark tide of ignorant pagan Saxons (yes, I am a fan of doomed causes). So now they are on the workbench getting painted, but that is an issue for a later post, today we look at the figures themselves.

 

the box, the artwork is clear and provides painting ideas without 

getting too "artsy" like the boxes from Fireforge

It takes a lot of Buildings to fill seven hills!

     So my Roman (actually Spanish according to the manufacturer) buildings have arrived and I decided I better get a building.

 

the finished product is quite lovely

     The majority of my buildings will be from a company called Empires at War (www.empiresatwar.co.uk hence forth 'EAW').  They have a wide range of 28mm buildings.  as well as 15mm, 10mm, and even 6mm; these come from a wide range of gaming epochs, Roman to sci/fi. 

Gripping Beast Dark Ages Cavalry Kit Review

     It has been simply ages since I did a kit review, this is in part due to my life being invaded by the Castillo Project, but also in part due to my resolve not to buy more minis than I was painting (this has slowed purchases to an absolute crawl). Yet here I am with a new box of Gripping Beast Dark Age Cavalry in my hands, I suppose rules exist to guide rather than dictate.......

     

      As I indicated in earlier posts, I have long harbored a desire to build a Romano-British dark Ages Army. I resisted this for many reasons but found my resolve slipping when GB released their Late Roman Infantry a while back. Then I walked into Michigan Toy Soldier to find this beauty on the "New Items" shelf. The last shreds of my resistance fell away in an instant. I confess that I have always liked GB's plastic figures for their clean sculpting and realistic poses, the box was mine before I could think twice. Let's look inside, I am sure that you will be as pleased as I was.

Battlefields AAR

   

      I was occupied all morning in running a game but Zhodani Commando has filed an excellent report covering the convention. He also has some edifying thoughts about the hobby.

    Check out his report here