Basing (again)

Am deciding whether or not I need to added some Autumn grasses to my new Arid terrain style bases, for a bit more interest.

With dry(ish) grasses added (okay, well just sprinkled on for effect at this stage):

 And without:

What do people think?

Craig

28mm Ancient Spanish

It's been another busy week working on my next army, Ancient Spanish. I got a couple of boxes of Victrix plastic Ancient Spanish infantry and cavalry and must say I am very impressed with them, great details, animated poses, easy to put together and a good price. What's not to like?

Light cavalry. I rebased my Crusader miniatures cavalry and changed their shields to the ones from Victrix and added LBMS transfers to them. I want my light cavalry units to look like they are passing across the enemy front lines, looks more dynamic on the table and easy to spot too.

 Spanish medium Cavalry. Victrix plastics. I've run out of LBMS transfers so are unfinished but still able to be used on the table.

 Command unit.

Scutarii and caetrati- all Victrix. I really like the dynamic poses, makes for great bases. Again LBMS transfers make all the difference.

This time two units of Crusader Miniatures Scutarii and Caetrati. I don't really like the figures so will be replacing with more Victrix.

Another shot of the Victrix infantry- I am putting 8 figures per 12cm x 6cm base.

I might give these guys a run next week vs Ken'ts Carthaginains.

I am aiming at:

Division 1: 

• 1xMed Cav
• 1x Light Cav
• 2x Scutarii Med  Inf
• 1x Skirmishers- javelins (Small units)

Division 2: 

• 1x General's Scutarii Med Inf
• 1x Scutarii Med  Inf
• 2x Med Warband
• 2x Skirmishers

Division 3: 

• 3x Med Warband
• 1x Light Cav
• 1x Skirmishers- javelins (Small units)

Craig

Victrix 28mm Plastic Numidians

This morning my order from Victrix arrived. I must say before beginning this post that I am NOT really a fan of plastics. Kent and I both prefer metals miniatures whenever possible. It really annoys me when, for instance, Warlord Games replaces yet another one of their nice metal WWII ranges with some more frigging plastics, most of which are horrible- I've bought a couple of their WWII German offferings, never again! Too damn fiddly so I usually end up replacing them with models from another manufacturer's metal ranges and now avoid all Warlord WWII plastics. Probably the  range of plastics I have bought and used the most are the Warlord Celts, they aren't the greatest figures on the market- some REALLY strange poses, but do well to bulk out German/Celtic hordes. But having seen some of the images of the Victrix Gauls, I can see me adding more plastics to those armies once they are released- they do look good!

One of the short comings of some of the earlier ranges of plastics (especially the Perry's ACW and WWII ranges), has been the soft details of faces and equipment, making the figures a chore to paint.

However, technology keeps improving and so does the quality of plastics on the market. Over the past 2-3 weeks I've been eyeing up the Victrix Numidian infantry and Iberian infantry and cavalry  ranges with an eye to bulking out my armies with plastics. I've a few Foundry metal Numidians but not enough for the entire project so decided to give Victrix a crack. My order turned up today and  I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by the detail of the sculpts- they are as good as they look on the Victrix website. Plastics really have taken a leap forward and it looks like I may be a convert! I am especially pleased with the quality on the Iberian Cavalry, the details really do pop off the figures and will be joy to paint but all the range are well proportioned and will paint up well. In fact, the quality of them is outstanding!

I need four bases worth of Numidians for next weeks game vs Kent so have been working on those, have completed two bases worth today and will do the last two bases over the next few days.

The Victrix Numidians are a tad taller than the Foundry figures I have been using but mix in well on the same base (I'm doing 8x figures per base on my warband bases) and will be fine for this project. The figures are easy to put together and have really nice details and definition- including the faces.

Probably my only concern with these ranges are the spears and javelins. I much prefer the thinner spears and javelins (and use a lot of the metals ones for my armies) to the "armed with tree trucks" that the gripping Beast Saxon and Viking ranges have (not sure of their others), but it does mean that the spears/javelins on the Victrix models are quite fragile. To try to ensure that they don't break I've been coating them with PVA glue. This is an old trick to make paint bind to the old 1:72nd Airfix, Esci etc ranges of figures. As it dries the PVA shrinks and goes clear, creating a nice thin, flexible layer. With the old plastics this meant the paint would bind to the figures and not flake as it otherwise tended to do. I'm hoping the same approach with strengthen the javelins and make them less susceptible to breakages.

Anyway here we go.

Base #1: 3x Foundry and 5x Victrix figures. I wanted to give the look of some light infantry that has looted the bodies of their enemies and taken a few shields- and modified them. The two front shields have LBM Studio transfers on them.

And base #2. Again a couple of LBM Studio transfers added to the unit,

One of the all metal (Foundry & Crusader) bases.

And the four bases all together. Each of my Warband bases are now 12cm wide x 8cm deep "Impetus style" bases. I've only put 8 figures on each base as these guys represent light infantry warbands, for heavier types I'll put 9-12 figures on the same size base to make a more dense, heavier infantry, warband.

When massed together it gives a pleasing effect.

Craig

Galatians/Gauls

I've completed the core of my Gauls/Galatians and am ready for a game vs Kent next week with them.

The aim is to use this army as the core of various armies- Galatians, Spanish, Gauls, Carthaginians, Republican Romans, adding specialised/flavour units to this core. For example adding some Spanish Cavalry, a few units of the new Victrix Iberians will morph it into Ancient Spanish or Celtiberians. Add some Libyan Spearmen and Numidians and it is the core of a Carthaginian force.

So far I have:

• 8x warbands 
• 4x Skirmishers
• 2x Spanish light infantry 
• 2x Medium Gallic Cavalry
• 3x Command stands 

 The army assembled.

The left wing- 1x Med Cavalry, 2x Warband, 1x light infantry, 1x skrimishers.

One of the warband units.

The centre. My centre will be held by the General's Guard warband and 3 other standard warbands and a unit of skirmishers.

 The general.

My right wing. A Mirror of the left: 1x medium cavalry, 2x warband, 1x light infantry, 1x skirmishers.

I'm looking forward to their first outing vs Kent's Carthaginians' this week.

Some more Gauls/Galatians

I finished another few stands of Galatian's today so Ican now field a division's worth. A unit of cavalry, I'm toying with the idea of using two bases deep for cavalry, usually we only use one.  A mix of figures, some are Warlord, the rest? I've no idea!

If I do the same again (rebase 4x stands worth of infantry and anothr stand of cavalry) I'll almost be able to field a Galatian force- which is one of my aims.

A couple of stands of skirmishers.

This one is the new one and represents the general's guard unit. Again a range of figures, a Warlord chieftain, and several Black Tree Design (I think) as well as some Warlord plastics to fill the back ranks.

Tonight's job, finish my Numidian elephant stand and a couple of units of trained Numidian infantry and then I'll be  able to field an entire force with this new basing.

Craig

Hail Caesar basing continues

I've now finished rebasing a few units.

Numidian warband and skirmishers- mainly Foundry & a few Crusader (I think). Painted up the two stands of warband over the past couple of days: Two done 4-6 to go (once reinforcements arrive).

I am also going to add a few divisons of allied troops. The aim is to have building blocks of 4 units per divsion + skirmishers and will be able to morph this army into several others (Republican Romans and Carthaginians) etc.

As part of this project I've rebased two bases of Spanish medium infantry and  two stands of skirmishers to go with them. I'll add  two more units to add a Spanish division. These troops are all Crusader.

And 3 units of my new big based warband. I've put 8 figures on the Numidian light foot/warband bases. For these guys I wanted a bit of a denser formation so have 10 figure sper base. the figures are mainly Warlord Games plastic with a few extras including some Foundry Gauls. Yjhis allied unti will form the nucleus of a Galatian warband but can also double as Celtic allied warband in a Republican Roman or Carthaginian force.

My spacer bases- if required. I see by the rules and some comments of Rick Priestly I found in a TMP discussion on basing for Hail Ceasar on TMP that units within 25% of each other should work fine so am keen to try my 12cm bases vs the guys 16cm ones and see how it plays.

"Hail Caesar (like Black Powder)was designed so we could use our existing collections – regardless of how they happened to be based – and much of my own Roman army is still based for WAB (20x20 infantry). Still works fine. Any basing will do – even those big Impetus type bases – assuming you are not going to be forming marching columns. I'd tend to avoid overlarge bases if you're playing on very sculpted terrain – 'cos they slide off the hills and you can't fit them between the rocks/buildings/trees – but they work fine in terms of the game rules.

When basing up new armies I tend to go for a square base 40x40 for four infantry or 50x50 for four infantry if the figures are looser or bigger – i.e. if they don't fit a 40x40. Then a four base width of 160mm or 200mm makes a standard unit (it doesn't matter that they are slightly different – within 25% is the suggested parameter as per p16 of the rule book). But you can have units that are bigger or smaller as 'standard' to suit your collection or the size of the table – and occasionally I've placed 'half size' games in just this way – generally 2 or 3 or my 40x40 or 50x50 width."

Numidian commanders

The light horse.

Another view of the Celtic warbands.

Another view of the Spanish- these guys are on 6cm deep bases so will be used as medium infantry/auxilia but by adding the skirmisher stands to the rear rank can also use them as warband.

The Numidian light warband on the 8cm deep bases.

Craig