SPACE 1889 - Martian Gashants - Part 2

 I have completed 11 figures which arrived on Wednesday and the work was posted as my first entry into the AHPC XIII.

There appear to be two types of Gashants. The domesticated variety equipped with European tack. I painted up three of them and kept it to a simple uniform look. I have another 24 of these figures to paint.

Then there is the second, wild variety, which appear to be used by the various Martian tribes. I had 8 of these figures and painted them all. I experimented with 4 different skin colours, as well as two different beak colours (red or yellow). One of each for the four different skin colours used. For lack of a better term the wild gashants seem to display some sort of comb. Again I used a different colour to go with each of the skin colour variations.

SPACE 1889 - Martian Gashants

 Wow, just in time for the AHPC XIII, I received this evening a package containing 35 RAFM martian Gashants. I now have to patiently hunt down 35 Martian riders for these mounts.

Roman Carroballista - Part III - Completed

 I am very happy with the the final results. The merging of 30 year old Ral Partha/RAFM war machines that were rusting away in my private junkyard, crewed by some superb looking Essex Miniatures, all around or mounted on ox carts purchased from Warlord Games. 

To quote Hannibal Smith

WIP - Roman Carroballista - Part II

Last year I posted about the Roman Carroballista that I had cobbled together using Warlord Games - Hail Caesar ox carts and some rather old Ral Partha or RAFM scorpion bolt throwers that were buried in my pile of lead. I lamented that I lacked crewmen for these war machines. Last month I had reason to place an order with Essex Miniatures and discovered on their website that they listed EXR23 Artillerymen in Segmenta Armour & Helmets. Exactly what I was looking for. Service was fantastic, with delivery from the UK to Montreal in only 8 days. I ordered three packs along with my other needed supplies.

Roman Army - More Busy Work

While working on the Greeks, I pulled a few of my Romans that I felt could do with a refresh of their bases. IMO they looked pretty hideous before hand.

As well a gift arrived in the mail to join my Greeks. Beware of gifts bearing Greeks.

Lightning Strikes - Roman Carroballista

Christmas 2000, Joseph my good friend and gaming buddy, and I met for our annual Roman Civil War. We were playing WRG 7th edition rules. Suddenly I found myself on the receiving end of massed fire of a unit of carroballista. Joseph and his wife, had spent the evening before my arrival, converting some Airfix Ancient Britain chariots, mated with Airfix Roman scorpio bolt throwers. It was a nasty surprise and the speed of the unit on the battlefield was inspiring.  

Three of Joseph's carroballista run circles around his Legion

Warlord Games used to offer a scorpion mounted on a mule cart. From the time I first saw the image until recently it was always out of stock. This afternoon I couldn't even find it listed on their site. Meanwhile I squandered my hard earned sestertius on other frivolous figures and projects. 

While combing my mountain of lead, I uncovered some ancient (30+ year old) Ral Parta/RAFM scorpions. The Early Imperial Roman Cart is nearly always available  for purchase. So I ordered three. This project has been sitting on my painting table for the last 6 months and I finally found time to complete it,

Image of a carroballista on Trajan's Column

I am now seeking some 25mm artillery crewmen. I have some Foundry figures, but the 28mm heroic scale of the crewmen seem rather out of scale to the bolt throwers themselves. However when compared to the carvings on Trajan's Column, maybe I shouldn't worry. If I am unable to find what I am searching for, I will paint the figures up.

28mm TRAJANIC Roman Army - Part 2

 As promised yesterday, the rest of my EIR Tragic Roman Army. These photos are of my siege equipment and Generals with their Cavalry Bodyguards.

SIEGE EQUIPMENT

1) Roman Bolt Throwers (Scorpio/Scorpions) behind some field fortifications - Figures are by Wargame Foundry Miniatures. I believe the fencing is by Old Glory Miniatures.

2) A Roman Onager by Black Tree Design in the background with a Foundry Scorpio. Not the best of photos. 

3) The next two images feature a Warlord Games  Early Imperial Roman Ballista, along with another Foundry Scorpio,

4) Finally we have a Legionnaire working party. These are 25mm Figures picked up in the mists of time from either RAFM or Ral Partha. I was unable to find an online reference for these figures. The wall is from some model kit.

ROMAN GENERALS with Body Guards

The command figures were packages I believe that were purchased Wargame Foundry. Each is a unit of a General Element (WRG reference) and another three elements of Heavy Cavalry. So I have three separate units each of 12 mounted figures. Note- The Green unit is missing a Command Stand that I need to locate. The Blue Shield Unit are figures by Ral Partha. The other BG Cavalry, I believe are  Warlord Games' sculpts. 

 An Oddity. - The Following unit has been part of my Roman army for over 40 years. They were picked up at the local gaming shop in Halifax (which is no longer in existence). The figures were labelled as Roman/Greek Companion Cavalry. At the time I did not know better and parted with my hard earned cash. I would imagine these figures sold for the princely sum of $3.95 a pack. I purchased three packs then and latter acquired a fourth.

15mm HOTT Forces of Evil

Slowly, over the past few months I have been working to catch up on a number of small projects. Some figures have been sitting in my collection of unprocessed lead (now pewter or some such alloy) for  almost 20 years. These three figures are surely included in that category. I have been in Montreal for almost 15 years and I am certain I bought these figures long before I left Halifax. They are mounted as Flyers on 40mm base width elements for HOTT.

3 Elements of Flyers

I think it was about 4 years ago June, that Joseph was in town for a weekend war gaming visit. We went to the Valet d'Coeur and each picked up a couple of packs of trolls in the $1 bin. Mounted on individual 40mm wide elements, they make excellent Behemoths for any Force of Evil that cares to ally with my undead army.

2 Elements of Behemoths

On the Workbench: Colonial Lancers Vol 2

Since August of last year, my concentrations have been on my studies. I did work on some miniatures, but I have not had the time to blog. I completed my internship on Friday and will receive my complete my program on Tuesday. I will now try to catch up on the blog.

Shortly after my last post on the Colonial Lancers, the bases I was waiting for arrived. I based two figures per stand, while I kept a few single stands in order to be able to remove causalities. The photos were taken on my red gaming mat. I am thinking of joining the ranks of Space :1889.

On the Workbench: Colonial Lancers

I was determined to get the troopers done over the weekend. I need to wait for some magnetic bases I ordered from Shogun Miniatures so I can mount them. I have been purchasing bases from Robert Knestrick for over two years now and find his product to be as good as GF9, but at about 2/3s the price.

As you can see I decided to take the simple route with the horses and painted them all one colour. I guess that the images of the RCMP escort of the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge, as they arrived on Parliament Hill in the State Landau were still on my mind.

I will dig through my pile of lead to see if I can find some more spear tips to top off the lances of this unit. Eight of the figures came with the sharp end of the pointy stick, pennants flying , the rest did not.

I need to paint the two officers that came with this unit. While digging around in my minis a pack of three cavalry officers from the same Ral Partha/RAFM colonial line surfaced. Additionally I never painted the commanders of the Space 1889: Soldiers of the Queen. A total of 7 mounted figures. My project for the next week.

Legions of Mars

In addition to the 20 British Lancers that have stirred my interest in the colonial era, there is also an opportunity to explore Worlds Away and struggle against new Adversaries, while in the service of Her Majesty,  the Queen-Empress on distant Earth.

Earlier this year I received three boxes of the above troops. There are no limits to where the Soldiers of the Queen, under my command may serve. I am not sure when these figures will reach my painting table. My studies take up most of my free time. Perhaps painting them will be my Christmas project.

Soldiers of the Queen, North West Frontier

In my previous post I wrote, that I purchased a NW Frontier force that came up for sale a number of years ago. The main advantage was it was already painted and I would not have to lift a brush. That wasn't quite true. This Field Force came with a dozen pieces of artillery, lacking crew, as well as numerous pack animals. These are mostly mules laden with pieces of dismantled artillery. They still have to be painted. The artillery crews, were blogged about last year.

Mounted Native Troopers (15 Figures)

In addition to the unit of 14 mounted troops, there were three units of native infantry. One unit wearing red tunics, with painted turbans (20 figures) and two units dressed in khaki drab. One unit consisted of 24 figures and the 2nd of 20 men. Twenty is  the traditional unit size for TSATF (the Sword and the Flame) rule set, as well as the unit size that was chosen for the Soldier's Companion  (Space 1889 Miniature Rules).

NW Frontier (India) Native Sepoys Unit Unknown

Khaki Drab,  Unit of 24 in March Column (4 Wide)

Native Sepoy Troops

Khaki Drab, Unit of 20 in Line (3 Deep)

Native Sepoy Troops

Since I had the colonial army on the table, it was time to finish the bases of all the infantry units. That way I can "claim" the project is complete. Origanally, the infantry figures were  mounted on government issued metal copper disks. Even the native calvary figures were glued to two. Their outline can be clearly seen through the flocking, on the GF9 magnetic bases.

I found the copper base to be slightly smaller than I liked. I also wanted something that would attach itself to the flexible magnetic sheeting I lined the floor of the tool box with. The infantry was then glued to 1 inch, steel washers. Canadian Tire sells them by the hundred at a very reasonable price.

Tourists of Duty or My Time in Vietnam

Before he left Halifax, Rob Swan ran a fun series of Vietnam war games. I think they were partly inspired by the Tour of Duty TV series and were mainly played with the Gi'ac My rule set. I recently was reading my copy of Charlie Company and reflected fondly back on those games. Like the Charlie Company rules, the scenarios that Rob ran were based upon time spent in-country. My character was a US Infantry sergeant who survived his 12 month (game) tour, and was finally on his way home.

Sgt Rockwell, due to his good luck, and seemingly invulnerability started to be referred to as Sgt Rockwell, the latest product of Rockwell Industries. After each game, if your character survived, you received a D6 die roll (1-3 = +1, 4-5 = +2 and 6= +3) to augment the character's stats or skills. I was fairly lucky with my rolls. Victor Charles was not happy that I had survived my tour, and I was a recipient of a personal scenario. A VC hit team was waiting for me at the airport as I prepared to return to the World. These games were long before the digital camera and little, if no record exists of them.

 

Sgt Rockwell leads his squad out of the jungle.

As my contribution I painted up an US Infantry Platoon. I had over forty figures from the Charlie Company line by RAFM. They were divided into three ten man squads, accompanied by an under strength weapons squad and a HQ squad. I built four M113 plastic APCs and a M-48 Patton tank, all ESCI models, purchased from Squadron Shop. I later obtained two 105mm howitzers, which were never assembled or put into the field. Last year when I started to Blog about my WW2 Japanese I dug out the howitzers. I wanted to see how easy they were to assemble compared to  the B.P. Cast model guns. In two words, No Contest.

 

Two 105mm Howitzers with Camp and M-48 Patton Tank

 

Heavy Weapons Squad with M113 APC

(2 Hvy MGs, 2 M-79s, 1 LAW and I Sniper)

 

Understrength HQ Squad. Doc runs towards the Lt.

 

Shavetail used for scale 

(Above M-48 Patton Tank and Below M-88 ARV)

Having the guns on my painting table inspired some eBay purchases, all from the same seller. I won a M-88 Armoured Recovery Vehicle and a fifth M113 APC. I also gained two Roco M113s, but there is such a noticeable difference in scale compared to both the 20mm figures and the other M113 models that I will put these two APCs up for auction. Since there is no other piece to compare it to, I decided to keep the ARV, even though it too is by Roco Minitanks.

I finally painted the arty crews this past weekend and then decided to photograph the complete unit.  I dug out my box of GW plastic palm trees to provide a jungle like back drop.

 2nd Squad exiting a jungle trail. M-48 at the rear of the column.