Seleucid Army

Taking a cue from the WAB 2.0 rulebook photos, here is the Seleucid army. This is about 3,000 points, give or take - depending if more characters are added. The Gallic Noble cav probably needs one to boost its leadership.

The new rulebook has several nice photos of armies taken while they are more or less in column - not necessarily historic, but better for close-ups.

Here are the troops identified. Of course, for battle they would be arrayed in a linear formation with skirmishers up front.

Here's a list of the model makers:
1st Corps - Companion Cav (actually listed as Hetairoi & Agema cav); Scythed Chariot
Aventine - Armored Indian Elephants; leader of Silver Shields
Crusader - Thureophoroi; Thracian Peltasts
Essex - Army Standard; one mounted figure in Tarentine unit
Foundry - majority of Phalangites; Guard Hypaspists
Gripping Beast - musician and standard for Gallic Warband
Little Big Men Studios - a lot of transfers!
Magister Militum - mounted officer in Companion wedge; couple of leaders and musicians in Phalanx units
Old Glory - Dahae Horse Archers; Gallic Noble Cav; Gallic Warband; Cretan Archers
Redoubt - Tarentine Cav
Relic - Antiochus
ADDENDUM: My favorite phalangite pose - 65 degree held pike, and hands positioned to not even need to glue in the pikes. These are Foundry figures:

Victrix Highlanders - Again + 1

Finished the dicing on the bonnet band as well as the basic pattern of the tartan. Just need to add the black lines through the green stripes - using a Micron pen.

I've decided to go with the 42nd again - adding them to the already completed figures for a larger unit. The guy in the back was used as reference - as well as my earlier tutorial

Just added the black lines using the Pigma Micron 005 pen. Indispensable for this type of work. The trick is to keep moving the pen and not staying in one spot too long. I steadied my hand by finishing a can of Boddingtons first.

I also picked up these pieces of tree moss when we were out walking our dogs earlier this morning. I'm going to try and make some trees out of them. Maybe attach them to some twigs that have the appropriate shape.

Victrix Highlanders - Again

Rummaged through the box of left-overs which were used for the 42nd Highlanders awhile back. Came up with enough figures for a small detachment that will be painted up as the 92nd. Since I mainly play Sharp Practice or some other skirmish rules for Napoleonics, the number of figures isn't too critical. Actually these are enough for a so-called group for Sharp Practice. The metal figures are also Victrix - one is a sapper which I didn't use for the 42nd.

I basically got a little bored since I finished all the figures for the Magnesia game next month. I'm just waiting on my buddy with his Roman Republicans for another play test.

Nuthin' New - Jus' Readin' Thru WAB 2.0

With some "designer" beer I picked up at Trader Joe's. So far, the read through of WAB 2.0 isn't that traumatizing. Having read all of the mostly negative comments for about a year must've cushioned my expectations. Anyway, time to see if the beer is cold enough - my wife said I should try one beer a day. I'm thinking more like one of each per day. We'll see.

Got My Copy of WAB 2.0!

Thanks to ebay, I managed to pick up a pristine copy of WAB 2nd Edition for half-price. I was the only bidder and it sold for only $29.99 plus media mail cheap US shipping! I guess I have to thank the WAB-haters for this. I now have some reading up to do before next month's game at Enfilade! I recall my buddy Adrian receiving his copy the same time last year - right before the convention. We ended up going with 1.5 rules since we never had the chance to really read up the changes. This year we will definitely use the changes & updates in the newer version. Here's a picture of the book just to prove I do in fact have it.

I also added a musician and standard bearer for the Gallic Warband. These are Gripping Beast figures that I bought from my FLGS last Saturday when I was there for the Battle of Soor game with Wes Rogers. These figures are nice and match the OG guys very well. With these two and the full bag of 30 OG figures, the unit is now up to a 32-man Warband. I also made a new movement tray for them.

Here are some close-ups of the two new guys with their very nicely-sculpted horn and boar standard.

Finally, here are the Copplestone Germans that I won off of ebay last week. I ended up cutting off the remnants of their broken bayonets with a pair of nail clippers. The two of the guys laying down need to have a hole drilled into their rifle ends to add pins. They are missing part of their gun barrels. I will also add some Green Stuff for the sights. I need to get a pin vice drill bit first though. All my smaller bits are broken.

Battle of Soor Playtest - 4/16/11

Participated in a playtest for Wes Rogers' game for Enfilade! today at The Game Matrix. The game is the Battle of Soor in 1745 which took place during the War of Austrian Succession. Dale Mickel also showed up, and he and I ran the Prussians while Wes played the Austrians. We played several turns and after both sides taking many casualties, Wes called the game declaring a close Prussian victory - maybe a Pyrrhic Prussian one at that. We used Wes' own rules, which are always well-designed and translate well to convention games. Here are some photos I managed to take while running the Prussian right flank - which included most of the cavalry and Guard infantry.

All of the figures and terrain are Wes'; the figures are a mixture of Old Glory, Dixon and Crusader.

Now Adrian and I need to do at least one more playtest for our Magnesia game before Enfilade! next month.

OG Skythians and Gallic Cav Completed

Finished these two cav units that will be part of a Seleucid army at Magnesia. Of course, they can also be used for other scenarios from late-Classical Greece to early-EIR - at least with the Gallic cav.

The Skythians.

The Gallic Noble Warband.

The horses were given basic basecoats - some dark brown, light bay and grey. Saddle brown, red, blue and emerald green were used for the bridles and reins.

After the "dip" of Miniwax Tudor stain. I waited a day to give them a coat of Krylon Matte.

Here's what I recently won off of ebay; I think they're Copplestone.

Their bayonets were broken off, but were less than a $1.00 each so I couldn't pass them up. I also just won a copy of WAB 2nd Edition for $29.00 - no one else bid on it. Thank goodness for the WAB-haters.

OG Skythians - WIP

Another Miniwax stain convert - at least for figures needing to get on the table right away. Here are the Old Glory Scythian mounted archers after a stain of Miniwax Tudor and then a spray-on coat of Krylon Matte.

Here they are with the basic colors, including some simple border decorations before the stain.

After I pick up some GW bases today, I'll paint the horses - the plan is to give them basic base colors and then, yep you guessed it, stain them with Miniwax.

OG Gallic Noble Cav - WIP

These guys are ready to be mounted on their horses. However, I need to go to my FLGS to pick up some GW cav bases. I like using these for cav that will be used primarily as skirmishers.

Muted colors were painted on first. Some simple plaid and stripes were also added here and there for a Celtic flavor.

Next, they were given a brush on "dip" of Miniwax Tudor stain.

The wash came out okay, but the shading would've been better if done using traditional methods. No matter, the time spent was minimal and they look good enough. Vallejo Matte was brushed on the appropriate areas after the stain had dried. The shields have nice LMBS transfers once again. The figures were test fitted on horses before gluing on shields to ensure they cleared the horses necks. Unfortunately one of the poses (which is duplicated in the set) now have their faces obscured by their shields.

Here are the OG Scythians that are next up to be painted. These are very nicely sculpted. All ten poses are unique and there aren't any duplicate poses. The horses only have a few different poses, but look nice too.

OG Gaesatae (aka Nekkid Gauls) Completed

They actually need a standard and a musician (or at least a trumpet). Otherwise they're ready for the table.

These guys really look like a bunch of wild men - should be easier to remember to roll for Warband tests.

I really like how the LBMS transfers worked out. They fit really well; especially considering there were about five different types of shields. I managed to get away with four types and "made" them fit on some.

After I take a little break, I'll start on the OG Gallic cav - also with some LBMS transfers for their shields.

OG Gaesatae (aka Nekkid Gauls) WIP +1

Finished detailing the shields with LBMS transfers. Painted the spines and metal bosses, as well as the edges of the shields. I'm not sure if these patterns would have been prevalent at Magnesia with the Gallic units there, but they certainly add color to the otherwise naked infantry.

The figures themselves were given a light flesh wash as I thought the Miniwax Tudor stain gave them too stark of an appearance. I'm happy with the results. However, if I were to do this over, I would've given them a wash of Miniwax Bombay Mahogany, or another stain with a more reddish tone.

This was a good experiment with using Miniwax stain. I was quite impressed with the way it flowed into the recesses and crevices. Better than when I've used an acrylic paint wash - which sometimes tends to dry in areas opposite where it should. After finishing these guys (flocking the bases & adding shields), I'll move on the the OG Gallic cav & Scythian mounted archers.

Old Glory Gaesatae WIP

Decided to try a faster way to paint these guys up using a close flesh-colored spray paint. The paint is called "Sweet Cream" and was found at Michaels. Here's how the figures look with a coat of it.

I also bought a can of Miniwax Tudor stain - this is my second attempt at using a wash like this. Earlier I had used the wrong type of stain - oil based. That mistake was very messy, and put me off for a long time.

I tried to read up on experiences others have had using this particular stain. From what I read, it appeared this was the favorite choice of shade. There was another color that also looked promising - Bombay Mahogany. Now that I've given them a coat of Tudor, it does seem a bit too black. Maybe the Bombay Mahogany might've been a better choice for flesh - since it was a bit redder. I may end up giving the figures another coat of flesh wash - to soften the look. I also think I should've painted the other parts of the figures before adding the wash; like helmets, etc.

Here are the shields which have LBMS transfers added. They were a bit fiddly to apply, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn't too bad. I only ended up destroying two transfers - and these were the first couple of ones before I figured them out. In any case, there's no way I could've painted them free-hand.

It's imperative to use a sharp hobby knife to cut out the tiny areas where the transfers need to clear the shield bosses. The only way I can safely add LBMS transfers - as they have adhesives - is to wet the shield surface and also the transfer when applying them. This allows the transfer to be properly positioned before pressing them down - which I use cotton swabs to do.