My Blog

2009 - a look back over the year

As far as wargaming is concerned, 2009 has been a good year.  My 'Britannia' project (Early Imperial Romans in Britain) is all but finished - I could do with five or so more Roman cavalry - but I'm waiting for Warlord Games to make some armed with spears - but that's about it for figures - other than a few 'specials', like civilians, engineers, etc.  …

Sassanid Jumbos!

Sassanid Jumbos!

Aventine Miniatures Sassanid Persian jumbos - my Christmas project.  There's nothing remarkable about the way they're painted.  They went together easily, with just a little filler between the body halves, and painted up well.  There's another photo in the Sassanid Photo Album.

I am almost done with Sassanids - another unit of Savaran cavalry, and some Miniature Design Studio archers, and that's all that I had planned - though I may do yet another unit of Savaran before I'm really finished.

Happy Christmas!!

Happy Christmas to all my readers!  If you click on this link, your browser should download a PDF.  It's a Christmas card, designed by yours truly, for you to exercise your modelling skills on - print it out, crease where the red lines are, and then (preferably) use a scalpel and straight-edge to cut between the black 'crop marks'.  …

Sassanid Infantry

Sassanid Infantry

All my Sassanid infantry - three ranks of spearmen, supported by a rank of archers - 96 figures in all.  Actually, it's four units - two units of 36 spearmen, and two units of twelve archers, but I thought they'd look spectacular displayed like this!

I've just had an idea.  I might paint a unit of Roman auxilia with the same flesh colour as I've been painting Sassanids (and arabs) - so as to represent a unit raised and/or recruiting locally (i.e. in Syria).  That should make it look a bit different!

A Little Progress

A few days ago I prepared the two Aventine Miniatures elephants for painting - I intend to start on the fun part (the actual painting) from my birthday (Tuesday) onwards.  They went together pretty well - just needed a little bit of filler between the two halves of the bodies, and between the bodies and heads.  …

Some thoughts on the Hobby

This post has come about because of a fairly good-natured discussion I have been taking part in in a couple of different places simultaneously.  Recently (well, within the last few years), it has become apparent that there is a fairly vocal section of the hobby (I hope it's only a tiny, (though noisy) minority!) …

Finished!

Finished!

I have finished the 'Ala Gaetulorum Veterana' mentioned in Wednesday's post.  They look quite different to my other unit of Roman cavalry, but still recognisably 'Roman', though exotic, with the different shield shape and colour and their dark skins.  I enjoyed painting them - mostly - although I'm not keen on doing horses: they take too long, and have too many legs!  They are, of course, from A&A Miniatures, with shield transfers from Little Big Men Studios.  These may be the last 'real' horses in this project - the only other ones I have planned at the moment are some more Sassanid noble cavalry, which are mostly scale armour, and rather fun to paint!

Ala Gaetulorum veterana

I am working on a Roman cavalry ala (wing) at the moment.  It involves re-using half a dozen figures I painted during my first, abortive, attempt at this project from a few years ago, plus a batch of fresh castings.  You can see the painted figures, as they were before I threw them in the stripper, in A&A Miniatures

Progress...

Not a huge amount of progress lately - I've been busy with all sorts over the past week, from Christmas shopping to entertaining the in-Laws.  I have painted a dozen A&A Miniatures Sassanid foot archers, which are more or less the same as the first lot, so I shan't bother posting any photos - the old ones can be seen in the 

"A General Plague of Madness"

...Or so Lord Derby, Lancashire's highest-ranked nobleman said of the 'English' Civil War(s).  I realise that the title could equally be used of wargamers.  Perhaps one could even suggest 'madness' as a suitable collective noun for wargamers: 'a madness of wargamers'.  Sounds quite good I think - and is certainly descriptive!  …

Iranian Nomad Cavalry

Hello all!

At last I have finished the Iranian nomad cavalry.  I quite like them now that they're done, but somehow they didn't 'grab me' while I was painting them - it's taken real determination to see them through to the bitter end.  I don't know why, but I just didn't enjoy painting them.

The figures are, as usual, from

Copyright © Dr. P.C. Hendry, 2010