Note to self: 15mm Early Imperial Roman Painting Scheme

These Romans were painted a couple plus years ago, though if my memory serves me right, definitely not longer than five. It seems like yesterday but if truth be told I am not a fast painter and this is rather a a few DBA armies back down the production line. The point of this meandering is that the paints I used were from Games Workshop, chosen on the basis that the only other paint manufacturer I was really familiar with was Tamiaya. They were good for WW2 camouflages but rather limited in the Ancient era, I should clarify, one seeking a painting by numbers scheme.

The route my army took was as follows:

Preparation: A two stage undercoat:
Undercoated: Chaos Black
Experimentally wet/dry brushed with Codex Grey leaving lots of dark recesses.

Shade Colours:
Tunic and Shield: Scarab Red
Metal chain/segmenta/other metals: BoltGun
Flesh: Dark Flesh
Gold Trimmings: Tin Bits or Dwarf Bronze (TBC)
Wood: Scorched Brown

Highlight Colours:
Tunic and Shield: Scarab Red mixed with Blood Red (as I did not have the intermediate Gore Red to hand)
Metal chain/segmenta/other metals: Chainmail
Flesh: Dwarf Flesh and dabs of Elf Flesh
Gold Trimmings: Shiny Gold
Wood: Bestial Brown and a tad of Snakebite Leather

Shield Design:
Gold Trimmings and Red (as above)
Shield Design (all hand painted with feather technique, reducing the lighter shades to live inside areas of darker shade): Bubobic Brown, Golden Yellow, Golden Yellow + touch of Skull White
Note: I had to retouch the shield's red after shield's design had been painted.

Basing:
Base was textured Milliput (stippled with an old toothbrush)
Painted: (A watery) Chaos Black
(Shade) Dry/Wet brushed: Snakebite Yellow
(Base) Dry/Wet brushed: Snakebite Yellow + some Fortress Gery
(Slightest of Highlight) Dry brush: Fortress Grey
Static Grass then PVA'ed on.

Now there they stand waiting to defend or expand the Empire. If only I would paint those Thracians or buy some Gauls I could solo game with them ;)

Half-Term Holidays

Signing off for a week, it is half-term after all and those with kids will know what that entails :)

Projects to report back on:

• Narvik Wargame (who knows when this will actually [if ever] get done)
• Platoon 20 WW2 British Infantry .. coming along nicely 
• Valiant WW2 American Infantry .. plodding along behind
  
• Revell WW2 German Infantry .. just getting into their stalls
  

Till then happy holidays :)

Narvik (5): The cunning KM plan [Hypothetical Wargame]

Studying his options Captain Von(J) decided that his worst enemy was the complete lack of accurate intelligence. The best the German Naval High Command could offer was to inform that they expected half the Royal Navy to be potentially outside the entrance of Narvik Fjord in less than twenty four hours time.

German Naval Intelligence estimates of Royal Navy strength in the Narvik Region:

Definite Information:

• The flotilla of destroyers identified (5 destroyers, of which 1 was sunk and 1 badly damaged)
  

Probable:

• An Unknown Destroyer Flotilla (4+ destroyers)
• Light Cruiser

Whereabouts unknown:

• Light Cruiser Squadron 4 ships
• Battleship HMS Warspite + destroyer escorts

Possibly within 24 hours steaming:
Three separate RN battlegroups:

• Battlecuiser HMS Hood + 6 Destroyers
• Battlecruisers HMS Repulse and HMS Renown + 4 destroyers
• Aircraft Carrier HMS Ark Royal +  2 light cruisers + 6 destroyers

The unexpected appearance of Royal Navy destroyers in the Fjord had obviously upset the KM Naval Intelligence Community and Staff Planners alike. Previously all these ships had been plotted in Scapa Flow. The clarification that there was five German U-Boats on station, but not where, did not really help him much either. Nevertheless Von(J) determined that if at all possible he would attempt to break out, but was it possible?

Quickly he organised a search plan.in two steps. A small patrol (single destroyer) to the North West of the Fjord as a safety check in a region unlikely to be seeded with RN vessels, which would sweep down to rendezvous with a stronger patrol exploring the South West of Narvik. The second patrol was three destroyers strong and expected to encounter a Royal Navy picket, if any were at all there.This would indicate whether an immediate breakout was feasible as the three destroyers oiling desperately tried complete the process as fast as possible.

Not long after departing, a mere six nautical miles, South West of the fjord the second group encountered a lone RN destroyer on picket. Captain Von(J) immediately ordered the two remaining fully fueled destroyers to sea and the concentration of his forces against whatever the Royal Navy was mustering outside Narvik.

Visibility conditions five nautical miles (twilight)
Sea state - slight swell

Next related post will be of the resulting GQ2 Naval Wargame: Narvik Breakout [Hypothetical]

15mm Early Imperial Romans (4): Lights and Wacky Things

When all is said every DBA army needs is light troops. Obviously suffering from a bit of a chill by the way in which they are hugging their cloaks here are some slingers:

Camp followers, who at a push could double as a Psilio.

Then there is the odds and sods variants that cover all those little tweaks of campaign history. Archers (nice for shooting horses) and a Warband (divide and conquer amongst the enemy tribes as is the Roman way):

There is also the definitive models which mark the DBA army's technology. For the Roman, for me at least, it is the Scorpion artillery piece:

Then there is the plain "wacky" which makes you wonder 'why' - but you still find yourself drawn to paint it. The "tortoise" .. can I use it as a camp? From the front it is impressive:

From the side, it needs a little more protection :(

Remember I did it because it was there. All in all that is my Early Imperial Roman lot! Whew!!! I don't think I'll ever make it to a DBM or Fields of Glory Army list with the Romans.

15mm Early Imperial Romans (3): Mounted Troops

Albeit that the Legionaries were the heart and soul of the legion and the Auxillia could be relied upon to do whatever, whenever without asking questions, the ladies always had an eye for a young man on a horse. Hence we have an over the top display of Roman horsemanship, please note the General's stand in the center, "On my command unleash Hell!":

Scouting ahead of the Legion comes the Light Horse:

Finally a wanton spare in the wanted attention and rather than leave a single Roman figure untouched, knowing full well that it would be a decade before I returned to add or finish the hangers on to this army (by which time the Games Workshop paints would have been well and truly dried out indeed) "Roman on Horse" was commissioned and painted.

A fine fellow he looks too, useful as a messanger or a DBA campaign Roman Army map marker.

Next "Lights and all the other Wacky things" :) 

15mm Early Imperial Romans (2): Auxillia and Foot General

All good legions have heroic foot Generals, the bring and buy purchase gave me the option of several command stands complete with Legion Banners, trumpets and "significantly" pointing generals:

However for those times when a DBA battle calls for a more earthy, grim Centurion as General (or rather commander):

Following in the footsteps of the Legions of Rome we have those of the conquered who aspire one day to be called as Roman through their faithful (unflinching and unquestioning) service. These come as two types the 4Aux:

The there are the 3Aux, as I have an eye to be versatile to cover the Middle Imperial Rome period too, and a partial eye for a DBA campaign where (as a special) I was going to allow cavalry to dismount and fight as foot (in the badlands of Thrace).

Next come the mounted elements :)

15mm Early Imperial Romans (1): Legionaries

My span of wargaming covers the beginning of BC (or the more politically correct BCE - Before Common Era) to future CE (Common Era) 2000+, so to flesh out my other (non-WWII) periods here comes the Romans.

Standing adroitly to attention are the Legions of Imperial Rome, part of an ongoing project to map the Rise and Fall of Rome and her enemies in DBA Armies. Therefore may I present my DBA army of II/56 Early Imperial Rome. The figures are from Warrior Minitures, true to 15mm scale, what they lack in variety of posture they make up for in atmospheric pose.

Romes Imperial Legionaries, more than I need for the DBA army, but they came as a job lot from a wargames Bring and Buy stall:

Seen here in a close up, yes I have been experimenting withe the macro function on my camera :)

"Generals and Auxillia" to follow next :)