May Painting

 The month has been a tad fallow on the painting front, spring always brings other distractions it appears from following other folks blogs. Here are some completed items below.

A small unit of skirmishers for the sixth century Romans. Figures from the most splendid range from Aventine Miniatures, the shop should be going live with the new owners next month. They are retaining the services of sculptor Adam which is excellent news.

I have recently purchased the new Nationalist infantry figures from Empress and promised myself that I would paint something from the pile of potential before painting them. Queue these Republican officers and medic.

What is this you may ask, well I recently ordered up a couple of packs from the Empress Arnhem Heroes range. Simply for the pleasure of painting and owning you understand, I will not be getting a full platoon. No Sireee not me😇

😈 are you sure about that?

Until next time………..KBO 

 

Lombards!

 Allied heavy cavalry for my early Byzantine army, figures from Aventine Miniatures, LBMS shield transfers on a base from Warbases.

There will be some action in 1940 France here in OHQ next week, meanwhile check out this weeks game over on Dave’s blog, https://talesfromghq.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-fury-of-northmen.html

Until next time……..KBO

Hail Ravnlivs!

An army generals command base for my early Byzantine army. Aventine Miniatures with a Gripping Beast casualty figure, LBMS shield transfers mounted on an 80mm circular base from Warbases.

 As previously mentioned the next few games will be over at GHQ, starting tomorrow with some Indian Mutiny shenanigans in the Bhyklabad.

TTFN & KBO

Colour Continues

Not much of my own stuff leaving the bench at the moment although I have managed to finish the Byzantine cavalry unit I started last month.

Aventine Miniatures figures, banner and shields,  except the standard bearers which I painted, are LBMS, base as ever from Warbases.

Excuse some of the blurry photos my phone seems unable to focus up close properly at the moment.

All being well we will be revisiting South America here at OHQ on Tuesday with a War of the Triple Alliance game using BP2.

TTFN & KBO

New Army Syndrome

Yes it struck my Early Byzantine force the other day although the new unit I had painted dId itself proud. However it was not enough to stem the Ostrogoths attack.

We used Neil Thomas Ancient and Medieval rules as planned but as we had not played for a while we used them straight out of tin without our house rules to keep things simple.

A photo montage to show the course of the engagement follows.

The Byzantines arrayed for battle.

After a cautious start the Ostrogoths cavalry engage their opposite numbers.

The combat continues for several turns neither side giving way.

Over on the flank the opposing light cavalry conduct there almost private contest, the Moors galloping up and back again throwing their javelins while the Huns reply with their bows.

Meanwhile both sides infantry are content to stand by while their archers to exchange missiles

The far right Byzantine cavalry are eventually bested and the victorious Ostrogoths slam into the flank of the other unit.

Although assailed on both the flank and their front the Byzantines bravely fight on but numbers begin to tell and they too are put to flight. The Huns seeing the destruction of the Byzantine cavalry also quit the field leaving the Byzantine infantry at the mercy of the maruading Ostrogoths cavalry.

They too fight on tenaciously but they know it will be to no avail as they are heavily outnumbered now. They put down their swords and surrender to the mercy of the enemy.

It was good to get the army out on the table for the first time, I now need to get on with some more cavalry.

TTFN & KBO

The General

I have painted this Aventine Miniatures figure up for the upcoming game next week, although generals aren't represented on the table in the Neil Thomas rules we like to have them. We have house rules for them which you can find in the side bar.

We will see how he fares next week, until then.

TTFN & KBO

Byzantines Are Back!

On the painting desk, another infantry unit this time. To make it easier to paint I put a rank at a time down on the base.

The first as been painted and glued to the base followed by my standard basing material, Javis desert stone mix, this is then painted with Decoart Country Maple and washed with a diluted mix of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna oil paint. Once dry I dry brush it with Vallejo Model Colour Iraqi Sand before adding Gamers Grass Tufts.

The second rank is then painted and added to the base making sure I can fit the third tank behind them, then the basing material added and finished as above.

I then paint the third tank.

These are then added and the rest of the base is textured and painted as before to complete the unit.

It will be a while before I have enough painted for a Hail Caeser game, however I do now have the required eight units for a game using the Neil Thomas rules. I have therefore scheduled a game here at OHQ on 20th of this month.

Until next time .........

TTFN & KBO

Huns

New additions to my early Byzantines, Hun light cavalry from Aventine Miniatures, base from Warbases and Gamers Grass Tufts via Great Escape Games 

 

TTFN & KBO 

Early Byzantine Psiloi

In Hail Caesar terms a small unit of Psiloi, Aventine Miniatures figures with the officers shield a LBMS transfer.

The Morecambe and Wise shot🙂

I was reminded by Dave's post that I had this fella from Wargames Foundry part finished so I set too and got him finished.

No I didn't paint the scene from Uccello's Battle of San Romano, sourced on the web and resized to fit. 

Back to Italy next week to resume the curtailed Italian Wars game.

TTFN & KBO

Arthur or Belisarius

Take your pick. I have recently been reorganizing my Post Roman Britain collection to enable us to play Hail Caesar with three divisions a side each of four units. I have had to paint up some left over Goth infantry, not exactly Saxons but they will do for me to make up the Saxon army. On the Romano British side I only needed to paint four figures so I utilized some spare Early Byzantine figures. Which is where this chap comes in.

Sold by Footsore Miniatures as Belisarius I bought him for the early Byzantine project, to make up an extra base of cavalry for the Brits I used the Footsore Arthur and bannerman figures. This figure will now be the new Arthur. 

All being well real life permitting we will have the Brits and Saxons on the table here at OHQ on Tuesday.

Until then..........TTFN & KBO

Early Byzantine Kavallaroi

Whilst I was painting some mounted Normans for Dave I dug out a unit of cavalry for my 6th century Roman project. I hadn't realized that it was last May since I had added anything to the collection!

To rectify the neglect I have also cleaned up a unit of psiloi to paint and ordered a unit of Huns.

Figures are from the ever gorgeous Aventine range of course on a 120mm x 80mm base from Warbases.

Off to GHQ for next week's game, the very pretty Italian Wars using Hail Caesar utilizing the medieval additions in the second edition.

TTFN & KBO 

Markers Ancient and Modern

Some markers to denote casualties, loss of stamina and the like.

The shields are from Footsore Miniatures and bases from 30mm circular bases from Warbases.

Next some decorative barrage etc. markers for my 20mm WWII games.

"

These are made from florists wire glued into circular bases from Warbases, Woodland Scenics clump foliage was then glued to the wire using a hot glue gun. When dry they were sprayed with Woodland Scenics, scenic cement, basically watered down PVA. It’s was applied with a Woodland Scenics spray bottle, again any household spray bottle can be used. Once dry I sprayed with Halfords Matt black car paint and then a light overspray with Halfords grey primer, the bases when coated with Jarvis desert sand and stone mix and painted with Deco-Art country maple washed with GW Seraphim Sepia and drybrushed with Vallejo Model Colour Iraqi Sand(819)

That’s all for now folks.

 

TTFN and KBO