15mm EIR Romans

I finished painting a 15mm Early Imperial Roman (II/56) army this week. These are almost all Old Glory figures (the bow might be Minifigs and the light horse are Xyston). I primed them (in deference to the weather) with black paint and future floor wax. This took some extra time (versus spraying) but allowed me to skip painting the silver.

This is (I think) an all options army, with five bases of 4Bd, three bases of 3Cv, one base of 2LH, one base of 4Bw, one base of 2Ps, one base of 1Art and four bases of 4Ax.

When I play EIRs, I typically use the 4Bd general option and you can see him standing here amid horns, standards and whatnot.

There is also a 3Cv general option which you can see here in the middle stand of cavalry.

Overall, there are five bases of 4Bd (including the general) which gives the army significant punch against other foot. Although beware the warband quick-kill issue. These fellows are all wearing chain mail.

The 2LH base is a conversion of two Xyston Gaulish figures that I put on horses of unknown origins. The skirmishers are Old Glory and they give the blade a better ability to withstand mounted charges and warband.

There are two types of ranged weapons. The ballista is Old Glory while the bow are (I think) Minifigs. There are also four bases of 4Ax.

These painted fairly quickly. Cleaning and glueing and priming took 40 minutes all told. Painting the nine colours (@20 minutes each) took another three and a quick wash added another 20 minutes. Then there was about an hour all told of basing so about five hours for 41 foot and 11 mounted.

These fellows are available for sale $55 plus shipping (likely $15 in Canada or the US). I'd also accept a part trade for some 28mm skeletons. offers to bob.barnetson@shaw.ca . SOLD!

Up next: The last of the British AWI dragoons. I'm not sure what follows--perhaps I'll start on some 28mm Saxons?

AWI 1/72 American DBHx Artillery

With only British dragoons left on the painting table, I finished the basing on these 1/72-scale American artillery pieces. The kits are a mix of Imex's British and American artilllery sets.

These fellows are small howitzers with a mixed crew. I painted up the American artillery troops with a few more guys in civvies.

And below you can see the small, two-pounder cannon.

Overall, a useful addition to the armies. With only the British dragoons left, I now turn my mind to how I could add a few elements and make this army more fantastical for HoTT. I think a flying ship of some kind would be a nice addition. Lurkers (Benedict Arnold? The Swamp Fox?) and heroes might also be nice touches.

Up next: Some 15mm EIRs are dry and await pictures. And I hope to finish the painting on the dragoons at lunch today. Thereafter, who knows?

EWG Club Night

We had 12 guys pass through last night with nine playing games. Scott and Dave played two games of Command and Colours Ancients. Things are not looking so good for the Roman player over on the right flank.

Terry, Chen and Bruce played a game of Civilization. There were a lot of components!

Dave and Mark commanded the sheep-lovin' Scots in a 28mm game of HoTT. Facing them where the slack-jaw skeletons commanded by Justin and me. Below you can see the results of charging my three bases of riders against Mark's knights in support of Justin's line. Hey, where'd my riders go?

This pretty much summed up the game--the skeletons didn't have the stomach for the fight and could never quite finish anything. Below you can see my line facing down Dave's cagey Scots.

The picture below was about mid game and I figured Mark was about to get boned. Neither knight can retreat and the fellow on the left is an aerial hero. We should have gotten at least one. Alas, the old maxim "In case of emergency, roll 6" proved our undoing. An ignoble defeat for the undead.

Up next: 1/72 AWI American artillery is ready to go along with a 15mm EIR DBA army. And I have the last 1/72 AWI British forces (dragoons) almost painted.

AWI 1/72 American DBHx Dragoons

While traditional cavalry units were not common in the AWI (versus, say, Europe), I did want to include some horse options for both the American and British units in my armies. This is necessary for some scenarios (e.g., Guilford Courthouse, Cowpens) and adds an interesting dimension to ahistorical games.

The British were easy enough to figure--Italeri does a set of British AWI light cavalry. But what of the Americans? I decided to model the American horse as dragoons--men who moved on horse but fought on foot. I pulled the horses from the Imex British and American foot sets and then paired them with some foot fellows in a mix of uniforms.

In retrospect, having the horses tied to trees or a fence and the foot fellows kneeing to shoot might have been the better choice, although that would have been hard to fit on the right bases (these bases are already too deep for DBHx standards). That said, I'm fairly happy with these two units.

Up next: AWI American artillery are drying and I'm almost done the British dragoons. I also have finished some 15mm Romans. Alas, work commences again today so that will cut down on my productivity some.

AWI 1/72 American DBHx Foot

As I move forward to complete my 1/72-scale AWI armies for DBHx, I have completed the American foot units. There are 42 figures here and most are from Imex's George Washington's Army set.

I did, however, reserve a bunch of the woodsier figures for my War of 1812 units and thus had to add in a few old Airfix ACW confederates in floppy hats to make up the numbers.

Overall, the figures turned out nicely although the Imex set didn't provide enough line troops so we have quite a mix of units.

First up are three bases of 4 shot units representing continental troops. These would form the core of any army I'd field.

There are also three bases of back-woods militia in a variety of mis-matched leather and linen jackets.

There are three bases of 3 shot units which might represent locally raised forces of state troops.

Finally there are two bases of 2 skirmishers and one base of 4 shot representing a locally raised unit. Lastly (below), there is a single general figure to allow me to use the mobile general optional rule for DBHx. I would have preferred a mounted figure but ended up using the horse that came with the box as a dragoon.

Up next: Tomorrow is club night and Dave and I are putting on a game of big battle HoTT. I also have some American AWI dragoons about to finish up today and perhaps some cannon. Thereafter will come some 15mm Romans the final AWI dragoons (British).

AWI 1/72 British DBHx Artillery

Last night I completed the basing of my AWI British artillery units. These are 1/72-scale models from two Imex sets. The first set is British Artillery which contains four guns and assorted crew.

The guns are howitzers (which is nice) but are rather small. I used two of the guns for the British and set two aside for the Americans. I also mixed and matched crew between the sets.

I then pulled two cannons (although these are still small) from the American Artillery set. These are shown below and appear to represent two-pounders.

Overall, these turned out alright and four bases of artillery is likely more than enough for any scenario I might end up running. With a bit of foreknowledge, I might well have avoided the British artillery set; howitzers are interesting but the guns are very, very small.

Up next: AWI American foot, dragoons and artillery and just rolling off the production line and then some 15mm EIRs. Then back to 1/72 AWI with British dragoons and cavalry.

AWI 1/72 British DBHx Foot

One of my 2011 gaming goals is to field some 1/72-scale AWI armies. I picked up a bunch of Imex figures in a trade with Justin. Today I finished off a box of Imex British Red Coats. These are quite nice figures and the plastic is very hard.

I painted 38 figures, eight bases of four-man shot and three bases of two-man skirmishers. Looking at them in the cold light of dawn, I see that I should have reversed the colours on the drummer's coat. And I have also given men in knee-high black boots knee-high white putties instead. Oh well! I wasn't looking to replicate any particular units but rather create some generic troops.

I've already some Indian allies for these fellows. And I should have some artillery ready to go for tomorrow. That just leaves some Loyalist stands (that I have yet to source) and a few bases of mounted troops (which are underway).

Up next: A slew of 1/72-scale AWI are in various stages of drying and basing. I expect British artillery are next followed by American foot, dragoons and some artillery. Then likely some British dragoons and cavalry. I also have a 15mm Early Imperial Roman army that is almost painted.