Age of Hannibal: 6mm Iberian or Spanish Army

 Howdie.

 In my third Punic Wars installment, I am presenting my Iberian, or if you rather, Spanish or CeltIberians, army.   The peoples of the Iberian peninsula played a critical part in both the start of the 2nd Punic War, and the fighting that followed.  Iberians could be found fighting one anther, the Carthaginians, or the Romans... or (as I use them primarily) as part of a larger Carthaginian or Roman army.  In my previous posts on my Carthaginian Army   and my Numidian Army   I explained how there are contingents of troops operating within a larger multi-national force.  As with the Numidians, I wanted the Iberians to be a functional army in their own right, being able to field against outside aggressors from Carthage or Rome.  I feel in game terms this army is much more formidable than my Numidian army.

Except where noted, these are all Baccus (and in fact all of the Spanish are Baccus).

 Here we have the entire army, which is 1 general and 1 sub commander, and 46 bases of troops (14 bases of Scutarii and CeltiIberians, 4 bases of Spanish light infantry, 10 bases of Caetratti, 3 bases of Spanish heavy cav, 3 bases of Spanish light cav, 6 bases of Balearic slingers, and 6 bases--the only Rapier miniatures in this group--of Celt slingers).  

 Here are the commanders... a Spanish general and a sub commander.  I decided to use a single bag of Spanish heavy cav for multiple purposes.  This included pulling 3 mounted figures for command models... adding some foot Scutarii to the general.

Here are the formed infantry, which is comprised of 6 bases of Scutarii painted primarily with mixture of white, gold-yellow, and red shield colors..... 4 bases of Scutarii painted with a mix of darker primary shield colors... and, 4 bases of what are actually Celts, but painted as if they were Spanish.  I am not sure this was a great idea or not.... but it allowed for more variety, and a small group of infantry that looked different, perhaps representing a northern Iberian tribe, or from somewhere between Spain and the Alps.  This, and having the Scutarii painted with 2 different distinct color sets, helps me as the player identify elements in the game, or even makes it easier to split troops between two opposing armies.  First, the largest block....

Then the smaller block of Scutarii.... as well as the light infantry and the heavy cav.  I used models from that single bag of Spanish heavy cav to create only 3 bases of heavies, knowing that I had an overabundance of Carthaginian heavies already.  I created the light infantry bases with two sparse ranks of 5 models each, mostly Scutarii with a couple of Caetratti mixed in, and then a couple more Caetratti forward as skirmishers.  This adds more versatility to the army, and may represent either smaller tribal groups, or specifically trained light troops.

And here are the "CeltIberians", alongside the light cav.  So the remaining models from the heavy cav bag were dispersed to create 3 bases of Spanish lights.... again, knowing I have so many other cav to pull in.  This was one of my cheap skate moments (really, it was because I didn't think I needed 5 bases of heavy cav.... and if I bought separate light cav, that would work out to maybe 8 bases, or a total of 13 Iberian cav bases, which I felt was way too many ).

Here are some of the Caetratti skirmishers....

Now, because I was not sure of the best place to include them, here are the Balearic slingers... elite missile troops, and a nice addition to any ancient army of the Western Med.

Something else that I didn't have a good place to include, are these Celt slingers from Rapier.  I bought them in the beginning, just trying some things out.  There are two fairly large Celt armies in our club, so Celts have not been my priority, as I can rely on other people's Celts to join my Carthaginians.  The Numidians and Spanish in the club are more limited, so I focused on building larger forces of them.  However, I would at this time like to expand the Celt contingent, again into a balanced force, though a smaller one.  Something like 4 bases of formed infantry, 8 bases of warband, and maybe using the same trick I used with the Spanish heavies, 3 bases of heavy cav and 3 bases of light cav.  A small, but useful force.  For now though, I have only these...

Sometime soon I will post a combined army, something to show how the Punic army would look going into battle.

Thanks for reading.

             

Age of Hannibal: 6mm Numidian Army

 Howdie.

 You might be asking yourself... "Numidian Army?  Who does that?"  Well, obviously I am not the only one, but its not exactly in the top 10 favorite ancients armies. My Numidians are primarily to provide a supportive contingent to my Carthaginian army.  However, by buying just a few extra miniatures, I was able to form a 30 base army for Age of Hannibal.  Its unlikely I would ever use all 30 bases as part of a Carthaginian army, but this allows me to entertain scenarios such as ones where the Numidians may find themselves independently fighting either the Carthaginians, or, after the fall of Carthage, the Romans.  It also allows me to cheat a little with bases if I am short in one place or another.

For me it feels better to think of purchasing "armies" rather than just bits and pieces.  So, instead of just a few bases of light horse and skirmishers, I have a force that can be fielded on its own.  Within its own limitations and troop choices, this is a relatively balanced force

Anyway....

Here is my commanding Numidian general, in the form of a darker skinned Hellenistic commander on a base with a few Numidian infantry from Baccus.  Most of this army are Baccus figures, but there are a few bases of Rapier Miniatures (as previously discussed in my post about my 6mm Carthaginian Army ).

 

 This is the entire army... in addition to the command base, there are 10 bases of Light Infantry, 10 bases of Skirmishers with Javelins, and 10 bases of superb Light Cavalry.  It is the light cav that are the most important to the Carthaginian army, in particular to the campaign of Hannibal.  Hannibals' one great battlefield defeat, Zama, was the one battle he did not have a superiority in the area of Numidian light cav.   Altogether, this would be a sizeable army... though, a very limited one.  While the light cav I talked about were extremely useful, even they lack the punching power needed to crack formed heavy infantry.  This is a mobile but light army.

I truly intended to create a few bases of "regular" formed infantry.  I just could not do it.  The Numidian infantry did not seem to have an intrinsic type of troop I felt would stand toe to toe with say Hannibal's African veterans, or Roman legions.  So, I ended up creating 10 bases of light infantry (which to be honest, I could also field as rabble if needed).  I did this by making two sparse ranks of only 5 or 6 models each (compared to the formed infantry of  3 full ranks with 7 or 8 miniatures each) with 1 or 2 additional models deployed in advance of the lines.  They look distinct from both skirmish bases and heavy infantry bases. 

I also formed 10 bases of javelin armed skirmishers, using the same models as for the light infantry.  2 of these bases (the 2 in the lower middle and lower right positions in the image below) are Rapier, the other 8 are Baccus.  These can be useful, to provide additional skirmishers in a battle when needed.

Finally, there are 10 bases of Numidian light horse.  Since light cav have no front facing in Age of Hannibal, I chose to base then performing a turn.... they do actually have an identifiable "front" but look nice in groups of 4, forming a circle.  8 bases are Baccus, and 2 are Rapier.... one base has a skirmisher on it as somehow I came out 1 horse figure short.  In the last image, you can see from left to right, Rapier skirmishers, Baccus skirimishers, and Rapier light horse.

 

 I think I could borrow a base or two of elephants form the Carthaginians to field with these Numidians, and it would look perfectly fine.

Not exactly a world conquering army, but a nice one to have.  My next posting will be on my 6mm Iberians, who form what I would consider a much more formidable force, one that fields better and fights harder.  More on that later.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Age of Hannibal: Carthaginian Army in 6mm

 Howdie.

 As you may be aware, I was involved in part of the development of the Little Wars TV ruleset, Age of Hannibal.  Actually, I even provided the cover art....

Hannibal Portrait

 Not surprisingly, I have a few miniatures in 6mm for this game.

I will be following up with additional portions of my Punic army in the near future, but for now, I will only be discussing what I consider my "Carthage specific" portion of the army.  Given the nature of the Punic military, it will be understandable that this force of mine is separated into contingents.

Here we have the full weight of Carthage, 23 bases of troops (12 formed spear infantry, 6 heavy cavalry, and 5 elephants) with three commanders.  This represents the smallest of the three contingents in my Carthaginian army.

 When first choosing my miniatures, and before we had fully worked out the system, I decided to purchase small amounts of both Baccus and Rapier miniatures.  Both are 6mm, and both I think are fine ranges.  You will notice that the Rapier is somewhat larger than the Baccus.  Ultimately I chose to fill out my armies with Baccus, but the Rapier provide some variety to my army, and would certainly be an option for anyone's army.  Both paint up fine.

Here are the commanders, a general and two captains or sub-commanders.  I have used the general as Hannibal, however, I think I need a base with more flair to represent him.  I do have additional unpainted leaders, and may make a decision about the elephants, discussed below....

Here I have the core component of the Carthaginian infantry force, 4 bases of Baccus African infantry and 4 bases of Veteran infantry. 

They are supported by 2 bases of Rapier Punic Heavy Infantry and 2 bases of Rapier Libyan Heavy infantry.  Having different bases does allow to have different troops in your army be readily identifiable... or could even form part of an opposing force, like, say, rebelling mercenaries.  There are also a grand total of 6 bases of heavy cavalry, which are 5 bases of Baccus and 1 base of Rapier.  This is too much heavy cav at the scale we normally fight battles at in Age of Hannibal.  However, when first organizing them, I was not sure.  Now, I definitely do not have need of so many... and I also found I did not like the look of the 3x3 ranks I put the Baccus in.

And finally, here we have the iconic element of a Carthiginian army, the elephants.  There are 2 bases of Baccus elephants, and 3 bases of Rapier elephants.  You will notice a sizeable difference between the two.  You may also notice that I placed a couple of Numidian javelin men on each, to represent the coordination of skirmishers with elephants in combat.  If 6 bases of heavy cav is too many, 5 bases of elephants is way too many.  Again, this is because I was not thinking clearly about how to organize armies.  I am not sure that Porus would need 5 bases of elephants at Hydaspes.... but maybe.  Anyway, I am thinking about dismantling one of these bases (because 4 would be plenty for any Punic battle, including Zama) to secure a single elephant to create a dedicated commander base for Hannibal.

 

Some other notes.... I recently re-flocked the bases a bit to keep them consistent across all of my forces.  Most of the players in out club tend to go with darker, greener, flock styles.... and generally I think players in a club are serving each other better by having similar flock on their bases.  There is a visual appeal.  However, considering that these troops will fight in battles representing actions in North Africa, Spain, and the length of Italy, I really wanted them to look like they are in a drier, more arid, environment.  Not desert, not mountains, but also not a lush loamy farm valley either. Something that would not look out of place anywhere in the Western Med.

Anyway, hope you like them, and I will follow up with more of this army.  Until then, keep the elephants coming, and maybe learn how to complete sieges....

Thanks.

Battletech: Vehicle Identification

Howdie.

OK, a little embarrassed... but I can not identify these vehicles.  Ral Partha, looks like 1987, definitely look like Battletech (maybe 2x LRM10s in the turret), tracked, pretty big.




Potentially could be O.G.R.E. vehicles, though I could not find an image there either.

Thanks. - update, mystery solved, these are Battledroid era Hunter Tanks.... very different from current Hunter Tanks.  Best match might be something like the Sturmfuer tanks.

WWII Naval: British Aircraft 1/600 Tumbling Dice

Howdie.

I have officially completed all of the 1/600 Tumbling Dice miniatures in my possession.  So I of course ordered more, but for now....

These are my British..... now, I realized I needed to practice identification, because it was not always easy for me.  ALso, I did not enjoy assembling the biplanes, even though TD made it about as easy as could be done at this scale.  It reminded me of how bad I am at assembling plastic models.  Similarly, even though my hand painted roundels are not great (and I admit to giving up on the yellow ring), I still prefer this to trying to work with decals.  I had a Viking ship as a kid in the 70's, could never get the shield decals to work right... I think that made me the painter I am today :)

Anyway, here are a whole bag of things:
4x Gladiators
and 4x Swordfish in business like drab fashion
6x Spitfire (Tropicalized) in two different schemes
6x Hurricanes in two different schemes
6x Fulmar in two slightly different schemes
6x Skua in two different schemes.... looking like a flying transport for a greenhouse

 Now I know my color choices are not ideal, so I relied on the immense variety of color combinations, and as usual went for shades that were bright enough to help make the individual miniature stand out.  Overall I am happy with how they turned out.  I like the Spitfires, they reminded me of another plastic kit from childhood, a 1/72 Spitifre, which I had at that time painted drab and grey.  I think I like painting the British camo patterns a little better than either the German or Italians ones.

So that is it for aircraft for a while.  It always feels good to complete a purchase.

Thanks.

WWII Naval: Italians over the Med 1/600 Tumbling Dice

Hello.

So here is part of my ongoing WWII Mediterranean Naval project, this time showing the complete Italian aircraft that I have so far.  I realize I would like to make an additional order, so there will be more Italians, Germans... and there are plenty of British here that I am still working on.

Another member of our club, Ed, has 1/600 aircraft for this theater, and we have agreed to pool things like Swordfish and Gladiators when needed for GQ games that require more than either of us have individually.  But still, its nice to have enough of my own set for running CY6! games, or for smaller air involvements in GQ.

You will have seen some of the SM.79s already, but there are also 3 more SM.79,  4x CR.42 Falco and 6x MC202 Folgore.  What I think I will add are MC200 Saetta, Ro43 and Cant Z.501.... but for now....

I painted each type with 2 slightly varying patterns, the Italians had plenty of camo designs for many of their aircraft.  As a side opinion, they produced some fine aircraft... like everyone else, they have some miserable designs too, but their best work was competitive with their opponents.

For the MC202 I used the fasces symbol without white background, as this seemed to be how they are usually represented.  Now one problem is that there are a lot of aircraft that look similar at this scale, so I am trying to become an expert on wing shape and length.  The MC202 has shorter wings than the Spitfire and the larger Hurricane, and also a shape distinctive from either of the others.... which is good, because a lot of high performance WWII fighters seem to have a similar fuselage or body design.

OK, now to finish my British aircraft, then look to order the things I would like to add.

WWII Naval: German Air Power over the Mediterranean and North Africa

Howdie.

Unusual for me, to have two posts in the same day.  Just was trying to tinker around while cooking dinner, found out that the fighters paint up pretty quick... so thought maybe I can just finish all of the Germans I have, get them out of the way, as they are only here to support the Italians anyway.

So...

Again, I am not 100% on my markings, and I continue to struggle with the Balkan Cross.  I chose to only put one on each wing top, just not worth the effort for me to try to put more on.

What I have are 6x Bf 109Es, painted in two different schemes, one for over Malta and one for over North Africa.  Figured that would give me some nice variety for CY6! games, and they still work together for use in General Quarters.  Also have 3x Ju-88s, all in the same scheme from Sicily.  Included in the shot are the same 3x Ju-86s from the earlier post.  I should have also ordered Ju-87s, and if I ever do another purchase, I will likely add those.... but this is basically it for me for the Germans.

Now what I also did was move along a bit on the bases.  These are cheap self-made options, 1"x1" squares with a heavy washer on the bottom, some painted quick and easy desert, some painted quick and easy water.  Figure if I have both, I can cover most of my options.  I am using Lego's, little base glued to the square, then use of 2x transparent blue and / or 2x clear column pieces to designate a height level in CY6!  Cheap enough (even the Legos, when I bought them last year, were not that expensive), heavy on the bottom for stability.... just need to find a speed recording option.

So there you go, a nice little bunch of air craft to harass the Royal Navy and pals.  Or eventually turn on the Italians a little bit later.

Overall, I found these to be easier to paint than I thought, and with the practice on the Germans, I feel a little better about doing a decent job for the Italians and British.

Thanks.

WWII Naval: Mediterranean Axis Bombers 1/600 Tumbling Dice

Hello.

So, to go with my 1/3000 fleets, I also have 1/600 aircraft, which can be used both for General Quarters, and for Check Your 6!

Now, this is a new thing for me, painting 1/600 aircraft, and I will need to practice a bit to get better.

I decided to start with 3x German Ju-86 because they are relatively large miniatures (easier to handle when painting) and also because they are not the most important aircraft I have in my inventory.  I am experimenting with a basing system which I have not perfected, but the bases you see are not complete(they would be woefully unstable in a game as shown).  I don't think I will keep trying for the Baltic Cross emblem, its just too hard, and will be even harder on the Bf 109s I have in the queue.

Then, I decided to work on something vastly more important for the Mediterranean.... SM.79s, a workhorse for the Italians.  While, like many other early WWII designs, the SM.79 was considered "obsolete" it performed very well in its many roles, including torpedo bomber.  I have 3 more SM.79s to paint, which would give me 6 total.

You may notice Swordfish, CR.42s, Bf109s, Spitfires, Ju-88s, and the other SM.79s in the background. 

I don't think I am 100% on my markings, and the painting is far from perfect, but I think these will serve well enough for my uses.

Thanks

Warhammer Fantasy: Snotlings for Orcs and Goblins

Soooo ok, wanted to take a quick break and paint something that did not require much effort.  I grabbed 4 bases of Snotlings and set forth.  Now, I don't game much WHFB, not for years, but I still have tons of things.  I have bought, painted, sold, bought again, etc etc so many times its hard to remember what I have and what I used to have.  Most of the large Orc and Goblin horde I have is from lots I bought on ebay for cheap. 

Anyway, I thought the Snotlings would be ok to do quick and dirty, so they are not great by any means... but they are done!  No flock on them yet.  I used a very quick method similar to how I paint 6mm Ancients, so its sloppy and indistinct.  The good news is, as my eyesight gets worse the better things look!

Just crude little paintjobs.

And here they are with some pals..... Stone Troll, Gobbo Wolfboys, and Orc Boyz.

Anyway, just a change of pace for the moment.


Waaaaggghhhhh!

WWII Naval: Mediterranean Fleets 1/3000 NavWar

Hello there, been a looooong time since I posted something, been very busy.  OK, enough chit chat.

I had started looking at the Mediterranean Sea during WWII a few years ago after making a impulse purchase of a very inexpensive set of painted NavWar miniatures for the Battle of Matapan.  I have purchase Navwar in the past for Cold War Soviets and modern PLAN, and have always enjoyed the miniature line.  For WWII, though, my interest has always been with the Pacific War, motivated by boyhood readings of books on Pearl harbor and Midway, and of course, the corresponding films Tora Tora Tora and Midway.

Anyway, I realized this theater had a lot to offer as it was extremely active, and generally hotly contested.  Though the Italians and their German "friend" tended to come out on the losing side in most large surface engagements, it was far from one sided.  The Royal Navy took some heavy losses, and despite their superiority in tactics, training, and confidence, were unable to entirely shake the threat of the Regia Marina... the Italian ability, despite being so hampered by fuel shortages and heavy losses, to keep a dangerous presence in this theater locked a large portion of British naval strength here, and away from other critical global regions.

Well, lets look at some pictures.... I don't have pictures to post of the Matapan fleets, but I have all the ships involved in this in addition to the following.  I also have quite a bit of British stuff to still paint, and some more cargo ships.

The Regia Marina additions to the Matapan force (and actually, I have duplicate Trento and Trieste cruisers now).... the Roma and Vittorio Venetto (the Matapan Littorio is flagged as the Littorio), Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio, Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare, and the Aquila.  They are supported by the Trento and Trieste... the Guissano, Bande Nere, Barbiano, Colleoni.... the Luigi Cadorna and Armando Diaz.... the Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta and Eugenio di Savoia... and the Montecuccoli and Montecuccoli.  They are in turn screened here by 3x Folgore DD, 4x Maestrale DD, 6x Navigatori DD, 3x Freccia DD, 3x Spica TB, 4x Marcello SS, and also 3x German TyVIIc SS. 

Unfortunately, I never seem to have good photos, so these tend to be off-shade and blurry, unfortunately :)

I did try to work in the barber pole markings, and also some of the camouflage patterns put in use by the Italians.  Doing this on 1/3000 destroyers is "difficult" so I mostly tried it with larger vessels. 

I think overall the Italians turned out pretty well.  I regret choosing too thin a stock for the bases, as the the British and cargo vessels look better on a heavier stock.

Now, for the Royal Navy (and a few Commonwealth), so far (unflagged at the moment) I have managed to add a fair bit of strength to the Matapan forces.  The following are Ark Royal and Eagle,  Ramillies and Royal Oak. Now, because of some ordering error I made, I have a duplicate Warspite that I have painted as the Malaya, and two Renown's... one of which I painted with the block pattern for Repulse.  Don't hate me too much.  There are also the Dido and Phoebe, as well as 4x Tribal DDs.

I did make a go of several camo patterns for these.... I know it may put the specific model in the wrong year for games, but that is going to happen no matter what, unless you buy duplicates of everything.  It does have the advantage of making certain vessels recognizable immediately... in particular for the British as they had so many different patterns to use.

Finally, here is my first group of various cargo ships and tankers.  I kind of bought a spread of stuff, and fully intend to use these anywhere I need to create a convoy.  Currently, these are 1x Clan Macaulay, 2x Amarapoora, 2x Scottish Tankers, and 3x Rafaela tankers.

I have plenty of ships to paint... and a bunch of 1/600 aircraft (an important component of war in the Med)... but I have about half convinced myself to buy enough Germans to fight the well know operations (Denmark Straits, Operation Juno, River Platte), and am thinking about the French Mediterranean fleet also.

Thanks for viewing!