The Wolf’s Cubs are growing

Steady progress at the painting desk here in GHQ over the past week has seen positive developments with my Republican Roman Legion in the form of the second element, the Hastati. In my second order from Aventine Miniatures I received a pack of Etruscan officers suitable for use as Roman officers, enabling me to have a slightly more varied look for this part of the Legion ~

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m expanding the number of bases and figures in both the Principes and the Hastati components of Legio VI, the Wolf’s Cubs as I’ve named them, but they will be tackled after the Triari who have now reached the head of the painting queue!
In the meantime, here are the finished elements of Legio VI and Coronus Cunctator ~

A gift from Matt

A birthday during all this lockdown malarkey is certainly both different and memorable, mostly but not exclusively, for the wrong sorts of reasons though. Aside from the usual handful of cards, all heavily stressing the 70 on the covers, I also received a surprise package from Matt. When I opened it I was delighted to find several metal castings of Roman figures he had sculpted for Agema Miniatures and one for Warlord Games. The Tribune I've added to my Command base for the Wolf's Cubs and the other figures I've arranged into a small vignette featuring the Consul, Julius Fantabulosus, and his retinue ~

They'll be a good way down the painting queue unfortunately, as I'd like to finish the Legion's Triari and Velites first, but I thought you'd like to see them anyway.

Consolidation of my Republican Romans

Now that I've painted up a goodly quantity of my Aventine Miniatures Republican Romans I've had a chance to take stock of how I want them to look on the tabletop. Leaving aside the issue of their cavalry elements for the moment, I've settled on 28 Principes, 28 Hastati, 20 Triari and 4 Legio Command figures.
Basing them up is a matter of personal choice, as I'll do both sides and we use an expanded version of Neil Thomas's Ancient and Medieval rules here in GHQ for our games, so I've no need to worry about rule conventions at all. The command elements of each of the three component parts of the legion will be on 50x50mm bases, while the Legion command will be on a 50mm round base.

The Triari will be on two 80x50mm bases, each of 8 figures. The Principes and Hastati will have two eight figure bases of 80x50mm and two four figure bases of 40x50mm each. This should mean that I can represent the two century depth of each of those components with an 160mm frontage, expanding to 320mm on contact with an enemy. Having arrived at that decision I needed to order up 12 more figures for the Principes and Hastati to add to the 4 already in place to make up the two 40x50mm four figure bases for each of them.
In addition to the three components of the Legion I've two 80x50mm bases of Velites to provide the skirmishing element of the organisation. This gives me a total of 90 figures to represent Legio VI, the Wolf’s Cubs, the core of my Republican Roman army. With an eye to later expansion I ordered up a unit of Mercenary cavalry and another of archers. Together with the unit of levy skirmishers I've already painted and the unit of Balearic slingers from my second order they will be able to be fielded both by the Romans and by the Carthaginians, making early games more flexible I hope in the Autumn.

With that in mind I've also placed a small order with A&A for some Numidian Light Cavalry, equally useful again for both armies. I also added in their Hanibal and generals pack to give a distinctive look to my Carthaginian army Command base. My next order to Aventine Miniatures later in June should be for the core elements of my Carthaginian army, though I'm still mulling over exactly what I'll get to begin with. I would hope to have completed the core of both armies by early Autumn and then look to expand both over the winter using figures from both Aventine Miniatures and A&A, though I expect that other ranges will also make an appearance in the respective forces knowing what I've seen out there!

Coronus Cunctator...

...and the Aventine Miniatures Republican Romans I completed in May ~

 The first elements of Legio VI, the Principes, shield transfers by LBM, kindly cut out by Sue for me as it proved too difficult for my hands to manage ~

The total figures completed so far for the project ~

My overall impression of Aventine Miniatures so far is favourable. Communication from Keith is first class, keeping you up to date with the progress of your order through from receipt to posting. The figures themselves need little cleaning up, bar some trimming of the undersides of some bases. There is sufficient variety in pose and arms/equipment to make a varied look if that is desired. The figures seem to love the paint and the end product even of my limited painting is more than pleasing to me. Now, I need to think about raising the start of my Carthaginian army...

Some of my favourite games

I’ve been feeling increasingly nostalgic as the days of this tedious Coronavirus lockdown malarkey have dragged on. I don’t have any inclination for solo gaming, as I’ve said before, but I do enjoy looking at past games we’ve played in GHQ. With that in mind I’ve assembled a few of my favourite images which I hope you will enjoy as much as I have ~

Howard ville, USA 1920's gangster mayhem.

FRW from Wargames Illustrated photo shoot day.

Victoriana, the experimental undersea boat, Sea Dragon, on her secret trials!

Adventures in 1920's Rhanzlistan, again featured in Wargames Illustrated.

Indian Mutiny with my own The Devil's Wind ruleset.

Zulus! Quite a lot of them!

Chief Bykelezi m'Tubbi, never victorious, yet!

VBCW, again featured in Wargames Illustrated.

The War of 1812-15, featured in WI Bitesize #3 and destined for the hard copy when it re-emerges.

The Sudan War using both A Good Dusting and Black Powder.

The ECW, from the cover photoshoot for A Crowning Mercy.

Somewhere in Normandy, 1944...

The early Italian Wars, from another Wargames Illustrated photoshoot.

The ACW, my favourite wargames setting down the years!

Hovels resin buildings, still going strong and great value for money.

A Rhanzlistan photoshoot day for Wargames Illustrated.

The Rebs step off, once more, under Jubal E Bykleigh!

Still somewhere in Normandy 1944, but the good guys as William calls them!

The SYW, probably the most colourful period to game in.

Late Roman internecine wars, Pompus Maximus and Baldinus tussle for the Imperial purple.

Ol' US Bykleigh takes command once more. On to Glory, or not...!

More ephemera

More from the vaults of time on the theme of table dressing and ephemera which I enjoyed adding to some of my collections over the years.

The headquarters of the Army of Northern Virginia. Figures by Dixon Miniatures of course.

Strike up the band, though best not play Dixie!

Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac. Figures by Dixon Miniatures again, tented hut from Redoubt Enterprises, table and other stuff from Irregular Miniatures. 

Two contrasting SYW vignettes composed from figures in the Casting Rooms Miniatures and Foundry SYW ranges. The roast is by Irregular Miniatures.

An AWI camp scene using Foundry figured and bits with Architectural Heritage tents.

Interior of the Aces High saloon in New Paddock City.

The lawyer's office interior. Figures by Dixon Miniatures and furnishings by Frontline.

Arkwright's General Goods Store. Again Dixon Miniatures figures and Frontline fittings. All three buildings from Battleflag's range.