Roman Cavalry

 Benefit of being in red zone... you can paint a lot...

and bring yourself to finish things too...

anyway here is my first unit (or two...) of republican Roman cavalry in 28mm. They are Victrix miniatures plastic. First some photos...

Being plastic it means you must build them (some people do not like it... I like), but also that you can customize them to a certain extent. Victrix gives you 8 sprues in total, four of horses with four horses in each, and four of men, again 4 to the sprue. You have 16 cavalrymen in total, but 4 of them are officers, this is not a perfect choice in my opinion, but one that I can live on. The figures themselves have crisp detail and minimal mold lines, and are easy to assemble. As Ihave realized with Victrix you have to be careful with the assembly, it is not open as Warlord or Perry, but basically each figure + horse is an entity. Certainly you have less variation of poses than with Perry (were you can basically mix and match horses), but Victrix has a decent number of variation per figure. You can equip the line horsemen with standard spears as I did, javelins, or swords. You have also option for standard and trumpet (not used in this first half of the bag).  For once heads are plentiful (I was not overly happy with only 8 heads per sprue of 8 men in my Athenian hoplites) and you have choices between Beotian/Hellenistic helmets, or Italian Montefortino/Gallic Style (useful to extend the use of the set, my next unit, that I am painting now, will be equipped with later helmets to be used as far as the triumvirates). There are also some older heads that you can use to make them Etruscan (or early Roman/Latin) cavalry. All in all a good idea. 

Shields have received LBMS transfers, I really like them.

If the set has a negative point, is the officers. There are 4 and their variations are quite limited, but again, it is a an acceptable compromise. Now some words on size. Some people criticize Victrix cavalry as being too big. Well... I have already painted two boxes of Agema Romans and plan to use my Victrix together with them, so I took some pictures with a Victrix cavalryman, two Agema velites, and one Agema Hastatus. 

I do not see them out of place, actually they fit quite well. So happy with them and I hope some of the sterile polemics about Victrix size will be put to rest. 

Roma, Aeterna, Victrix!!!

Okay,

I am leaving tanks for at least one post... and diving back in ancient wargaming. The title post is supposed to be an hint... no I am not talking about Ben Hur in its 2016 version (but the Roman march is quite nice), but I am talking of Victrix Early Imperial Romans. In my last excursion to the money blackhole that is Salute (in my case 2017) I bought a bag of Marching Legionaries. Just after Xmas I took advantage of the free postage sale from Victrix to grab some Auxiliaries. 22.95£ per bag, 25 legionaries, 24 auxiliaries. Plenty of options (more on that later), excellent detail. Also Victrix sells you shields. So far so good.

Okay, the hawkeyed among the readers will already have spotted something... there are only 47 figures... 25+24 must be 49... well because I have organized the legionaries in two units of 12, one legionnaire has been given as a gift, and he is now in Japan. Another auxilia will join him, why? Well beside the obivious (making a gift!), it is because I will add the 4 figures command set  from Aventine to my second auxilia unit, and the other auxilia have become a skirmish group of Germanic auxilia with wolfskin as in Trajan column. I am planning to mainly use the troops with the ancient version of Lion Rampant with half-size units (I am lazy, I am a cheapskate, I do not want ot buy and paint too much) so 3 figures per skirmish unit are okay. The other rules I plan to use are Broken Legions (with some modifications to army lists) so the numbers fit.

Another group shot of my force. The two legionary vexillatio in the center, the Auxilia on the wings. They are based singly, but I have movenent trays from warbases for them...

The Skirmishers. Victrix auxilia bag gives you plenty of options, including the wolfskins. Now, I could have simply built them as standard auxilia, but it is a shame to not try the wolfskins. IIT is a problem with too much options. You end up discarding a lot. The Legionaries could be built as regular troops or Praetorians.  Again you end up discarding stuff. Okay they are cheap compared ot metal, and the options are part of the appeal of plastic, but too many options could push the price up and leave you with a mass of spares you do not really need. I have eyed Victrix elephant, but I realized I will pay for so many options I will never use (too many different crews, but you end up using only one set...). Sometime there could be too much of a good thing.

The legions' block. Not a great shot, I need to improve my skills...

I dislike, usually, flash effect on colours, but in this case they turned out all right, and the definition is much better.

The German skirmishers.

The detail on the skins is really good.

Well, until I get the command set and some mounted auxilia from Aventine, I am done. Even considering the additions, it is an almost complete project! Yeaaaah!!!

I hope you enjoy them.

Some new painting...

Well it is time to put something new here... holidays are gone, the hectic days in London are gone, I am back in my lair with my obnoxious neighbour (also called the land grabber due to his habit to take land that is not his own) annoying me with his antics and his awful attempts to create a garden on our lawn... anyway first of all a rare thing...

A 54mm early empire (I would say August-Tiberius period) Roman Legionary. It is a Pegaso Models miniature from Italy. I bought it eons ago.. I think 10 years ago. I was slowly painting it. It sat half painted on a shelf for my entire master and PhD... finally I decided that it was time to finish it. I cannot always start and abandon projects.

I am quite pleased with the result, especially the chain mail. I am not 100% happy of the photo results with the shield, in person it looks more shaded. Anyway I am rarely pleased with my picture taking skills.You can decide by yourself.