Today’s haul

I went along to Warfare 2011 in Caversham this morning and came back with some items I set out to buy and a surprise.

I bought more raw material from my Roman baggage train, as illustrated below. I also bought a couple of Warlord Games’ marching legionaries.

Baueda jars, sacks, boxes and amphorae will comprise the Roman cart’s load.

By chance I found a pair of North Star oxen. These are really muscular sculpts and will look much more like the Time Machines Miniatures’ original.

Foundry ox on the left and North Star ox on the right … much more like it!

Legio VI signum

Like most Roman Army collectors I have plenty of aquilae, imagines and various signa, but what I really need is a She-wolf with Romulus and Remus or a bull so that I can complete my Legio VI vexillatio command group.

I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but following a suggestion on the Warlord Games’ forum I ordered some Z-gauge cattle to see if they might provide a starting point … and I think they may.

Careful selection from a box of really tiny Faller cattle might just furnish a bull-topped signum.

Christmas comes early ...

My annual Wargames Foundry order arrived this week. I only order from them when they are discounting, and ensure the discount covers the high postage charge.

I’ve been thinking about my Roman baggage train for a while, and had my eye on the Foundry ancient cart and pack mules. The inspiration for this vignette came from a 54mm diorama on Time Machine Miniatures web site:

Link

The stunning and inspirational Time Machine Miniatures’ diorama.

Some of the components for the baggage train vignette, mules on the left, oxen, cart and drovers in the middle. On the right are signifier, vexellarius and imagnifer figures to add variety to my centuries ... one has been recruited to the sagittarii already.

Equine hues

I've been working on my first auxiliary cavalry turma, but I'm not happy with the colour of the horses.

I’ve been working up the colour with ink and paint washes, but the colours don’t look enough like the colours of real horses to me.

I read a few forum posts on the subject (on The Miniatures Page) but no-one was actually giving away which colour paints they used for specific types (eg bay, chestnut). By chance I stumbled on a reference to Howard Hues’ range of basic horse colours.

So I bought some.

The turma begins to come to life ... but the colours aren’t quite right. Hopefully Howard Hues will rescue the situation.

The Archers ...

The saga continues ... the bows are now strung and the figures are finally primed ready for painting.

A slightly converted Warlord Games’ auxiliary centurion leads the century of sagittarii. I added a vexillarius from this year’s Foundry delivery ... now I’m really looking forward to painting these chaps.

Roman Medicus

I’ve almost finished the medicus vignette – just the tufts to finish off (removing the strays) and fine sand to add to the edge of the base. I'm quite pleased with this.

Of course I realise that the medicus is unlikely to have operated so close to the fighting that he needed protecting, but I wanted to add a little more drama to this vignette. I really hope Warlord Games will release a sprue of kneeling legionaries since I would like to model a rank or two in this pose for a couple of my forthcoming centuries.

The story so far ...

I’ve been a bit distracted for the last month with life, but a thread on the Warlord Games’ forum prompted this, a picture of everything I have finished so far:

My Legio VI Ferrata vexillatio so far, roughly from left to right: auxiliary infantry; two centuries of legionaries with scorpiones, ballista, and onagar; engineers; then the turma of dromedarii.