Roman Project Update

After having a change to sort through my found miniatures, I have a nice selection that have made their way to painting sticks for priming. This includes 10 dead Roman Auxiliaties, 13 dead Celts, 8 Roman Engineers, a Scorpion with 4 crew, three servants (holding shields and wax tablets), a mounted Decurio, a mounted Vexilarius, and nine Auxilia cavalry. This will round out my Roman force nicely. In addition, I have a Roman Engineer mule cart and two baggage mules. That should give me enough to field most of the support options for a game of Infamy Infamy.

There were a number of Celt miniatures in my find as well. There were some figures that would be useful as wailing women. just fully clothed. I also found some Celt civilians. These I believe are Blue Moon minatures that came with the village that I bought a while back. The village was nice but ended up on a shelf and never painted as I changed focus.

I have glued the pantile roof to the side sections of the Mansio. I am trying to figure out how to get the main roof done. I'm trying to decide how to paint these. I will duplicate that effort on the villa and watchtower as well. I am searching for videos that may help. I aam definitely going to rewatch an old video from Red Beard Baron on his Roman Houses. I may use this as the basis for all of it.

I received my PDF copy of Midgard over the weekend. I have barely started to read it. But I am interested if this could be used with Infamy to make for a larger campaign. Could be interesting.

I ordered some Celt miniatures a while back to add two units of Noble Warriors for my Celts. Those are still in the mail, possibly with my physical copy of Midgard. But the Celts are for later.

Productive Hobby Weekend

Well despite still not being able to get a successful print our of my resin printer, I had a good hobby weekend. I made significant progress with my Infamy Infamy armies.

I manage to rebase another group of 8 auxilia. They still need some flock and their shields repainted but they match the rest of the Auxilia better now. Next, I was able to base and flock a signifer, a cornicen, a legate, a centurion, and two Auxilia infantry. The two infantry completes a partial unit of Auxilia. I think i still need to repaint their shields to match but they are better. Then I was able to completely base and paint a medicus figure to be used in the games. It is one from 3D Breed miniatures. The figure is kneeling on the ground and has a wooden box of gear. I plan on buying some Donnington dead Romans at some point. One will be placed on the base with the medicus to show him doing his job. I am pleased with how this came out. He is based on a Flames of War medium base because that is what I happened to have at hand. Game wise, I don't think it will matter. I also started painting an engineer party that I had previously basecoated a few years ago. There is a armored figure as part of this group that probably shouldn't be there but he got a bit of paint anyway.

To complete my Romans, I need to get a few more movement trays and to paint one of the ones that I have. For the Romans, they are individually based on small 12mm square magnets. These stick nicely to the sheet metal movement trays that I am using. I have glued a small strip of wood to the front to be able to line the troops up against them. I would like to get a bigger one that I can use for skirmish or open order troops. But this is just an idea at this point.

I still want some Auxilia cavalry to round out the force. I am thinking I will get Khurasan Miniatures cavalry.I want to start with enough for two groups of cavalry and possibly expand them to four in the future. But for now, I have the figures needed for a base Infamy force plus some extra. I am getting closer.

For my British/Guals I also managed a bit of work. Most importantly, I was able to rebase a full group of levy and the group of slingers, a group of light cavalry as well as a few odd warriors that were just on washers. This gives me a fully painted force. I could use a few more leader types as I am not too wild about the ones I have but they will work. This gives me one group of Elites, four groups of Warriors, one group of levy, a group of slingers, a group with javelins, a group of noble cavalry, a group of light cavalry and command elements.

What I am missing are good movement trays for the Celts. The metal bases for the Romans works well. But the Celts are based on washers. I have a sheet magnet that I am trying to use but it is a fairly weak magnet. I have a thought. If I take a sheet of thin balsa wood and cut holes for the washers and glue the balsa to the magnet, possibly the miniatures would hold better. However, I think this will be prone to warping and curl the magnet. I just don't have a good option yet.

As seen above, I am starting to work on some terrain elements as well. I have the beginning of a limes fence that I printed over two printers ago. The prints are not great but serviceable. The plan is to Get these done and then print/paint some more. I ultimagely want 4 feet of it as well as some kind of gate for a trade road. That could make for an interesting scenario. I have a watch tower that I need to complete that will be perfect to have behind that fence. I know that there was a wall instead of a fence.

All Along The Wall - A New Campaign.

Chapter 1 - Seeds of War

The Druid stirred the entrails in the bowl. "Yes," he cried out to the heavens. "It is time to begin."

He dipped his hand in the blood and moved to the chief who sat warily watching the proceedings.

The Madness in the Druid's eyes had the chief flinch back before he smeared the blood across his cheeks.

"Lugus has blessed you. The auguries have decreed your success. You will drive the invaders from the isle and lead a host, the likes of which have never been seen before. You must get the fork of Lugus. The invaders have placed it in a shrine to one of their pathetic gods. Hercu...something. You must sieze the treasure and the tribes will gather to you."

Frang Allanach looked the mad druid in the eye. He was bolstered by the promises. He knew others had been so tempted in the past. His father had told him the tales, but this felt different. His tribe was small. But if he could accomplish something great, the other tribes would flock to his banner. He could be king north of the wall and eventually unite the country again. It was so tempting.

"Ancient father, where should we start?" Frang asked.

"Take your tribe and attack their trade. The villages nearest the wall trade with the invaders. Give them spine by showing them how to attack. Free them from dependence on Rome's excesses and they will join you."

"Will you join me?"

"Not yet. There is much to do and prepare. Raid their commerce. Then meet with me again."

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Centurion Lucius Tiburs readied his men. The Exploratores had brought back rumors of unrest to the north. Instead of the typical escort he decided to lead this one himself with most of his century. The merchants seemed dismissive of his caution but a little caution could go a long way.

His Auxilia were originally raised in Gaul but was largely Britons now. Replacements were taken from the local population. Near the fort was a numerous of sagitarii (archers). He managed to get a tent party assigned to the escort. He wanted cavalry, but that was a bit much to expect. Once the caravan was together, they marched out. There was a tent party in the lead acting as a skirmish screen. Two followed behind them in column. Then came the two carts of the merchants. The archers were deployed between the two carts. In the rear was the last two tent parties in column. With a shout, the skirmishers started out.

Lucius counted silently before issuing the orders to move out.

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The Campaign

I am starting a test campaign of Infamy, Infamy. This is the set up for the campaign that I am running. The Romans are escorting a group of merchants to a village north of the wall. The Britons are trying to ambush them. The introduction above was my reason for the encounter. A tribal chief is tempted to greatness. The Romans have a different back story that will ultimately involve an entire cohort of Auxilia before this is all said and done.

The Infamy, Infamy play test rules have been a treat to work with. They have been great fun so far and I have gotten a couple of games in to try it out already. Hopefully, the next post will be the after action report of the battle.