A couple of good book scores.

There haven't been too many additions to the library of late, but I was quite pleased to recently pick up both an old favourite and a bit of a rare treasure at a secondhand bookshop in Richmond (Richmond, New Zealand, that is).

(Image nabbed with thanks from M. C. Smith's interesting blog 'Puttering in the Study' here.)

I first read this on loan from Lord Pat of Kobe, and have been looking for a copy since. This was a very good price for the hardcover, and it's in pretty good shape.  The book itself has probably dated a bit, but I like it.

(Image grabbed - again with thanks - from White Lotus Press, here.)

This one was a real find for an ancients enthusiast: it's expensive even through Abe Books, and I could never quite justify the cost, but there it was, hardcover, in good nick, staring at me on the shelf. I almost gave the chap double for it as a slightly better reflection of its value online, but then remembered the reason I hadn't bought it previously was because I couldn't justify paying online prices, and didn't.

Instead I helped out with his rent by buying a poetry collection that no other person in their right mind would ever purchase!

Incidentally, it was quite sad to see that this was the last secondhand bookshop remaining in the Nelson region. Four years ago there were about five, two years ago there were three, and now there's just one. It's a shame; secondhand books and used records were always my favourite objects when I was a student, and it's a pity to think that future generations will have far less opportunity to grow to love such things.

But that's just the way it goes, isn't it?

New arrivals

A couple of weeks ago I saw a post by David of Splintered Light Miniatures (in this instance however in a private capacity) selling off some figures on behalf of a wargaming friend in poor health. He had a couple of lots for sale and one lot seemed to have some Italians in it, so I dropped him a line asking if they were available. It turns out they were, and so he sent them my way.

I was expecting to be able to put a couple of units of Italians together to flesh out my armies for Lost Battles, but I got a bit more than I bargained for.

This is what turned up: five baggies chocker blog with figures. I was expecting half this much.

After a quick sort through, there are some nicely painted horse archers:

About 80 Italian foot (Donnington, I think) which will be very useful:

20-odd Italian horse (some Essex, perhaps some Donnington too) which, again, will be very useful:

40-odd Essex phalangites which will join my Successor armies. They're suffering a bit from bendy-pike syndrome, but nothing's broken, and they have lovely patterned shields:

...and various other useful bits and pieces:

A spot of TLC and and a brush with my dip mix and they will be good to go.

I'm very pleasantly surprised by these, and have asked David to tell his friend that these will get a lot of use in their new home.

A few more Italians

Have got a few more Italians done over the last couple of days. These chaps are (again) from the Strategia e Tattica Polybian Roman range, and although they are nominally hastati in attacking poses, they are going to be used primarily for my Roman Civil Wars armies, and have been based accordingly. With their mix of equipment and different coloured tunics they could be locally raised legions pulled together in a hurry, renegade Latins, slaves armed and fighting for their Roman masters - or slaves fighting against their Roman masters - Roman-trained Numidians, deserters in the east, disaffected Italians fled to Sertorius, Spanish armed as legionaries, ruffians gathered around Catiline, toughs pulled in to intimidate a crowd on voting day, etc etc. In short, they could be anyone or everyone. Should be quite useful, I think.

The painting is nothing special; I just wanted to get them done.

They can be fielded as six units of 12 if veterans, or four units of 18 when poorer quality.

Blog on!

I had a squizz at my blog stats today. If you look very closely, it's just about possible to make out the 'Russian bot' era.

Ooops...

I set up a table for a solo run-through of What a Tanker 6mm last night, and realised that 6 blokes around a table each with one 6mm tank is just not going to cut it, so I popped into a couple of model shops to see what they had.

It turns out they had quite a bit. Do I blame Two Fat Lardies or my own poor impulse control? Anyway, it's done now, so next task is to smuggle them into the house without drawing too much attention to how much I've spent!

Stocking up on the dip

It has caused me some angst recently to realise (after I'd knocked it over and spilt half the contents onto my table!) that my trusty, long-lasting pottle of acrylic wood stain is nearing its end. I thought therefore that I'd better re-stock, and also grab some extra that I can take to New Zealand with me next trip for future use.

So here we are, two fresh new containers (AKA a lifetime's supply - provided no one knocks them over!) of the miniature painter's last best ingredient:

15mm Roman cavalry

With the 'primed-and-ready-to-paint' boxes almost empty, I've been rummaging around in cupboards looking for figures that a) I feel like painting, b) might be useful and c) won't require spray priming in the current summer heat and humidity.

Fortunately, I found a box of Republican Romans I got in a deal with someone, and on looking more closely saw that all the cavalry was ready for paint, so I decided to make a start on those.

I actually feel a little guilty about this lot.  It is made up of a mixture of Chariot and Strategia e Tattica 15mm figures, which is a bit of an unusual combination. I know, because I did a post here suggesting that the two go together reasonably well.  Anyway, someone had bought selections of figures from the two lines, primed them, and then decided that they didn't really want to paint them up after all. I saw him advertise this fact, got in contact with the chap, and bought them off him.

The guilt comes from my wondering whether my original post (which I'd also put up to a wider audience on TMP) had been somehow instrumental in him making the purchase, and then of course in his being disappointed.

I hope not, but in any case, the best way to deal with the situation is to paint them up and use them!

So, to the painting.

These were done a little differently to my old style of painting Romans. I didn't bother with washes or stains prior to painting; my conversion to the dip method means that I now leave that to the end.

I did the horses in various shades, did the browns, the flesh, then cloaks in different reds. I did give a quick black wash on armour and spearheads, then painted on the bronze and silver. Shields were next, then plumes, belts, horse furniture and, finally, whites on the tunics and pteruges. There was a little highlight for cloaks and plumes, and then it was time for the dip.

There is quite an over-representation of command figures in this lot, but I'm sure I can find a use for them!

The photo above shows the problem that comes from skipping the pre-paint wash step I used to do - you can see I've missed a couple of spots on the hand and scabbard. If I'd used a brown wash to begin with those would not have been so obvious. Fortunately, due to the wonders of digital technology I've now seen them and can go and fix that up!

Here is a comparison with the older style painting.

You can see that the cloaks are darker and the folds more pronounced. I do quite like the slightly more cheerful look of the newer paint jobs though. Six of one, half a dozen of the other...

To finish these completely I'll bash out a few blazes and socks on the horses, then it's a case of waiting till autumn so I can give them a hit with the spray varnish.