Blog Lord Agragax’s Historical Miniatures Blog

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Welcome one and all to my Historical Miniatures Blog, which is going to be a sister blog to my regular one that I’m reserving specifically for Warhammer, as to put historical minis among Warhammer minis in the same blog seems a tad unprofessional.

While I don’t have any main historical projects on the go right now (apart from clipping out the odd sprue of 1:72 plastic figs whenever I can find any half-decent sets), I have several projects being planned out as we speak - all ideas and ruminations I have on these will also be included on this blog - which include:

• 15mm ECW (English Civil War) for The Kingdom Is Ours (and possibly Pike and Shotte as well, although that covers all nations in the 17th Century rather than just ECW)
• 28mm ancients for Hail Caesar, Broken Legions and SPQR (Celts and Romans, possibly Greeks too)
• 28mm Victorian Sci-Fi for In Her Majesty’s Name (I know this isn’t fully historical, but it fits better here than with Warhammer)

There maybe more to follow as well, it all depends on what minis I find, my backlog at the time and any additional interests I discover. I certainly look forward to embarking upon this new voyage of discovery!

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

I played my first game of The Kingdom is Ours a couple of weeks back with my dad, who’s also a fan of ECW.

If you know Warlord Games you’ll most certainly have heard of Pike and Shotte, but I found this relatively little-known ruleset when looking around the historical section of the bookshop in a little town quite near me, which was very decently priced at around £7. Although written for 28mm figures, we were able to use it quite easily for 15mm figures (just by halving the base sizes, as 15 isn’t much more than half of 28). This is certainly a very unique and exciting game, as it is much less predictable than, for example, Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar, because there are a lot more factors that are decided by the roll of a dice, but not too many so that the game becomes completely luck-based - a good general can still make sterling use of poor results. As well as really emphasising the chaotic atmosphere of a battle in the English Civil War, this can, in some cases, help to balance out the game - for instance, unlike in Warhammer games where you choose your units and they’re always as good/rubbish as you pick them, the quality of units in The Kingdom is Ours is decided by the dice once all units are deployed - some units become Poor, some Ordinary, some Good and some Excellent. This may then prompt you to have to think of a different strategy after deployment, such as when you find out the cavalry unit you placed on your flank in the hope of it smashing into the enemy are just a load of local militia horsemen just dragged out from the local pub. Also unusually for a mass-battle game, The Kingdom is Ours uses a bag-draw activation system, more akin to skirmish games like Gangs of Rome, meaning that if you’re on the back foot, a lucky draw could potentially lead to an order that brings you right back into the game.

The rules are designed to use 28mm figures, but we’ve got it to work pretty well with 15mm (as 15mm figures will allow us to have larger-scale battles in a smaller space) by halving the base sizes as 15 is roughly half of 28. We haven’t got any figures yet, so we’ve just been using card squares and rectangles cut into the sizes of the bases we worked out for 15mm.


All in all, we think it’s a great game, and has surprises aplenty even for those used to playing rank-and-flank games.

 

[Warden]

Nice find, never heard of The Kingdom is Ours before.

bag-draw activation system

I like the bag-draw system; that is what test of honour used. Very simple, lots of chance.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Bought an issue of Wargames Illustrated on Wednesday that showcases the rules for SPQR (and Test of Honour Second Edition @Warden) and with it came a sprue of Warlord’s Imperial Roman Legionaries (another reason why I bought it because I wanted to have a try with a single sprue of them to see what they were like before I bought more of them to play SPQR and other skirmish games):


I really like these figures. Games Workshop could certainly learn a thing or two from Warlord about how to sculpt human faces (these chaps just have normal, everyday faces with typical expressions that they would show during battle, which is perfect - much better than the gaunt, phossy-jaw-ridden or fat faces GW unleash on their Age of Sigmar and 40K human models). I’ve measured them and I’d estimate that these chaps are pretty much bang on 28mm, as the bodies measure 22mm from the feet on the base to the neck, and the heads measure about 5mm, to give a height of 27mm (but then Romans and other Mediterranean peoples did have a slightly shorter average height than Celts and other Northern European peoples). This of course might make them look a bit small compared to GW humans, but having compared them to some of my other models they are still at least a head taller than a Skaven, discounting the base.

The figures do seem to have slightly less poseability than Warhammer minis, as the left arm, upper torso and legs are already one piece, but the important things are that the shields fit pretty much as a ball-and-socket joint with the closed fists on the left arms, meaning they can potentially be tilted up and down to have them raising their shield up to deflect missile fire and in front of them when leading a charge, and the gladius and pilum arms (of which there a good few to allow a greater range of poses) are quite dynamic and can be raised or lowered on the flat joint at the right shoulder. Also the shields are a pretty good size, and seem to cover quite a lot of the figures’ bodies as the scutum did, which is another relief as some of the older GW minis have shields that are a bit too small compared to artwork and other media in which they are portrayed (Fantasy Dwarf Warriors and the Middle Earth Warriors of Rohan are two that come to mind).

Of course these chaps also have little bases sculpted on, which will be helpful in making sure they stand properly while sticking, which GW don’t do, although this would mean they would be raised even higher on GW style bases than normal, so I’m thinking that I’ll do things a different way with Warlord figures and put them on card bases, preferably at a thickness that combines with the sculpted bases so that they are at the same height as GW minis on GW bases.

All in all, some great figures - I look forward to making them, and getting some Celts to fight them!

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

I’ve finally managed to find a shop that sells minis for Warlord Games other than Bolt Action, and I couldn’t resist purchasing some of their Celts (40 of them to be exact):


Been having a look at the sprues - wonderful miniatures, full of the dynamism and action the Celts were renowned for, and such excellent value at only £18.70 for 40 figures, and with transfers for the shields as well so that there’s no repeat of the Yvresse Eagles debacle. Puts GW’s pricing to shame, even the GW of old that still did decent deals like 20 Night Goblins for £20. They also had all the Hail Caesar and SPQR books I’m after in that shop, so I can pop in each time I’m in the town and get one.

 

[Warden]

Excellent purchases!

Games Workshop could certainly learn a thing or two from Warlord about how to sculpt human faces (these chaps just have normal, everyday faces with typical expressions that they would show during battle

I agree with this; granted I do enjoy the peasants from the GW men-at-arms kits (lots of people don't) there are a lot of examples where the faces are just so overboard. Like the square-jawed empire state troops.

I’ve finally managed to find a shop that sells minis for Warlord Games other than Bolt Action

Great find! There is a place like this near where I live as well; they have a TON of old model airplanes (and spaceships) hanging from the ceiling. Tons of stuff inside, great inventory that ranges from GW, D&D, pathfinder and other RPGs, warlord games, and model kits from gundams to planes, tanks, and ships.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

I agree with this; granted I do enjoy the peasants from the GW men-at-arms kits (lots of people don't) there are a lot of examples where the faces are just so overboard. Like the square-jawed empire state troops.

A friend of mine played Bretonnians and from seeing his collection I can say that I also actually like the Men-at-Arms - despite their age, I think they have some of GW’s best human sculpting.

Even the 6th Edition Empire State Troops looked OK compared to the horrible 7th Edition ones (at least the 6th Edition ones stand up straight - the 7th Edition ones squat like the old HeroQuest Orcs and Goblins).

Great find! There is a place like this near where I live as well; they have a TON of old model airplanes (and spaceships) hanging from the ceiling. Tons of stuff inside, great inventory that ranges from GW, D&D, pathfinder and other RPGs, warlord games, and model kits from gundams to planes, tanks, and ships.

From the sounds of it I’d probably lose myself for a whole day in there!

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Finally managed to get my paws on a copy of SPQR! Time to get reading!

 

[Warden]

Finally managed to get my paws on a copy of SPQR! Time to get reading!
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Let us know your thoughts when you are done, would love a review.

 

[Cageyblood]

I had never heard of the bag draw activation method until it was mentioned earlier on this thread, that is such a cool mechanic!
Fascinating thread, thanks Lord Agragax.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Been making Celts for SPQR:


This was such a good-value set, I started making these around December time, and still have 4 to build!

I’ve also been doing some hand-swaps between different torsos and some hand-rotation to get some especially thematic poses.

EDIT: My iPad’s being a prat and saying there’s ‘No Photos or Videos’ when I try to upload more than one picture of my Celts so I’m going to have to transfer the others to my laptop and upload them from there , and I won’t be able to do that until tomorrow afternoon, sorry chaps

DOUBLE EDIT: In trying to get it to upload the others I removed the one I had already uploaded and it won’t even let me upload that one. In short, an Anticlimax of Celtic Proportions

 

[Imrahil]

Anticlimax

Cool name for one of your leaders

The suspense builds for an epic set of pictures, lol

Grrr, Imrahil

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Cool name for one of your leaders

Haha, Anticlimax is an Ancient Briton from the Asterix books - I love the Asterix comics so whenever I think of the word 'anticlimax', I think of Anticlimax. Given that my Celts are Ancient Britons, it would be quite funny if I gave him that name (or Mykingdomforanos - My kingdom for an 'orse - as he was the chief of Anticlimax's tribe)

The suspense builds for an epic set of pictures, lol

Right, after that delay last evening, here are my brave and heroic Celtic warriors!

First up are some of the nobles - these chaps are few in number due to their expensive cost in an SPQR list, but have a 3+ armour save and can choose whether to fight with 3 attacks and 1 parry or 2 attacks and 3 parries in every combat (each parry forces the enemy to reroll a successful hit)
:



Note the Standard Bearer in the middle and my chieftain with eagle on helmet to the far left of the second pic, a close-up of whom can be seen here:


A few Tribesmen or Warriors with javelins, depending on how many points I have room for them (Tribesmen are cheaper and take slings in their base profile, while Warriors can take an extra round of javelins and are better in combat):


And finally a big mob of unarmoured Warriors, who still get the same choices as the armoured warriors but only have a mere 6+ save and have a Carnyx player to give them a free move once per game in addition to the two 6" moves they can normally make



As I mentioned before I've been doing some hand swaps and rotations to get some more aggressive poses - all the blokes in the front row of this last unit received said treatment for instance, and I think they look particularly dynamic

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

My word! It's been a long time! However I can now present to you my first batch of brave British Warriors, fully-painted and ready to kill some Roman invaders!


These have been a joy to make and paint, to put it simply (especially when doing some hand swaps to get some more dynamic poses), and the transfers work beautifully. I actually still have four to make, as I ran out of round bases when I made the rest and I've since got some more, and I've got ten more Romans to make (someone else obviously bought the same Wargames Illustrated Issue I bought and didn't want the Romans so donated them to the model shop full of second hand stuff, whereupon I found them and bought them a couple of weeks ago for a mere £5). I've only painted these so far because I wanted to do them in batches between Warhammer units, so that I'm not painting all 40 Celts and 20 Romans in one sitting (which would have been tiring), and instead I can go wild on a few of them at a time as a treat once I've painted up a Warhammer unit. Currently I'm doing some Clan Moulder stuff for my Skaven as mentioned in my main blog, but once I've finished those I'll probably spray some more Celts, and build the last four that are still on the sprues.

Additionally whenever I've had a chance I've been working on drafting out an entire 1d4chan page for SPQR based upon my own knowledge of the game and having read all of the rulebook, so that everyone will be able to benefit from my views and tactical advice!

Once again any feedback would be most welcome!

 

[Warden]

Wow those transfers really make them look alive!! Can you go into more detail on how you do them? Perhaps a step-by-step tutorial on how you do your transfers?

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Wow those transfers really make them look alive!! Can you go into more detail on how you do them? Perhaps a step-by-step tutorial on how you do your transfers?

I’d be happy to do so!

When applying waterslide transfers I always use a jam jar lid to hold the water, as it’s a nice shallow dish (pretty much a home version of a Petri dish) that allows you to moisten the transfer without completely drowning it in water.

Cut one transfer out and hold it so that your index finger is underneath it and your thumb is on top of it, and hold it so that it is completely submerged in the water. Every so often rub your thumb in a circle over the transfer and feel what it does - if nothing happens keep it under the water, but as soon as you feel the whole transfer starting to slowly slide off the blue paper, take it out of the water and, once again using your thumb, gently guide it off the paper and onto the model. For the first minute or two it will still slide across the surface, so use that time to position it where you want it, then leave it to dry.

Hope that helps, if you’re having trouble I’ll give a more in-depth tutorial

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Now for a sizeable progress report - first, I present to you now the first of my Britons' Roman enemies!


I say the first, these are actually the second lot I made, after I bought the sprue of them from one of my favourite model shops second hand (someone else had obviously got them free with Wargames Illustrated, as I had with my first lot, and didn't want them, so that was great for me who could add them to my collection). I was also a bit more adventurous with these ones than my first sprue, snipping off a couple of hands and sticking them onto different arms to give them different poses - certainly the 5th one on the right of the first four pics had this treatment. Sadly Warlord weren't generous enough to provide free transfers alongside the sprues with their issues, so for now I've just painted their shields a plain red with a gold boss and silver lining as per trademark Romans as we know and love them, but I'll probably get some transfers off Warlord's website one day soon. I'm still pleased with how these have turned out - they are significantly easier to paint than the Celts due to all of them having the same uniform colours, so were more of a stress-relief project than a fun-but-takes-ages one compared to their British enemies.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Wait, there's more - a few more Celts have been completed too:

Probably the only downside to the Warlord set is that for some reason there aren't enough shields for all the models (probably to emphasise the disorganised-but-enthusiastic nature of Celtic warbands), but I amended this by giving them some spare shields, all from the Imperial Roman kit - the three round shields look just as much from 'barbarian' origin as Roman, and the scutum the fourth Celt has could easily have been pinched from a fallen Roman Legionary, as the Celts used whatever weapons and shields they could buy/scavenge off the battlefield!

And the future's bright for my SPQR projects, as I've still got a sprue of Greek Hoplites and Caesarian Romans (both free with issues of Wargames Illustrated) plus an SPQR box of 12 more Republican Romans to make, not to mention all the Britons and Imperial Romans I still have to paint!

 

[Lizards of Renown]

My word! It's been a long time! However I can now present to you my first batch of brave British Warriors, fully-painted and ready to kill some Roman invaders!
View attachment 81591 View attachment 81592 View attachment 81593 View attachment 81594 View attachment 81595 View attachment 81596 View attachment 81597 View attachment 81598

These have been a joy to make and paint, to put it simply (especially when doing some hand swaps to get some more dynamic poses), and the transfers work beautifully. I actually still have four to make, as I ran out of round bases when I made the rest and I've since got some more, and I've got ten more Romans to make (someone else obviously bought the same Wargames Illustrated Issue I bought and didn't want the Romans so donated them to the model shop full of second hand stuff, whereupon I found them and bought them a couple of weeks ago for a mere £5). I've only painted these so far because I wanted to do them in batches between Warhammer units, so that I'm not painting all 40 Celts and 20 Romans in one sitting (which would have been tiring), and instead I can go wild on a few of them at a time as a treat once I've painted up a Warhammer unit. Currently I'm doing some Clan Moulder stuff for my Skaven as mentioned in my main blog, but once I've finished those I'll probably spray some more Celts, and build the last four that are still on the sprues.

Additionally whenever I've had a chance I've been working on drafting out an entire 1d4chan page for SPQR based upon my own knowledge of the game and having read all of the rulebook, so that everyone will be able to benefit from my views and tactical advice!

Once again any feedback would be most welcome!

These guys look great!

 

[Warden]

Fantastic new batch of celts!