The Romans – A Hail Caesar Project – Part 16

Managed to find the motivation to paint something – a genuinely difficult feat when it often feels like I’ve packed up my hobby and may as well sell up and move on.  Anyway, perhaps I’ll get a game in one day.

On to Romans, and I finished repainting the shields of 4 out of 5 legionary cohorts last night, going with the more colourful red in the aim of making them stand out.  I’ve taken a couple of pictures of them next to my 1^st cohort (whose shields I haven’t done) and I’m pleased with the results.  I have abandoned attempts to make the armour stand out more, it simply looked a bit amateur and disappointing so the shields will have to suffice.

Next up is the 1^st cohort, all 24 of them.

Average Joes - The Rats Rise Again - Part 3

Match Day 2 - Average Joes Vs. Deeside Ankle Biters

Match day 2 should have seen the eagerly awaited clash between the rats of Average Joes and the halflings of the Deeside Ankle Biters; a team coached by champion-elect Paddy.  However, the other work committements of the Average Joes coach; Lord Flasheart, meant that the match was postponed several times, before the time available for it to be played in elapsed and 'Joes were forced to accept the default result of failing to show for a match; a defeat.  This was an extremely disappointing outcome for all, including the halflings who had set their little hearts on ratatooee stew for their post match kitchen show.  With the tournament moving on to Month Four 'Joes would have to wait for their own Match Day 3 to arrive against the human side Wrexham ABC.

Match Day 3 - Average Joes Vs. Wrexham ABC

With a 100% better attendance record for match day 3 than they had achieved for match day 2 Average Joes took to the field against the human side Wrexham ABC, coached by Dafydd.  The humans had had a disappointing season so far, but were still in the hunt for a top 8 finish, and hoped to kickstart this drive with a victory over the rats.  To this end they were able to field 13 of their 15 players, including their ogre.  'Joes were blessed with a full strength squad following their victory several months ago over the Norse of Lakhti Longships, and went into the game with a determination to stand up and be counted, all 13 members of them.  The 11,000 ratty fans outnumbered the oppositions supporters, 8,000 of them, for the second match running.

The humans won the toss and elected to kick to the rats, a sound strategy up to the point where the gutter runners began to take control.  Firstly Pepper Brooks found space and time on the left to pick out The Rat in the endzone to make the score 1-0 with an excellent pass.  Then, after the ball had been dropped and scrambled for by rats and humans the same 'runner made sense of the mess and found the only free rat in the opposition half; storm vermin La Fleur.  It was pulled down before it could break for the endzone, but the humans fluffed another opportunity to clear and equalise when in a good position, and it was The Rat who picked up the pieces and found an unusual hero in the form of linerat Duck who ran in for 2-0.

After a lengthy half time break the teams returned to the pitch, and it was Wrexham ABC who started brighter, with some crunching blocks and passes being strung together before they pulled one back to make it 2-1.  This followed a mistake by The Rat, not for first time during the evening, falling flat on its face as the human blitzer ran home.  In the chaos of celebrating it wasn't discovered until afterwards that some of the humans crunching had caused a fatality among the skaven team, with their reserve thrower being killed!

Further injury would be inflicted later as Pepper Brooks suffered broken ribs from a 'fall' into the crowd, and he will miss the next game.  This didn't prevent Average Joes from sealing the win with a second touchdown through The Rat, who despite his falling over antics had been instrumental in the victory scoring twice and setting up the third.  The game ended 3-1, and gave Average Joes 6pts out of a possible 9pts.  Next months game will be against a new foe; the undead of Dave Mc, and a success against them will see 'Joes progress to the higher table in the next round.

The Romans - A Hail Caesar Project - Part 15

So much for the finished product; having deployed the lot on the table for their first bash against Red’s ghostly Greeks (a while ago now) I was disappointed by how much they blended in with the tabletop!  It didn’t help that Reds troops were very bright, but it still sent me away thinking something needed to be done, and ages after I’ve started on that.

My troops didn’t follow my imagery of a wall of shields advancing unstoppably upon the enemy because they were simply too dark  (although they still seemed to bring fear to the Greeks).  So I thought of two possible solutions; repaint the shields a brighter colour, and give the armour a lighter tint.  I started with the shields and rejected blue to stick with a slightly muddied light red, I think its come off quite well.  The attempt at highlighting the armour was less successful, however the shield effect may be enough. 

I’ve finished 2 cohorts in this colour scheme, and the picture shows them compared with 2 original cohorts (not a good picture sadly).  I’m going to try and get the other 3 cohorts done soon, the rest of the army should be fine as it is.

Work In Progress....

Blog, blog, blog. I've neglected you. Although that is perhaps because I haven't gamed, painted, modelled or generally done anything wargaming related in nearly 2 months thanks to my new job. Twice I nearly played Average Joes second bloodbowl game, but each time life got in the way and it was cancelled.

I did, however, very briefly pick up a brush last night and tar some Romans with paint though. This was because having finished them and deployed them on a battlefield I realised they are very dark and didn't stand out as much as I'd hoped. I thought that a better colour for the shields and some brighter silver on the armour might solve this problem so had a shot at it. In the bright light of day it doesn't look too bad, I may try some more later.

An Edit:

As well as the Romans I've picked a few of my 28mm germans out to have a go at painting something different.