About a year ago I purchased a Mantic Mystery box, and in this case a Terrain Crate. The plan was to get painting the massive amount of terrain but I was distracted with other projects. I finally started to get around to painting some of the scatter. This was done with a combination of normal and contrast paints, as the plan was to get them painted and table-top ready for gaming.

Last year I bought one of Mantic’s Mystery Terrain boxes, which was jam packed full of scatter terrain pieces. So I finally made an effort to get some paint on a number of them. These were painted with a mixture of normal and contrast paints. The aim was to get them painted as quickly as possible with the aim of getting them table ready asap.

I’ve finished a few buildings for the Asian gaming board. The idea is to develop a board for Asian games set in almost any period with a change in scatter terrain.

I also tried my hand at freehand painting an Asian shop sign, it says The Temple Jin. I copied the wrong image. I was supposed to copy the one that said Dumpling restaurant lol.

I’ve had some scatter terrain for a variety of genres that have been sat in a box unpainted for nearly 10 years. So I finally decided to dig them out and actually get some paint slapped on them.

The mixture includes some weird fantasy plants with scary man-eating mouths, and some bits and bobs suitable for Bolt Action.

I have a number of terrain pieces in boxes that I’m slowly trying to get painted whilst in lockdown. Here are some the finished pieces so far.

I have numerous pieces of terrain in a variety of scales that need to painting, so whilst I’m stuck at home during the lockdown I’ve been trying to get as many as humanly possible painted.

One of these is a water fountain in resin by Airfix, it’s 1/72 scale but will happily work for 15mm and 28mm. I painted this is a simple grey colour with some shading using Nuln oil. I then added weathering powders to make it look more weather beaten. A very quick and dirty paint job to get it tabletop ready. I picked this up about a year or so ago in Home Bargains for about 3 quid.

I’ve had this tower from Games Workshop built for several years and for some reason I’ve never managed to get any paint on it. So I decided over the Christmas holiday to finally whack some paint on it. I decided to go with a simple paint scheme, and finish it of with weathering powders to give it a weather beaten look.

Finally I had a couple of farm building in 10-15mm, now I bought these back in 2011 and didn’t do anything with them, mainly because I didn’t get around to purchasing and painting a 15mm army. In the last 12 months I’ve started armies in this scale for Flames of War and Team Yankee. So I decided now was the right time to get some paint on them. This was done using a simple and quick paint scheme making use of contrast, washes and a couple of normal paints.

As part of the Chinese/Asian town project, I wanted to add a gateway similar in style to one I saw at the movie town set in Shenyang.

Paifang or Gateway

I’d seen traditional Japanese Tori style gateways, but nothing that looked similar to a Chinese Paifang. Then I spotted a Tori on E-bay that could pass as a Chinese version. Eventually I will build an entrance with a more traditional Chinese Paifang, but for now the E-bay find will do.

A paifang, also known as a pailou, is a traditional style of Chinese architectural arch or gateway structure. Evolved from the Indian subcontinent’s torana through the introduction of Buddhism to China, it has developed many styles and has been introduced to other East Asian countries, such as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

The gateway I purchased on E-bay came in two parts and was 3D printed. The first thing I had to do was give it a quick wash before applying a white undercoat.  The roof I tried to give a terracotta colour, and then the supporting element under neath I painted a bright blue.

I was going to paint the struts and poles a bright colour but decided to go with a dark wood colour instead. The model itself was quite nice and at a reasonable price and would definitely purchase a 3D printed model again.

Bridges

I needed a couple of bridges for the game table to go over a planned river. I don’t plan to stick the bridges down permanently so I can place them wherever I want. There are plenty of different types of Asian style bridges on the market for a variety of prices. I decided to go with the TT Combat bridges simply because they came in a pair and they aren’t too elaborate in design.

The style I wanted are called Moon Bridges and are high arch foot bridges generally associated with both China and Japan. This type of bridge was originally designed to allow pedestrians to cross canals while allowing the passage of barges beneath. When constructed using the climbing ascent and descent, it has the further advantage of not using space from the adjoining fields for approaches to the bridge.

The two bridges from TT Combat were really easy and quick to build. I painted them both using contrast straight on to the wood without an undercoat. The blue dried a little darker than I had hoped for but it’s fine as is.

At the start of this year I planned to build a gaming table utilizing the Sarrissa terrain tiles.The plan for the project is to build a generic Asian town that could easily fit into 19/20th Century Asia, with specific influence from China.

On a trip to China a couple of years ago I visited a permanent movie set just outside of Shenyang. It was basically an early 20th Century town, so I decided I’d use this as my first point of reference in building the gaming table.

I put a project up on the On Table Top website here (https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1381838/) which hosts a lot of the image I took at the set. This should give me a good reference point for a sample of the types of buildings I could use and colors.

Since the UK went into lockdown and my company furloughed me I’ve been able to catch up on a lot of hobby projects and painting tasks.This has included being able to build and paint some of the buildings I currently have for this project idea. I’ve not been able to make a start on the tiles themselves because we went into lockdown before I was able to pop down to my nearest Wilko and hardware store. So for now I’m concentrating on building and painting the buildings I have.

The first two buildings I have are two dark age dwellings from Renedra, both of which cost £5. These will be used as rural farm homes, fortunately they’re pretty generic looking and will pass as homes for poor farmers. The build on both of these buildings was very easy and quick to complete.

I gave them a quick paint job and didn’t want to spend to much time on these, as once they’re placed on to the tiles, and the rest of the scenic elements are added, you won’t really notice the paint work.

The next building I built and painted was the Ramshackle Barn by Renedra, this costs around £19 though I recieved mine as a gift for xmas from a  friend. The plan with this is to use it as a workshop/barn on the outskirt of the town, that no longer in use.

The build was relatively simple and quick to put together, being hard plastic meant it didn’t take long for the glue to set. I gave it an undercoat in white, for the wood I used a combination of washes, inks and contrast paint to build up the appropriate color. The roof tiles were done the same way, but I also added a dry brush step with grey.

The next three building I have are MDF Table Top Scenics from the Eastern Empires range, the Kura Storehouse (£10), Small Minka A (£6.95) and Machiya Shop Front (£4.95). These are slightly slower kits to build due to glue drying time, with them being MDF. I plan to build and finish these in the next week or so. I also plan to purchase the following buildings from this range as well Oriental Bridges and Lanterns, Small Minka C and both sets of Eastern Accessories which are produced in resin.

Eastern Empires

Renedra 

I’ve been collating some project materials for a few months and I’ve decided to make an initial start. The first thing to do was to lay out the Sarissa tiles and start making down what I want on them. The first thing I realised was I’ll need another pack of tiles in a few months time.

The thin tiles would be used as a river, with a bridge and jetty. Also as I have one of the building built, that would be the first tile I’ll work on. This will form part of the town tiles. I have two other town buildings, so to begin with three tiles from this set will form part of the town.

Other buildings I have will be used as rural locations, small poor peasant farms.  I’ll need some additional materials for these locations which might require scratch building fencing and small out buildings.

I also have some resin Terracotta Army pieces which are large enough to be used as statues, which means I can build an ancient ruins location on the board.

Author: Gabriele Esposito
Publisher: Pen and Sword

This book provides a complete and detailed analysis of the organization and equipment employed by the armies of the Hellenistic States. After Alexander the Great’s death in 323 BC, his immense Macedonian empire was divided between his ambitious generals, who in turn formed their own monarchies across Eastern Europe, Asia and North Africa.

This work will follow the development of the Hellenistic military forces from the army bequeathed by Alexander the Great to the complex military machines that succumbed one by one in the wars against the expanding Romans.

As decades and centuries progressed, Hellenistic warfare became always more sophisticated: the ‘diadochi’ (Alexander’s successors) could field armies

with thousands of men, chariots, elephants and siege machines; these came from all the territories of the former Macedonian Empire. The book will also show how Hellenistic forces were strongly influenced by Roman models during the last years of independence of their kingdoms. The states analysed are Macedon, Seleucid Empire, Ptolemaic Egypt, Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Armenia, Pergamon, Pontus, Cappadocia, Galatia, Bosporan Kingdom, Epirus, Sicily, Achaean League and Aetolian League.

Gabriele Esposito covers 350 years of Hellenistic history in a single book, examining the organisation and equipment used by the soldiers of the Hellenistic states.

When Alexander dies in 323 BC, his empire fragmented and broke up. Separate states formed in the aftermath, and new kingdoms were born right across Alexanders former empire.

The author reveals the various military forces that existed in the wake of Alexanders death right up until the Roman Army made the Phalanx obsolete in combat.

Every time the military forces of the Hellenistic states faced the Roman army in battle they lost.

Gabriele writes in a very easy to read style, which make this a joy to pick up and peruse. It lavishly illustrated throughout with photographs, diagrams and maps.

The book is broken down in to 15 chapters and 155 pages, even though this is quite a slim volume, it’s packed with useful information.

Wargamers especially will love this book, as it provides just enough detailed information that doesn’t bog the reader down, likewise all the reference photos will be a great resource for those who like to model and paint.

For those looking to study the period this would be an excellent starting point to jump off from.

I’ve enjoyed reading this particular book as I’ve toyed with the idea of gaming this period of history for some time. I even picked up some 1/72 ancient Greeks to start a small army but never got around to painting and fielding them in battle.

This has become one of my research books for this project. I’ll add further posts of books and other research material as the project progresses.

Watchful I Studio
https://www.watchfulistudio.com/

Recently I was sent a selection of miniatures by Watchful I Studios from their Qin Army range. These will be more commonly recognized as Terracotta Warriors, which were an outstanding archaeological find in Xian, China several years ago.

The Qin were known for unifying China and creating the first dynasty. The first emperor Qin Shi Huang is known for creating not only the first dynasty, but also starting the creation of the Great Wall and being buried with the famous Terracotta Warriors.

Qin Shi started the construction of the wall, though it was continued for several hundred years by successive Emperors. As a ruler he was considered a tyrant despite his many achievements, in his second year, he became aware of scholars discussing his arrogance, in temper he had 460 of them buried alive.

Both myself and Alex were fortunate to visit Xian on a trip to China a few years back, where we managed to visit the provincial museum and the Terracotta Warriors. It was a great experience, and I’d highly recommend visiting if you get the chance.

The first miniature we’ll take a look at is the officer. All the bodies are pretty much similar apart from the cavalry. With this model you get a selection of heads to choose from along with optional arms. There is very little in the way of mould lines and flash, which means they’re very quick and easy to clean up and prep for undercoating. I plan to make use of the extra heads and arms to make additional officers.

The cavalry is quite nice in the heavy armour, armed with spear, sword and shield. The horse is really nicely sculpted, whist it’s a nice looking mini I prefer my cavalry to have a more dynamic pose like they’re charging.

That said they’re a very nice miniature, and I’m looking forward to painting them.

Next up are the archers, these are lightly armoured as you’d expect with missile troops. There is a sword arm option for one of your soldiers to act as a unit commander. Again, there is virtually zero cast lines and flash on these miniatures, along with the bow arms there is also banner pole.

The foot infantry are slightly more armoured than the archers, with helmeted heads. Most of the troops are armed with spear and shield, though again there is a sword arm option for commander. These aren’t highly dynamic looking troops, but they do look nice all ranked up, which is what they’re suited for.

These are really nice miniatures, which have been well sculpted and cast. They’re very easy to clean and prep ready for painting, which I plan to do over the festive holidays. These would make a great army for a pulp game, very similar to the Undead army in The Mummy; The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

If you’re looking for an alternative historical army than the usual European centric armies that most companies produce. They would also make a great fantasy-based army, especially if you add some Asian mythical creatures to the army. Overall, I really liked this range and I plan to add to them at a later place, once I painted these few models first. My intention is to use them in Test of Honor and at some stage in an Asian setting for SPQR.

Chinese/Asian Country Town

On a recent trip to China I visited a permanent movie set in Shenyang. It’s an early 20th Century period town, which is still used for filming. Whilst I was wandering around there was a small film crew filming in one of the buildings.

The set inspired me to build a small provincial town, set in the period 1900-1945. The plan is to build a complete table using the new interlocking Sarissa tiles, along with some building from various companies, some of which would have to be converted to look more Chinese in design.

So, whilst at the movie set, I managed to take as many pictures as possible to use as reference when I returned. I also managed to visit Chengdu which has a the Wide and Narrow street, which has buildings from the Qing dynasty period, though these days they’re used a tourist shops, bars and restaurants, and I’m hoping to use some design inspiration from this period within some of the buildings.

The first step is to design some layouts and get an idea of what I plan to do, at the same time I’ve started to collect materials I’ll be incorporating into the build. For instance, I’ve been grabbing wooden stirring sticks from several well-known coffee shops, as these make great fencing planks, that have a more rustic look and feel to them. I’m planning to have two types of roads within the build, one will be cobblestone for the main town area and rustic dirt tracks outside of the town.

The reason being that the majority of the roads outside of the city would have been dirt tracks, especially in the rural areas.

SPQR/Mortal Gods Hellenistic Project

For several years I’ve been toying with the idea of gaming an Ancient Greek City States campaign, at one time I was planning to do this in 1/72 scale using Warhammer Historical, then Mortal Gods appeared, and I considered that in 28mm. I finally bought SPQR because it allowed me to play several armies of that period at a skirmish level which appealed more to me than any other option I had contemplated. So, I grabbed a copy of the rule book from Warlord and made the decision to build a Greek war band from the Hellenistic period, as well as a Republic Roman army.

So, the plan for the project is to build two small armies, one Roman and the other Greek, using a mixture of Warlord, Victricx and Footsore miniatures. I also plan to build terrain for this campaign, and I’ll be making use of the Sarissia tiles again. I should be able to double up some of the tiles for both projects, such as river sections.

My plan is to make a small Roman urban section and a rural Greek section/table. Though I’m aiming to be able to mix and match some of them. I already have some terrain such as a Roman Villa, the Temple under construction from Gangs of Rome starter, some Greek columns and a Roman statue. This will also mean I can play Gangs of Rome with this terrain project as well.

So originally, I planned for this project to be used for SPQR, but it’s now going to be used for Mortal Gods as well, as I received a copy of the core set for Christmas from my wife. Update Post Xmas, I also received SPQR starter set for Christmas, so this project will now be for both Mortal Gods and SPQR.
My first port of call for this project is to research locations, building and architecture from this period. I’m hoping that a lot of the building will be able to cross over, so they can be used either for a Roman scenario and alternatively in a Greek setting.

The first board for this project will be a ruins location. I managed to pick up a columns ruin whilst on holiday in Rome that is perfect size for 28mm.I also have two Greek busts which are the same, so I plan to cut one up to use as a head of a fallen statue. The busts cost me £1.80 each on eBay which was a bargain. This will be my starting point over Christmas for this project, it should act as a focal point for the rest of the board.

SPQR starter set

I was quite impressed with this boxset; the price point makes it excellent value. It contains 70 highly detailed plastic miniatures from Warlord, a 196-page rule book, along with waterslides, dice Hero and unit cards. The two war bands, 17 Republic Romans which includes a hero model, whilst the second war band are Gaul’s, consisting of 40 warriors with command, 12 archers and a chieftain.

This really is great value for the price, and an excellent starting point for this new game by Warlord.

Mortal Gods

This is another skirmish game, though this time it’s set in ancient Greece, though the miniatures in both sets could be used in either game. This starter set is slightly more price wise than SPQR, though my other half picked up a copy during Black Friday week at a similar price point to SPQR.

The box set contains 38 plastic miniatures by Victrix, which includes 16 Hoplites, 8 unarmoured hoplites, 8 peltasts and 6 slingers. These could be used as one large warband or two smaller ones.

Also included in the starter set is the rule book, 2 reference sheets, dice, measuring sticks and 163 cards, which includes roster and phalanx cards, along with cards for gifts, injuries and omens.

Both sets are a great intro point to ancient wargaming, both at a reasonable starting point as well. I have always been a big fan of ancient wargaming, but never really wanted to build an Ancient Greek or Roman army large enough to play this genre of wargaming.

Years ago, I did make a start on building an Imperial Roman Army, and planned to use the Warhammer Historical Ancient Battles rule system, a rule set I still believe it’s one of the best mass battle rules for
historical.

Both these sets will allow me to play this period without having to build large armies to do so.