AHPC 14: (almost) Last Submission

I'm away for work now so this was my last submission for AHPC 14.

Despite having planned (and acquired models) for tribal warband allies for Caesar, I recently discovered that in fact... I cant under the army lists! Oops. An emergency resupply of legionaries was required.

So here are two more Legionary units, using 1st Corps models and taking me to a total of 10. Frustratingly, these are smaller sculpts to the rest of my army, more true 25s really. That said, they look good on their own bases and their poses give them a different look to my other troops. Shield decals by LMB Studios, and 2 fancier ones were hand painted for the Centurion and his Signifer to mix things up.

Another Command Figure to take charge on the wing, a Warlord sculpt this time. Nicely detailed but  more statuesque and fancy in style, as befitting his rank. Maybe this Tribune is a wealthy Senator's son spending time with the Legions to further his political career back in Rome after the campaigning season.

Ave Caesar!

Next a pair of Lictors, destined to accompany Caesar on my army's command base. I got the General's famous white charger done but sadly ran out of time for the man himself and really didn't want to rush such an iconic figure. So here they are, albeit unbased - mea culpa!

Their broad flat features and big noses are very Wallacus and Gromitus!

And finally a Hoplomachus for my gladiator ludus, filling a gap in my retinue. This style of fighter was modelled on the Greek Hoplite and was distinguishable by his spear, small shield and greaves. Traditionally, a Hoplomachus would be paired to fight either a Threax or Murmillo.

I've gone all-in with the Hoplite style and am very happy with how he turned out with the matched red and white apparel.

That's 22 completed figures @ 5 points each (110) and 2 more unbased @-25% (7.5 points) for a total of 117.5 points. Added to my tally of 882 gets me to...999.5 points for the challenge. A mercy bonus opoint from the minion for the hand painetd shield squeaked me the the line and thats AHPC XIV complete foe me!

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/02/from-paulog-last-hurrah-legionaries.html

AHPC 14: Allied Gaul Cavalry

Gallic Cavalry with attached General Carcinogenix and his retinue

These two units are Crossing the Rubicon for me - I just don't do units of cavalry for any period, so these took some working up to. But at last, here are my Allied (Mercenary) Tribal Cavalry to fight for Caesar!

Look at those great Gallic moustaches!

Having procrastinated for years, these brought me real joy and I did the models in a weekend, including hand painting all the shields. These aren't anything special, but they are special for me - I even tried a dappled grey for the Chieftain as a stretch goal. To be honest, it took a few goes.

I've done something a bit different with the basing too - I wanted to depict them as a thundering mass of terrifying horse flesh bearing down on the trembling legionaries of Pompey Magnus. So they are on deeper bases to give them space for dynamic placement, and I 'chunked up' one of them with more figures to depict the attached General (mighty and renowned Chieftain Carcinogenix!) and his retinue.

I bought the figs second hand, and while I'm certain the Command figs are Crusader models, I'm not sure about the rest.  All are metal though, so these bases have a very satisfying heft when you pick them up :-)

AHPC is about pushing oneself, either in productivity or new styles, and these Cavalry models have certainly taken me out of my comfort zone and helped me round out this Army project. 

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/02/from-paulog-allied-gallic-cavalry-132.html

More Old World Exploration

Our second foray into the new rules to continue the fun, again my Beastmen but this time against Reilly playing our Chaos army for something different.

One of my favourite Chaos Champions, painted by Reilly for Father's Day 

Wanting to try something new with the updated Beastmen rules, I made a unit led by a Doombull Minotaur, with a Level 2 Shaman Banner and 22 more Gors in support.  This was an absolute blender of a unit with the Doombull and Shaman combat buffing them all. Reilly eventually took the unit down but it was a main effort for him and they dealt out a LOT of damage along the way. Super fun to play too (almost as much as the infamous Minobus!)

The Doombull (on temporary new upsized 50mm square base) leads his Blood Snout retinue

I also got my new Pestigor Regiment onto the table as bodyguards for the Wargor, BSB and Level 4 Shaman. They no longer have special rules in this new edition (yet, anyway) but its always good to get new models onto the table...

...and yes they were inevitably ground away to the last (beast)man by a unit of Chaos Warriors, so it was good to get that out of the way!

The..other forces of Chaos had some of the usual fare, from Maraunders and Chaos Warriors to Chaos Knights.... and also some heavy Gorebeast Chariots which were fun!

And some old school metal Chaos Ogres for a bit of fun too!

The action was fast and furious - a real mix of grinding close order infantry slogs, with wheeling light forces crashing into unprotected flanks

The Gorebeast chariots hit like trucks!

In the centre the Doombull seemed unstoppable, grinding through waves of enemy units

A Duel with the mounted Chaos Lord seemed the only way to bring him down..

But the Doombull laughed and he feasted on the remains of his fallen enemy!  

Eventually the Minotaur fell, but the day belonged to him

Great fun with lots of laughs and cinematic moments!

AHPC 14: Caesarian Light Troops and a Hero

Lower output recently with work travel taking a toll, so its good to be back at the brushes! Those on our antipodean paint and chat know that Cavalry is my hobby kryptonite, and the lads there have been demanding encouraging me to man up and get some done!  So here are my first: 2 units of Roman light cavalry to skirmish ahead of my Caesarian army.

These are OOP plastic Roman Cavalry by Wargames Factory; rather average models TBH but good enough for support troops. I did some head swaps and changed the shields - hand painted of course! - to give them a more dynamic look, which has helped a lot overall.

Overall they are ok, very useful on the tabletop, and have nudged me onto doing my Cavalry units. I did enjoy doing the casualty, complete with javelin in his back, and Alan even painted up a shield to match his own army. Thanks mate!

"Caesar Aeternum!" (Caesar Forever!) and take that you traitorous son of Sassanid!

Continuing the light troops theme, a unit of Numidian foot skirmishers to precede the Legionary heavy infantry. These are also OOP Wargames Factory figs, kindly donated by Alan to fill this gap in my army. 

Again, nothing special about these figs but they are fine for their role and painted accordingly.

And lastly onto this lovely Aventine miniature - so wonderfully evocative I felt compelled to make him a standalone Hero; battered, bloodied and undaunted in the face of the enemy.

Gaul blood stains on your tunic are hard to clean... 

Wounded and sans armour post medicae treatment, he has discharged himself from the hospice tent to fight with his Comrades for his beloved legion and Caesar. "Greater Love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". How noble, even Romantic, one might say with a more Victorian era interpretation of nationalism and brotherly love.

Vulneratus non Victus! (in fact, this is my traditional family motto!)

6 x mounted 28mm Figs (60 points), 6 x infantry models (30) and I would like to claim the Romance bonus for this admittedly non traditional interpretation: after all, "Legio patria nostra"!

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/02/from-paulog-caesarian-light-troops-and.html