Gothic Light Cavalry - The Last Lot!

Well, here they are - the last unit for my Comitatus project!

These Gothic light cavalry skirmishers bring this long drawn out process to an end and hopefully I'll get a solo game in this weekend to familiarise myself with the rules.

These are Italeri "Gothian" Cavalry figures with a couple of changes: Their spears have been shortened to resemble javelins, and the figure hurling the javelin has another added to the inside of his shield

Penultimate Units!

I just have to paint and base one more unit of Gothic light cavalry and I'll have finished my planned armies for my first game of Comitatus!

This post sees another base of Gothic shock cavalry (although they could conceivably be used as heavy javelin cavalry instead) and a unit each of Roman and Gothic archers.

The Gothic cavalry are again from the Italeri 'Gothian' Cavalry set, though I've had to modify a couple of the figures to my preference, namely the middle figure and the figure with the cape. The middle figure was the one waving a puny sword that resembled an overgrown butter knife, so I've cut that out and replaced it with a javelin from the HaT Roman Light Cavalry set. The figure with the cloak has had his spear cut down to a more managable javelin/dart size, and is bearing a shield from the Italeri Late Roman Infantry set, just for variation.

The archers' bases are slightly anemic as I was running out of figures, so instead of having the requisite 4 figures, these bases only have 3. I'm not that fussed as the base is still the same size and 3 figures is a little less crowded in the same space.

The Roman base has two figures from the Italeri Late Roman Infantry set and one from the Miniart Roman Infantry set, while the Gothic base has 3 figures from the Miniart set. Just for variation, I've added a small shield from the HaT light cavalry set to the belt of one of the Gothic archers.

The bowstrings look a little fluoro under the glare of the flash against a dark background, but in the flesh they're not nearly so bright!

Cavalry

Here's the latest for my Comitatus project: Gothic shock cavalry and Roman light cavalry and horse archers.

The shock cavalry were my last entry in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge which earned me 24 points, bringing my total up to 744 (144 points above my target! Whey-hey!) and finishing in 26th place out of 60!

The figures are Miniart, with a ring-in from the Italeri Gothic Cavalry mounted on a Miniart horse

The Roman light cavalry could have been entered into the competition, but I couldn't be a*sed editing and attaching the photos in time for the deadline, which is finishing in a matter of minutes as I write. All figures from the HaT Roman Light Cavalry set.

More Roman Cav & Gothic Skirmishers

The latest entry in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge consists of the following:

HaT Light Cavalry (classed as Light Javelin in Comitatus),

HaT Medium Cavalry (classed as Heavy Javelin), 

and a Gothic skirmish stand using Strelets and Miniart figures. One of the Strelets figures has had his axe removed and glued to his belt, to be replaced with a javelin.

Gothic Command

Here's my latest stands in my ongoing Comitatus project; Gothic infantry and cavalry command stands.

The infantry stand features Newline Design commander, draco bearer and buglers. The commander is supported by warriors from Strelets (with shield mod) and Miniart.

The cavalry stand are all Miniart, though the commander in the middle has a plume added, and one of the warriors has had his lance replaced with a draco standard from the Italeri infantry set.

Gothic Heavy and Light Cavalry

This is my latest entry for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge which earned me a total of 45 points, including a few points extra for the hand-painted shields. Italeri kindly moulds the pattern onto the shields which makes it easier, but also limits the patterns somewhat.

The shock cavalry stand includes the figure brandishing a sword, which I had to convert because the original blade looked like he was brandishing a table knife rather than a weapon! After carefully cutting out the original sword and making a groove in the figure's hand, I replaced it with one of the swords from the HaT Roman Medium Cavlary set and glued a sliver of sprue to replace his thumb which didn't survive the surgery. He looks a lot more menacing with a proper sword!

I'll be making a couple more stands of each, before going back to some more infantry, skirmishers and archers, then switching to the Romans to give them more skirmishers, archers and heavy and light cavalry. Before long I'll have enough on both sides to have my first battle!

New Acquisitions

Click images for PSR reviews

My latest acquisitions for my late Roman / Germanic barbarian project are HaT's late Roman Light Cavalry and Italeri's 'Gothian' Cavalry.

The first was an internet purchase from the Drum & Flag ebay shop while the second was an impulse purchase while killing some time in the city last week, not expecting to find anything remotely related to my preferred periods. I'd actually gone into the Victorian Hobby Centre looking to buy some paint, but decided to check the 1/72nd figures shelves just in case. Previously, this shop had a very limited selection catering mainly to the WWII collector. The shop historically was dedicated to the aeroplane and railway modeler, but with a change in management and refurbishment, they seem to have expanded their range, including even the much loved (by me anyway!) HaT French Infantry 1808-1812 set 8095!

The HaT set is just brilliant with crisply moulded figures with no flash. They aren't as detailed as say Zvezda or Italeri, but the sculpting is historically accurate and reasonable, withou the odd poses that spoil Italeri figures.

As I already mentioned, Italeri always spoil their otherwise brilliant production values with some clunky poses or just outright stupid mistakes and the Gothian cavalry is no exception. While the figures are useable for my purposes, anachronistic mistakes like giving the riders stirrups would make the stickler think twice. The figure brandishing his sword looks like he's threatening his enemies with a table knife, so he'll be a candidate for conversion. The figures' spears are all spear-like, but as some are supposed to be flinging javelins, they'll have to be shortened to make them more javelin-like.

Magna Consilia!

I've got these chaps on order from Britain via the Drum & Flag e-bay store:

They should be turning up any day now.

I've seen these at Hearn's Hobbies locally, but the crazy thing is I can get them cheaper sent from the other end of the world!

I suppose it depends how quickly I want to get my hands on them; If I pay the premium, I'll have them in my hands now, otherwise I'll be waiting a couple of weeks for them to come in the post. Anyway, the question's academic as my hobby funds have temporarily dried up recently!

Gothic Command

Roman Command

These are the command figures from Newline Designs (images from their website) which I'll need for the Comitatus rules system. The rules call for individual command stands to offer inspiration to the nearest units, as well as to issue challenges to single combat to one's enemies if so desired!

As the Miniart Gothic set doesn't have many skirmishing figures, I am also considering investing in some archers by Newline Designs, too.

Primum dispositis

My first post on this new blog; HaT's Late Roman Medium Cavalry.

I am planning to build an army of Romans and Goths to use with the Comitatus rules by Simon MacDowall. On order, I've got a set each of Miniart's Goths and Late Roman Infantry which I'll use as the basis for my armies. I'll probably get a couple of command sets from Newline Designs and possibly some other figures like Gothic archers and auxiliary Roman infantry as well.

The stand below is the first of at least 3 medium cavalry stands I'll make. Eventually, I'll also get HaT's light cavalry set as well