The scorpion bolt shooter is coming along nicely now. I had a bit of a wobble over how to paint it. It is a wood and metal construction and I have always had a bit of an issue with painting wood. I think I've got a workable solution now. I have tried many times to do a grain effect but every time it just looks wrong. I'll take some pictures and load them up soon.

Simon Hall's new ancients rule set came out to day and I have signed up and ordered a copy. These are called "Mortem et Gloriam" and they look pretty nice. I am hoping this is a really good successor to DBM because I really enjoy ancients wargaming.

Since the end of the DBM 'glory days' I have struggled to find something I am happy with.  I still play a bit of DBM but the pool of players is quite dispersed and relatively small

What follows is only my opinion and I know others see things very differently and I don't want to stop people enjoying the system of their choice.

FoGAM seemed to me a retrograde step more akin to the old WRG systems rather than a progression. I hated the one and only competition I entered - never felt like that before and didn't like it at all.

DBMM seemed to me to take us even further down the WRG rabbit hole.

AdlG just doesn't feel right, the 200pt game seems a bit like big DBA. I have tried to like it but it doesn't quite do it for me.

Now painting up a Warlord Games Scorpion bolt shooter and crew to go with the 24 legionaries I finished in the week. This is metal not plastic and so far it is looking pretty nice. It was a bit expensive though at £12.
I will take a few pictures over the next couple of days.

Finished painting the Warlord Games plastic Romans and have stuck them on to bases. I have still to finish the bases themselves but I will leave this until I can do everything at the same time.

There are a couple of things to note: first 4 figures fit snuggly onto a 60mm wide base and even better on a 20mm deep base. I was expecting problems here but everything worked out ok. However, I cannot place them in a column. The pila get in the way. I have decided to do the next batches of Legionaries with sword. This means the plum wielding models will end up as the back rank.

OK - the LittleBigMan transfers are a bit fiddly to cut out but they then go on very easily.

They are quite sticky so you have to be careful when positioning them and if access to the shield is restricted that can be a challenge. I have done about half (14 out of 24) and that took about an hour.

Latest Project

Just painting up some 28mm Caesarian Romans from Warlord Games. These are the first (non GW) plastics I have painted since the Airfix ones I had back in the 60s and 70s. I am really impressed. The moulding is clean and crisp; the detail of a high standard and easy to paint.

One small worry is will they fit on the base but that aside I am very pleased.

I have to add the LittleBigMen transfers tomorrow and I am a little anxious about that - it would be a shame to spoil the work to date but how hard can it be!