Mob rule

   This post was due to be on something else that I finished recently, but as I was writing it, I realised it would have been the 7^th different project post in a row, which even for a butterfly/magpie like me was a little bit over the top. As the last post was about Gangs of Rome, and it is a project I want to get finished, I decided to spend the weekend getting some painted*, so I could post about that next, instead.

   As the figure pile for my Gangs of Rome project is fairly small, I decided to do all of them in one batch of the same colour**, in this, light blue. Everything was ready built, having been on the shelf next to my painting desk for a fair few months at this point.

*Amongst other things

**Agente excluded

   The last base of mob that I needed to get painted. Like the last 6, I bought the deal that got me the full amount needed when the game first released, then added some Foundry Roman civilians into the bag, so I'm not 100% what model is what anymore.

   Again, when the game first released I knew there were scenarios that needed a VIP to defend, so I bought two would be senator models as I wasn't sure if both sides would need one. It was about time he got painted up.

   My last two named fighters, Maximilianus and Anethencia. I might go back over a few of my plainer fighters in the future as I have seen loads of really nice patterns painted onto their tunics, but I have to feel a bit braver to do so.

   Lastly, the Agente which was a figure I bought without knowing if I would get the card needed to play him in my fighters but knowing I really wanted to paint one up.

   I still have at least 3 buildings to finish for this game, and I really want to get it to the table more, so this isn't the end of the project, and I still need to get a bow equipment card, so I need to justify that postage . . .

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Back to the Eternal City

   I started this post last summer, but it didn't get posted as I thought I hadn't done enough to justify a post. However, I've had a bit of a second wind for Gangs of Rome* and I would like to get it on the table a lot more than I currently have, so it felt like the right time to revist the streets of the eternal city.

*While I don't want to buy into any more 'get the figure card 

with the official miniature' style games, I also need to play the ones 

I have bought into a lot more.

   I've found myself reading a lot of Roman themed novels in recent months including the Cicero trilogy by Robert Harris which follows the life and career of (I hope this isn't a surprise) Cicero the famous Roman lawyer and Politician who lived through the rise (and fall) of the triumvirate** and both of Harry Sidebottom's Roman series set in the crisis of the 3rd century after I met him at a Writtle Bit of Lard.

**You've had over 2000 years to catch up on that spoiler

   After a quick check of what was in my backlog, it turned out to be 2 bases of the mob, 4 fighters and a handful of extra figures along with various bits of scenery. Nothing that can't be managed.

The first figure is my version of the gladiator. Apparently the figure is a limited edition Warlord games model from a few years ago, but as I bought it from Firestorm games in my pre-GoR excitement, I'm not sure how limited it actually is. I found myself pretty underwhelmed by the 'official' gladiator, so I wanted something with a bit more flavour and this guy fitted the bill.

Next up is another base of the mob painted as a batch as per my normal technique.

Lastly, for figures, are two more fighters, namely; Aelianus & Fulvia. The way the guy was hunched over made me decide he must be the roman equivalent of a skin head, so that's what I went for.

To keep it mixed up, I thought I would include a bit of scenery too. In this case a simple round temple – dedicated to an undisclosed deity at this point.

After seeing the simple Gangs of Rome demo board at Salute, I have been inspired to do another little scenery order, so there is more coming in the near future.

   Also, as part of my birthday day out *** my wife organised to go to the Temple of Mithras in London. The temple has free entry but needs to be booked in advance and is an amazing 45 minute distraction if you are in the city for something else.

   The room with the temple's remains in has a 20 minute light show and viewing time pattern to make sure every ticket holder gets the best from the exhibit

***Last year

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Gangs of (Just Outside) Rome

   While I have been doing a lot of work on my Napoleonic's recently, it doesn't mean that I have forgotten my other big projects for 2018 and Gangs of Rome is right near the top of the big 4. I have 4 gang members and 4 bases of mob already painted, I figured with a couple more gangers finished off I should be in a position to try out the rules.

Left to Right: Publius and Matida.

   With 2 more gang members painted up, I next turned to the scenery they would be fighting over. My Rome scenery collection is far below the required amount to play in the hustle and bustle of the Eternal City herself, so plan B (which was actually my plan A but don't tell anyone) was Gangs of (just outside) Rome, based around a villa estate. If years of watching Time Team has taught me anything, it is that a single villa does an estate not make, so a cheap Roman storehouse from Warbases later and it felt like I could put a convincing board together.

   So here we go, Gangs of (just outside) Rome;

   If I am learning a game by myself (i.e. my opponent doesn't know how to play either) I always simplify rules right down to the most basic level just so we can get a feel for the mechanics before adding the game's details back in, so that is what we did for our first game, no mob or denarii. Our first play through ended up (as the pictures will show) being a mass brawl in the middle which turned out to be fun, but ultimately unsatisfactory.

   I forgot to take photos of the second game but adding in the mob and some coins made a huge different to the game (and I am sure adding multiple levels and more buildings will change the game a lot more too), the mob, especially, are really good fun in the game.
   After trying the rules out at a couple of different complexities this feel like a great evening game, potentially working as a multiple player game too. The combat is bucket of dice fighting on both sides that can be pretty bloodless at times for the effort put in, but fighting and saving added to the pebble out of the bag mechanic mean that you never get a chance to sit down and wait for your opponent to do their thing, which I see as a good sign in a game.

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Carrying on with Gangs of Rome

   My painting motivation hasn't been what it could be in recent weeks but I am turning a corner and spending more time at my painting desk and, while some of the bits have been completely off topic, I am trying to get on with some of the more important projects.

   First up, using my soon to be patented 'batch colour system' - this time white and blue, is another base of Roman mob. I think this base is entirely made up of figures from War Banner but I'm just not sure anymore.

   More importantly, I have also been trying to finish some gangers so I can try to get a game or two in to help motivate this project. I have quite enjoyed picking up the body I fancy working on, finding what the card says and building/painting the figure to fit, so in this batch Plautilla's description says that she always uses barbed arrows, so I knew the figure needed a bow.

  (Left to right: Manlius, Mastiff and Plautilla)

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Holiday Villa In The Sun

   Gangs of Rome has fallen by the wayside a bit, but to be fair, a lot of projects have fallen as my hobby motivation has slowed down in recent weeks. This post is about the Warbases Roman Villa that I picked up when Gangs of Rome was announced and before Sarissa's involvement was announced.

   This villa was a model I had been trying to find an excuse to buy since I had first seen it unveiled on Warbases' blog as it looked like every villa (that wasn't a H shape) that Time Team ever dug and that was an important thing.
   I kept the painting simple using spray cans, as I suspect I will need to do a lot of buildings for GoR and I wanted it to be easy to replicate the process.

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Gangs of Rome - Making Progress

   With my Hungarian project now finished and my Sons of Horus nearly finished (although I suspect this is one of those projects that will never really be finished) I am looking at what other projects I can get finished quickly or what games I really want to get on the table that I just haven't managed so far, but I am trying not to lose sight of my Gangs of Rome project.
   I only have another 30 models to paint for this project, which doesn't sound like much but as it is another list of models without a uniform I don't want to rush it and end up with models I don't like once it is finished, so I want to take my time and paint a model every time I get inspired, rather than force a finished project. However, saying that I still want to see this project moving, and this is what I have achieved recently.
 
   First up is another base of mob, I kept to my rule of trying to paint as many of these as I could before I started on my gang members, knowing full well that once my gangers are painted the mob would fall by the wayside. These batch is a green batch, following my group painting rules and I plan to include at least a single gang fighter in each mob painting batch to help the project move along a bit more.

   Next up are my first two fighters, I have kept the colour schemes really simple on these two just to make sure I have some models finished and help with motivation. These two are (left to right); Faustinus and Metella - pre-named as per their cards. Faustinus has a white streak in his hair from an old head wound and Metella is a branded thief.

   While I was going through my gang members trying to get some inspiration on who to build/paint next and what I wanted them to look like, I had a proper look at one of the Dominus figures and felt that it would be a great quick model to paint, so he jumped the queue pretty spectacularly. Again, a simple colour scheme as I felt it looked right on him.

   Last up is a weirder one, some scenic bits from Foundry Miniatures. I tried to make them look like veined white marble (although I suspect I was a bit harsher on the veining) but I am pleased with them and think they will look good on a scenic board.

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Sons of Horus Tactical Squad 3 + Friends

   This post is going to make it look like I have done an extraordinary amount of painting in the last week or so, but actually it is all a lie, I have managed about 11 models since the 20th*, but because I am painting up a few members of different squads at anyone time it might only take the one man to allow me to post a finished squad - exactly what has happened here.

*The normal work, trip and

one hell of a cold.

   First up is another base of mob for Gangs of Rome - this time using a mostly red theme. As with my Dark Ages projects, the mob will be mixed up so the single colour bases will be lost into the whole mix, painting a single dominate colour makes the whole project much quicker and simpler while not ruining the end effect. This base isn't just made up of 'official figures' but includes some from Wargames Foundry's range just to mix up the poses a bit.
   I have some scenery half finished and my first couple of fighters built, so I should start being able to blog about the more interesting bits soon, but I wanted to get as much of the mob done before I did too much else as they are likely to fall by the wayside otherwise.

   Next is my Sons of Horus captain. My style is rarely to have leaders that are mega over the top in the way GW loves to do - so the massive helmet, cloak and huge stylised shoulder pads were a no go for me. The body is a limited edition Alpha Legion captain while the rest of the bits are from my 30k bits box. I gave him a shaved head and top-knot to really emphasis the Sons of Horus thing, extended the axe to make it him stand out from the ranks and gave him a subtle chaos star on his leg to start to show that these are not the loyal troops they once were.

   Next is my 3rd Tactical marines squad, this one with extra close combat weapons (an option they can have - not obvious from this photo but they are on their backpacks). I used far more MKIII armour in this squad than in the other two as the thought was that these are the objective holders and reserves, holding what has been claimed while the 1st and 2rnd squads push forward to capture, so they will have less frequent casualties.

    Last, but definitely not least, is the first Landraider for this army. In 30k Landraiders are a big deal, being much closer to the standard transport of the legion than the rhino is in 40k, and the Sons of Horus, who always got the best equipment, took this to a whole new level. My funds, however, don't quite stretch to matching the Son's equipment lists but I knew I needed at least one in my force, but I will say for those who are looking at picking this part resin kit up, it is a beast to put together.
   In the future, I would like to add a 1st company detachment to this force; Horus himself, a couple of squads of Justcarian and a couple of their own Landraiders, so expect to see more of these then!

The trickle that becomes the flood

   I said on the last post that there was a massive risk of distraction and here it is, Gangs of Rome has started to deliver. This is a game that from the moment Footsore Miniatures announced it in September/October(?) I was hocked on the idea. As always, I went as basic as I could to allow me to play and get a feel for the rules, so two gangs, a mob and rules fitted the bill.

   As it turned out my mob arrived before my gangs, which has given me at least a couple of days of grace to get some of the mob (30 figures) painted before I get distracted from them by the gang fighters themselves as these are going to be the big job. I am planning on painting the mob in the same way as my Dark Age projects a base at a time in the same vague colour palette and then mix them up when I actually play. This means I have 6 lots of mob to paint, 2 lots of gangs which is do-able within a couple of weeks of painting, although I plan to keep moving Sons of Horus across my desk too.

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