Alas - no more ....

After a lot of thought I have decided to close down this project. 

This project collection uses up to a third of my available storage space and it is little used compared to my other collections. I want to expand other collections and have no room, so something has to go. 

Some buildings/scenics will be retained, those that are scale neutral will be re-employed as needed on other gaming projects.

I will be keeping some of my favourite items for display purposes, one of which is the roman galley and crew. 

The Blog will remain in place as it provides a nice record of my past games and modelling projects

Gallic character figures ....

 I've finished painting and basing the Expeditionary Force 'civilian' figures- they'll fit in with the rest of my Gauls (if a bit large,  merging into the crowd)  and make some nice character figures if needed.  

Perhaps they could be the fellowship of the golden torque ?

Patrol Duty - check the farm ....

Another play-test of my Simple Combat rules, this time gauls 'without potion'....

---oXo---

A Roman patrol on the return leg of their route...

The roman patrol is being watched....

The patrol halts and takes up a defensive position as a detachment is sent to check out a nearby farm 

the detachment reaches the farm ...

the gallic commander orders the signal to attack

the gauls rush in to attack the romans 

the romans hold their ground.....

with fighting going on in the farm, another detachment is prepared  ....

as the fighting continues ...

the second detachment approaches the farm...

the romans finally get to grips with the gauls, starting to cut them down ....

the remaining gauls run for it ....

the farm is set alight and the romans withdraw, 

---oXo---

Result:

Romans: 1 legionary - single wound

Gauls: 4 dead, 1 warrior with 2 wounds. 

The rules worked well in the play test; the un-armoured gallic warriors eventually got cut up by the romans as expected, even when they scored a hit it was difficult to wound the romans due to their armour. The armoured gallic warrior was an even match for a roman.

Three Belligerent Gauls ...

A play-test of my simple combat rules applied to a Gauls V Romans scenario. I added a new skill level to the rules - Hero; plus a special +3 attack  bonus for those gauls who take a drink of  the magic fighting potion (with 10 moves of fighting before effects of potion run out). 

So time for the gauls to take it to the romans, 2 heroes and a warrior versus 28 romans ....

---oXo---

The patrol continues on its way back to the border fort ... they've strayed to close to a particular village

they have been spotted, the druid decides to test the latest batch of fighting potion ...

a little later, the patrol find their way blocked by three belligerent gauls, the romans advance confidently ....

The gauls wade in .....

the heros bash and knock the romans about severely ...

and proceed to beat up the entire patrol ....

picking their opponents with impunity ....

the roman casualties mount up ....

feeling a little tired the gauls disengage and leave, (before the effect of the potion runs out...)

the romans reform and hobble back to base as best they can ....

---oXo---

result:

gauls - no casualties

romans - 4 men disabled (3 wounds), 4 with 2 wounds, 12 with 1 wound,  8 bruised & shaken.

the rules worked well, the ordinary gallic warrior + potion was a match for a roman; the heroes made short work of up to three opponents at a time.  Gauls had 10 moves before the effects of the potion an out - they used up 8 moves to beat up the patrol.

Additions for Gauls - WIP (2)

Finished assembling the Expeditionary Force figures; there is enough variety of arms, weapons and heads to make up a good set of poses...  shown below with a 1/32 Fabbri roman (54mm) and a Toyway roman (60mm)

I married up some of the parts with a Toyway roman torso to give me a warrior with mail shirt...

Additions for the Gauls (WIP) ....

I've purchased a box of Expeditionary Force 'gallic civilians',  nice set - they are really 60mm figs, but the odd larger/taller figure won't look out of place. There are two druid types, two women, two young men, three warriors and a selection of heads & weapons. The women and young men are not as tall as the warriors/druids.

I've done some trial assemblies

I'll be using up my other spare bits to modify/tweak to my satisfaction, I expect the green stuff will be out as well 😊

Roman Testudo (completed)

The legionaries at practice drill - testudo ...

Roman Testudo WIP (2) - trial assembly

Having managed to cut enough Call-To-Arms romans in half for the legs to go with my testudo I tried a trial assembly on a base to see how it looked...

from side, looking good ....

 the back view, some work needed to make it look more realistic, suitable arms for the rear rank at least

Roman Testudo - work in progress

I've started work on my testudo.   The scheme is going to be very basic, enough to represent one on the gaming table. For an idea of what I was aiming for I printed off the image of the Warlord Games 28mm testudo.

• The front and side shields are fixed to a card frame, as are those for the top.
• The men in the testudo are represented by heads visible in between the top and sides, with legs fixed underneath. The back 4 men will be full figures, holding up the rear top shields.
• When all is painted up, the shields will have their designs stuck on.

The components for my model, coming together slowly .....

Roman catapult and crew completed

The catapult and crew now finished, ready for action ...

Next project in the works is making a testudo using Call-To-Arms romans, already have the figures - currently working out how to convert them etc...

Roman catapult crew (WIP) ....

Dug out my stock of Timpo Toyway romans and selected some suitable ones for the crew. Made a appropriate alterations - removed shields, altered head positions and changed a couple of the standing figures arms. The crouching legionary, has had a new torso fitted and some green stuff work. Officer unchanged ...

A catapult for the romans .....

I managed to get a reasonably priced Britains medieval catapult on Ebay; its suitable for use with my Romans

a little work to do on it and also some crew to be sorted out and painted (I have some Toyway romans to utilise )