Polemos

Evil Doug Strikes Again

Thomo the Lost6 Comments

There I was, dealing with the 100 or so wargame projects that I have on the go at the moment when the gentle <ding> sound is heard and I think “I have mail”. The following email exchange occurs:

Doug to me 
31 May (3 days ago)
 
http://www.rapierminiatures.co.uk/page/Range/6mm_Chariot_Ancients_Single_Packs.html#NewKingdomEgyptians
 
Me to Doug
31 May (3 days ago)

I purchased some of their Parthians and they are OK. 

Doug to me
31 May (3 days ago)

the Biblicals look much better than the Parthians...
 
Me to Doug
31 May (3 days ago)

Yeah, I am thinking 15mm DBA or 60mm DBA might be nice for them 🙂

Doug to me
31 May (3 days ago)

60mm... get lots on, that’s where 6,, look good. All polemos 60 x 30 bases...

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So now I am thinking about getting some Rapier Miniatures 6mm Biblicals for use with the DBA rules but based on Polemos 60mmx30mm bases. THe only problem with this is that now I am thinking about my current DBA/Warmaster/Polemos 6mm Ancient projects and considering whether or not to take them all to 60mm bases as well.

Thank you Douglas!

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Polemos Ancients Progress

Thomo the Lost8 Comments

DSC01412As one of the about 100 projects I have started at the moment (I really am a wargame butterfly, floating from bright flower to bright flower), I started the basing of my Polemos Ancients. I have three Baccus 6mm armies in various stages of completion:

  1. Pontic – unpainted
  2. Numidian – painted and attached to bases – flocking to be done
  3. Imperial Roman – painted but waiting for me to attach 150 decals to 6mm shields and then base.

I thought then a quick update well in order, especially as I haven’t posted anything for a while.

The photo above is of the raw materials laid out – the figures, MDF bases and adhesive magnetic tape. At my favourite stationery store, Stationery Superstore in Funan Digital Mall ((incidentally, my favourite mall here in Signapore as well)) here in Singapore I have discovered a nice range of magnetic tape. They are in rolls with widths of 15mm, 20mm and 30mm – what could be better for a wargamer. They also do a very nice inexpensive stackable storage box, but more on that later, perhaps. So, the photo above shows the basic materials for this stage of the process.

DSC01417The magnetic tape is cut to length and stuck to the bottom of the MDF bases.

The next step is sorting the figures to the bases. The Numidians being a basically skirmishing army are fairly spread out on the bases so each base will contain 8 infantry and either 4 or 5 horse. The Numidians have been painted as lighter skinned with differing coloured shields and tunics. The traditional view was of darker skin and unbleached tunics along with plain shields but hey, these look nice and will morph well into other armies when needed <—wargamer’s excuse for something a little out of the ordinary!

A quick snip with the cutters, a dob of glue, in this case, Tarzan’s Grip from Australia, and the figures are adhered to the base. ready for flocking later.

DSC01422

Next step is on to the Romans.

A Wargamer’s Indecision

Thomo the Lost1 Comment

DSC00378A Wargamer’s Indecision Dilemma.

I have a bunch of 6mm figures painted and ready for basing. That’s them on the left there with the bases I was going to use. They look neat laid out ready for basing. I was intending to base them on 60x30mm bases for Polemos. On the left would be a Numidian army and on the right, an Imperial Roman army. There are enough figures for the standard 20 bases per side Polemos army. 7 bases of legionaries, 5 of auxiliaries, 2 of auxiliary archers, 1 of artillery and 5 of cavalry. The Numidians are 10 of Light Horse and 10 of Light Infantry.

The indecision dilemma?

Once I glue them to the base and scenic it, I will be disinclined to un-base them and rebase them for a different set of rules. Once I base these for Polemos, I will have to use them for Polemos. I could probably use them for DBA as well, using the 25mm ground scale (they will be on a 60mm frontage after all) but that’s about it.

Next option?

Base them for Warmaster. Use the standard Warmaster 40x20mm bases. That would change the mix to 14 elements of legionaries which would equate to 4 units (each Warmaster unit is three bases after all. Third option is base them for DBA – base them on 15mm scale bases and use four 6mm figures for each 15mm figure. That has the benefit of fitting with the other 6mm ancients I have and would allow me to have two Imperial Roman DBA Armies.

Basing them as DBA elements – I can use them for Polemos anyway as Polemos uses a Base Width x Base Depth measurement method and so I can assume that all bases are 20mm deep for that.

My next issue then is the Numidians. I already have a (very nice) 6mm Numidian DBA army. Should I just expand that by making another? On my 4:1 scaling that would give me 20 elements of Psiloi and 10 elements of Light Horse.

But then again – they will just look so neat as Polemos bases. I think I’ll base some 15mm ACW figures instead – I know what I am doing with them.

Sigh, and as there are three options, I guess it is not a dilemma either.

40 x 20 Bases

Thomo the Lost2 Comments

Bug’rit – it’ll be 40 x 20 bases. Much as I like the 60 x 30 Polemos bases for Napoleonics (and I am sure I will like the same sizes for ECW, GNW, WSS and any other good three character acronyms I can think of) I think I will stick to the 40 x 20 bases for Ancients. Just seems to work better from my point of view.

So there, done, decided, dusted!

Now, where’d I put the credit card so I can start buying figures?

Cato and Macro Cause Me More Grief

Thomo the LostLeave a comment

Bloody Macro and Cato have done it again. I have been having urges to paint some Early Imperial Romans and Ancient Britons after the early books in Scarrow’s series. Then the buggers took on the pirates off the Illyrian coast and I started looking for my triremes. Then the dynamic duo hit the desert in Judea and I was starting to think about Parthians as well. After starting Centurion I want to add Palmyrans to that list.

Scale is not a problem, I will do these sometime this year in 6mm using either Baccus, Heroics and Ros or Rapier Miniatures. My problem is deciding on the rule system to use and therefore the basing. My initial thoughts were to base the figures up for Warmaster Ancients which means 40mm x 20mm bases. It also means that the bases will work well for DBA and Big Battle DBA as well.

However, the guys down in Canberra are basing at 60mm x 30mm and using the figures to play Principles of War Ancients (PoWA). I believe also that Baccus has plans to release a version of Polemos for Ancients at some time in the future and these will likely use the same 60 x 30 basing.

I’m torn between 40 x 20 and 60 x 30. Less figures are needed for 40 x 20 and they look good but 60 x 30 will fit more likely opponents. I guess it’ll be 60 x 30 then – although I have a few weeks or so before I need to make a final decision and order some figures.

40×20 … 60×30 … bloody Macro and Cato!