28mm Early Imperial Roman Equites Singulares

 This will be the last cavalry unit of my Early Imperial Roman Army. An elite unit of only 6x figures, I've decided it is a tad too small, so I may order some more minis from Aventine and either increase it to 12x or 18x figures the maximum allowed by the 6th Edition WRG rules I'm using.

I thought the hexagonal Black shields and banner were an interesting change, setting the Equites Singulares apart from the rest of the Roman army.

Anyhow there will hopefully be a M18 Hellcat tank destroyer finished next from Blitzkreig miniatures.

All the best and happy painting,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Equites 2nd Cohort - circa 193AD

 This is the 2nd of the Auxiliary Cavalry Cohorts, whereas the Equites Singulares will be the final cavalry formation of the Army. I picked blue shields to contrast with the yellow of the previous cavalry unit the 1st Cohort Equites, I wasn't sure about the blue colour at first but the look tidy together. 

Shield transfers are supplied by LittleBigMenStudios.com, Figures by Aventineminiatures.co.uk & Aventineminiatures.org, painted by yours truly. I had a problem acquiring Testors Dullcote varnish so I now use Humbrol matt varnish which seems to be fine.

 

 

 

Based on a frontage of 20mm per figure these dudes are heavy cavalry mostly in chainmail armed with a sword and spear.

Anyhow I getting stuck into some more Romans and I've started my World War 2 U.S. Armored troops and German Wehrmacht Panzer Grenadiers probably Panzer Lehr, so there will be a mix of stuff on this blog next.

Happy Painting,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Cataphractarii

Hi I've finished the final cavalry unit for my Early Imperial Roman army, these Cataphractarii are very heavily armoured horsemen in the Palmyran style carrying the 12 foot long Kontos but no shield, at 1/56 scale I made these lances 65mm in length.

The Roman Cataphractarii were near invulnerable but ponderous trot-charging cavalry introduced into the Roman army by Aurelian and greatly expanded by Constantius II. Inspired by one of Romes enemy states; Palmyra whose cataphracts caused some much consternation among Aurelian's army. The horse armour could be bronze or iron, the riders really didn't need a shield as they were almost completely covered in armour of various types.

Based to 'Wargames Research Group' 6th edition rules these 'Super Heavy' cavalry have a frontage of 15mm per horse and a depth of 50mm, the depth allows staggering of the horses so they can comfortably fit on the narrow bases. My usual basing effects are applied including the 4mm tufts made using a flock box which I thoroughly recommend.

Anyhow I'm just waiting for Aventine minis to send my the remainder of the Army through the post. The Army commander Marcus Aurelius and his Praetorian Guard should be finished next. I did acquire a Ballista stone thrower from Warlord Games so that's on the painting table at the moment.

Have a Great weekend,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Equites 1st Cohort - circa 193AD

 Hi there, I hope everyone is doing fine, I've come back to this blog after a 15 month long hiatus due to other challenges of which the current pandemic is just an additional problem to deal with.

Anyhow I'll be posting new work on here starting with a new Early Imperial Roman Army mostly using figures acquired from Aventine Miniatures. The inspiration was to copy my very first ancient army I built at school many moons ago but this time in 28mm rather than 15mm which is all I could afford as a kid. 

So here is my interpretation of an Early Imperial Roman Equites or Cavalry cohort heavily armoured and ready for battle.

 

 

 

Comprising 12 Heavy Cavalry of an Auxiliary Equites Cohort based on plasticard to Wargames Research Group 6th edition rules base sizes. The grass tufts are 4mm which I produce myself.

The figures were acquired from Aventine Miniatures over in Northern Ireland, Adam at Aventine is slowly moving stuff from his old website to a new website shop so not everything is available at the moment.

The next cohorts in this army will be a Cataphract cavalry cohort, an Auxiliary Infantry cohort, a Legionary Infantry cohort, an archer cohort and a General's command stand possibly the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus or Marcus Aurelius. I'm hoping this will be a good start to my collection. The Full army list with be presented at completion due to possible alteration in its compostion as the collection progresses.  

Over the weekend I'll be finishing off some 28mm World War 2 British command figures, I'll see how it goes.

All the best and stay safe :)

Best Regards, Peter