Thanks for the kind comments. Here is the whole army lines up for inspection.



I have some three ballista still to paint and spare old Minifigs, Asgard and Gladiator figures that would allow me to expand the cataphracts and heavy cavalry to 6 bases each, the skirmishers to 8 bases, and the legionaries and one auxilia with integral shooters . Alternatively, after reading 'nikgaukroger's blog post on the Imperial Roman Army of Constantius II, I'm wondering about using them for a fourth unit of legionaries. So many choices and so few points!

https://smallitalianwars.blogspot.com/2021/07/late-roman-army-for-mortem-et-gloriam.html

I have painted two more sub-generals for my 15mm Late Roman army which means I now have enough figures completed for a 10,000pt army.



As with my previous commanders for this army, the quality of the general is shown by the shield colour, using the standard MeG colour codes and the shields are attached by magnets so they can be swapped over as required.



The figures are old Minifigs, Asgard and (the commander waving a mace about) Gladiator, with quite a lot of conversions and additions. I've no idea who made the grey horse, it was one I found in a box of odds and ends that seemed suitable after a bit of carving about of the harness. The vexilla are made from brass rod soldered into a cross then a small round disk cut from plastic sprue glued on and aluminium foil for the actual vexilla. I hand painted the designs based on pictures in the Osprey book 'Roman Standards & Standard-Bearers (2)'.





As I have written before, I originally started this army when I was at school back in the 1980s but only painted a few figures before moving on to other things, leaving it unfinished in a box until late 2018. I was originally inspired to want a Late Roman army by pictures and comments by Phil Barker in the PSL Guide to Wargaming, published in 1980 and long out of print. One of the pictures was of the right wing of an army using 25mm Minifigs models so I thought it would be fun to recreate now I have my army painted.

Here is the original:



And my 15mm version:



Although I have a few more figures to paint to provide more options for this army, they will have to wait a while as I have a WW2 project that needs some attention first.

As ever, I have some more photos and detail on my blog.

https://smallitalianwars.blogspot.com

Very nice unit, especially if that is your idea of cutting corners and speed painting! My stradiots are just a re-base of figures I painted in the 80s and I'm feeling very envious now.

I've completed my second unit of Legio Heroica infantry and the last full unit I need for this army. Again the shields are Little Big Men transfers with a bit of over-painting to blend them in and match the style of my hand-painted shields.

I've just got to complete two more sub-generals to have a usable 10,000 pt army and those are just waiting varnishing and basing. After that I have some artillery and extra figures to give the Minifigs infantry the option of integral shooters and expand them to 8 bases and the cataphracts and heavy cavalry to 6 but those might have to wait a while - field grey and khaki are calling!







https://smallitalianwars.blogspot.com

Quote from: Atheling on April 02, 2021, 07:52:26 PM
I wouldn't mind one bit as long as I got to roll some dice at long last 

I think you speak for us all there!

Very nice and I do like an army with elephants.

Superb looking unit.

They look very fierce - I feel sorry for the Goths and Persians that have to face them!

I've finished the first of two units using modern Legio Heroica figures and the excellent but ubiquitous Little Big Men shield transfers. I have one more similar unit and another sub-general on the painting table now have a usable 1000pt army. After that, I just have three ballista and a few extra figures to increase the heavy cavalry and cataphracts to 6 bases and the Minifigs infantry units to 8 bases then my lead pile will be Roman free for the first time in almost 40 years.





As might be expected these modern Legio Heroica figures are bigger than the old Minifigs that make up the majority of this army but the really big difference is their comparatively huge shields. As well as being large in area, the shields scale to the equivalent of about 4" thick so these are good strong lads who must all have eaten their three Weatabix, just to lift them off the ground!



https://smallitalianwars.blogspot.com

Those look really good. You turn out good looking units faster than i can paint a single figure!

Hi "Dunhelm",

All OK, thanks, hope you are too now we are back to the school run.

Yes, Dave told me you had been a few times. I'm looking forward to getting back to normal on games and would love to come along to Daventry some time - I should at least have this LR army complete by then!

By the way, I've been playing with some WW2 command and control ideas and hope to have something worth sharing by the time we can.

Nathan.

Quote from: nikgaukroger on March 07, 2021, 08:08:13 AM
It'll be posted in the Tournaments section of this forum.

A tournament, hmm: better get some practice games in first. I hope you have a category for novices with a talent for drawing a hand full of black and white cards!

Quote from: jamie on March 07, 2021, 04:46:36 PM
I think the cataphracts are my favourite (the foil pennants to match the osprey image are a nice touch)...

Thanks. I was pleased with the pennants - they were quite easy to do and I think they create a bit of visual interest where otherwise there would be none. I can tell you though that, by the time I painted the last square of horse armour on the last horse, they were my least favourite unit ever. I'm never doing a Parthian army or anything like that!

Great looking units. I like the sense of movement and activity you get into your figure groupings and, as Jamie says, the commander yelling to the trumpeter.

I'm painting a unit as the Tubantes (face on a blue and red  shield) myself at the moment but mine will be rather more static.

They look good and I always think a relatively light coloured basing scheme, as you have, gives everything a lift and helps the figures stand out nicely. I fancy doing an army with elephants myself - maybe once I have reduced the lead mountain to a more manageable altitude.

I struggle with my photos getting the exposure right. With individual units photographed against a white background, I have to overexpose by a couple of stops compared with the automatic metering and even then I invariably end up having to make further adjustments with the image editor when I'm cropping and down-sizing.

Quote from: nikgaukroger on March 06, 2021, 12:57:30 PM
We're looking to have a bash at Battlefield Hobbies in Daventry as soon as practicable - not too far for you. Maybe see you there some time 

That sounds good and not too far at all. I'll keep an eye out for news and try to get along.

Quote from: nikgaukroger on March 06, 2021, 12:18:14 PM

Where are you based Nathan?

Sure you've mentioned it but afraid I can't remember.

I'm in Coventry.