Larger laager

Not the best photo, but this is finished. This gives me four foot of wagon laager for my Salute Mancetter battle. I'd like eight foot, but four will have to do for now! You can see the rest of the laager, which was painted in 2015, here.

Laager extension

I wanted to add a short extension to my Celtic laager, which will be the backdrop for the Britons in my Mancetter Salute game, bringing it to 4' wide. The wagons are from Irregular and, I think, Redoubt. The minis are from various sources painted by both Shauns with others from eBay. It'll look great when based!

All laagered-up!

Here is my completed wagon laager, which I'll use with my Celts and my (projected) German and Goth armies. The photos were somewhat delayed due to camera issues (thanks to Ian for uploading). All photos are clickable!

The minis are a mixture of Foundry, Black Tree and Crusader.  All the minis were painted my mate Nick Speller, who did a splendid job! I painted the wagons and clutter.

All of the figures are removable- later I plan to add some Goth and Spartan wagon defenders, to maximise the use of the vehicles (take note, Nick!  ;-)  ).

The Foundry German civilians are a splendid bunch of minis!

The Germans have been at the lager- boom boom.

The carts are a real mix bag.  The majority are Front Rank and Irregular, but some are scratch built and others are old Minifigs from the '70's.  There is even a Citadel Adventurer's cart!

I'm also planning to make up some tents and other vignettes to sit behind the laager.

The wagons will be used as wagon laagers in games of "To the Strongest!" Their next major outing will be at Partizan in May. 

In other news, I'm now pre-selling my rules for collection at Salute on Saturday 25th, and postage out the following week, they can be found HERE.

My new lance and shock missile (=pila) chits that may be useful with the game can be found HERE.

Oh- and Monger has helped me to set up a "To the Strongest!" Forum.  I'm in the process of populating it, now.  If you have questions or comments about the game this would be a great place to ask them!

Best, Simon

Laager ladies

Over the last three nights I've added a flesh highlight to the fifty-odd minis Nick painted for me, and inked and varnished them.  I've cut the pins down to short stubs.  This weekend I'll start experimenting with basing them.

The Copplestone German civilians are stunning sculpts, especially the women.  Very expressive!   The carousing German men are very good, too.  Better photos will follow once they are based.

Where's me rollin' pin?

Several people have asked about the defenders for the wagon laager, and here they are.  They have all been painted my mate Nick Speller and include most of the Celtic and German ancient civilian miniatures that I have been able to find, with a particular emphasis on formidable women.  Tonight I'll make a start on highlighting and inking them.

I am in two minds about basing them.  My heart says "drill and pin them into the wagons" but my brain says "make bases that will fit into the wagons".  The former solution is more aesthetically pleasing and hard wearing; the latter more flexible as I can remove them should (when) they become casualties.

The finished laager will have to serve for all three of Celts, Germans and Goths so I will try to give it a generic look.

Wagons... roll!

Last night I finished painting my wagon laager. The 5 pieces (which all store in a single 4L Really Useful Box) assemble to make a 1 metre-long camp defence. I still need to finish and add the defenders, which Nick Speller has already painted for me, and some more clutter - a week or so more's work. The pic is clickable.

The completed laager will form part of a display game at Partizan in May.

Three foot of laager and a packet of chits, please.

Last night I resumed work on my wagon laager, which has been something of a slow burner since I started work on it over 6 years ago!!!. Yesterday I painted the wicker screens and am contemplating approaching the long and tedious task of drybrushing of the woodwork, this evening.  

On a different front, I have received a big re-supply order of chits for "To the Strongest!".  As well as the packs with the three types of chits in, I am now also able to sell packs of the lovely ammunition markers separately.  They can all be found in the BigRedBatShop!

Laager III

This is a continuation of my wagon laager project.  The bases are now painted and the base coats are on the wagons. These are coming on fast, now, and I hope to finish them in around a week, after which I'll have to look at basing the crew.

I'm planning to have the crews removable, so that the wagons can be used with different armies.

Some farm animals seem to have jumped the painting queue!

Laager II

Lousy photo, but all the wagons are primed black, and the bases have been grouted.

I've decided that the civilians in the wagons will be removable, so that I can used them for any laager-related need, from Sparta to Adrianople.

Getting laagered-up

I've been to busy writing to do very much modelling, recently, but am trying to get back in the saddle. This is a revival of a truly ancient project, which I've been working on in a very desultory manner, since 2009. 

Recently I've bought and assembled the additional models I needed to complete the project, and mate Nick Speller has painted all of the civilians for the wagons, so I have no more excuses for delay! These pieces will form a one metre length of laager. A second phase will be to incorporate the civilians who will man the wagons, and the third and final phase will be to built a camp to go behind them.

Some of the models are from Irregular, and some from Front Rank.  A couple of the old ones are Minifigs, c. 1975!

Laager Break

This is my expanding Celtic baggage park. I've decided that 12 carts and wagons aren't quite enough, though; I plan to order a couple more of the very nice Front Rank ones (front right).

Scratchbuilt Wagons

So I knocked a couple of wagons together, and whilst they don't look bad, the prospect of buying some more, ready-made, from Irregular or Front Rank is looking increasingly appealing. It just takes tooooo long to make them, even when using scavaged/purchased parts as I did with these (and in all honesty I don't think they look as good as the bought ones):-



In parallel I've been collecting figures for the project, and I have around 50 so far. They are a far less military bunch than the normal stuff I paint... to get them I had to end my long vendetta with Foundry. I was pleased with the purchases, because although the prices were very steep, even in the sale, Foundry had upped the pack sizes so I got some useful minis I didn't expect.

Big Plans, Little Progress

I seem to be very good at buying figures and much less good at painting them! I'm now in for £169, with 116 figures bought and not one finished, and it's only January 8th! I'm also not very good at getting around to taking photos; hopefully I will tomorrow.

So far I've half painted 9 Picts, and based two regiments of 24 and 10 respectively. :-(

My big spring project involves wagons and carts; many wagons and carts. I've stripped my bits boxes and found a Minifig cart and wagon circa 1974 and improved them with Irregular Miniatures wheels:-






Also a Citadel adventure wagon c1990, and a Front Rank wagon from year before last:-



On the basis of a back of a fag packet calculation, this leaves me at least 10 vehicles short of what I need, and wagons aren't cheap! Happily Irregular Miniatures is a great place to buy bits and bobs, cheaply:-


I've ordered 5 carts and wagons from Ian Kay at Irregular, and a load of wheels for scratchbuilding. Let's see if that will do...