Blog discription

What will you find here? Ramblings from an aging gamer-miniature painter. When I first started out in this hobby computers were in their infancy and finding other gamers could only be done by going to conventions or as in my case bumping into somebody who happened to see me reading "Panzer Leader" on the school bus. Look how far we have come! The internet has allowed our small community to be able to connect on a level I never dreamed of when I was but a small lad. What I do hope you will find here is something interesting from one wargamer/miniature painter to another. I paint miniatures somewhat decently, so I will be posting some pictures of my work, and perhaps a review or two of games and/or miniatures. Most of all this is just about having fun and anything I post here is meant to be for that reason.

Monday, November 13, 2017

The Tiger tanks of ancient antiquity

The two armies had drawn up into battle formation in the predawn hours. As the sun began to rise over the soon to be battlefield, the beams of the morning light reflect off the armour of what look to be a group of giants on a low hill. The enemy foot soldiers begin to mumer and point in their direction. What are these metal looking behemoths? As the sun slowly drew higher into the sky, the light bringing more details into view, they could see that they rode large metal clad horses and carried spears that seemed as tall as trees, they swore to each other that their eyes gleamed with red, fear began to sweep the enemy ranks....

My latest addition to my growing Late Romans from the Saga supplement Aetius & Arthur are the "Equites sagittarii clibanarii". Sagittarii implies (but does not establish) the unit was bow-armed, while clibanarii may mean something like "oven men", possibly alluding to the stuffy conditions clibanarii troopers had to endure due to their unusually comprehensive armour. The Equites sagittarii clibanarii is the only clibanarii unit in the Notitia (The Notitia Dignitatum, latin for "The List of Offices", is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Eastern and Western Empires.) stationed in the western half of the empire. From what I am reading they were stationed in Africa, which matters not to me, as they easily could have been called over to Italy to fight for some general contending to be the next emperor of western Rome.

There is much debate and little evidence to prove or disprove what weapons they carried or how much armour may have been worn etc. There is debate that the Late Roman Cataphractarii was armed with contus and sword and did not use a shield, while the Clibanarii were armed with the contus which is wielded with two hands, however consideration must be given to what other weapons may have been used by the clibanarii, the bow and shield.

Which brings me to, if they did carry a shield, what color do I paint it. Again there isn't just one source and there can be 15 variations of the same shield pattern, so I simply chose one I thought I could paint freehand as my hand is not that steady to paint fancy shield designs.

So with this all said, I am presenting to you my interpretation of what my artistic tastes, and idea of what my unit would look like. Close to history, or fantasy? I do not know but I have done my best to research what I wanted and present to you my Warlord, and his hearthguard Clibanarii.

[above my Warlord]

[above the Clibanarii]

[above group shot]

The figures are 28mm from Gripping Beast, the shields painted by me, the banner is a transfer from little big men studios.

Based on shield colors the horse tails worn from their helmets could be of varying colors, I chose yellow, which keeps it in the ball park of possibilities. 

Hope you like my work. More stuff on the way soon.

Cheers
Kevin


16 comments:

  1. You knocked them out of the park, Kevin. Great work!

    Cheers,
    Aaron

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why thank you Aaron, most appreciated.

      Cheers
      Kevin

      Delete
  2. These are excellent!! Article is well written and gives the background needed. I read the whole thing without falling asleep.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you MP, it was fun to write up!

      Cheers
      Kevin

      Delete
  3. These are amazing! And hand painted shields too... Kev you do spectacular work.

    I'm 600 miles away and like those enemy foot soldiers you spoke of, across from the hill where they stand, I'm getting a little nervous about these fellows!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As you should be my friend, it's going to be hard to stop these boys, because house rules say they get plus one on all their die rolls;)

      Cheers
      Kevin

      Delete
  4. Great job! I really like the kontos. I second pano's comments about the nice write up. Super heavy cavalry is always an awesome sight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dave your comments are appreciated.

      Cheers
      Kevin

      Delete
  5. Oh lovely work on these extra heavy cavalry, the only unit I still need to get for my late Romans, even if it is stretching it more than a bit to have some in Britain! Cataraphracts or Clibanari they're great either way love the finish on the armour and the lances, I was tempted by Foundry but now I'm wondering about gripping beast!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks fellow Late Roman/Romano Brit connoisseur;) I thought I read somewhere that they did indeed have a Cataphractarii unit stationed in Britain. There is evidence of two, but believed to be same unit stationed in different garrisons. Besides there has to be heavy armored horse for the tale of Arthur to be spawned;)

      Cheers
      Kevin

      Delete
  6. They look superb, strong...and so heavy! Absolutly superb!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil, and you should feel them in your hands! It’s quite a chunk of metal in real life!

      Cheers
      Kevin

      Delete
  7. Great paint work of the miniature. John( A.K.A Antons) posted your blog as one to see and read. He was right. Happy Thanksgiving

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks very much Gary. John is a good egg. Happy T day to you as well.

      Cheers
      Kevin

      Delete
  8. These are absolutely stunning, Kevin! My sincere apologies for my tardiness visiting your wonderful blog. Cheers, Dean

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ahh Dean, no problem at all sir, it's just nice to have a fellow enthusiast stop by no matter when. I am glad you like my work, yours on your Samurai has always been my favorite and given me inspiration.

      Cheers
      Kevin

      Delete