Thursday 6 January 2011

Punic Wars Project - Adrift?


At the beginning of June I posted my painting schedule for my Punic Wars project. The plan was to paint 720 figures by the end of November. It is now the beginning of January and I've only managed 464. Why?

I could claim excuse for several reasons, but most would be dismissed by a right minded boss without hesitation (work load, family, etc.). The real reasons are three fold:
  • I committed the cardinal sin. I got side tracked by things new and shiny (see WWII stuff).
  • I committed to several other wargames related activities (articles, etc.) and found my spare time too thinly spread.
  • Thirdly, I got bored with things Punic.

The last thing is not something new, I often get bored half way through a project and it is a 'lull' I build into my overall deadlines. But, the new shiny stuff and the articles gave me an excuse to escape the project for longer than usual. Big mistake!

I can't change the overall completion date for the whole Punic Wars project (or, why have one?) so I finished the WWII stuff to a good break point (22nd Armoured Brigade Group) and then put it all away. I got back into the Punic Wars saddle and took out a batch of Gauls. As self punishment I made it a big batch. I finished it on my Birthday (New Years eve). It has done me good - I've already started the projected cavalry and aim to finish them quickly. The project is still do-able, but I can't take another break now.

Anyway, the new painted stuff.



176 Gallic warband - 8 units of 22 (these took 3 weeks). I think they have just the right amount of 'tartan'.

48 velites - 4 units of 12, for the allies in the Roman army (these took 2 months!).

13 comments:

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

The amount of miniatures coupled with the standard always impresses me....and your hobby room!

Cheers
Christopher

Paul´s Bods said...

!!!!! That´s an impressive looking warband
Cheers
Paul

JAMES ROACH said...

Thanks, axebreaker. A good sized hobby room sold this house to me. Fotunately, the rest of the house was OK for my wife.

The room, which doubles as my office, has one draw back - the kitchen is 4 floors and 42 steps down (and up again) and I have a bad coffee habbit.

Thanks, Paul. All told, the Celtic army is 18 warband units (12 done), 10 cavalry units (4 done), 4 chariot units and 6 units of skirmish types - about 550 figs all told. - I'm over halfway there.

Broeders said...

They look fantastic. That's why I went down the 10mm route though - not as pretty but you can get an army on the field in a month.

Having said that, my Gauls are still not finished...

Bluebear Jeff said...

Coffee machines are not all that expensive . . . why not get one for your game room along with requisite supplies?

I got a small refrigerator for drinks for my game room . . . it sits atop a small cabinet for storage so the fridge is at a good height for getting into it, which saves my going up and down stairs all the time.


-- Jeff

BigRedBat said...

3 weeks?!? I couldn't do 1 unit in 3 weeks. Astonishing.

Are they on 6x6cm bases?

JAMES ROACH said...

Hi BRB, yes, most infantry 60x60mm.

5 - 6 per base for tribal (22 per 'unit'), 6 per base for close order except for Triarii units which are based 3 to a 60mmW x 40mmD (12 per unit).

Skirmishers are on 60mmW x 40mm deep with 3 per base for fighting skirmishers (velites and caetrati) and 2 per base for proper 'evading' skirmish types (African javelinmen, slingers, etc.)

Cavalry are 2 to a base 45 wide x 75mm deep.

Elephants are on 90mmW x 120mmD but they also have 3 - 4 foot skirmishers on.

I'm not sure about chariots (early gallic), but I think they will be on 60mmW x 90mmD, I'll do 3 per unit (I think).

Prufrock said...

Lovely! Great job there. Wish I had your ability and the dedication to churn figures out like that. Look forward to seeing more, as always. Cheers, and happy New Year to you!

Sgt Steiner said...

Hi

"3 weeks?!? I couldn't do 1 unit in 3 weeks. Astonishing"

I think you mean bloody annoying !

I could 'accept' it better if the paint jobs were poor and sloppy but that is certainly not the case

Cheers

BigRedBat said...

Most of mine are on 6x6's, too, but I usually put 7 on a base. Most of mine are Renegade, nice minis. I think I must have a similar number to you, but it took me 6-9 months to get mine together, and that was with someone else painting most of them...

I'm not happy with the Renegade chariot horses, though, they are like Nicean chargers!

JAMES ROACH said...

Hi BRB,

I'm not happy with THE Renegade horse either.

I think Renegade would do well to spend a month or two designing another horse or two. Having ONE horse for all collections with period specific saddles and a few differently bent necks for variation doesn't cut the mustard these days. I presume the ONE horse town mentality is the reason they never made mounted Numidians - as they rode ponies!!!!!! Very sad, and I'm sure it loses Renegade some business - everyone has the same complaint, it seems. Otherwise I love the figures!

BigRedBat said...

I bought Newline ponies. They are very nice, and much smaller. Mind you they make the Renegade chariot look far too big.

GB chariots are nice...

My remaining issue is that I've not managed to find any good chariot driver minis that are available separately.

JAMES ROACH said...

Hi BRB,

I had the same problem with mahouts. I'd bought Crusader elephants (heavily converted) and wanted renegade mahouts. I asked if they would supply 4 mahouts seperately. Renegade took pity on me (I'd spent £1400 with them in 4 months) and sent me the 4 mahouts with the elephants aswell - gratis!

I've actually used the Crusader mahouts (they look a bit like teenagers next to the Renegade tower crew) but you don't notice the height difference because of the different 'levels' they are at. I'll use the gratis elephants with their mahouts and scratch build some towers - it would be an ungrateful shame just to melt them down or put 'em on ebay - never look a gift horse......

As for the chariots, I'll use them as they came - they will not get used much anyway, they were a flight of fancy - to go with the comedy swords!