This wee project has been sitting there for a while. What you see below are some of the figures from my very first ancients army, painted etc in 1975 and 1976. Yep, Airfix Roman legionaries, and cavalry. The 'light cavalry' (as thy were classified at that time) were a conversion from the old Airfix American Civil War cavalry, with Roman head swaps. The heavier cavalry were a home conversion done either by Russell or Kevin (can't remember which of you, sorry guys).
Anyone reading this who played ancients WRG 3rd and 4th edition with us in Ĺtautahi Christchurch in the mid 70s will remember my Romans (I wasn't a very adept player).
So, these figures, now 47 years old at the time of writing (and so older than possibly many of the 'gamers reading this) have sat around in boxes all that time, having been unceremoniously pushed into retirement by their replacements from the 80s (Minifigs) and the 90s (Foundry). I couldn't bare to part with them, but what to do with them?
The answer is simple ... a mythical Roman HotT army, after all, the Airfix figures themselves were historically discredited decades ago (although I'm less sure about the cavalry). The heavier cavalry are very 'Greek' in appearance too, so not really correct. Anyway all of our HotT armies are 20mm, so a perfect fit.
Being in the recovery phase of Covid, I found a little bit of energy to finish a small refurb and basing for the figures, and here they are, the first of the basic 2 point fighting stands.
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| The first batch |
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| Legionaries.. some of you will remember these well from your own armies |
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| More legionaries - these will be Blades in the HotT army |
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| The Roman light cavalry which will count as riders. Airfix ACW cavalry, with Airfix legionary head swaps, and shields made from plasticard |
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| Ahh .. love those boys .. |
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| And the Roman heavy cavalry, most probably to be knights (although arguably this could be a hero base, we'll see). |
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I have left them all in their 1970s garb, some with the gloss varnish thing that we did at that time.. they might be the equivalent of what the art world classifies as 'primitives'?
There will be more, including beasts, a God, and. a few other bits and pieces.. I'll keep you posted, eh
