Forum Romanum

Roman Forum, the central area of the city around which  life revolved. Here was where commerce, business, prostitution, religion and the administration of justice took place.

A place to  stroll, looking at what latest fashions are being worn..........

...or discuss (sometimes loudly) the politics of the day.

The water well is made with high density insulation foam and the face of a Lioness from the Atlantic Gladiators and Christians set.  The water is made from a Piece of CD casing which is then smeared with Pattex100 gel. The trickle of water is made from Pattex 100 gel

 

 

Recently I got an amazing comment concerning an earlier post, Simon Langton and John FitzRobert, two of the suretees to the Magna carter,  from his descendant Joel langton. He and his Father run a Website about the Langtons called the Lost Langtons. It´s a pretty amazing bit of Research work and well worth a look.

Caparisons - scratch made

No matter how many Strelets medieval cavalry sets I have there´s never enough nags with caparisons to create enough Knights...so....................I´ll create some of my own :-D

Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford. I haven´t found any evidence that he was  at Bannockburn but he fought on Edward´s campaigns so why wouldn´t he have been there? 

The Coat  - of - arms?  Quarterly or and gules in the first a mullet argent all within a bordure indented sable? . Generally the De Vere Coat - of - arms is ; Quarterly or and gules in the first a mullet argent without the  indented border. The bordered Version  turns up in the  roll temp. Ed II. 

Robert is a conversion from the English Cavalry of Edward I set. (third row , far left the one with the huge axe) Head swop from  the spares box (Zvezda english Knights,) his left arm re-positioned and a mace from Accurate´s   Hundred Years War Knights Of France

How did Robert´s nag get it´s coat? It doesn´t take much, some tissue paper, pair of scissors, craftknife, some PVA and liquid contact glue a pair of scissors and a toothpick.

Simply remove any harness´s, trappings and the Mane. Removing the halter  is fiddly. Cut out three pieces of tissue paper as in the pic. Single ply is best. It´s very thin but with care it won´t tear. The two pieces to the right of the pic go either side of the front of the horse.

Smear any area of the nag that are likely to come into contact with the pieces of tissue paper with watery PVA and attach. This will take a bit of practice but using a toothpick you can move the paper into place. Leave to dry. At this Point don´t try smoothing out any tiny lumps etc. In about half an hour (depending on the thickness of the PVA), it will be possible to do a bit of smoothing but until the glue has set a bit the fibres just tear away.

When the PVA has dried simply drip some liquid plastic cement type glue (I use Revell contacta) onto the tissue..not so that it´s dripping with glue but so that it soaks into all the Areas not covered by the PVA. This may take two coats of glue. When it´s all dried, carefully base paint.

Scottish Cavalry - Bannockburn (re-visited)

The original stands (HERE) were ok, but there was too many light cavalry types so...

The "light" cavalry types mostly removed apart from two and some kniggits added. The Bases, which I didn´t like the look of anyway,  remade, still using the Impetus sizing  guidlines, three small stands side- by - side make one complete frontage. All the possible Scottish Lords etc that were at Bannockburn aren´t represented, I could (theoretically) add a few more, Graham, Gordon, and Boyd for example but the Situation is  way better than before.

Sir Niel Campbell (Niall mac Cailein )
John de Cameron  - Clan Chief VII

Alexander de Seton who was with the english on the 1st day  of the battle but crossed during the night and joined Robert´s Forces.
Alexander  Fraser of touchfraser and cowie, Sheriff of Stirling.

The lack of Strelets nags with a caparison is leading to drastic measures, Cameron, Seton and Fraser all have converted nags. More on that later.


For those interested in medieval art, then  Matthew Ryan´s Site is well worth a visit. Stunningly well detailed drawings of medieval soldiery

House of Batiatus

Well, not really, it´s an as near as possible Repro of  Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Batiatus´s ( Vatia ? ) house from the Spartacus series but the living area  hasn´t got the Atrium impluviatum  style roofing. I was going to add a wall to what would be the Training area but it fits better into the town as it is and can double up as part of a Shopping street.

The railings are made from strips of Card.

The pillars made from dowling pegs and rings of copper wire glued to Card, then the peg glued on top.

The whole town so far. A Forum, a house with  Atrium displuviatum style roofing, Lupinarium planned....an old Arena to upgrade...how big can this get.?

Dark and Light Alliance - Light Warriors of the Dead

The light infantry, 40 bods, 4 sprues at 10 bods each. Very little Flash, in fact the slinger was the only one who had any and that was on the shield which made it easy to remove.
As with the Heavy infantry  they appear more battered and campaign weary  than actually "Undead" looking and again, as far as I´m concerned, a Bonus.
Firstly painted as  circa 12th century marauding Bandit Viking - Norman - Saxon mix type medievals

Giving the kneeling archer a mace is a nice touch

My favourite poses from the set. They wouldn´t look out of place in a Group of vikings

And painted as "Undead"

Both sets together

Dark and Light Alliance - Heavy Warriors of the Dead

The heavy infantry from the two "Undead" infantry sets from Dark alliance, the other being the light infantry. There´s also two "Undead" cavalry sets, heavy and light, which each come with 10 mounted bods and two command type foot bods.
Even from the box art it´s easy to see that they appear more battered and campaign weary  than actually "Undead" looking.  Apart from some grim looking faces and a mild bone like look on some forearms (which could be taken as over developed muscles) there isn´t a lot to actually confirm them as "undead" which is, as far as I´m concerned, a Bonus. Not only can they be painted up as "Undead" but as circa 12th century marauding Bandit Viking - Norman - Saxon mix type medievals.

40 bods, 10 x 4 sprues. A good mix of active and inactive poses and some conversion potential.

The only bod that I´m not too pleased with, the one on the right  with the flail. Better to cut it off and make him into a Spear/ Standard bearer.  

Added into a norman shieldwall These would blend in quite well.

The poor bod on the left has lost his right boot!! See what I mean about the skeletal forearms?

The poses allow for creating a good looking shieldwall

The same bods with a quick paintjob as the "Undead". Straight from the sprue, no Flash removed, which shows how little flash actually needed removing for the ones above.

Upper class roman house

High walls and few Windows facing outwards to prevent Robbers, this house has a small shop.

The "Backyard" (Horti) Basic and not as nice as it could be..maybe I´ll build a better (bigger) house with a full Horti, pillars and all,  at some Point.

The Atrium. The Roof is of the  Atrium impluviatum style (Roof slopes inwards to the courtyard) as opposed to an Atrium displuviatum (Roof slopes to the outer wall of the house and away from centre)   The construction needed to Support the roof meant that it wasn´t possible to add an Impluvium, so, as with the Horti,  maybe at some point I will re-think the roof construction and build a more historically correct version.

Covering the Roof took just under two Sheets of the corrugated biscuit protective paper.

nn

Edward the II

..and "friends".

Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray´s Schiltron nearly finished

The man himself

Standard bearer for Gilbert de Clare and Gilbert de la Hay, 5th feudal baron of Errol in Gowrie, Lord high constable of scotland, made Heritable Constable in 1314

And finally Edward II. Born 1284,  he would have been 13 when in 1297,  William Wallace was starting the uprising along with William the Hardy, Lord of Douglas. So yet another reason to scream at the´Historical innacuracy in the  film Braveheart,  as the actor playing him, Peter Hanly, (who was 29 -30 years old at time of making of the film) is definately NOT 13 yrs old!!!  

For Bartek, as requested, A couple of comparison pics of 1/72nd scale Bombards alongside a 28mm Perry Bod .  
1st pic Bombard (same size as the Zvezda one ) in the Zvezda base.
2nd pic,  From left to right.Mars, Fredericus-Rex and and my working bombard (same size as the zvezda one)

Bannockburn - English camp. (pt 20)

Camp Scene. They will end up as part of what will be  more representative of the english camp  than a scottish one, but some of the bods can definately be used for both. All the bods come from the Strelets Medieval Britian set. (from which I´m still missing 12 poses )

Gilbert de Clare (Earl of Glouchester), Thomas de Ufford and Edmund de Mauley

Generic kniggits

Musicians and a Squire

Prisoner and praying kniggit. In the set he´s  posed with a kniggit (Pic above middle) as if he´s getting knighted, but I reckon he looks better as a praying Knight.

Cooks or the "where´s my contact lens ?" scene