Cataphracts Done and Some Other Stuff

It has took me a day or so longer than I thought but thirty minutes ago I completed the first unit of my new Roman army, and very nice they look too, well I think so, but then I would. The sharp sand basing is perfect for the Middle East with the odd shrub added, wood glue, dip and finished, no dry brushing, no watered down binder, this is perfect with hardly any effort whatsoever. I did find that although the armour did not need a primer anything else is definitely better with one, when I brushed on the varnish some of the paint came off, very little and only on extreme edges, but this would not happen with a primer, lesson learned. And guess what, you know the problems I have had with varnish, but this time it all came out matt, go figure, despite this I gave them a final spray of anti-shine anyway.

I now have the Auxilliary archers on the paint tray, primed, and really enjoying painting these wonderful figures. As you know my memory is not the best and I missed a pack of four archers to give me a unit of twenty men, I phoned Keith at Aventine and asked if he could take an order for one pack of men so that I could get on painting them (OCD again), he very generously said no problem and he would send them out that afternoon, he refused to take any payment. I received said packet very quickly and it made my day.

I also thought you might like see one of the things I made a special trip to the less than salubrious Naples to find, Dean Martin, a favourite of mine, sang a bit about Naples, I wonder if he ever went there. Anyway I found Alexander in all his glory, well worth the stifling train journey and fear of running into the local Camorra. I did make a dash for the station at the end of the day however when the missus threw 10Euros at the taxi driver when he demanded 20 for a ten minute drive. But yes, I would take a bullet for her obviously, just not the ire of an Italian taxi driver.

This is a model of Pompeii, a fantastic site to visit as is Herculaneum.