From Russia With Love

...Or, how our protagonist finally manages to complete a major Russian formation for Borodino (and muses on why it took so ridiculously long).

Raievski's 7th Corps advances... cue the 1812 Overture.

Once again it's been nearly a month since I've posted, and once again it seems as if I've accomplished all too little over those weeks. True, I've now finished the Russian 7th Corps... but it's a small corps and a month ago I was a good two thirds of the way there already. If the Russian command had been this slow in 1812, Napoleon might have had an easier time of it.

Divide and Conquer

Having already flaunted the 12th Division in my last post, I've only got a single new one to show off now. This is the 26th Division, and like its counterpart, it comprises four regiments of line, and two of Jägers.

The Ladoga and Novgorod regiments. Again, the scenic possibilities of individually-based Adler miniatures is, I think, obvious.

My previous basing experiment with the French troops wading through a puddle turned out so nicely that I decided to repeat it with some Russians. Now, the bases I've been using are higher-quality MDF, with has a comparatively slick surface. Anyone who's used this stuff probably knows that glue doesn't adhere very well unless the base is scuffed a little, and indeed, I keep a bit of coarse sandpaper with my basing supples for that purpose. Naturally, being the careless fool that I am, I roughed up the area I'd set aside for the 'puddle', and as a result didn't quite end up with the same smoothe glossy surface I'd achieved with the French. Another lesson learned the hard way, I suppose.

Adler RN 20A - "Comd group, kiwer (3)". I've complained previously about how this code comes with only one standard bearer when it should have two. I'd also like to complain about the sedate pose of the officer-- sometimes you really just want one pointing with his sword.

One of the reasons I've made such slow progress with this project has been my tendency to paint more minis than I have room for on each base. The command figures are a case in point: in the entire Corps I only used five drummers, when I'd planned to use a dozen. Granted, this means that I've accumulated a fair stockpile of painted bits and bobs for the future, but I certainly intend to be more economical with my painting time as well.

The 5th and 42nd Jäger regiments. The lack of colours makes these guys much easier to distinguish at a distance than their French counterparts, although I may add more scenic elements to future Jäger bases to make them a bit more visually interesting.

One of the problems I've had with the Russian light infantry regiments especially is a lack of space. While the French lights come in a 'high porte' pose that frees up some real estate ahead of each formation, the Russians have no such luck. As a result, some of the skirmishers up front look like they're about a step away from getting bayonetted in the back. One solution, I suppose, would be to replace one (or both) of the Jäger regiments with figures in 'march attack' pose, i.e. with musket shouldered. The main problem with this is that I've already got far more minis than I need in the advancing pose! Some of them, I suspect, may find themselves painted as grenadiers one of these days...

The 26th Division in all its 6mm glory!

It doesn't matter if you're black or... green?

Russian uniform colours continue to remain something of a mystery to me. Most people seem to agree that their coats were green, but just how green is a matter of contention. Even in period paintings the coats can sometimes appear so dark as to be almost black, while at other times looking considerably lighter. Probably the best explanation I've heard argued is that green dyes were more prone than most to bleaching, and so a coat that began quite dark would gradually become more and more green.

The regiments from Poltava and Orel.

Then there's the pompoms. There is, apparently, some system for explaining their colour... but I have no idea what it is. In a couple of spots I've found what I think is a complete explanation, only to find illustrations depicting pompoms whose colour is explained nowhere. Happily, I'm quite willing to plough on in ignorance, painting pompoms whatever colour I damned well please.

A better view of the base, showing the standard bearer of the Orel regiment standing on a boulder, and having a chat with the mounted officer.

Finally there's the flags. Here, at least, there seems to be a coherent (if complicated) system. Only the four line regiments in each infantry division carry flags, and each of them gets different coloured flagstaves: white, yellow, brown or black, depending on their position in the formation. Each battalion of each regiment carries two flags: either one 'coloured' flag and one 'white' (or 'colonel's') for the first battalion, or two identical 'coloured' flags for the rest. A new flag design seems to have been created every few years, but whether or not any given formation carried the flag for any given year seems to have depended on any number of factors-- the unit's seniority, its battle honours, the Tsar's whim, etc.

Take me to your leader

An army corps needs a corps commander, naturally enough. The Russian 7th Corps was commanded by one Nikolai Nicolaievitch Raievski, dubbed by his countrymen the "Hero of Borodino". It was Raievski's corps who held the Great Redoubt, and who, for most of the battle, held it against several times their number of enemy troops (incidentally, two whole regiments were reputedly slaughtered to a man when the redoubt was taken).

A general of infantry. As usual, I had a hard time fitting everything I wanted to on the base.

With a general as renowned as Raievski to depict, I wish I could say I used a special figure. Alas, I did not. Adler offers a Russian generals pack with specific figures for a number of historical commanders, but it's quite the expensive collection of metal, as these things go. Someday, I'll get myself one... but not this day. Anyway, not only did I not use a specific Raievski figure, but I actually used an Austrian general. The Russian command strips I had contained a general in bicorne and an ADC in a kiwer; since I wanted a couple of bicorne-wearing generals, I snuck in the foreigner. In my defence, the Russian army of the day did employ quite a lot of mercenary officers.

Adler RN 2C - "Musketeer, kiwer, marching". The shako cords (kiwer cords?) on this code were not very pronounced. Whether this was because of unusually-poor sculpting or worn out molds, I don't know. In any case, all my attempts to paint the cords ended disastrously.

Of horse I love you

At long last, I also had a chance to check out some of the legendary Adler cavalry. Yes, they're considerably larger than any other 6mm horse-- and in point of fact the riders themselves scale poorly even compared to Adler's own infantry! However, despite many claims to the contrary, they are considerably smaller than even the smallest of 10mm cavalry.

Adler RNC 1B - "Hussar,slung Pelisse, kiwer". Amazing sculpting, although casting is hit and miss. I had one rider come with a broken sword.

As always, the added size of the Adler figs is used to good effect. The level of detail and dynamism shown in these models is exquisite-- when allowing for their scale, the hussars I painted have to be the best sculpts I have ever seen. Bar none. I only wish my painting was up to the same standards!

Adler RNC 2A - "Hussar, wearing Pelisse,kiwer". A little harder to identify as hussars from a distance, but easily mixed with their "slung Pelisse" counterparts for variety.

The added size of the cavalry also poses issues for basing. The Baccus standard is nine horsemen abreast for 60mm frontage; you'd have a difficult time matching this with Adlers. In my experience eight abreast would fit comfortably (7.5mm frontage per figure), while I opted for seven across, in keeping with my philosophy for this project of not sticking figures too close to the base edges.

The Achtirka Hussars. Their yellow-on-brown uniform is possibly the ugliest of all the Russian cavalry.

Other differences between manufacturers are also worth noting: while Baccus cavalry tend to be weak at the horses' ankles, the Adlers have no such weakness. On the other hand, the uplifted sabres of so many Adler codes are a definite weak spot. A few bent blades should be expected from careless handling, while I shudder at the thought of what a dropped base might do.

Adler RNC 10A - "Hussar, kiwer cmd". The cornet is nice, but the Russian hussars carried no flag as far as I've been able to determine. Oh well.

A Grand Battery

I also took a first crack at some artillery. The guns themselves were, if anything, the best of the lot. Not only is the sculpting up to the usual high standard, but I found the castings very crisp, lacking the excessive flash that made cleaning everything else such a chore.

Adler RNE 2 - "6 pdr". You can cue the 1812 Overture again.

The wheels are separate castings, and the same wheels are used for all the artillery I've seen, both French and Russian alike. The wheels are also very nicely cast, far better than many I've seen in larger scales. Although I've had a few come with flash clogging the spokes, Adler usually sends a few extra wheels along to ensure sufficient good ones-- a practice I wish other miniature manufacturers would emulate!

A battery of 6-pounders. Since one of the artillery crew is hefting a cannonball, I made the mistake of sticking him directly in front of the barrel on one of these bases. It looks pretty silly, and I shan't do it again.

The Russian artillery arm was in some ways the pride of their army. Throughout the period, Russian armies showed a marked tendency to dig in before a fight, shielding their batteries behind earthwork fortifications. Borodino was no exception to this, with Russian cannons occupying not only Raievski's Great Redoubt, but the three "Bagration flèches" as well. Since I figure I'll build myself some scenery for this project at some point, I refrained from depicting any kind of earthworks on the artillery bases themselves.

Adler RN 19A - "Artillery line crew". I'm not sure what the fellow on the left is supposed to be doing, but once again I found myself wishing for somebody pointing a sword.

Several thousand words worth of pictures

We now come to the part of the post where I shut up and let my camera do the talking ;)






So that's the Russian 7th Corps. It's not very big-- and I don't just say that because it's in 6mm. This would have been a formation of around 14,000 men, which, as I'm sure you'll agree, is not much more than scratching the surface of the 250,000-ish at Borodino. I've got a long way to go!

Next up, the French 1st Corps. Hopefully it won't take another month this time.

More-adino for Borodino

...In which our protagonist has, for once, not a lot to say.

The complete Russian 12th Line Infantry Division. The divisional artillery was (conveniently) assigned to the 2nd Army's artillery reserve for the battle.

It's come to my attention that this Borodino project is going to be quite a major undertaking. Even representing each entire regiment with a measly eighteen or twenty men, I'm still looking at... well, I haven't even tried to work it out, admittedly. Suffice to say, I should have a lot of toy soldiers by the time I'm through!

Anyways, a couple of new stands for this short update. These have actually been done for a week or so, but that dratted Real Life has kept me too busy to take pictures. I kind of feel like Napoleon himself sometimes, stumbling from one crisis to the next (and generally coming off worse for it, in the end).

First up is a Russian light infantry brigade, made up of the 6th and 41st regiments. I've seen the Russian light infantry named repeatedly in both Prussian style (Jägers) and French style (Chasseurs); I'm not expert enough to know (or care) which is correct. In any event, these guys wear the same general uniform as the line troops, but with green facings rather than red. The overall effect is pretty drab -- which is likely the point, but doesn't make them look any more interesting! At least they're quick to paint.

Russian Jägers. I managed to squeeze more skirmishers onto the base by reducing the size of the forward regiment. The "log" is an actual twig.

Next up is another historically inaccurate French brigade, this time made up of the 33e and 85e regiments of infanterie de la ligne. Again, each of these regiments would have comprised its own "brigade" at Borodino, but I've grouped them to streamline things.

French line infantry. French regiments were larger than their Russian counterparts, and so I've given them 10 soldiers per rank rather than 9. What more could you want?

This French base was the guinea pig for an effect I'd been thinking of. Paint on a flat surface with a glossy varnish gives a nice water surface effect, so I made a puddle with one of the troop formations wading through it. This worked out well enough that I'm already doing another base in the same fashion.

Rear view, showing the leading regiment straggling through the water. That's quite a deep little puddle!

Another eye-candy shot of the 12th Division to round things off.

At the moment I'm working on basing the Russian 27th division; updates when they're done and I've got time to blog.

Borodino or Bust!

...In which our protagonist is fairly enthusiastic about doing the Battle of Borodino in 6mm, but beyond that remains pretty much clueless.

The French are coming!

It's been over a month since my last post, so I figure it's a good time for an update. The larger part of my lead pile currently consists of 10mm Ancients, but the appeal that led me to accumulate so many of them in the first place has since deserted me. What this means, of course, is it's time for a new project!

As might be inferred from the intro, the subject of said new project is the Battle of Borodino. Fought on the 7th of September 1812, near Moscow in Russia, Borodino was one of the bloodiest clashes of the Napoleonic wars, despite being one of the least decisive. For almost two hundred years historians have struggled to make sense of the battle, to explain why Napoleon's genius seemed suddenly to desert him and why the French battle plan called for nothing more sophisticated than a head-on collision with a Russian army near enough its own strength. Even at the time, it seemed like a foolish idea-- much like my own plan for this project!

The Beginning Stages

This Borodino idea has been in the back of my mind for a long while now, although my commitment to working my way through at least some of the lead pile kept it from ever manifesting. Much like Napoleon, however, I have no real compunctions about ditching an army that isn't getting me anywhere, and so I managed to sell enough unpainted metal to meet my previously-established quota. Then, with the proceeds-of-sale in hand, I went out to purchase some little men in shakos.

Adler Napoleonics, as supplied. From the looks of them, you might expect that they'd require a lot of prep-work to get them ready for painting. And you'd be right.

There are currently only three companies who produce 6mm Napoleonics: Irregular, Baccus, and Adler. As you can see from the pictures, I decided to go with Adler, despite being a committed Baccus fan by this point; I've got my eye on enough other Baccus ranges to know they'll be taking more of my money in the future, so I hardly feel like a turncoat!

Debris from cleaning 500-odd Russians; that's a 60x60 mm base for comparison. I figure there's enough metal here to cast a couple hundred more figures! Maybe Adler should start some sort of recycling program...

The advantages that attracted me to Adler were a) the ability to purchase figures by the strip, and b) the availability of poses other than marching with muskets shouldered. I thought the 'advancing' poses would look great en masse, being a good deal more dynamic.

The Grande Armee

The Army that Napoleon took into Russia was very much a multinational force. All of the French Emperor's allies and satellites (which at the time consisted of most of the European states) were convinced, cajoled or coerced into fielding troops to join in the expedition. The varied, colourful force that resulted from this is one of the reasons I chose 1812.

Adler FN 32B - "Fusilier, shako, BR adv (1812)". Adler product codes can be pretty crypic sometimes; the "BR" for instance denotes Blanket Roll, but as far as I can tell what it means in practice is that French "BR" figures are sculpted without their rolled-up greatcoat tied atop their backpacks.

...Of course all that variety can be pretty overwhelming as an intro to Napoleonics. For simplicity's sake, I opted to ignore the French allies for the moment, and start with some basic French and Russians.

Adler FN 29B - "Elite inf, shako, adv (1812)". This code is very, very similar to FN 31B - "Light inf, shako, adv (1812)". So similar, in fact, that I have a hard time distinguishing between the two, and can see absolutely no reason why they couldn't be used interchangeably.

Another issue with all the choices Adler offers is that it's difficult to plan exactly what you'll need. Baccus Nappies, by contrast, are tailored for their own Polemos ruleset, and are generally sold in the appropriate unit sizes. Since Napoleonic armies tend to feature a somewhat bewildering array of elite troops, there's something to be said for being able to buy pre-packed units!

Luckily Adler has its own selection of pre-packs. These are designed to represent (I believe) paper-strength formations at a ratio of 1:20. Now, I like pre-packed units for the above reasons, but I have no intention of modelling Borodino at 1:20 (that would amount to something like 13,000 figures!). Nevertheless, my impatience to get started overrode all legitimate concerns, so I ordered a couple of division packs and a bunch of extra command stands and skirmishers, figuring I'd sort the mess out as I painted.

A random selection of command figures. From left to right, a French NCO, a French mounted officer, a Russian drummer, a French standard bearer. Have I mentioned yet how great these figures are?

Long story short, dealing with Adler was painless despite their archaic and user-unfriendly webpage. My emails were all returned promptly, and if the speed-of-delivery wasn't quite up to Baccus standards, my shipment still arrived within two weeks of order. Not bad for a country on the other side of the Pond.

The Russians

Speaking of simplicity, the Russian army seems downright bland when compared to the French. All of the Russian infantry wear pretty much the same uniform; sure, the light infantry has different coloured turnbacks, and the grenadiers have shako plumes -- but for the painter (and, for that matter, the sculptor), the differences are trivial.

Adler RN 2B - "Musketeer, kiwer, advancing". This is the basic Russian infantryman in the 1811 uniform, and in fact the code RN 1B - "Grenadier, Kiwer, advancing" is the exact same figure but with a plume stuck above the pompom.

Despite the slow preparation/cleaning process, I found the Adler figures to be everything I hoped for. Detail is excellent, and the largely complete range negates the need for paint conversions or other frustrations of the sort. The good detail also makes painting a breeze. Admittedly, my first few test pieces took an agonizingly long time to complete, but most of this can be put down to figuring out which colour to paint what pieces of Napoleonic frou-frou, as well as some unnecessary work on my part. What I mean is that all that frou-frou actually breaks up most of the smooth, flat areas on the figure, making shading and highlighting largely unneeded.

Adler RN 3B - "Jaeger, advancing". Aside from the strap on the musket, this figure's uniform and kit are essentially identical to that of the grenadiers (with a different paint job, of course).

Adler figures are cast in strips, but designed to be clipped apart for basing. I know many people are turned off by this, but I actually like it better; getting my paintbrush between the tightly-packed figures on Baccus strips is always an annoyance for me, and more than once I've actually contemplated cutting them apart for easier painting!

Adler RN 21A - "Mounted officers, kiwer". Mounted figures come only two to a strip, but the horses are beautifully sculpted. This code had some miscastings, however; the figure second from the left is missing his sword and part of the horse's tail.

Another predominant criticism of Adler figures are their disproportionately large heads. Yes, their heads are large, there's no denying it. I guess it's one of those things that either bothers you or it doesn't; as for me, I'm not bothered.

Adler XRN 1 - "Russian inf loading, standing & kneeling firing (3)". Codes containing "X" are considered "collector's series" figures. These include skirmishers, casualties, additional officers, etc. depending on the nation. The Russians, unfortunately, are limited to skirmishers for the moment.

So all the main criticisms of Adler don't bother me. On the other hand, I do have one big problem, specifically with the Russian figures. I've gotta say it. Each Russian line infantry or grenadier battalion is supposed to carry two flags -- but the Adler command strip only comes with one standard bearer. I've only got half the flagpoles I need!

The Great Dilemma

So within a few weeks I had my figures and I knew how to paint them (well, more or less; French uniforms in particular seem to consist mostly of exceptions). The question now was what to do with them?

To cover both armies for Borodino without going insane and/or broke, I had to think big. Or small, depending on your perspective. What I mean is that my units would necessarily have to be abstracted, using a very few models to represent very large bodies of men. My painting kept getting faster with practice, but even so I only had so much free time. There were far too many battalions and squadrons present at the battle for me to cover all of them; I would have to even more abstract than that, sticking a regiment (or more) on each base!

My first base: the Smolensk and Narva line infantry regiments from the Russian 12th Division, 7th Army Corps in Bagration's 2nd Army. I made a few newbie mistakes with this one -- technically only grenadier drummers had red plumes. More embarrassingly, I accidentally switched the flags so that the two regiments are carrying each other's colours. Oops.

What basing format I would use was another question. I gave myself two main requirements: firstly, that each base would be a unit unto itself -- I'd grown disillusioned with the multi-base units I'd used for my ancients. Secondly, I wanted empty space around the edges of my formations. Aside from looking more attractive (in my opinion), this "buffer zone" also helps to protect the figures from clumsy fingers. Going with the advancing poses actually conveyed the unexpected benefit of putting fragile bayonets in the best-possible spot for avoiding wargamers' from-above-and-behind grip; but it was also immediately obvious that bayonets overhanging the base edge would be in dire danger from box walls during storage.

My second base: the 30th and 17th regiments of French line infantry, from Morand's division of the 1st Army Corps. As a test piece, I kept this deliberately conservative, but aside from glueing the tricolors on backwards, I was generally satisfied with the result.

To meet my two criteria, I needed big bases. The bigger the better. I considered going with 60x30mm (the Polemos standard for battalions, except I would use them for regiments). The huge 75x75mm bases used over at The Painting Shed were even more tempting, opening up all sorts of possibilities for diorama-esque formations. Of course bigger bases eventually lead to storage problems, as well as cost problems -- the more space you've got, the more temptation there is to fill it with figures!

Base #3: the Alexopol and New Ingermanland line infantry regiments. In the straggling line you can start to see the benefits of having individual figures instead of strips. Lines can be made fluid rather than rigidly straight, while slight changes in figure spacing can produce different effects.

Ultimately I decided to compromise by using 60x60mm squares. The clincher was that I had a few of these lying around (can't remember what for, but you don't look a gift horse in the mouth!), and so I duly set about basing the figures I'd painted up.

Typically, I ran into problems immediately. Based on my experience with figures 10mm and larger in scale, I'd counted on "advancing" figures to take about twice as much space as their "marching" or "standing" equivalent. In the event, the advancing Adlers take up a good deal more than that, owing to long bayonets and forward-leaning posture. All of a sudden I had a lot less space than I expected; the leading figures on the base had to be a good 10mm back to avoid a dangerous overhanging of bayonets. I'd planned a skirmish screen of three or four figures on each base, but there wasn't room for them, and so they had to go. Of course less figures per base means lower cost, so I wasn't too disappointed; but some of my more elaborate ideas for diorama bases certainly weren't going to happen.

Base #4: the French 13th light infantry and 85th line infantry regiments, again from the 1st Army Corps. In 1812, the regiments in the 1st Corps were actually beefed up to 5 battalions each (166% of normal size), and generally operated individually rather than in the usual two-regiment brigades... but I conveniently ignored this fact to make things easier for myself in the long run.

The other big problem I ran into was with the different poses. The Russians were fine in this regard, but the figures supplied for the French elites (grenadiers, voltigeurs, and carabiniers) came in different poses than the standard fusilier/chasseur troops. Since by this point I was intending to represent each entire regiment using only 18-20 men, including command, the consequent mixing of different sculpts didn't quite fit my vision of the lethally-efficient French war machine. It wouldn't do. Scrapping the idea of proper proportions of elites for the time being, I opted to use a single basic pose for each French regiment, while for the Russians I continued to mix musketeers and grenadiers. My plans were really taking a beating!

The two Russian bases together. Despite being rather stingy on the figure count, I think I still managed a decent mass effect with these.

And that brings me to the current state of affairs. I know how to make bases that I like the look of. But... I'm still not happy.

What's really bothering me about these is how long this basing process takes. While the individual Adler figs have all the advantages I've outlined above, every gap between them needs glue and sand, and more glue and more sand, and several layers of paint, then possibly more glue and static grass. Getting a paintbrush in there without making a mess is tediously slow business, not helped by the mutually-interfering presence of two big clusters of troops per base. I keep brainstorming ideas on how to make this whole process easier. There are ways, certainly. But I don't want to detract from the overall appearance, either.

The two French bases. For the base with the light regiment I couldn't resist sticking in a few skirmishers. Even with the leading regiment pushed back to make room, the skirmishers' bayonets still ended up protruding past the base edge-- with predictable results already.

So I still don't know what to do. The 60x30mm bases I'd rejected initially are looking more appealing again. I can see them eliminating a lot of my basing difficulties, and of course there would be the added advantage of being able to produce a finished product twice as often.

On the other hand, halving the base size would eliminate most of the "diorama" potential in this project. Looking at the four 60x60mm bases I've already finished, all of them would have figures in the crack (so to speak) if they were divided into two 60x30mm. And I had so many ideas for using that space on other bases...

The quartet of Russian line regiments. Add a third brigade of two Jaeger regiments, and you've got a division. Of course I don't want to base any of my Jaegers until I've settled on basing.

The quartet of French regiments, three line and one light. This was a standard French infantry division, although of course the 1812 army consisted almost entirely of exceptions ;)

I can't make up my mind.

Thoughts, anyone?

Back in Baccus

...In which our protagonist successfully puts an army of Successors to the brush (but otherwise succeeds only at making puns you wish you could brush off so successfully).

The whole army, photographed in adequate lighting thanks to some timely sunlight!

Hot on the heels of my previous adventures in 6mm comes yet another force in this scale of scales. This time it's a Successor army which came to me by way of accident.

Now, some of you are probably wondering: how do you get an army by accident? Where can I get one? To answer that, I refer once again to the First Lesson given in my previous post:

Lesson #1: Don't make one giant order.

You see, this story starts back when Olde Rivertowne was the Baccus supplier for North America. At the time, they were the ones charged with filling my bloated order for Commands and Colors: Ancients armies. They also happened to stock all sorts of paints and related hobby materials in addition to the miniatures, which I duly requested simply in order to further complicate matters. Long story short, while Olde Rivertowne did an admirable job in getting me the dozens of mis-matched packs that I'd listed, I did end up with a Successor army rather than the Carthaginian pack I'd ordered (the giant order was unsuccessful, you might say). Poor relations between the U.S. Postal Service and Canada Post only exacerbated the problem: shipments between the U.S. and Canada are for some reason far slower and more expensive than from the UK.

Greek archers and slingers. For some reason my army pack had a unit of archers instead of one unit of scythed chariots. The others are leftovers from the leadpile.

Not wanting to undertake a laborious, expensive and agonizingly-slow exchange to get my Carthaginians, I simply tossed the Successors in the leadpile and ordered some new reinforcements -- an option Hannibal might have envied! (I should note that Baccus and the Royal Mail both give sterling service; despite crossing the Atlantic, I've had packages from Baccus in my mailbox within four days of placing the order).

New feature!

Yes, I'm pleased to announce a new feature beginning with this site. I call it "the coin." Many of you probably know what a coin is. The luckier among you may even possess coins of your own. In any case, I've included "the coin" as a scale reference in some of my pictures (those being the pictures where I've remembered to include it). The actual coin in question is a 1998 Canadian one cent piece, for the practical reason that said coin has faceted edges and is therefore less likely to roll away in the middle of a photograph. See below for how this coin compares in size with more valuable currency pieces.

From left to right: Canadian one cent, American one cent, Euro two cent, UK one penny. The first three are all the same diameter, while the UK penny is slightly larger.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Alexander the Great was nothing if not successful, at least militarily -- but his succession was famously problematic. The problem was that Alexander had never officially named an heir. It was claimed that he'd willed his conquests "to the strongest", which in practice meant those of his relatives and generals who could back their claim with enough force to win.

Baccus AMA3 - "Phalangites, open handed, stood". The pike phalanx was the backbone of any Hellenistic army. The pikes here are made from pins with their heads clipped off. Shields are quite large, but this seems to be the case with all Baccus' Classical range.

It was these contenders - particularly the generals - who are most appropriately called Successors, or Diadochi in Greek. It was the strongest among them who succeeded in partitioning Alexander's empire, producing the three great dynasties in Macedonia (the Antigonids), Syria (the Seleucids) and Egypt (the Ptolemies).

A unit of Bronze Shields. The red stars are waterslide transfers from Baccus. The red-on-bronze look was not very successful; too little colour contrast, and they tend to blur at anything further than point-blank range.

For centuries afterwards, a Greek-speaking or Hellenistic elite controlled much of the known world, ruling states both large and small. Their armies were modelled after those of Alexander, built around a Macedonian-style phalanx. Over time these forces changed weapons and composition, as new technology and tactics evolved. It is one of these Hellenistic-period armies that the Baccus Successor army pack represents, containing a mixture of both classically Alexandrian units and newer innovations to the Macedonian arsenal.

White Shields, showing better contrast with blue-on-white. Incidentally, the blue stars come in sheets of 80, while the red come in sheets of 64... for the same price. I think you can see which is the better deal!

Baccus AIR6 - "Roman generals". Six poses, attired in classical style.

Here's those Roman generals, posing as Greeks. They show off their fine Hellenistic fashion sense with fuschia-and-yellow cloaks.

The times they are a-changin'

The cavalry arm saw some of the greatest change during the Hellenistic era. At some point the two-handed lances of Alexander's day seem to have been largely replaced by spear-and-shield wielding riders. The longer lance remained in service with the cataphracts, fully-armoured cavalry copied from the Persians and steppe tribes of the east, which began to see service in Hellenistic armies.

Baccus AMA14 - "Cataphract cavalry". Great sculpting. Some of the reins/forward horse bardings were miscast, but the detail was still there to accept a drybrushing on both the rider and horse armour.

Cataphracts in line. I like how Baccus heavy cavalry often comes in a standing pose; it gives them that nonchalant 'cavalry reserve' look.

Baccus AMA12 - "Hellenistic/Greek cavalry". Beautiful sculpting on these figures. The shield has a vertical spindle boss, doubtlessly attested to by some sort of archaeological or artistic evidence, but which precludes the use of waterslide tranfers. The figure on the right is actually the standard bearer -- from which I clumsily broke the standard!

Charge!

Javelin-armed skirmishing cavalry also adopted shields, perfected initially by the city of Tarentum. Eventually all cavalry who fought in this fashion were called Tarentine horsemen, irrespective of their actual origin.

Baccus AMA15 - "Tarentine light cavalry". Nice sculpting, but I had a few miscasts in my bunch, generally shields, spear butts, and helmet crests. The red stars are waterslide transfers.

Tarentine horse. These could easily be mixed in with AMA12 and/or ARR5 for more variation.

Scythed chariots were another innovation adopted into some Hellenistic armies. Darius' Persians had attempted to use scythed chariots against Alexander, with little success; the Greeks themselves tended to do no better.

Baccus APE24 - "Scythed chariots". Each chariot comes with four identical horses. The chariot side panels (with attached wheels) are separate pieces.

Baccus' scythed chariots also seem to be suffering some teething problems. The two side-panels-with-wheels are asymmetrical, making it look like the chariot has a crooked axle; and neither of them fit properly. The very delicate yoke poles also need to be bent into position to sit across the horses' backs; I had one pole arrive broken (you can see it in the pic above), and consequently resolved to leave the whole rickety rig alone, forgoing the 'proper' yoking of the horses.

Scythed chariots... poor casting, poor painting, poor assembly, poor weapons. By the time I finished this unit, I was glad my army pack had a unit of archers instead of more chariots.

If you aren't broke yet, buy more

As I explained in my previous post, I've switched over to the Baccus Basing System (BBS). I'm starting to like the look it gives my units more and more; the multi-layer texturing really does stand out, even if it takes a painfully long time to produce.

Of course switching to the BBS meant buying the BBS. At the same time I bought the waterslide transfers for my phalangites. Still, it felt wrong, making an order from a miniature producer without getting any minis. And so, for purely aesthetic reasons, I bought some elephants.

Baccus AMA16 - "Successor elephants". One of the crewmen carries a bow, one a javelin, and the third has arms raised to support a pike (not included).

Being used to the single-piece Carthaginian elephants, I was surprised to find their Successor equivalents come in several pieces. The two sides of the howdah are cast separately, each with an attached crewmember. Furthermore, you have the option of giving a weapon to the third crewman. Luckily the fit was a lot cleaner on these models than on the chariots, and everything went together easily.

Cataphract elephants! I'm told the pikes were used as lances for jousting with other elephant-riders, much like European knights of the middle ages. Really. And holding up a 5kg pike from one end was not a problem for these guys, that's how hardcore they were.

One more of the whole army.