The Cool Thing About Gladiators..

Well, there's lots of cool things about gladiators, but I think that naming the little suckers is the most fun of all.  Of course, I have absolutely no clue as to what I'm doing with Latin, but ineptitude has never stopped me before!  Heck, not even slowed me down for that matter.  I didn't want to just go and pick out run of the mill boring Roman names for my lads, so instead of staying with normal Roman naming conventions I wandered the path a bit.  I tried to pick up on something characteristic about the particular figure and then run it through a translator and do the best I could.  Some of these are not even Latin but I thought would be cool for background.  I've listed the names with my target goals.
Speciosus:  Handsome
Profanus:  Wicked
Deceptus:  Tricky
Geminus:  Dual/Two
Magnus:  Big
Paratus:  Prepared
Ocius:  Quick
Memnon:  Generic Greek Name
Akrisios:  Thracian God
Hannibal:  Of Carthage Fame
Africanus:  Easy to remember for dark skinned gladiator
Germanicus:  Easy to remember for blondie gladiator
Lummox:  What my Mom used to call us when we were being clumsy oafs.

Some Cool Vehicles for Modern Skirmish

A few weeks ago Herrodadog and I went scavenging at a train show.  As you might imagine, most of the stuff there was hideously priced, but there were a few deals to be had.  The only thing I saw, that I just 'had' to have, was a set of vehicles by a company called Cararama.  I had never heard of them before but they had a set that really grabbed me.  I wound up paying around 3.60 each for these puppies.  Clan LTL will have to keep on the lookout for these sweet rides during their adventures.  After a little internet searching I have found that this company makes a vast collection of vehicles.

First we have three classic Beetles.  You can never go wrong with these guys, they are easy to maintain vehicles for post apoc adventuring.

But it was these vans that really grabbed and made me get the set.  There are just so many game settings where these bad boys will fit in.  I can just picture a gang of thugs or guerrillas riding in that converted bus.

More Gladiator Goodness!

Herrodadog finally got his bad ass arena posted so I can post my game pics without stealing his thunder.  Here are some shots from our test play games when his arena was still at about 80%.  Go check out his site for a look at the finished project which is incredible.  It is a great balance of looks vs playability.
http://thehistoricalminiaturist.blogspot.com/2011/03/joining-arena-race-part-3-done.html
As usual we have jumped into the gladiator thing with both feet.  Javier got me interested in this and it took a while for us to clear the decks for this project, but it is all coming together now.  Gladiator games are great for quick and entertaining minis fun when you don't have all day.

Here are a couple of my first Gladiators sparring in the arena.

I really like some of the poses that Black Tree has.

Not having any gladiators of her own didn't stop my daughter from entering the arena.  My first batch of laddies look on from the stands.

Here is my entire staff to date, including my latest additions.  Ludus Bellator Reges looks on from the stands, ready to spar against the House of Franciscus. 

And here is the House of Franciscus.*boo-hiss*  Please note the unsavory and disgraceful employment of Goblin gladiators in his school.  Some guys simply have no honor!

The first match last weekend was between my wizened old Thracian named Akrisios, and one of Jil's heavies.

Experience triumphed as my old gray beard vanquished his foe.

So it is up into the box of honor for Akrisios!

And down into the dungeon of shame for Jil's laddie.

Next up was a match between a couple of Laquearii.  You can always tell the difference between Bellator Reges and House of Franciscus because my lads are always more colorful.  We like to look good for our fans!

And once again Bellator Reges is triumphant!  The crowd goes wild!  They start to throw gifts into the arena!

So another of my lads goes into the box of honor, and the vanquished is sent below.

The last match was between one of my Murmillo types and a Hoplomachi from the House Franciscus.

It would be no sweep for me as Jil's lad is triumphant!

Luckily for me, I outnumbered him in the box of honor and after the cameras stopped rolling we mugged him proper.

This is a picture to remind me of what happened for our campaign.  Todays winners on the top step, losers below.

Wargames Factory Vikings

My next batch of Vikings finally rolled off my assembly line the other evening.  These are from Wargames Factory.  Compared to the Gripping Beast hard plastics that I posted about earlier, the WF are more dainty and the weapons are much slimmer.  In this respect I like the GB figures better.  However, WF has a bit more versatility in both posing, and in weapon selection.  The quality of the sprues were both the same; excellent.
Once again I used Little Big Men Studios shield transfers and they were a cinch.  I cannot for the life of me understand the griping on TMP.  If I can easily install these with my huge tennis racket sized hands, then anyone can if they just give it a try.  I have now used the LBMS transfers on both the WF and GB miniatures without any modifications so there you have it.  They work for both.  This was something I was having trouble getting an answer on when researching.  Anyway, the bottom line is that I am please with both the WF and GB hard plastic Vikings and I think for anyone doing a serious Viking project, having both adds a lot of versatility.  Here are some snaps of the finished product.  I chose to use some unorthodox poses.

While on the painting table, my Vikings already managed to get into a scrap with my genestealers from my Space Hulk project.  Had a tough time breaking that fight up.

Finally! my First Gladiators

I got Herrodadog into Gladiators but he has finished his before me.  Can't have that.  Soooo, I stayed up a bit later last night and tried to get some ready for the table this weekend.  Jil's Gladiators look so good that I am sort of embarassed to post these, but I have done much worse than this.

Alright Herrodadog!  You called down the Thunder, let's have a go then.

The beginning of my Gladiator Ludi.  Figures by Black Tree Design.

Ok, I just realized the pictures suck.  Waaaaay too little light.

In order to rush them out for the weekend I had to leave the shields unfinished.  Back to that on Monday.

I also screwed up my ink wash.  I had it really nice and then I went and shot gloss clear and then flat clear over.  Won't do that again.  It takes away the wash effect somewhat.

I really hate slotted bases.  I'm going to start copying Jil and snipping the puppies.

Ok.  Just in case he gets lucky, here is my second string waiting in the stands.

And if that fails, I got a couple more Gripping Beast Vikings ready to clean up.